Buffet 101!

After our quest in Vikings, off we go to it's known rival, Buffet 101! Definitely it's another chain of eat-all-you-can restaurant with a vast selection of yumminess! Similar to Vikings, they have the salad section, steak, pasta, dimsum, seafood, drinks and dessert only to be fewer in choices. But then, I don't think that's a disadvantage, why? Cause you can really focus on the good stuff and not be overwhelmed thinking on what to pick.

How come it became Viking's rival? Well, aside from being located along MOA, they offer mostly the same cuisine from western, Italian  and Asian  They also have unlimited drinks to choose from including the draft beer and fresh fruit shakes. Like Vikings, the ambiance is also classy like that of hotel restaurants. The food was great, and I think I enjoyed it more since I remembered the rules LOL, and for the fact that the food was indeed flavorful! Vikings may have an extensive food choices, but Buffet101 have more tasty stuff! Here are some of our pics to share with you guys ^_^

I loooove the pasta with the lobster sauce and the Lapu-lapu fish fillet together with the rissotto!!! The garlic crab is a must try! No wonder why everyone was using their hands while eating, and the funny part was all the tables were full of crab shells, it's all over the place!! LOL! This is just like  the one at Chinatown's best food...

The scallops were great with it's distinct grilled flavor! Because of that, we had 2 rounds of these.

My ultimate dessert! Crepe with orange, blueberry and strawberry!

While we were eating, one of the staff informed us that we could avail their promo of 10% discount if we like and share their page on facebook, so instead of paying 1398Php we only paid 1250++ for their weekday lunch buffet without service charge (Vikings has)!!! How great was that! Here's their rate if you want to try it as well. ^_^

Simply CupS n' C@keS ???

It's been a while since my last entry here in FoodBites. Well,  I was busy thinking of what business to do while working as a private nurse at St. Luke's. I can't think of anything but FOOD... aside from the fact that I love eating, I also have the passion for cooking! Though I wasn't given the chance to study in a culinary school I tried learning on my own from scratch and out of common sense. But then, I wasn't good at cooking at all so I just focused on eating everything! LOL!

They say, in food business you can never go wrong. Why? Because: One, Filipinos love to eat. Two, Filipinos love to eat. And three, Filipinos love to eat. So, Kiks and I thought of investing in foodcarts. Nowadays it is one of the fastest growing food networks in our country and you can start having your own cart for as low as 25K-35K. Our target locations are within malls and grocery stores where there's a lot of people who goes there for food. The market(target consumer), almost everyone since the food is always affordable and on the go. However, when we attended the seminar, the price of the franchise located in malls is totally different, from 25K to 250K! So, goodbye foodcart...

Oh well, food business doesn't stop there and we planned for another one , and another one... then my aunt suggested, "Why not try cakes and pastry. You already have your bakery, why don't you try to learn from there?! Anyway I know you always liked designing so I think you'll be artistic enough for some cake decorating, right?" That time I was staring at her, and then, BOOM! Why didn't I think of that?! I already have the basics for baking since I help my mom when she bakes for us. So yeah, why not give it a try!

Since I'm interested in cake decorating, I thought of cakes and cupcakes! It's "in" today with kids and adults for gifts, parties, and events. It's easy and fun to eat with different flavors, colors, and designs. But then I thought "How can I compete with PRO bakers who bakes half of their life? How can I compete with established names in the business like Sonja's, Cakes are us, etc.?" My mind was blank and I was becoming hesitant towards the idea of entering the world of baking industry. Then someone told me, " Just give it a try, if you'll enjoy doing the craft then it means it's something that you want to do. Every business starts small then eventually it becomes big if you know how to work it out. It starts with your family and friends, they are your connections to other people to try what you can offer. The success of a business doesn't only come with the right capital alone but with the connections you have and most importantly, if you have the heart in what you do." What she said was very encouraging right? So I continued learning from one of our bakers who specializes in cakes and introduced my products in our own bakery. I enjoyed baking and decorating stuffs and what's enjoyable of all is the fact that people liked what I did! Every batch of cupcakes that I put in display in our shop was sold out! Then I started accepting made to order cakes and cupcakes and I was happy to hear positive comments whenever I met their requests. I welcome their suggestions for improvements and really work on it. Let me share with you some of my works: =)

Every business has its own name so I came up with "Simply CupS n' CakeS" since I intend to specialize to which the name implies. So, what do you think? If you're interested, visit us in Facebook, like us and share it to your family and friends. We, in Simply CupS n' Cakes offer you stylish, fresh and delicious cupcakes and cake at an affordable price for all occasions. I hope you do try our products sometime! Thank you for reading! XOXO

Vikings: Luxury Buffet?

San Miguel By the Bay
SM Mall of Asia Seaside Blvd
Manila Bay reclamation area, Pasay
02-846-3888

I love buffets!! I find it more sulit that eating in a fine dining restaurant and we Filipinos truly have an eye for All-you-can-eat, belly buster and mouth watering treats served unlimited! Turn left or right and you'll find different establishments around the corner that offers buffet, from restaurants to five star hotels, it's a competition!

Vikings is said to be a luxury buffet that you can compare to other hotels in terms of ambiance, variety of dishes and service but, with a lower rate. Well, if you can get pretty much the same thing that's cheaper, where else can you be? ^_^

I've heard a lot of buzz about it and finally, I've got the chance to try it last Saturday, it's one of those special days of Kiks and I so we decided to have a feast from the sea the vikings way!!! 

Here's a photo blog of our Vikings experience:

The Salad Station

The Grilled Station

Sushi Station

Tuna and Salmon Sashimi Carving Station

The Sushi Boat

Seafood Station

Dimsum

Meat Carving Station

Pasta Station

 

Hotpot

The Dessert Station

The Drinks Station

Some of the menu for the day:

According to buffet 101 techniques: Roam around.. try to taste everything first and get as many as you can of the ones you like.. avoid the fillers and the ordinary.. AND, consume those that are expensive! Sadly, I don't think I remembered those as most of what I got did not actually went with it... 

 If I started my meal with something that's not good, I might lose my appetite. So, to make it safe, Sushi and Nachos are the front liners. Sushis good but not great...I love their nachos, the toppings were complete and the meat was really tasty. The salmon was fresh and kiko managed to finish 1 whole plate of it (10pcs i think). Dimsum's just ok.

They have Pizza! Yey! And it's good! The Angus Rib eye steak was a bit tough, I'd say casa filipino's angus beef tasted way better than this... Baked oyster was ok, but I like mine to have butter and garlic together with the cheese and cream.

Who would not love tempura?? But then, I want Yakimix's tempura than this one. The batter wasn't that good... The carbonara on the other hand was creamyummy! Lol

For the love of ice cream... who would have thought that I would go twice on a bubblegum flavored ice cream?? Isn't that color blue appealing to your eyes? Well it is right? It's actually not bad, you're like chewing your bubblegum without losing it's flavor. It's good I promise you, though kiko was giving me the face saying "you're weird"... Am I??

What did I say about fillers? Marshmallow is one of them, but why would I care, I love fondue!!! The froyo's another story, it isn't my thing.. not at all.. I don't like it's sour taste but Kiko does... Now about the drinks, here's my warning, stay away from "fresh strawberry juice" ok?... the ice coffee was good though, it tasted like iced machiatto of Starbucks and I had 2 glasses of it! And of course, it's not vikings without their famous unlimited draft beer! hick!

We had this meal for a price of 1088++ each since it's a Saturday. Is it sulit? Of course it is, but not for me I guess.. Aside from the fact that I was expecting more from it, I wasn't able to eat that much =( ... But Kiks said he was happy about it cause he managed to have a taste of everything! I'll be back again to have my revenge that's for sure but maybe I'll do it during weekdays when it's much cheaper.. LOL! The ambiance is great, the service is good, and the food is ok... overwhelmingly lots to choose from! We left the place full and with smiles on our faces because we got to spend the day together regardless of what we have to share with each other... =)

Operating hours:

Lunch 11am - 2:30pm

Dinner 6pm - 10pm

*For sure seats, make a reservation since they're always fully booked

*For walk-in, arrive 1hour before the opening for the waiting list