FOOD CRITIQUE: YAKIMIX, CHINESE – JAPANESE – KOREAN MIX

I finally visited to YAKIMIX last week after my brother strongly recommended it. YAKIMIX is an all you can eat buffet type of restaurant offering Japanese sushi and Korean barbeques with some Chinese dishes. It is located along Macapagal highway, right across HK Plaza and near the World Trade Center. Personally, I think the food there is great. It is not your regular fare eat – all – you – can restaurant where the food are so – so and are simply stomach fillers. This place is a cut above the rest though not in the same league as the hotel buffets. It is also a shade more expensive because of that. Anyway, to start, the look of the restaurant is quite modern though not dazzlingly fancy. It is not strip bare either. The place is rather spacious and also well – lighted. Overall, the place exudes a kind of soothing ambiance. In terms of amenities, the parking space is adequate and the sanitation facilities are ok. Now for the food, I started the lunch by making myself a salad at their salad bar. I find their greens quite fresh and crisp, which you don’t see often in other similar buffet restaurant except probably in hotels. The sushi bar is placed right after the salad bar and their offering though plenty are quite the standard fare. You can see something like 15 sushi types being offered. In terms of the freshness of the sashimi both the tuna and the salmon being offered, it is rather fresh though not exactly Tsugi level fresh but still it is better than the other buffet type restaurant wherein the sushi are kind of frozen and “smelly”. One probable reason as to why the sashimis are rather fresh here at YAKIMIX is because the sashimis are laid over a covered “pillow” of crushed ice instead of a simple plate, which somehow “preserved” the freshness of the sashimi and not freezing it outright. The sashimi slices are quite larger here at YAKIMIX compared to similar buffet restaurants. The same goes with the other sushis. Aside from the salads and sushi, there are also Korean appetizers such as Kimchi, though I really won’t even try to touch it with a pole, not because there is anything wrong with their Kimchi but rather I really don’t Kimchi at all but according to my siobe, their Kimchi is less than authentic, i.e., doesn’t taste that good as those from Korea (my siobe loves Kimchi). After the appetizers, you have two choices of soup, both of them are Japanese. Didn’t try them though but again my siobe says its ok. Next to the soups are the cooked dishes, which are predominantly Chinese though at that time, they also served Crispy Pata (the meat only without the bones), Ebi Tempura, Tonkatsu. In fact, they have plenty of offerings to choose, which is somewhere around a dozen more or less. My favorite among the dishes that they offered is the Salt and Pepper Spareribs, though it is not that spicy the way I wanted it but then again it is rather meaty. The Ebi Tempura they’re offering uses less batter and as such though the shrimp fillings aren’t exactly “humongous” (more like small), one can actually taste more of the shrimp than the flour and egg that wrapped it. As for the Tonkatsu, the breadings are thin and the Tonkatsu is quite meaty. Overall, I find the quality of their cooked food rather excellent. Next to the cooked food are the Korean barbeques, raw meats such as beef, pork, lambs (according to my brother but I never had one because they didn’t offer it that day), and raw cuttlefish or squid (thinly sliced). All these barbeques are offered in two varieties. One marinated with black pepper and the other marinated in garlic and bell pepper. Again, there are about a dozen offerings on the buffet table. The raw barbeques are cooked on a cone type frying pan located at the center of your dining table. The slices are quite thin and are thus easily cooked. The barbeques taste great but seemed “few” because of their thin slices. However, by the time I get to it, I was already more than half full so it doesn’t really matter. The sauces by the way that is available for the patron to use is similar to the shabu – shabu sauces, which includes among other, the Sate paste. After the belly busting, full course meal, the dessert came in next. The desserts being offered consists of fruits (3 or 4 kinds), sweets like custards and cakes (around 5 to 6), and the traditional ice cream. It is surprisingly that they didn’t cut back on their dessert offerings unlike some other buffet restaurants. Plus, the ice cream is not the usual “Big Scoop” ice cream. Instead, its Selecta ice cream. Not only that, they also offer popsicles alongside the “traditional” ice cream scoops. Overall, the food offering is quite plenty and I find their taste and quality to be excellent. To be more precise, on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 the highest, I would place an 8.5 – 9.0 for their food offering. After the meal, came the bill. The price of YALIMIX’s buffet during lunch time on weekdays is P499 + service charge. The price is already inclusive of bottomless drinks. Prices other than the regular lunch is somewhere around P600+, drinks not included (+ P55 for the bottomless drinks). As I said, the price is a shade expensive considering the fact that the average shell – out while dining at a fancy ala – carte restaurant is around P400 including drinks. The other all – you – can – eat buffet restaurant charged around P350 for the food and roughly P400 with drinks during weekdays and on Sundays and holidays and dinner, the latter charged somewhere around P500 with drinks (definitely less than P600). Despite that, I think value – wise, YAKIMIX is a much better deal over the other buffet type restaurants. This is because you shell out a few extra bucks in return for a much excellent quality food fare.