Breakfasts at Amanjena

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What better way to start the day than with a hearty breakfast, beautifully presented, accompanied by excellent service and on two out of three mornings, enjoyed in our own poolside pavilion? With only 40 rooms, and ours some 3-400+ meters from the kitchen, frankly we were amazed by breadth and quality of the breakfasts served. They weren’t the finest hotel breakfasts we have enjoyed, but they were extremely good, and throw in the superb service and wonderful settings (near the main pool and in our own villa), and they would definitely rate a solid 9.0/10.0…

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On our first morning, up a little early to make a tour we had booked, I started off with a bread basket with assorted pastries and some good butter and two kinds of what appeared to be homemade compound jams.

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The croissant was flaky and the jams intriguing and delicious. One of the jams, a kiwi, mango and other fruit mix, had us stumped for a few minutes until we asked what was in it.

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My fruit platter can only be described as over-the-top anal retentive! Whoever sliced and arranged the fruit like that must be a bit obsessive, no? :)

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Mrs. Marketman’s eggs benedict (the dish by which she judges hotel breakfasts) was rated very good.

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The Teen’s chocolate pancakes were good but a bit unusual looking, real chunks of chocolate embedded in the pancakes, making them look a bit like wheel hubcaps… :)

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On our second morning at the hotel, I woke early and decided to walk to the breakfast area and had a peaceful meal of orange juice, freshly squeezed and lots of it, tea, toast with jam, sausages, potatoes and two-fried eggs.

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When I returned to our room, Mrs. MM and The Teen had ordered room service and they had some french toast and plain pancakes.

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They had these enormous carafes of freshly made apple and orange juice.

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We decided having breakfast in our villa was far more appealing than having to get dressed and walking to the restaurant…

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On our third morning at the hotel, we all ordered our breakfast to be served in our rooms, that’s the photo of it up top with service for three. Another fruit platter, an omelet, bread baskets, etc.

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I had a side dish of grilled sausages and some sliced tomatoes…

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…to go with some toast dipped in soft boiled eggs. Unfortunately, the eggs were a bit overdone, so no dipping going on. A teaspoon solved the issue nicely.

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We all agreed that the absolute stunner of dish was some SUPERB yoghurt, obviously made in-house, presented in little jam bottles, together with some berry sauce/compote. Mix a little of the berry compote into the incredibly smooth yoghurt and you will be practically squealing with delight. This was so good we had it 2 or 3 times. :)

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The Teen enjoying some of the yoghurt, like the shirt? :)

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When we were all fed up (literally) and had retreated to the bedroom, we noticed a sudden and very aggressive visitor picking at the remnants of our breakfast. Within minutes, several large and small birds had their fill of croissants, potatoes, etc. despite our attempting to shoo them away. No wonder they say the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds” probably came from seeing a similar scene decades ago on the balcony of a room at the fabled La Mamounia Hotel in Marrakech…

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29 Responses

  1. definitely luvin the shirt! :)
    what a great way to start your day off – a hearty breakfast with the people you enjoy it most.

  2. that breakfast spread is making me hungrryy. yummm. nice serving idea to place mesh cloth to cover the carafe

  3. This post made me hungry, really hungry. Amazing food. I’d like to go, stay and eat there someday! :D

    And yes, liking the shirt! :)

  4. The fruit platter looks great… i think they used fruit cutter… like the one i have at home. cant remember the name as i had it for years. Its great for making kids eat their 5+ fruit a day.

  5. At my first meal in Morocco (in Rabat), we did not have a bird picking at our leftovers, but some young children! They were standing at the door, begging for food, and at one point, one of the boys ran in and grabbed some bread off our table.

    The poverty in Morocco is heartbreaking.

  6. All I can say is…

    W.O.W.

    I am now craving for a ‘big’ breakfast…
    (i now have an excuse! need to feed my little one inside, hehehe)

  7. Big breakfast lover here…and your post made me crave for another one today!

  8. Just made croissants over the weekend, and still enjoying the unbaked frozen ones which I just proof overnight in the fridge and ready for breakfast. Yummy, wish I had sausages too! The ones in your photos look succulent.

  9. The yogurt in the picture is in a Weck tulip jar, the rolls royce of glass jars, made in Germany by Leitheif and seriously coveted for jams and jellies for the last hundred years. Four times the price of a Ball jar and in very short supply. The juice bottles are probably Weck as well. I would have asked for the jar…
    I bet the yogurt was made from full cream!

  10. I have enjoyed reading your blog everyday especially your Amanjena posts. It is quite relaxing to come home and read Market Manila after a gruelling day at work !

  11. I love jam and butter in a flaky croissant!Mmmmmm!The eggs benedict looks so good but I’m an omelette person.Really enjoying your posts!

  12. Thank you Sister for the info. I just googled it and found Weck canning supplies…450 Congress Parkway Suite E. CrystalLake IL 60014. I am going to use those jars for the blackberry jam I will be making this week-end for Christmas gifts….or maybe berry compote na lang in the winter.

  13. This was a ‘bonus recipe’ from an Indian cooking class which I took.

    D-I-Y Yoghurt
    Yoghurt

    2 cups full cream milk
    2  tsp plain yoghurt (starter yoghurt)
    2 Tbsp sugar
     
    Bring milk to boil.  Add 2 Tbsp sugar.  Cool to lukewarm.  Stir in starter yoghurt (may use greek or any plain yoghurt).  Cover and keep at room temperature for at least 6 hours.  Do not move or budge, do not look.  When set, place in a muslin or cheesecloth, hang to remove excess liquid for 30 minutes to an hour.  Refrigerate after this method until ready to use.

  14. betty q, You have the right website, Glass Hauss; there are only a couple of vendors for weck jars and they are in short supply because of the BPH scare,the plastic liners of some jar lids like Ball. It’s like worrying about canned tomatoes. They look terrific but the USDA prefers the jars with a lid and rim and you might look into Leifheit jars which are oval and more easily available at Target and Sur Le Table.
    Funny you should mention blackberry jam, I just made a couple of dozen jars. I removed 3/4 of the seeds but left a few in for texture. I’m also going to try to make blackberry ice cream this weekend. Blackberries are $7. a pint here in the farmers market so it’s like canning silver.

  15. impressive … breakfast is my most favorite meal of the day, on weekends i always try to make ours special … in my perfect world, i would be having this breakfast everyday :) ♥

  16. everything looks good! im not fond of eating fruits but that fruit platter made me want some. haha! and yes, OC yata ang nag-ayos! sarap sirain! hahaha!

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