Joei & Me

A luxury buffet by the bay. The first time I heard about it, they told me it was better than Sofitel's Spiral at only 30% the price.. Could it be?




Before I give my verdict, let's go through the spread first. The buffet is a fusion of different cuisines -- Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, American and Italian. Strategy-wise, I suggest you hit the Japanese section first.




They have a wide range of choices for sushis and makis... Make that bright-colored makis.







Make sure you find the partly hidden shabu shabu and sukiyaki corner and order for your table since it takes a while to cook.







Next, hit the carving station. They have lechon, lamb and tenderloin. But this is during dinner time. When I ate in Vikings for lunch, they didn't have lechon and lamb.




Be careful not to waste any meat. Get only what you can finish because they'll charge you P100 ($2.50) for every 100 grams leftover.




The steak was so-so and I don't eat lamb so I cant give you feedback but the lechon was superb. Crunchy! Although later that night, when one of our friends got a serving of lechon, it wasn't that crunchy anymore.




Go to the seafood section next. Everything is fresh so get as much shrimps, fish and squid for your table because all of it has to be cooked.




Beside the seafood section are the pastas and pizzas. Pasta and pizza are on an order basis, customizable to your liking. Meat toppings include bacon, ham, sausages, meatballs, and herb chicken. Seafood toppings include squid, fish, mussels, shrimp, and anchovies. Vegetable toppings include black olives, green olives, mushrooms, white onions, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, broccoli, capers, and truffle paste. Sauces available are pomodoro, béchamel, olive oil and pesto.




Since you've ordered everything, you can now visit the appetizers section. Of course, they have the usual salad bar.




They also have cold cuts, cheeses, spreads, bread, crackers and best of all.. Caviar!







After getting your fill of appetizers, head over to the main courses. There are two rows of meat and veggie goodness including curry, osso bucco, and lengua.




There is also a vast range of Chinese food but I'm not fond of that cuisine so I wasn't able to take photos. Maybe it's worth mentioning that they serve duck (but I also don't eat duck so..)

And now for the fun part, DESSERT! Carrot cake, ube cake, chocolate cake, fondue, cookies, strawberry mousse, strawberry panna cotta, mango mousse.. Name it, it's there!







They also have ice cream, both sorbetes and soft serve.







And don't forget my favorite part... the sprinkles! I think I had a gazillion number of trips to the dessert station before I became officially full.










What I love about Vikings that no buffet (other than hotel breakfasts) has is unlimited drinks. Coffee, tea, juice and even beer.. Everything is refillable!







A little reminder though :)







So now the verdict.. Is Vikings better than Sofitel's Spiral? Definitely not! BUT.. I'd have to say it is worth your P888++.







A little tip before rushing to Vikings: Call beforehand and make a reservation especially on a weekend. If you don't, chances are you won't get to eat until it's 9:30. And call at least 2 weeks in advance if you're aiming for a Sunday dinner thing. Trust me.





San Miguel By The Bay
Seaside Boulevard
SM Mall of Asia
Pasay City
Philippines

(632) 846-3888
(632) 846-4888
(632) 846-5888
(63917) 565-3888

NEW RATES (Starting September 1)
You still have 2 days before they increase their prices for weekend buffets!

Weekdays

Lunch
Adult P688
Children (3ft to 4 ft) P288
Children (below 3ft) Free

Dinner
Adult P888
Children (3ft to 4 ft) P388
Children (below 3ft) Free

Weekends

Breakfast
Adult P388
Children (3ft to 4 ft) P188
Children (below 3ft) Free

Lunch
Adult P888
Children (3ft to 4 ft) P388
Children (below 3ft) Free

Dinner
Adult P1,088 (when we visited it was only P888)
Children (4ft to 4'6ft) P688
Children (3ft to 4ft) P488
Children (below 3ft) Free

75 years old and above will be given a 50% Discount.
All prices are exclusive of 5% Service Charge.









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I know summer has been over for quite some time (summer here in the tropics is from March till the end of May) but I'm still going gaga over neon!

I started my neon hunt through Kate Spade's website and got myself a Larabee Dot Lacey continental wallet.. Which ended up to be T's birthday gift to me ;)




Also bought T also got a new house for 'Berry'. I like this than the newer version because this one has a gold Kate Spade logo while the new version only has an embossed, almost invisible Kate Spade logo.




And finally last month, my order from The Cambridge Satchel Company arrived! The fluorescent line has been selling like hotcakes so you really need lots and lots of patience. I waited for almost 3 months for my fluorescent orange satchel but it was worth it!




The latest addition to my neon craze is a pair of crochet Toms T gave me last week. The color is brighter in person and I love this pair to death :)


Read my previous post about Toms shoes --> HERE



And since we're on the topic of shopping, let me share with you something useful when making online purchases: Become.com. It's a website that assists shoppers in searching for items and helps further by giving product price comparisons.

You can search for anything from pretty Kirks Folly angel and fairy jewelry to a pair of Angels Jeans to a quirky Marc Jacobs wallet and it will give you all the available products on the web plus the prices offered by each site so you can choose the best deal. Pretty cool huh :)

Going back to neon dear friends, are you in on the craze too?









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Just a random thought that crossed my mind ever since I saw the controversial cover of Vogue Italia which uncharacteristically featured plus-size models.




The concept of beauty has changed time after time after time. What we probably regard as "fat" now was what was considered beautiful during the Renaissance. And what we consider beautiful now (from skinny models to lean bodies) probably wouldn't be appreciated much during that era. The trend has been going skinny, curvy, skinny, curvy through the years but we mostly got stuck with skinny.

Here is a photo of Kate Moss bringing back the skinny trend in the early 90's. It's been that way for a long time, with models getting skinnier and skinnier.





But then comes curvy models in the likes of Tyra Banks and Bar Rafaeli, who probably inspired Vogue Italia to launch its "curvy spread".








Is curvy sexy? Vogue Italia answers:




So now dear friends, I ask you the the million dollar question..

SKINNY OR CURVY?







Image credits:
Vogue Italia

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The pair Sundae Shop sold me had a really noticeable defect on the toe area of the boot. They offered to exchange it but they're not sure when the stocks will arrive. As of Aug 27, I'm still waiting. Hopefully I'll get it soon :(

For almost a month or two, thunderstorms have been raging the Philippines left and right. The result? Waist-deep floods, really bad traffic jams and a lot of people left with no homes.




Fortunately, my community wasn't that affected. Thanks to a good sewerage system, water barely rose an inch in my village despite the heavy rains.




On a lighter note, I now have an excuse to buy Plueys! It was such a hassle to walk through puddles when going out that I felt it was justified to get a pair of rain boots. Well, in the end, I actually received it as a gift from T ;)

The name Plueys is a playful take on the French 'pluie' for 'rain', because these are the humble rubber boots of our childhood reinvented with brave, bright and fun designs which recall the simple joys in life - like playing in the rain.

Unfortunately, it seems like I wasn't the only one with the idea of buying rain boots. I called each and every store I knew that sold Plueys but all of them were out.. Except for one store located at The Collective.

The Collective is described as an "anti-mall" started by two people who couldn't find a hang out place one Sunday. T told me that the place used to be a warehouse of old car parts. Now, the place is home to a variety of creative shops. Pretty interesting.

The store where I got my Plueys is called Sundae.




Aside from Plueys, they have tons of other trendy stuff, too. You might want to check them out if you're in the area.




Thank you for accommodating me, Angel and Angela. You guys are really nice. More power to your store!




Me trying my new Plueys on. Love it. Bring on the rain!




Since T and I were already in the area, we decided to explore the rest of the stores at The Collective. The first one I saw was Yadu, which specializes in creating bags from old clothes. I wanted to go inside to look around and take photos but at that time, the owner and her staff seemed really busy with arranging the store that I felt like I might intruding if I go in.




So instead, here are some photos of my favorite bags from Yadu's online catalog.





Next door is Hocus, a store which specializes in restoring old bikes and screen printing.




Here are some of the bikes that were restored.




Bike art on the walls across the shop.




Next up is a tattoo parlor.




After that is a pretty interesting wall! Nice artwork.




A few steps after is an art gallery called Vinyl on Vinyl.




At the turn of the corner is Wabi-Sabi, a noodle house and vegetarian grocery store.




Beside it is a burger place called Offbeat but they were taping/shooting something so I couldn't take photos. Other interesting stores are a costume shop called Skitzo...




..and a clothing store called Hmrm, short for Homeroom.




At the outer area of the compound are Wingman and Happy Palace. I wasn't able to take photos of Wingman though because there were lots of people hanging out by the entrance.




There were more stores I wanted to go into and food places (since their concepts are one-a-kind/unique, I can't describe them purely as cafes or restaurants) I wanted to eat in but there wasn't any time since we were headed somewhere else. Maybe next time.

Here is a map from The Collective's Facebook page because it's pretty hard to find if you're not familiar with the area.








Happy weekend everyone!

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