DAVAO CITY — The city’s dining circuit has long been defined by its casual grills, seafood markets, and a robust café culture. But on Sundays now, a new kind of indulgence is carving out its own quiet space at the intersection of J.P. Laurel Avenue and Bajada. At Aria Hotel & Residences, the newly soft-opened 60-room property by homegrown FTC Group of Companies, the hotel’s signature restaurant Rhapsody Asian Fusion has introduced “Sunday Indulgence,” a signature buffet experience crafted to turn the end of the weekend into something unhurried, deliberate, and deeply flavorful. For ₱1,688 net per person, the offer runs across two windows—lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.—making a compelling case that the best Sunday gatherings happen around a table set with the flavors of Asia.
The launch aligns with Aria’s broader emergence as a hospitality player that views dining not as an amenity but as a pillar of its identity. The hotel occupies five floors including the penthouse of Aeon Towers, the tallest building in Mindanao, and its entry into Davao’s competitive landscape has been closely watched. With the Sunday Indulgence buffet, Rhapsody Asian Fusion is making an early statement: that elevated dining in Davao does not require a special occasion, only a Sunday reservation.
A Buffet Built for Lingering
Rhapsody Asian Fusion is not a cavernous ballroom buffet. It is an intimate, designed space within a hotel that has positioned itself as a five-star experience rooted in sustainability—Executive Chef Jean Louis Leon has led efforts to source locally, reduce waste, and support regional farmers and suppliers. That philosophy translates to a buffet where the selections are curated rather than sprawling, and where the Asian fusion identity—drawing from the culinary traditions of Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and Korea—is interpreted through fresh, locally available ingredients.
The lunch window, stretching four hours from late morning to mid-afternoon, is calibrated for families and groups who want to turn a meal into an occasion. The dinner service, running until 10 p.m., captures a different rhythm: the slower, more contemplative energy of a Sunday evening, when the city outside the hotel’s double-glazed windows begins to quiet and the meal becomes the main event rather than a prelude to the rest of the day.
The Hotel Behind the Feast
Aria Hotel & Residences is the first of three planned hospitality assets from FTC Group of Companies, the Davao-based conglomerate whose portfolio spans real estate, construction, and now luxury hospitality through its management arm, Aeon Luxe Hotel Management Co. The hotel features 64 superior rooms, 64 club rooms, and 16 suites—the club rooms occupying the two top floors—as well as 30 fully serviced residence suites equipped with kitchens. Rooms start at a generous 45 square meters, with six-fixture bathrooms that include separate bathtubs and showers, smart controls, and internet speeds exceeding 200 megabits per second.
Sustainability measures, including solar panels for hot water and kitchen operations and energy-saving double-glazed windows, underpin the property’s operations. This is not a hotel that wears its environmental commitments as marketing; they are baked into the building’s systems, visible in the choices made at the buffet line as much as in the water heating.
The hotel also houses a rooftop bar and a fine-dining Western restaurant, but Rhapsody Asian Fusion occupies a distinctive niche: it is the hotel’s bridge between the global and the local, a restaurant that can serve a Japanese-inspired sushi selection alongside Southeast Asian curries without either feeling out of place.
Davao’s Evolving Sunday Ritual
Davao’s dining culture has historically treated Sundays as family days—congregations at casual restaurants, long lunches at home, or trips to the beach. The introduction of a structured, hotel-based Sunday buffet at an accessible price point—₱1,688 net, with no hidden service charges—creates a third option. It offers the ease of dining out, the variety of a buffet, and the atmosphere of a luxury hotel, all without the formality that typically accompanies hotel dining in Mindanao’s premier business district.
For the city’s growing professional class, its visiting business travelers, and its families looking for a reliable weekend tradition, Sunday Indulgence at Rhapsody Asian Fusion is a calculated bet that Davao is ready for a different kind of Sunday. A table by the window, a plate assembled from the diverse stations of Asia, and the slow, pleasant weight of an afternoon with nowhere else to be—this is what Aria Hotel & Residences is selling, and at ₱1,688, it is priced not for exclusivity but for habit. Reservations can be made through [email protected] or at +63 82 298 8888.
