Oasis Garden Cafe

Afternoon tea under cascading waterfalls, then piano and cocktails after dark. Oasis Garden Cafe is the café-lounge in the Sky Tower atrium at Solaire Resort Entertainment City in Parañaque, a planted, garden-like pause set inside a much busier building.

Afternoon tea, then a menu that keeps going

Daytime service covers coffee, tea, traditional snacks and artisanal finger sandwiches, with afternoon tea as the centrepiece. The Signature Afternoon Delights set runs warm scones, honey-kissed sweets and tea sandwiches with a choice of coffee, tea or sparkling wine, and seasonal versions have gone further: foie gras on brioche, smoked salmon tartare, mini quiche Lorraine, roast beef and a grilled vegetable and avocado bagel, followed by hazelnut choux, cherry chocolate tarts, cheese red velvet cake, raspberry mousse, vanilla panna cotta and a mixed berry pistachio sphere.

The all-day list is far wider than a café’s usually is, and it crosses several cuisines. Inihaw na Liempo, adobo, fried bangus, Oxtail Kare-Kare, Kinilaw na Tanigue, lengua, Chicken Inasal and Sisig Express hold the Filipino side; Pad Thai, Malaysian prawn curry, Tandoori Lamb, Chicken Tikka Masala, bibimbap, Korean fried chicken and Vietnamese roasted chicken reach across Asia; congee, beef noodle soup, crispy chicken wings, vongole and Iberico and Manchego croquetas fill the rest.

A garden room that changes shift

The setting is the point. Sitting at the heart of the atrium, the room is spacious, serene and elegant, with indoor planting and waterfalls making a pocket of quiet away from the busier parts of the resort. It works equally for tea, coffee, dessert or a full meal.

Its character changes through the day. Daytime is café mode: coffee, tea, snacks, finger sandwiches, bingsu and croissant features. Evenings move to lounge service with cocktails and live music, often a piano and sometimes a quartet, which suits a drink before a show or a long sit-down dinner. Mango lassi, Enkanto beer and an affogato with tiramisu all belong to that later, slower half of the day.

Before you order

Desserts carry a lot of the identity here: Mango Mascarpone Cake, Tonka Bean Chocolate Ganache, Barako Tiramisu, Ube Jam Cream Jelly, Brazo de mango, Strawberry Cheesecake and chocolate marble cake, with sugar-free choices alongside them. Filipino dessert flavours, bingsu and afternoon-tea petits fours give several sweet routes.

For savoury, build the meal around the Filipino plates if you want the strongest version of the kitchen: adobo, fried bangus, Oxtail Kare-Kare or Kinilaw na Tanigue. For something lighter, the sandwich and tea formats work well, from the pork katsu sandwich to the mini quiche Lorraine or the grilled vegetable and avocado bagel, with coffee, tea, sparkling wine or a cocktail setting the pace.