The Filipino-Spanish buffet at The Orchard Café returned on 18 May 2026, this time with chefs flown in from The Heritage Hotel Manila and an expanded menu that runs the length of Filipino food alongside the Spanish dishes that shaped a chunk of its history. The Philippine Embassy in Singapore co-launched the event to mark the 57th anniversary of Philippines-Singapore diplomatic relations, which began in May 1969, and to round off Philippine National Heritage Month.
If you missed last year's edition, here is the short version. Take a Filipino buffet. Add the Spanish dishes that became part of Filipino food through 333 years of colonial overlap: paella, embutido, callos. Plate them next to crispy pata, kare-kare, halo-halo and ensaymada. Charge a hotel-buffet price (the exact figure is on the Orchard Hotel website; check before booking). Run it for the full season.
The chef collaboration
The expansion this year is the chef pairing. The visiting team from The Heritage Hotel Manila joined the existing culinary team at The Orchard Hotel Singapore to develop the menu. The Heritage in Manila has long run a Filipino food programme around heritage recipes and regional specialties. Bringing that into the Singapore kitchen is what produced the wider range on the buffet line this year compared with the 2025 edition.
The spread includes classics that Filipinos in Singapore will recognise on sight: lechon carved at the station, kare-kare with the bagoong on the side, sinigang, dinuguan, pancit palabok. Regional dishes get a turn: Ilocano bagnet, Bicol Express, Cebu-style adobo. The Spanish line carries paella valenciana, callos a la madrileña, and embutido. The dessert spread leans Filipino, with halo-halo, leche flan, bibingka and ensaymada plated alongside Spanish flan and churros.
What the ambassador said
Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Medardo G. Macaraig hosted the launch on 18 May. He framed the buffet as a small expression of a much larger working relationship. The two countries cooperate on trade, investment, climate finance, healthcare worker recruitment and ASEAN matters, and the food is one of the more accessible ways to make those ties visible to a wider audience.
The guest list at the launch included representatives from the Singapore government, the diplomatic community in Singapore, business leaders, media, key opinion leaders, and a delegation from the Filipino community. For most kababayans, that means the buffet runs commercially through the season and is open to anyone who books.
Why "Manila Meets Madrid" is the right frame
Filipino food is a layered thing. The base is indigenous and Malay. Chinese trade brought noodles and the wok. American occupation brought spam and the breakfast plate. The longest single influence is Spanish: 333 years of it, from 1565 to 1898. Halo-halo, ensaymada, leche flan, embutido, pochero, and the entire word for "kitchen" (cocina → kusina), all carry that mark.
"Manila Meets Madrid" puts the two sides on the same line. Both stay on their own plates. You take adobo from one tray and paella from the next, and let your plate do the meeting. For Filipinos in Singapore the frame is familiar. For Singaporean diners who only know Filipino food through Lucky Plaza or a quick lunch at Hayop by Manam, it is an entry point that does not require a Filipino guide.
What it means for the Filipino community in Singapore
A high-end hotel buffet at Orchard is not a Lucky Plaza price point. The Orchard Café spread sits in the same band as other Singapore hotel buffets. For most Filipinos here it is the kind of meal you book for a birthday, a parents-visiting weekend, a balikbayan in town for the long weekend, or an anniversary.
A few angles where it lands well:
If your parents from Manila are visiting and you want to show them where you eat in Singapore, this is a more comfortable choice than the average air-conditioned Western buffet. They will recognise the food. They will also recognise the kitchen having done it right.
