Click here to see the Peninsula Manila’s new Ice Cream Menu.

I’m living proof of the sugary power that the Peninsula Manila’s Lobby has on couples. On our first date, I directed my Bin there after Dean St. Café (god, remember that place!) proved too crowded. I insisted that we order the Choco Loco and on his first bite, my Bin was hooked – both on the ice cream and on me. Hee hee. Ironically enough, after 11 years of marriage, we have yet to go back there but now is the time to make newer, sweeter memories.

The Peninsula Manila has unveiled its new dessert menu for The Lobby. A collaboration with Unilever Foodsolutions and Selecta ice cream, this trio’s tour de force has resulted in new ice cream concoctions that have been revitalized with demonstrable fluency and fervor.

Selecta’s ravishing roster of flavors is the malleable canvas on which Peninsula Executive Chef Adam Mathis and his team unleash their edible handiwork. Some of the new creations include The Nutty Pageboy (P300++), where scoops of super chocolate and vanilla bean ice cream are strewn with marshmallows and caramel sauce. For me, the pièce de résistance are the twin chocolate-coated crunch sticks whose chocolate hits are so intense one bite is akin to falling in love. Twice.

The Café Crumble Creation (P400++) is an icy alternative to getting one’s recommended daily dose of caffeine. Coffee Crumble and French vanilla ice cream are doused with chocolate sauce that’s been spiked with Kahlua. Garnished with whipped cream rosettes and whole coffee beans, it’s an intoxicating overlay of color and flavor.

Chef Adam says that he likes the Pinoy Paradise (P400++) the best. When he first arrived in Manila, the Peninsula asked me to write a press release about him. One of the things I remember from the interview was Chef Adam’s eagerness to try working with ube, a native rootcrop. Here, a large scoop of ube ice cream is in this fiesta along with uniquely Pinoy flavors ube macapuno, pistachio ‘n’ cashew, and quezo. To keep the tropical theme going, the whole lot is garnished with oven-baked pineapple rings and strands of macapuno. While trying the Pinoy Paradise, I couldn’t help but think that Francis M’s “Mga Kababayan Ko” rap song would be the appropriate soundtrack for it — a “songs to eat by” type of thing.

I say it’s impossible to be virtuous when it comes to ice cream but the Peninsula sure gives it a try. The Fruit n’ Yoghurt Coupe (P560++) consists of four yogurt ice cream flavors that are 97% fat free: wildberry, strawberry, mango, and passion fruit. To gild the dietary lily are granola clusters and peach or mango slices. I guess this concoction will only be “virtually” fat free if it’s shared with ten other diet-freaks and if the white chocolate decorative slice isn’t eaten.

Naturally, the old-timer ice cream creations are still here, cult classics that they are. The Halo Halo Harana (P400++, cover photo) for one, which the hotel serves 7,300 of every year. (!) The Choco Loco Brownie Sundae (P400++), my self-proclaimed love potion, is alive and kicking, and so are the Choose Your Scoop (P120++) and the Milkshakes (P280++). And of course, the godfather of all Peninsula Manila’s ice creams, the Pen Pals (P990++ — see menu photos below). A magnum opus of chilly proportions, the heaps of deliciousness in one bowl is stupefying bordering on the obscene: 19 scoops of ice cream serving six to eight ice cream maniacs.

The Lobby
The Peninsula Manila
Corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues, Makati
887.2888 / 810.3456

Ice Cream Menu
(images below Courtesy of The Peninsula Manila)