Food-Stars: Yummy-niku at Tajimaya, SM Mall of Asia

Bad news folks! Tajimaya implemented it's new eat-all-you-can rule: NO MORE ICE CREAM INCLUDED! :(

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Our first choice for the night was actually Dampa since we were craving for tempura. In the end, we scheduled that for another time. Heard so much about Tajimaya at SM MOA that finally, we decided that it was time to take the plunge. With empty stomachs, we were bracing ourselves for an all-you-can-eat food adventure.

Tajimaya, SM Mall of Asia

Up close

We've eaten at a lot of eat-all-you-can buffets and frankly, they were all disappointing. So you can understand why we were hesitant to try this out.

Lighting our way...

As you enter, you'll notice a flaming chalice atop a wooden pedestal. Loved how the fake flames were flickering, I just had to take a picture of it.

Booths

What surprised me the most is that the restaurant was spacious. The booths were secluded and roomy. They were also coral-like panels that separate each table seating to another. Intimate and cozy, just the way we like it.

Also, the acoustics of the place was really great, you can talk amongst yourselves and not hear from the other tables. Ahhh.. bliss. Double thumbs up for that! :)

I was expecting the food to be lined up somewhere in the restaurant, much like in other restaurants. Guess what? You get to order from their eat-all-you-can menu and they serve your food fresh from the kitchen! No more strangers playing with the food, waiting in line or getting the dreaded "out of stock". OMG... I'm beginning to really ♥ this place! :)

Condiments

You get to choose from 2 types of eat-all-you-can promo.

(!) Php 420/head = which includes Chicken, Angus beef, Pork strips, Fish balls and Japanese sausages.

(2) Php 580/head = those above + shrimps, unlimited rice, unlimited iced tea and unlimited lettuce.

After much debate, we all settled for the P580. We immediately ordered one of each to taste. While waiting for the orders to arrive, they gave us 1 appetizer and 1 salad.

Appetizer: Togue and Kimchi

Not a fan of Kimchi, I settled on nibbling the Togue instead. Nothing special, it's just your usual Togue with no seasoning whatsoever.

Salad with Peanut/ Sesame Dressing

Although the serving was good for two, I was expecting the salad to be in separate bowls. Were we supposed to share it? The veggies were fresh and the dressing quite good.

Tajimaya prides itself as being a smokeless charcoal grill yakiniku restaurant. We wanted to see for ourselves if they lived up to their word.

1st stage: Grill with Cover

2nd stage: Empty grill with no cover

3rd stage: Charcoals and Grill

And now for the main event....

Charcoal Smokeless Grill = CHECK!

And once the charcoal are all used up, changing the grill is so easy. They have this big cover that locks into place and lifts the whole grill. Once they replace it with new charcoal, it's go time!

Grill Lid

It was actually hard to rate the taste when the cooking is left up to you so this review based it on the marinade they used, how it complimented each dish, the portions and freshness.

US Angus Beef

This was what totally sold it for us. These were sliced thin for easy cooking. It just takes about 1-2 minutes and you'll be able to taste the beef-y goodness. YUMMY! :)

Japanese Sausage

It may look like ordinary canned sausages but the taste is totally a different matter. It's well-made (no aftertaste of the ingredients used in making them) and the spiciness was a pleasant surprise.

Fish Balls

This was actually a "light & simple" dish compared to the others. Nothing special about it really but is a good go-to-food when you're getting a bit tired of the meat taste.

Pork Strips

Same with the beef, they sliced these thinly for faster cooking. This lacked marinade compared to the beef. Next time, I'll ask for more sauce.

Chicken

These were big cuts of chicken, they don't skimp on the pieces here. This takes awhile to cook, the longest actually. The sauce here does not really compliment the chicken. I dipped this into my own sauce mixture from the condiments and it was a huge improvement.

Shrimps

Honestly, I was expecting bigger shrimps. These were more like suahe sizes. Another downer was that they don't peel the shrimps, you have to do that on your own. Sigh. Good thing these were fresh and once you peel the skin off, cooks quickly.

Unlimited Lettuce

At first I couldn't believe that they included this on the eat-all-you-can menu. I could understand unlimited rice but really, unlimited lettuce? Well, at the end of the night I finished off 2 orders of these by myself.

You had to eat this the Japanese way. Wrapping the beef/pork in the lettuce. Top it with the peanut sauce.... YUM! The lettuce were green, crunchy and definitely fresh. One complaint is that the delicious peanut sauce was not unlimited. Darn.

Thanks for the great service, Randy! :)

Our entire dining experience was really wonderful. The staff were super friendly and helpful, none of those irritating frowns (unlike in other restaurants). They constantly check if you need anything. Our ultimate favorite was the beef, we just couldn't get enough of it! Also with the smokeless charcoal grill, you don't get any of the food smell onto your clothes. Yay! And remember it's all grilled so healthy! Haha.

With all of that in mind, it's no surprise that as I'm writing this now, I'm planning our next visit already.

How about you? :)

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