Hollywood actor Robert De Niro and Japanese Chef Nobu Matsuhisa opened luxury hotel Nobu in a $1.3bn (£830m) gambling complex Manila on Monday (18 May).

The Nobu Hotel is one of the three hotels being built in the Manila-based City of Dreams casino-resort, a joint venture of Melco Crown and local leisure firm Belle Corp, which features a posh nightclub and a Hollywood-style theme park.

Co-owners Matsuhisa and de Niro led the ribbon cutting ceremony along with top officials from the City of Dreams on Monday.

At a news conference after the ceremony, De Niro was asked if he wanted to do a film in the Philippines.

"I'd like to do a movie here in the Philippines, it's just getting the project, whatever that may be. Of course, absolutely," he said.

Japanese Chef Matsuhisa said he was positive their hotel and restaurant business would flourish.

"The Philippines, the restaurant business [is breaking] wide open... I'm very excited too, so after opening here, we'd like to see some more customers... smiling to keep eating my food," he said.

The Nobu hotel in Manila features 321 rooms as well as Michelin-starred Chef Matsuhisa's signature fusion cuisine.

Manila is seeking to position itself as an alternative gaming destination to Macau and other established centres and is building four casino resorts in the seafront Manila Bay area it calls the "Entertainment City".

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