Vikings: A Feast from the Sea

Buffet/Restaurant: Vikings Luxury Buffet

Price Range: Php. 688 - 1,088 

My hubby and I went to Vikings to celebrate my birthday last November 2012. We arrived around 5:00 pm and there were people lined up already. Their staff gave us a proper welcome, complete with introductions. They were quite organized and made a good first impression. The queue of diners were assisted to their tables in just a few minutes.

Vikings is probably one of the best restaurants that I've ever been to. The high ceiling and good lighting made food photography easier and more enjoyable. See photos below XD

Shrimp Ceviche

My hubby went for the appetizers first: salmon carpaccio, duck liver pate, smoked mussels, smoked feta cheese and Chinese herbal soup. He also got the shrimp ceviche shooters, which he thought was perfect since he loves sour foods.

Salmon Carpaccio

Chinese Herbal Chicken Soup

I had chawanmushi and salmon sashimi for appetizer.

Chawanmushi

I saw this in the dimsum and soup section. It was a bit odd because it tasted like a light Japanese soup, but with a custard-like consistency. According to Wikipedia, chawanmushi is a Japanese savory egg custard dish. This is probably one of the best dishes I've had at Vikings.

Sushi & Maki

Sashimi
If you like salmon sashimi like I do, then I am pretty sure that you will enjoy Vikings' sashimi. Very fresh and milky (as usual).

The Grilling Station
If you like it grilled, then this is the station for you. They virtually have everything; chicken, fish, pork and beef, which really goes well with ice cold beer (but we didn't have beer). :p

Salad Bar
Here you can create your own salad or have their ready made salads like the Russian or Olivier salad, Waldorf salad and pomelo salad.

Salad Bar

Drinks
This is one of my favorite sections of Vikings, they have sodas, fruit juices, cold coffee, cold milo, hot oolong tea, coffee, BEER and SAKE! Unlimited booze? Why not? Oh by the way, they also have wine, but for an extra fee.

Sake

Desserts and Fruits
Viking's has a very wide variety of desserts to choose from. They have Filipino favorite desserts such as biko, taho and halo-halo. They also have chocolate fondue, cakes, crepes, frozen yogurt and fruits.

Chocolate and Strawberry Fondue

We were not able to sample most of the desserts, just a bit of crepe with orange marmalade, frozen yoghurt, and a couple of small bars and cakes which we could not remember . Maybe next time? XD

We spent approximately Php. 940.00, since they have this birthday promo where the celebrant eats for free! (Don't forget to bring one valid ID!) They even gave me a small chocolate cake.

Vikings is one of the best buffet restaurants that we have visited. I will definitely go back there :3

Anyway, I'll be writing shorter reviews in the future since my work keeps me busy all the time! XD

Midnight to Morning Buffet at Somethin' Fishy

Restaurant: Somethin' Fishy

Price Range: Midnight to Morning Buffet (Php.159.00/head without drinks)

Somethin' Fishy is a popular restaurant in Eastwood City because of their lunch and seafood buffets, especially their Midnight to Morning Buffet (from 12 midnight to 10:00am) for only Php. 159.00 per head. Pretty cheap right? So, if you're saving money and you want to have a heavy breakfast with your friends and relatives, then Somethin' Fishy is here to help you  save money and satisfy your taste buds at the same time.

We usually have our breakfast at Somethin' Fishy because Eastwood is just a tricycle away from our place and Somethin' Fishy is the only restaurant where we can have a hefty breakfast around 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning. Besides that, they never fail to stuff our tummies. x3

For me, Somethin' Fishy's Midnight to Morning Buffet is one of the cheap and reasonable buffets because at the price of Php. 159 you can have unlimited waffles, mini pancakes, french toasts, sliced bananas, sliced apples, pandesal (yeast raised bread), sliced bread, baked ham, fried spring rolls (fried lumpia), fried rice, hotdogs, spams, plain scrambled eggs, Spanish omelette, tapa (marinated beef strips), tocino (sweetened cured pork), Spanish sardines, sardines in tomato sauce, fish fingers, sweet and sour pork, siomai (dimsum), stir fried noodles, (pancit), palabok, fried milkfish (bangus), adobong manok (marinated chicken), adobong baboy (marinated pork), tokwa't baboy (tofu and pork), lugaw (congee), champorado (chocolate/cacao rice porridge), mami (noodle soup), putobumbong (steamed glutinous rice), bibingka (rice cake), maja (coconut cake), jello, palitaw (sweet rice cake), biko (rice cake) and sliced banana fritters. I bet you didn't expect that much!

Before I start my food and restaurant review, here are some photos of the foods on their buffet table:

Waffles

Mini Pancakes

Baked Ham

Fried Spring Rolls (Lumpia)

Jello

Maja Blanca (Coconut Cake)

Siomai (Dimsum)

I wasn't able to take more photos because there were too many people and I am too excited to eat XD

If it's your first time to visit Somethin' Fishy, then I am pretty sure that you'll be confused and it'll be hard for you to pick out what to eat first. Don't worry mate, you're not alone! That same scenario also happened to us. Here's our plate (taken last year... I think)

My husband's plate: Pandesal, baked ham, Spanish omelette, fried bangus, lumpia, tapa, tokwa't baboy and Spanish Sardines

My plate: Pandesal, tocino, Spanish omelette, Spanish sardines, lumpia and maja blanca

Maja Blanca

Waffle with butter and maple syrup, French toast with chocolate, sliced peaches and apple

Peaches and Waffles (with butter and maple syrup)

Try 'em all, so you'll know what's good and you'll know what to get next time. Tried and tested. Look at our plates! ;)

Every dish was good, tasty and fair for its price. Their breads, waffles and pancakes were soft and airy, but  enough to make you feel full. Their meat and seafood dishes were good and cooked well, but a bit oily.    What do you expect to get from a Php.159.00 buffet? 

Must try's? Breakfast without tapsilog or tapa is boring, try their version of tapa and I am sure that you'll like it too! Their beef tapa tastes good, it's soft and chewy... And it even looks like gyudon! But this dish is soaked in oil (same goes to their tocino), so avoid getting the bottom part and wait for the staff to refill the tray. If you like chicken, then you must try their crispy chicken fingers, small but really tasty. Their Spanish sardines are bigger than bottled or canned sardines and it really goes well with hot pandesal or fried rice.

This is what I usually get...

Waffles with butter and maple syrup, beef tapa, chicken fingers with gravy and sliced apple

Sorry guys, but I really like eating waffles for breakfast. It may be weird for some of you, but it's really good, you should try it too! x3

Before I forget, if you want to enjoy dining at Somethin' Fishy, then make sure to get there around 5:00am because the restaurant is jam-packed around 6:00 or 7:00am... Or else you will have to wait for a couple of minutes before you can take your seat. Oh well, it's in Eastwood and many call center agents have their team breakfast there. Besides that, it's cheap and it has many food choices, this is why many people have their breakfast there. It's perfect for team breakfast, gatherings and meetings.

Visit them at:
Eastwood City Cyberpark, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Bagumbayan, Libis
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Philippines

Sambo Kojin - Eastwood

Restaurant: Sambo Kojin
Price Range: Eat All You Can Buffet (Php. 595 per head without drinks) 

25 September 2011

(Pictures were taken with our camera phone, so expect low quality photos. XD)

Kuni and I went to Sambo Kojin and took their eat all you can challenge for 595php per head. I made a reservation two days before because I don't want to wait for a couple of hours (besides that, it was my birthday treat to Kuni, so everything should be planned.) Moving on, the staff were pretty impressive because they were all attentive and they even welcomed us with huge smile on their faces. "Irasshaimase~"

I really like their place because they have this high ceiling, white walls and clean floor which makes the place spacious and neat even there were so many customers. Sambo Kojin's place will give you the impression of dining in a fine hotel or restaurant. I am pretty sure that you will enjoy dining with your friends or family there.

Kuni and I love sushi so the very first food that we tried is their sushi. Before I forget, their sushi is not your ordinary sushi, they made variations of maki with different fillings and toppings like kiwi and cherries. Their sushi rice was cooked nicely, the seafood and fruit toppings were also fresh. Sambo Kojin also has kimbap or Korean sushi which is a bit similar to futomaki or fat/thick rolls.

I love salmon sashimi, so I grabbed a plate and filled it with salmon :3 Here's their sashimi section, btw.

Looking for banchan or Korean side dishes and salad? Don't worry because they have it all for you! (I ate a lot of kimchi and I even filled my bowl with kimchi x3) They have fresh lettuce, crushed red chili, sweet potato, sweet yam, kimchi, gochujang, carrots, cucumber and dried anchovies. 

So if you are planning to make samgyeopsal or marinated and grilled meat wrapped in fresh lettuce, you can make as many as you like... Like we did x3

Kuni loves meat, so he went straight to Sambo Kojin's meat and seafood section. This is where you can get slices and pieces of meat that you want to grill. They have shrimps, salmon belly, tuna, pork, beef, asparagus wrapped with bacon or pork and etc. There were so many choices and I'm pretty sure that you will also have a hard time to choose what to grill because all of them were mouth watering and tempting :p 

You will cook your own food using the yakiniku grill on your table which makes your Sambo Kojin experience more fun! They also has six different sauces on each table for grilling like Sambo Kojin sauce, ponzu sauce and pepper sauce which made our meat and seafood even more tasty.

Sambo Kojin uses good quality meat and seafood, you can actually tell it by it's look, texture, scent and tenderness. I hate lengua or ox tongue because it is hard to chew, but Sambo Kojin's lengua was very soft and chewy (you won't even notice it's lengua!) While Kuni hates liver because it has this odd taste, but Sambo Kojin's liver were different, it was fresh and you can actually enjoy eating liver without that odd smell and taste. Same goes to their pork and beef cuts, it was soft and chewy, so no comment at all. 

The waiter offered us some Kamameshi (rice cooked in an iron pot topped with veggies and meat), but we refused his offer because eating rice in a buffet is a no no and  besides that, we already know its taste. We usually pick unusual foods or dishes if we are in a buffet.

For those who wants just the usual, don't worry because they have plain rice, fried rice yakisoba (or stir fried noodles), miso soup, chapchae or Korean glass noodles, different kinds of tempura (deep fried veggies and meat) and stews. They also have tofu steak and kimchi jeon or kimchi pancakes. 

Tofu Steak, Kimchi Jeon, Spicy Wings and Spicy Squid

Apparently, they don't have unlimited drinks like Tong Yang, but Sambo Kojin has a wide variety of drinks to choose from and you can even convert their single serving or regular iced tea to bottomless. They also have Japanese beers in their menu like Asahi which is our favorite, but we didn't get some because it will make us feel full right away. We had some hot tea for 48php... I think. (This is how we survived Sambo Kojin). My only comment here is, their drinks are quite pricey. Good thing I'm not a big fan of iced tea XD

If you like sweets like I do, then I am pretty sure that you will leave a room for dessert! Sambo Kojin has fruit slices, chocolate fondue, ice creams, cakes and brownies.

The desserts were usual, but it is enough to satisfy your sweet cravings and taste buds after a savory meal. 

Here's what I picked for my dessert: Blueberry cheesecake, strawberry and vanilla ice cream (Big Scoop), pineapple chunks, sliced apple and a pastry dipped in melted chocolate :3

Sambo Kojin's layout was pretty nice because you can see their cooks/chefs preparing the foods and refilling the plates at the counter (They are right behind the counter). They were pretty impressive because you won't even see an empty plate at their food section or counter, they will refill or add more before it runs out. (Yes, you don't have to wait and you don't have to tell them.) The staff were pretty attentive and full of energy, you can actually see and feel that they were all happy to serve you.

For me, 595php is just right, not too pricey and not too cheap. You can have quality food, comforting ambiance and proper customer service. Kuni and I will definitely go back to Sambo Kojin, this time I will take a lot of pictures using our new camera~ I'm gonna gather up some friends too. We really had fun! Thank you Sambo Kojin! :3

Visit Sambo Kojin at Eastwood behind Somethin' Fishy
You can contact them at 421-0145 or 46 (For reservation and more information)

Chef d' Angelo - Eat All You Can

Restaurant: Chef d' Angelo
Price Range: Eat All You Can (Php. 150.00 per head without drinks)

Want to eat unlimited pizza, pasta, salad, and soup for only 150php? Just visit Chef d' Angelo at these times and days: Monday to Sunday, 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 8pm.

Kuni and I went to Robinson's Galleria (Ortigas) yesterday and we tried Chef d' Angelo's Eat All You Can, since we are terribly starving because we slept the whole day (blame the cold weather!).

Moving on, I love pizza so I will start this short review with their pizza! Surprisingly, Chef d' Angelo's pizzas were good and yummy because their dough is really chewy and dense compared to Pizza Hut's greasy and airy dough. This is real pizza! Their dough's texture is pretty close to Sbarro's pan pizzas. I just wish that their pizza slices were bigger.

How about their salad? Their salad is crunchy and fresh, I ate lots of salad yesterday! Crunchy lettuce are really addicting. Their salad bar has black olives, carrots, and tomatoes... Don't worry there's a salad dressing available (Caesar dressing only). All you can eat = you can grab as many as you want! (Just make sure you will empty your plate or else you will be paying for it.)

How about their pasta? Everybody loves pasta! Chef d' Angelo's pasta is quite good, I think the quality is just right for its price (150php), so don't expect much. They have two pasta sauces to choose from: white and Hawaiian. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try their white sauce but their Hawaiian sauce is not that bad at all. 

What I hate? I am not pleased with the people who are eating there! Why? They don't really care to the next person who will be eating next or who will be using the serving spoons! The spoons are greasy and sticky... And they're not falling in line they will just stop and wait for the refill of the foods. How unorganized.

Chef d' Angelo staffs are organized and friendly. They even maintained their place neat. No comment at all! :D

Here's my plate!

Rating: Average 

The price is just right. You can eat as many as you like! (Again just make sure that you will finish everything on your plate!) Fresh green salad all you can, a healthy option for weight watchers and for people who are health conscious.