Tong Yang Shabu-Shabu and Barbecue offers a unique dining experience wherein customers are given the liberty to cook their food in whichever way they desire. Diners may cook their food in the hotpot (shabu-shabu) and on the built-in smokeless grill on the table.
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| The hotpot |
Tong Yang Shabu-Shabu and Barbecue: the food choices are endless
What is shabu-shabu?
Shabu-shabu or hotpot is a Chinese and Japanese way of cooking food in boiling
broths contained in metallic pots. Slivers of meat, seafood, and vegetables are
dipped in boiling soup until they are cooked. These morsels can either be eaten
as is, dipped in a flavorful sauce, or as a soup using the hot broth as the base.
The Buffet
As with other buffet restaurants, it’s quite hard to decide where to begin at
Tong Yang because there seem to be endless choices of meats, seafood, and
vegetables, so we just asked our server to prepare the soups for us.
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| Food selection |
Each table
was given two flavor choices for the soup and we opted for plain and sinigang,
as recommended by our server. On its own, the broth is a bit bland so you would
need seasonings to add flavors to it.
The buffet table is actually a huge selection of fresh cuts of beef, pork,
chicken, and seafood, as well as leafy vegetables. By huge, I mean bountiful choices of seafood and meat.
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| Grilling |
It was only here when I got to see some “exotic”
cuts on display – chicken gizzard, liver, heart, pork kidneys, and intestines.
There is also fresh seafood like shrimps, octopus, squid, clams, oysters, and mussels. These can be cooked in the soup or barbecued on the grill.
Some of the selections that are available upon request but not on display
are crabs and thin slices of pork neck.
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| Big crabs |
The crabs, big and fatty, are served steamed and ready to be eaten while the pork neck is fresh and ready to be barbecued. With the assortment of ingredients on display, it was like the
options for creating dishes are endless.
For those who love Japanese dishes, there are sashimi rolls available. It’s not an extensive selection but enough to satisfy one’s cravings. There is also kimchi, fried dumplings, and crunchy pork rind (chicharon) that are great as appetizers.
Drinks and desserts
At Tong Yang Shabu-Shabu and Barbecue, drinks are overflowing. There are
lemonades, fruit juices, iced tea, and soda. For desserts, ice cream, pastries,
fresh fruits, and halo-halo are available. You would never run out of choices,
no matter how you want to cap your satisfying meal.
Our verdict
A dinner buffet with shabu-shabu and grill costs P645 per head. I think this
is not bad as compared to other buffet restaurants, most especially those that
add unnecessary choices just to jack up the prices.
At Tong Yang, you get only
what is necessary, what you would actually eat and enjoy. That is good value for
money. Service is also quick, which is a necessity in any restaurant.
