
Whoa, quite mouthful for a title! Last week, BF and I headed straight to the mall to finally have our first Shabu-Shabu experience at Tong Yang Shabu-Shabu and Barbecue Restaurant.
We got in at around 2:00PM so the place wasn't that crowded. The waiter wanted to seat us on a table where the other half was occupied already, when there were maybe a dozen tables more that were available. BF insisted on getting us seated in one of the empty corner tables and thank God the waiter finally gave in. That seemed like a bad start.
We were asked what kind of soup we wanted. You can choose from Chicken, Spicy Sate, Sinigang, Vegetarian, Kimchi and Taiwan Mala soup.(Or I guess depending on what's available for the day, the Vegetarian, Kimchi and Taiwan Mala weren't mentioned) We chose Sinigang. The waiter will then fill up the center metal bowl of your grill with the soup, the heat is adjustable to your liking and the knob is on the sides of the table. We were also served with butter, for greasing up the grill, or hotplate, whatever is the correct term for it.
Since we had some stuff we bought, plus I was carrying a bag, BF and I couldn't stand up and wander at the same time. So I delegated Chum the task of getting the food we will cook, I just told him to get the expensive ones. Zero in on BF, he's wearing a black shirt and almost is the in the center of the photo. *wink*
Round 1. BF has got some serious seafood obsession here. He got us assorted fish fillets, squid, squid balls, vegetables.
Some went together with the soup, and some went to be grilled. It was hard taking good or even at least acceptable shots because of all the smoke. Plus, make sure that you always grease up your hot plate, otherwise...
you'll end up with a messy and sticky situation like we did. We actually requested our hot plate to be rotated because there were a few burnt scrapings sticking out, and Tong Yang doesn't provide a utensil for scraping the hot plate clean.
Round 2! Mushrooms,oyster meat, more fish fillets. At this point I had enough of the fish, it was too bony! I'm not sure what type of fish this is as Chum was the one who chose this and of course we didn't have time to jot down notes. :)
Random amazing fact I discovered that day: Grilled shitake mushrooms are ♥. As the pig out rounds progressed, all I asked from BF was to get me more of these babies. I couldn't quite place it, but grilling a shitake mushroom brings out this wonderful smoky sweet flavor, that's just addicting for me.
Realizing I hadn't taken any pictures of the other food they offer, I stood up and asked first if I could indeed take pictures. The waiter positively agreed so I started to snap one shot after another, I was just unnerved by some waitress who was standing next to me and I feel looking at me funny. Who cares right? :) So I spotted some kimchi, which I took a snapshot of but completely forgot to taste.
Sushi overload. At this point, my love for sushi got the best of me so I started getting a bit of each to sample. I know that eating rice would probably slow me down but what the heck? I will always have plenty of space for sushi in my tummy. :)
I slowly devoured this sushi plate. The same time Chum was devouring his seafood fix. I can say this much that the sushi was filling, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. Chum and I can do sushi better than this at home.
Round 3! I rejoined BF on his seafood feast. I only ate quid, clams, oysters, shrimps, mushrooms and a few veggies though. I didn't dare try any fish anymore because they have a "no leftovers" policy and I didn't want to pay an additional Php 500.00 for unfinished food.
After some major pigging out, BF and I were almost full to the brim, but I knew I wanted to have some dessert to take away the "umay" factor after all the seafood I've consumed and cleanse my palate. I was disappointed with the dessert selection. BF said there were only a few cakes, some local ice cream flavors and ingredients for halo-halo. I was expecting at least some fancy looking desserts, a fondue or panna cotta maybe? So I had to satisfy myself with some halo-halo with 3 scoops of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream. The total damage was Php 585.00 for the buffet + Php 65.00 for unlimited drinks x 2 people = Php 1,300.00 or $ 29.34. Not bad, but that's the price our usual pigging out amounts to sometimes.
I decided to snap a few more pictures after eating, but by the time we finished at around 6 - 7:00PM the place was bombarded already, oh well, maybe next time, but I doubt we'll come back so soon, I have an inkling that there are far more better buffet, shabu-shabu and hot pot places we can go to and be far more satisfied.
So, have you tried dining at Tong Yang? Are you satisfied with the food and their pricing? If you know a better restaurant than Tong Yang where the food variety will astound the foodie in me, please do post them in the comments section, I'd love to hear from you!
Tong Yang Shabu-Shabu & Barbecue Restaurant
Location & Phone:
Jupiter Makati - (632) 899-3388, 897-4148
Quezon Ave. - (632) 373-3860 to 61
Adriatico Malate - (632) 536-8392, 536-8393
SM Megamall Atrium - (632) 631-3637, 470-3638
SM City Fairview - (632) 332-5236, 351-7838
Delivery: None
Estimated Budget: ~P485 to P585/person exclusive of bottomless drinks
P485.00 only
Monday - Saturday Lunch (11:00 AM - 2:00 PM)
Additional P500.00 charge for leftovers.
Monday - Saturday Lunch (11:00 AM - 2:00 PM)
Additional P500.00 charge for leftovers.
P585.00 only
Monday - Saturday Dinner (5:30 PM - 10:00 PM)
Sunday Lunch (11:00 AM - 2:00 PM)
Sunday Dinner (5:30 PM - 10:00 PM)
Monday - Saturday Dinner (5:30 PM - 10:00 PM)
Sunday Lunch (11:00 AM - 2:00 PM)
Sunday Dinner (5:30 PM - 10:00 PM)
Additional P500.00 charge for leftovers.
Payment Methods: Cash, Credit Card
Business Hours: 11:00AM to 10:00PM DailyYour pig out buddy,