Fit For a King: Vikings Luxury Buffet at SM North Edsa (Food Photos)

Every family has its own idea of a "family bonding" activity, be it sports, watching movies together, etc. In my family's case, one of our bonding activities is eating (that, aside from travelling), and we make it a point to dine out at least once a week, or every other week. We already have our own list of what we could consider our "favorite restaurants", but of course we also enjoy trying out new places once in a while.

Recently, we decided to try out Vikings Luxury Buffet at SM North Edsa (one of their few branches around Metro Manila). This restaurant, named after great warriors who once dominated parts of Europe, Asia, and the Atlantic from the 8th-11th centuries, boasts of having the largest buffet selection in the Philippines. They have a HUGE selection of European, American, and Asian dishes that cater to different tastes, prepared by their roster of world-class chefs. Read on as I take you on a trip around the world with each plate. Enjoy!

Oh, and, forgive me for not having more photos in this post--I only managed to take snapshots of the food. I guess I got a bit too overwhelmed by the food that I forgot to take photos of the buffet spread, the restaurant, and the others!

We arrived at the restaurant for lunch at around noon, an hour after they opened their doors to guests at 11am. Usually, with buffet restaurants such as this one, you need to be there before they open, reserve a table, and then wait in line. We were lucky enough, however, to have scored a table when we arrived, even without a reservation.

As we were being escorted to our table, I managed to look around and I saw that the place was packed with people! Also, I've been to other buffet restaurants but I don't think I've seen a crowd quite as excited-looking as the one at Vikings. But, why wouldn't they be? The buffet spread here is indeed huge and there's a lot to discover as you go through each section. It was very overwhelming!

Round one--starting off the battle with some canapes. 

One of the things I greatly appreciated about Vikings was the fact that diners could freely get their own drinks from the dispensers. In other buffet restaurants, a waiter would approach the guests as they are settling down at their table and ask each guest what their drink would be. This is definitely a plus as you could easily switch drinks as you wish if you want to try something else, without a waiter refilling your glass without you asking (yes, that isn't really always a good thing).

Speaking of drinks, their drinks selection was quite extensive as well--they also had some pretty unique ones that I've tried. The blueberry lemonade was delicious!

Round two: Sushi and Sashimi for those craving for Japanese food.

One of the popular sections of the buffet was the steak section, where you could ask the chefs to cook slabs of steak for you according to your own preference. You could also ask the chefs to cook fresh seafood for you, displayed buffet-style on shaved ice. I wasn't able to try the clams that my mom asked them to cook, but according to her, it was delicious.

Caesar salad for my third trip to the buffet table.

Something for the carnivores--steak rice accompanied by (left-to-right): Beef, Korean Beef Bulgogi, Chicken, and Lamb (my apologies for not remembering the names of the first, third, and fourth dishes). Anyway, among these dishes, my favorites were the chicken and the bulgogi. The lamb was a bit too tough for me--or is lamb meat really supposed to be tough? It was my first time to try lamb.

It's like a mini-United Nations asssembly--in my plate! For this round, I sampled some vegetable tempura (Japanese), japchae/chap chae (Korean), lemon chicken (Chinese), cheese pizza (Italian), and sisig (Filipino). Everything was delicious, but the lemon chicken and the sisig stood out for me.

First round of dessert. You can never go wrong with a scoop of ube (purple yam) ice cream.

Second round of dessert: red velvet cake, cassava cake, and sapin-sapin. I loved the red velvet cake--I had to go back for another round even if I was already so full. I just couldn't resist! I also had some panna cotta to go along with my second helping of the red velvet cake, but I forgot to take a photo of it.

All this glorious food comes with a price of course--if you're planning to dine here, prepare to shell out MUCH, MUCH, MUCH (not exaggerating) more that what you would normally pay for in other buffet restaurants (the one that rhymes with "Yucky Mix" comes to mind). It didn't help that we dropped by on a weekend too, where they would charge the diners more that what they would normally do on weekdays. I guess we just found out what the "luxury" in the name "Vikings Luxury Buffet" was all about.

So, was the price we paid for worth it? Honestly, "yes" would have to be the answer. Their buffet spread is certainly hard to match--I don't think I've ever seen that much food in a buffet restaurant before (though the breakfast buffet at The Venetian Macau isn't too far behind). Their food was really good, too--I would have eaten more; sadly, I could only eat as much. We all have our limitations after all, and you can't have too much of a good thing. 

I'm hoping there will be a next time.

Vikings Luxury Buffet

SM North Edsa (other branches at SM Marikina and SM Mall of Asia)

http://vikings.ph

Hours of operation: 11am-2:30pm; 5pm-10pm