[Marco Polo Ortigas Manila] A Taste of Istanbul with My Honor 8X

New phone, new EATSperience. That’s what this entry is all about, as I, Mr. Eats, will be sharing with you about one of the newest smartphones in the Philippines, Honor 8X and my EATSperience at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila’s A Taste of Istanbul! First, I will talk about Honor 8X and its benefits to me as a food blogger, in the area of covering EATSperiences like this one. Its battery life, AI Camera, and large file storage, all of which are perfect for a busy day of covering restaurants. Second, I will be sharing my thoughts about the different dishes that I was able to try at Cucina’s A Taste of Istanbul special. I will also be sharing about my favorites at this all you can eat affair that features lots of tasty Turkish food!

A Taste of Istanbul at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila shot with Honor 8X!

Right away, Honor 8X showed off its awesome AI Camera! How? Well, when I was focusing on the image below, the AI Camera immediately changed its setting to Text mode to capture texts with higher quality. Just by focusing on a particular subject, the AI Camera was able to adjust right away and made shooting easier for me. Impressive, right?

Cucina at the Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, from October 3 to 15, 2018, is featuring “A Taste of Istanbul” Turkish delights all over its buffet spread together with its usual buffet offerings. The man behind the amazing spread of Turkish selections is Chef Gürsel Keleş. Chef Gürsel is currently the chairman of Eurasian Chefs Association, and has organized multiple cuisine festivals across Turkey, Germany, Lebanon, and Belgium, to name a few.

Marco Polo Ortigas Manila’s General Manager, Mr. Frank Reichenbach, with Chef Gürsel Keleş, the main man of the Taste of Istanbul food festival.

Thanks to Honor 8X’s camera, I was able to shoot this clearly in a low light situation (image below). No adjustments needed because the camera was able to adjust to the situation pretty well!

Right when you enter Cucina, these bite-sized Turkish appetizers will welcome you and your taste buds! Make sure to try the Circassian Chicken Salad. It’s a great introduction to the Turkish flavors that you will encounter in this Turkish Food Fest. Great balance of flavors with the spices used and its ingredients.

A closer look at the appetizers (bottom two) with my Honor 8X AI Camera. As expected, the AI Camera changed into Food mode right away when I focused onto these delicious Turkish food. The color and the sharpness were enhanced automatically. No retouching needed.

 

In this part of my Honor 8X EATSperience, you will be seeing a lot of the AI Camera’s Food function. The AI Camera definitely helped me a lot in this cover because of the great quality of photos it produced. The Honor 8X’s battery life is super amazing! I used it right off the box and I was able to use it the whole time I was in Cucina. And now, as I write this EATSperience, the phone is still alive and kicking. I haven’t charged it yet since having it for four days.

Hot-off-the-grill KEBABS!!! Chicken, Red Snapper, and Lamb Kebabs for the win! Nothing beats freshly grilled skewers. Super juicy and flavor assortment of Turkish spiced meats and fish! Get as many of these food on sticks as you can. It’s worth the weight!

Steamed Sea Bass in Paper with Vegetables and Herbs (Kagritta Levrek), Pan-Roasted Lamb with Smoked Eggplant Puree (Hunkar Begendi). These two were amazing! The lamb was cooked to perfection and the sea bass was super tasty in its simplicity.

The Spiced Chicken with Olive Coriander Relish is also another dish that I enjoyed so much! The chicken was really fragrant and tender. The skin was crispy, too! Make sure to put a little bit of the coriander relish for a complete EATSperience.

Finishing things off with the staple Baklava of two kinds for dessert, Candied Pumpkin with Walnuts (Kabak Tatlisi), and Fried Dough Balls in Rose Scented Syrup (Lokma). The Pistachio Baklava was my favorite out of the four. It was sweet, rich, and crunchy. All the good stuff in a delightful dessert!

To wrap things up, I honestly enjoyed using my new Honor 8X for this cover. It was an adjustment at first because I am really used to using my reliable camera when it comes to restaurant covers. The Honor 8X was able to do the job and as you can see, I used it exclusively for this EATSperience. It lasted the whole event even though I haven’t charged it yet, the quality of the photos were really good (thanks to the AI Camera), and its large file storage is just perfect for a person who shoots a lot of photos.

Come, visit Cucina’s “A Taste of Istanbul” now until the 15th of October 2018! EATSperience the creations of Turkish chef, Chef Gürsel Keleş, together with Cucina’s already formidable buffet spread. Enjoy this one of a kind all you can eat EATSperience for only Php 1,500 (lunch) and Php 1,800 (dinner) from Monday to Thursday and Php 2,300 (lunch) and Php 2,650 (dinner) from Friday to Sunday. That’s it for this special edition of EATSplorations, ’til next time!

Be the first to know about Huawei’s sub-brand Honor’s newest Smartphone Honor 8X which comes out on October 10, 2018. Prices and availability will be announced soon.

For more information, please visit Honor online at http://www.hihonor.com or follow them on the following social media platforms:

https://www.facebook.com/honorglobal/

https://www.facebook.com/HonorPhilippines/

https://twitter.com/Honorglobal

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“A Taste of Istanbul” at Cucina

24th Floor, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, Sapphire Street Corner Meralco Avenue, Ortigas, Pasig City

+632 720 7777

Email: restaurant.mnl@marcopolohotels.com

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