People waiting for Yakimix to open as early as 5PM
Being food monsters, my sister and I decided one day to go to Yakimix. We've been reading and hearing about it everywhere so we planned to line up at 5PM. At Yakimix Mall of Asia, 5PM is not early to line up for dinner. How crazy is that? At 5PM we were already the 29th walk-in customer to wait to be seated when the restaurant opens at 5.30PM
Me and my lil sis super excited to eat!
We thought we would have a seat inside but after the 27th customer - all tables were full and we had to have dinner al fresco :( Did I mention that a lady using a megaphone calls the names listed? And everyone was standing up waiting at the door. It was bad that the lady was reading some names incorrectly, we almost skipped ours because she amputated my sister's last name. The scenario was not really classy, we felt like waiting in a terminal. But for food, we were all willing to undergo this 'experience'. I was in a bit of panic because I was with my 2 month old son and it is always sticky humid in this area. Thank God for the evaporative fan beside our table.
Now onto the food, Yakimix offers lots of maki aka sushi. These are made fresh at the Japanese station where sashimi is also served. If you are a Japanese food lover like me then you are in for a treat!
Yey! for the seaweed salad
Aside from the sushi and sashimi, there's the crowd favorite - tempura which disappears in seconds from the buffet table. I actually waited for the tempura to be brought out and the diners swarm to the plate like bees to honey. The tempura is good but I wish they had more of it and I couldn't find the tempura sauce too. It also takes a lot of time before they replenish this tempura. Otherwise, it would have been more relaxed to eat.
Up next are the dishes, they had lechon macau with sauce which is heavenly crispy, fried chicken which I found tasty but a bit dry, vegetables with mushrooms which are juicy and tasty, and other dishes I didn't had space in my stomach to try.
Yakimix is known for grilling on the table, shabu-shabu style. But here, it's solely for bbq. You can choose from different meats like pork, beef, shrimps - all were really tender. I loved how the bbq was soft to the bite, it was perfect with hot rice. The grilling activity also makes dining more fun, I grilled hotdogs and vegetables wrapped in bacon.
For dessert, I first ran to the nearby Coffe Bean and Tea Leaf shop to buy a latte. I knew this would be the perfect match for all the sweets! I grabbed blueberry cheesecake which were in tiny slices, so I had to get 4 servings. Then, I also grabbed an egg tart which was also tasty. I wished they had real round cakes that guests can slice for themselves. The only cake that was present was an ube mango cake
Other desserts available are Selecta Icecream, popsicles,brownies, and fruits (Pineapple and Watermelon).
I could have missed some items but overall, Yakimix is a good casual place to enjoy an affordable buffet with friends. I would like to think more casual because it is a busy place, people lining outside waiting to be seated, diners walking to and from the buffet area, and busy servers. It might take some minutes before you can get their attention but with the price of Yakimix's buffet P599 - I guess this is just alright.
Lesson learned is to set a reservation to fully enjoy Yakimix minus the stress. Then maybe, come in at exactly 6PM when walk-ins have been seated and the crowd waiting outside are settled. It was Saturday when we went to Yakimix and we got to enjoy the free fireworks display by SM Mall of Asia. It also pays that you do not have any appointments after dinner so you can enjoy dinner and the buffet for a long time and be able to pace yourself :)
