{"id":79,"date":"2013-11-01T07:48:20","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T07:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=79"},"modified":"2014-01-15T05:59:58","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T13:59:58","slug":"buffet-dining-at-its-finest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2013\/11\/01\/buffet-dining-at-its-finest\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffet Dining at its finest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vikings<\/a>
Vikings offers over 300 food selections to whet your appetite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Everywhere you go in the metro, you\u2019ll find buffet restaurants. And, this isn\u2019t a surprise anymore, as we, Filipinos, love to eat\u2014much!<\/p>\n

I, for one, am a fan of buffet restaurants, regardless of who I am with (but I prefer to be with my husband so I can eat for free!). These restaurants appeal to me, because I can eat a variety of foods\/cuisines in one day. Imagine that, sampling a handful of cuisines from all over the world!<\/p>\n

But hey, buffet-eating requires us to follow certain techniques so we can conquer the odds\u2014one of which is the fullness of our stomach. So, here, I will share with you some techniques that I\u2019ve learned from some buffet warriors I know:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Don\u2019t wear tight-fitting clothes so you can eat freely without worrying that your buttons will pop open (or dislodge!) in the middle of the buffet war.<\/li>\n
  • Take a light meal (or don’t eat at all) before eating in a buffet restaurant, so you can eat as much as you want to (those succulent foie gras are waiting for you).<\/li>\n
  • Start from light to heavy. Have a light appetizer in the form of green salads, and then attack the roast beef.<\/li>\n
  • Ignore foods\/cuisines that you can normally eat at a regular restaurant so you can have more space for classic and not-your-day-to-day cuisine.<\/li>\n
  • If you get full right away, drink hot water.<\/li>\n
  • Change your plate. Pace yourself.<\/li>\n
  • Relax and talk to your friends. Enjoy the ambiance. Get ready for yet another round.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Depending on your budget and food preferences, here are some of the most popular buffet restaurants in Manila.<\/p>\n

    Hotel Buffets (P1,600-P3,000+ per plate or CAD$40-$75)<\/b><\/p>\n

    Spiral at Sofitel<\/b>. As you walk into this restaurant, you will be greeted \u201cBonjour, Mabuhay!\u201d by its costumed employees. You can choose from their wide-ranging food selections that include North Indian, French, Japanese, Chinese dumplings, lobster, sashimi, 19 types of cheeses and 20 types of charcuterie. (but expect a rate that fits its abundance and quality\u2014-a whopping P2,400-P3,000+ per plate or CAD$60-$75!).<\/p>\n

    Circles at Shangri-La Makati<\/b>. If you want a cheaper version of Spiral, you can go for Circles. At P1,671 (CAD$40), you can already enjoy a great weekday lunch, with quality, ambiance and presentation that its more expensive counterpart is known for.<\/p>\n

    Spectrum at the Raffles Hotel<\/b>. Here, you can find international cuisines with a Filipino twist. You can enjoy lechon kawali sushi or chocolate calamansi cake, among others.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Affordable buffet restaurants (P245- P1,000 per head)<\/b><\/p>\n

    Cabalen<\/b>. This 26-year-old Filipino buffet restaurant continues to give the best value for your money. For just P298 (CAD$8), you can enjoy their wide-ranging Filipino buffet, and if you prefer a Filipino-Asian buffet, just add P100 (CAD$2.50) to the Filipino buffet rate.<\/p>\n

    Buffet 101<\/b>. If you want a hotel ambience at a lower price, this buffet restaurant is for you. \u00a0Their lunch buffet costs P699 (CAD$17) per head and their dinner buffet is P950 (CAD$25).<\/p>\n

    Vikings<\/b>. Food bloggers described it as the cheaper version of Spiral. For P800-P1,000 (CAD$20-$25), you can already enjoy 300 selections of \u00a0your favorite cuisines. Kids who are below 3 feet can eat for free, while senior citizens are given a 50% discount. But you will need tons of patience as you will have to wait outside before you can dine in. But it is worth the wait.<\/p>\n

    Yakimix and Sambo Kojin<\/b>. Here, you can already enjoy sukiyaki the hotpot style and eat beef sukiyaki all you want at P500- P600 (CAD$12-$15) per head.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Kowloon House<\/b>. If you want authentic Chinese cuisine at an affordable price, this buffet restaurant is a must-try. At P298 (CAD$7.50), you can already sample exciting selections. It also has a romantic ambience and relaxing music\u2014ideal for first (second, or third) dates. Kowloon also holds wedding receptions, and this is why (maybe) the ambience is one of love.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Tramway Buffet<\/b>. Perhaps, it is one of the most affordable buffet restaurants in Manila. At P245 (CAD$6), you can already enjoy Chinese cuisine that includes sweet and sour pork, dumplings, noodles, fried rice, sushi and some Filipino desserts on the side.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    A last piece of advice: Exercise. So you can eat buffet style again, of course.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Happy eating, foodies!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A look at the most popular buffet restaurants in Manila.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-food","mauthors-katherine-marfal-teves","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}