My time in the Philippines was well spent – I got to enjoy my vacation and meet up with a couple of close Stickam friends! I already met Geldy and Bonny in Tagaytay, so the last friend was Kris. I was in the mood for a buffet, so we had lunch at SM Megamall at a place called Dad’s. 

The place was massive; spanning across several restaurants under the same roof, namely Kamayan (Filipino spread) and Saisaki (Japanese spread). There was also a dessert counter and Western food counter. For only PHP588, I thought it was a steal as the sheer variety here beats any similarly priced buffets back in Malaysia!

(Above) Appetisers of breads, cheese and cold cuts

Onion rings, chicken tenders and other deep fried finger food.

Tender, roast beef cuts.

A Filipino buffet can’t be complete without the customary lechon, crispy pata and other similarly porky goodness.

Get creative at the pasta station where guests can customise their noodles with different sauces and ingredients.

I liked the baked mussels: they were huge, fresh and topped with loads of cheese. Other patrons must agree, since they were all gone by the time I went back for seconds and were not replenished D:

  

Traditional Filipino dishes. Even trying a bit of everything was enough to make us full, and we weren’t even done with all of them ! There were easily 100 dishes and more at the buffet.

Finally tried kare-kare, which is beef tripe cooked in peanut sauce. The gravy tasted similar to satay sauce but sweeter, and it went well with the soft texture of tripe. Would be great to go with rice.

For me, the Japanese section alone was impressive, with over 70 types of sushi and sashimi. I liked their fried tempura counters, which had karaage (fried chicken), ebi (shrimp), veggie tempura alongside grilled teriyaki chicken, salmon and more. Tastewise, they weren’t particularly great but not bad either.

The dessert counter had ice-cream, cookies, chocolate, cakes, puddings, sweets and everything your inner sweet-tooth could possibly want. Sometimes the sugar was too much to handle.

Chocolate cake was thick, rich and creamy. I also liked the eclaires, but the meringue was too much; it was like eating pure sugar.

Verdict: Dad’s is a good place to go to for special occasions, and for the variety it serves, the price is quite reasonable.