Vikings Restaurant Buffet

Let’s begin this blog with a very helpful tip:

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If you don’t wanna wait for 5 hours just for a table at Vikings get reservations at least a week in advance – Ohh and make sure to go there personally because they won’t reserve you if you just called. Tried & Tested.

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I’m dead serious about that, a lot of people go to Vikings everyday and as to what my friends experienced, they waited for 5 hours while me and my family just had to go in and talk to the front desk to lead us to our table. Personally I like Vikings! It’s not as expensive as Spirals but still offers a hefty amount of choices. Let’s start!

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The nearest from the entrance was the grilling station where slipper crabs, squids, oysters, clams, salmon and other fish varieties were placed on top of the ice in front of the Grillardin (french for a person who grills) who you can ask to cook the seafood of your choice.

Some of the fish variety – I wasn’t able to take a picture of the crustaceans. Urgh.

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My Dad and Sister – the varieties of food doesn’t stop in seafood there were also different meat kebab!

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Beside the Grilling station to the right was the Tempura Station, Where Vegetable, Squid, and Shrimp tempura can be found. The tempura was so so but the sauce made it great.  THIS WAS THE ONLY BUFFET I WENT TO THAT NEVER RAN OUT OF TEMPURA. SRSLY.

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Beside the Tempura Station was the Italian Station. Am I using the word station too much? Moving on, you can ask the chefs there to cook pasta for you the way you like it, and also there is ready-made pizza available.

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Let’s go to my favorite side of the buffet, the asian station. The Asian station offers different kinds of Sukiyaki bowls, a variety of maki rolls, dumplings, katsudon, soups such as egg and miso soup, surimi balls for shabu shabu and a whole tuna with its upper part sliced into 1 inch 2 x 3 inch rectangles forming sashimi!

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SUSHI BOAT – TO DIE FOR!

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SASHIMI – JR: Baby… there’s a dead fish on the table!

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Shabu shabu station – different kinds of surimi balls

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An example of a sukiyaki – you can ask them to make you one with your prefered ingredients.

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They also have a western station, which was beside the long salad bar, who eats salad in a buffet? seriously? Never the less I fell in love with their lamb shank stew. (I forgot to take a picture of that dish too. dang!)

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SALAD BAR – there were ready made salads on the other side of this buffet table

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Assorted cheese selection

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Cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto

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Cold cuts, Chicken feet, Pig’s heart, & Soy Chicken

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Nachos – the chili con = no bueno

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 The 2 men in my life put their rotisserie to the test. The Rib eye according to my father was amazing especially when paired with the red wine sauce, while the tenderloin was tender and cooked until medium well just the way he likes it, according to my bestfriend&boyfriend JR!  :”>

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& just incase you were wondering, yes there is caviar available! They should have used a mother of pearl spoon for this though, metal or silver cutleries affects the taste and texture of caviar. Ohhh and before I forget, here comes the best part!

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They have unlimited JUICE!

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Unlimited SODA!

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&&& for all alcoholics out there! UNLIMITED BEER!

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But also offers wine and champagne for the social drunkards

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The interior of the restaurant was simple yet elegant, every corner was properly lighted and air-conditioned,  the crowd was okay and some of our friends were there also.

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Overall, I think this can be a great place for a date, it wasn’t noisy there at all and if you want privacy you’ll get it for sure because there is cubicle like tables with couches plus you can also hold event there like birthdays actually…

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The table beside us celebrated the grandmother in red’s birthday there! :>

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A blurry family picture to end the night! Haha! =))

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Price list

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ADDRESS: Bldg. B, By The Bay, Seaside Boulevard, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City, Philippines

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For more inquiries & reservations:

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For Res pls call: 846-3888, 846-4888, 846-5888 and 0917-565-3888.

Vikings: The Best Eat and Drink Buffet In Manila.

Opens daily 11:00am- 2:30pm,5:30pm-10:00pm,

Weekday Lunch is 688+

Weekday Dinner is 888+

Weekend Lunch and Dinner is 1088+

Best buffet in Manila: Spirals at Sofitel

I’m still a student and eating at spirals is part of our course curriculum. I love being a Chef in progress!

Let’s start with our trip to spirals, okay, here it is. Spirals is popular so its easy to find. The only down side is the restaurant is placed in Manila which means A WHOLE LOT OF TRAFFIC.

Its secluded and near Manila bay so it can promise you serenity. The staff is nice, the foods great, the rooms are spacious and very homey, there’s no problem with parking, and I’m pretty sure the place is properly secured.

Lets move on to what’s important the buffet:

This sign will great you as you go in the restaurant. Spirals has different food bars, they have the Pasta, Bread and Salad, Chinese, Middle east, Japanese, American, Spanish, and Dessert station.

This is the Chinese station, they serve great Hakao also known as Shrimp dumplings. I waited for about 8 minutes for them to serve new dumplings. Ohh yeah! They actually have a Chinese Chef in charge of the station.

This is the extension of the Chinese Section, you can actually make noodle soups or the guy over can make it for you. He also makes the Asian Wrap which was good but with a bit too much hoisin.

This is the American side AKA the Prime rib section. The Prime ribs were delectable, it was soft and chewy, medium rare with the juices sipping out of it.

Beside the oh so yummy Prim Rib is the roasted chicken. I didn’t have the chance to try it but  I think its great because my friends had an awesome time devouring it. Yes, devouring.

The Japanese section featured different types of sushis, which were really good. They also had japanese squid balls, vegetable,  mussel, and shrimp tempura with 2 types of sauces.

The California Maki was good, it doesn’t break when dipped in soy sauce and wasabi, plus the mangoes were very sweet.

They have this side of the section where you can pick what topping you want on your sushi then they make it in front of you. They also have a ready made bunch just in case people start to go crave awesome sushis.

I don’t know if what cuisine this is part of but probably Japanese, this huge circular serving dish with an amazing ice sculpture in the middle featured crabs, shrimps, and oysters. The sauces was in those white containers. The boiled crab and shrimp needed more salt. It was too plain and for me, too cold.

This teeth staining dish was placed beside the Japanese station, I was a bit scared of eating Paella Negra because it might get stuck between my teeth, fortunately it didn’t. It was good, a bit soggy but  still had a bite in it. There was also a gracious amount of seafood and sausages on top.

& for the best part, dessert. They served different types of cakes and sweets. As you can see above they had fruit tarts, napoleons, and macaroons.

They also have the chocolate fondue, which had white chocolate, dark chocolate and pistachio that was a bit too thin. You have 3 choices on what to dip: Marshmallow,  pineapple, and melon.

sLet us not forget the ice cream which was really good, plus they have a lot of toppings in which you can choose from, the girl serving this was a Benildean. ANIMO BENILDE! The ice cream was a great hit to the children and children at heart.

Amongst all the desserts, gummies, and candies this was my favorite. I really do have a thing for sour tapes, plus they’re really cute.

A friend of mine took a handful of this because he still wanted to eat but didn’t have time, they’re your normal Candy beans. They are’nt jelly beans.

Overall, Spirals was great. I had fun and I’m sure my friends did too. the food was great, the service was spectacular. I didn’t have to call the server’s attention to have some water or to get my plate taken, plus the hotel’s staff was actually full of beautiful people.

Oh yeah, they actually have froi gras.

Spiral, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel

Breakfast Buffet Monday to Friday (6.30 AM – 10.30AM)

P1,250 net adults, P625 net Children 6-12years old, FREE < 6yrs old.

Breakfast Buffet Saturday to Sunday (6.30 AM – 10.30AM)

P1,496 net adults, P748 net Children 6-12years old, FREE < 6yrs old.

Lunch Buffet Everyday (11.30 AM – 2.30 PM)

P1,828 net adults, P914 net Children 6-12years old, FREE < 6yrs old.

Dinner Buffet Sunday to Thursday (6.30 PM – 10.30 PM)

P2,073 net adults, P1,036 net Children 6-12years old, FREE < 6yrs old.

Credits to my good friend, Gloria S. for the pictures

Mercato Centrale at Fort Bonifacio

I and my best friend Jr went to Bonifacio High street to get my Crocs fixed, as usual we got hungry and decided to eat. We went to Paul Calvin’s Deli but it was still closed. The girl said we have to wait till 2:00 for the P299.00 pasta buffet! So we headed for Mercato.

Let me give you a head start on what Mercato is all about!  Mercato Centrale is a place to chill and eat good food without hassle. It is filled with organic food (Hello Vegans? You’ll like this place), mouth watering burgers and sausages, Cakes and cold finds for dessert and let’s not forget the best thing about this place, they have FREE WIFI!

Our first stop was Mochiko, I instantly craved for Vanilla Mochi balls when we got there. Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape  and because we are in the Philippines, ours have a really gracious amount of ice cream in the middle.

They come in different flavors like: Vanilla, Chocolate, Mango, Green tea, Stawberry, Caramel, etc. They cost P70.00 each

It was so hard to pick what to eat when there’s so much food choice, but JR settled his mind and ordered Big Bob’s Special from Big Bob’s Charcoal Grilled Burger which was a Certified Mercato favorite.

It had a 1/3 pound pure beef patty, bacon, mozzarela, cheddar cheese and vegetables. It was a bit dry and kind of normal, I give it a 7.  The burger was worth P160.00 Not Bad!

It took me longer to decide on what to eat, I was really hungry so I ended up eating Paella from Simply, Delicioso! which costs P150.00.

The cooks were spanish natives so no wonder the Paella was great. Though I only wish they could change the sausage. It has this weird after taste that you actually don’t want in your mouth. I love the fact that they would actually reheat the food for you.

Manang’s offers chicken which is like buffalo wings in some sense but is actually double dipped in their secret soy garlic sauce then after was topped with sesame seeds.

I’m sorry but the chicken was so salty, I couldn’t eat it. I wouldn’t really recommend it to people because it’s one of those picks I’ll never try eating again.

Over all Mercato is a great place to be at. You’ll never go wrong with food and friends. Plus they also have air conditioned tents so you won’t really get that sweaty if you aren’t used to the third world heat.

Operating Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 7:00am – 2:00pm

Location:34th street and 8th avenue (across MC Home Depot)

Note: There is also a Midnight Mercato

Open Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm to 3am