For the love of Japanese food!

If there's one thing that I could binge one, it would be Japanese food! On a particularly hungry day (or night), I would drag Kyle to one of my favorite stop for good Japanese food, Sambokojin. As most of you may already know, Sambokojin is a "grill and eat all you can" restaurant. Their buffet offers a lot of yakiniku varieties and a great plus is that they also serve cooked dishes. The cuisine is not limited to Japanese, but is composed of a fusion of Asian dishes.

Yesterday, our hunger pangs kicked-in, and we decided to treat it with a little Japanese cure :).

We were lucky enough to get seated immediately when we arrived at their West Avenue Branch, a bit past 12 noon.

On to the feast!

I immediately went to the sushi / sashimi station and was greeted by a colorful array of maki, sushi and sashimi.

    

My first two plates. Yes, I finished everything on those two plates. :D Both the salmon and tuna tasted fresh!

      

Next stop, the meats! Sambokojin offers a wide assortment of both marinated and non-marinated meats. I love the fact that they serve quality USDA beef which are very tender and flavorful when cooked. They also have a variety of bacon and beef  rolls, including my favorites, the bacon-asparagus and beef-enoki. (YUM!).

   

They also have a fried station where you can eat tempura to your heart's content! I do advise not to binge on tempura as this can fill you up very fast because of all the breading and oil.



Here's what we got:

      

      

I wasn't able to take anymore pictures after we sat down and started cooking. We got a few more plates after that round and also got some items from their dessert area.

Their dessert selections presented fresh fruits, assorted cakes and pastries, chocolate fondue and an ice cream station.

Our meal left us happy and very satisfied.

I find their buffet rate very reasonable. For just Php 699 per person (either lunch or dinner), you get to feast on quality dishes that will not disappoint your taste buds!

GOOD NEWS! They'll be opening a branch at SM MEGAMALL, soon.

SAMBOKOJIN

EDSA Branch - 207 EDSA, Greenhills, Mandaluyong City  (02) 726-4466 / (02) 726-4520 / 0917-8964465

West Avenue Branch - 15 West Avenue, Quezon City  (02) 372-8846 / (02) 921-2873 / 0917-8948845

Eastwood Branch - Eastwood Citywalk, Bagumbayan, Quezon City  (02) 421-0145 to 46 / 0917-3160144 / 0939-9340144

SM Southmall Branch - Ground Level Eastwing Food Street Alabang Zapote Road, Las Piñas City  (02) 511-7843 / (02) 511-7853 / 0917-8107833 / 0908-8757833

Bubble Tea!

I've been craving for some good milk tea, so we decided to have dinner at Bubble Tea.

Bubble Tea specializes with Japanese milk tea, and of course, Japanese food.

We got the large Almond Milk Shake (Php 145) and Japanese Green Milk Tea (Php 125). For the food, we got the Kani Salad (Php 135), Takoyaki (Php 175), Salmon Sashimi (Php 170), Nippon Ebi (Php 285), and Sukiyaki Beef (Php 255).

     

Both drinks we ordered were delightful! The Almond Milk Shake was very creamy and was not too sweet. The almond flavor was also just right and didn't overpower the drink. The Japanese Green Milk Tea was just lovely. I might be a bit biased about this since I love matcha. It's a bit of an acquired taste, so if you haven't tried it, might as well go for another flavor. :)

Compared to other milk tea places, Bubble Tea's versions stand out mainly because of the "bubbles" that they use. It has a very unique syrupy flavor and a nice chewy texture, that got me addicted to it.

The food was served with only a few minutes of interval between dishes. Food line-up: Kani Salad, Takoyaki, Salmon Sashimi, Nippon Ebi and Sukiyaki Beef.

     

 



Love the Kani Salad! They did not scrimp on the amount of kani, mango, and Japanese mayonnaise.

The Takoyaki was just ok. Their version is a bit firmer than what I usually have.

The Salmon Sahimi tasted fresh and was just wonderful. It's also priced affordably, compared to other Japanese restaurants. My only complaint is that the wasabi should have had more kick in it.

The Nippon Ebi is a panko-breaded prawn, rolled in sushi rice and topped with mango on melted mozzarella cheese. I found the dish just ok, nothing really spectacular.

Their Sukiyaki had generous helpings of thin slices of beef. The flavor of the soup was very mild, we couldn't find the bold flavor that we've tasted from traditional sukiyaki.

We had a satisfactory meal. The food is nothing really extraordinary, but its their bubble tea that keeps me coming back.

TOKYO BUBBLE TEA

Tomas Morato Branch - 220 Tomas Morato Avenue Corner Scout Deguia, Laging Handa, Quezon City (02-9217382)

Trinoma Branch - Second Floor, Trinoma Mall, North Triangle, Quezon City

SM North Branch - Ground Floor, The Block, SM City North EDSA, Quezon City

SM Megamall Branch - Lower Ground Floor, Building A, SM Mega Mall, Ortigas Centre, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City (02-6387479)

Taguig Branch - Unit 1 and 2, Ground Floor, The Fort Residences, 30th Residences, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City (02-4787483)