Hanayo (Scout Lozano near Tomas Morato)

Beloved and I had dinner at Hanayo. It's actually the second time we've been here, but we didn't manage to take photos the first time, which happened early last year. Found just a skip away from Tomas Morato, this Korean grill is similar to the likes of Don-Day, one of the food places I exclaim highly due to the budget buffet they offer. This isn't as inexpensive as Don-Day, however. When we first went, the buffet, which includes on-your-table grilling, only costed a bit more than 500 Php.

When we went, the weekend price costs 630 Php per head. I guess it's to be expected due to inflation. Nevertheless, the offerings remained the same. We sat down on a table and immediately went to the buffet table.

Katsu Sora (Trinoma)

Beloved and I had dinner at Katsu Sora. This katsu place is located right beside Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, and I believe they have the same owner or franchisee, at Trinoma's alfresco area. This place is a direct competition of Yabu, one of our favorite food places, specializing it katsu. But does it offer any competition at all?

One big thing we noticed is that they are also a buffet. No, they don't offer unlimited katsu. Instead, they have a salad, soup, and rice buffet with their sets. The last one we can forgo, but Beloved and I were quite piqued due to the first two. After investigating the menu, we also learned that while they offer the sought-after kurobuta, or Japanese black pig, they offer an even more premium Iberico, which, I believe, is also black pig, but from Spain.

Because of that, I opted to try out one of their most expensive items in the menu, the Iberico Pork Set (655 Php). Beloved ordered their Menchi Katsu Curry Set (350 Php), which offers a sampling of all of the different kinds of pork they offer (Iberico, Kurobuta, Shimofuri, and Sakura). I also ordered their Calamansi Sprite (70 Php), because I like Calamansi and I like sprite, but I've never thought of combining them in one drink.

Vikings (SM North EDSA)

Me, Beloved, and friends celebrated one of our friend's birthday last night at Vikings. Incidentally, it also happened to be one of the first days for the soft opening of the anticipated SM North EDSA branch. We have been wanting very badly to try out the place, and even considered going to the already opened branches at SM Mall of Asia and SM Marikina. What kept us was the promise that the SM North EDSA branch was opening "soon". This was a few months ago, and after half a year, the promise was finally fulfilled.

For those who don't know, Vikings is a buffet. They dub themselves the most affordable premium buffet. Lunch and dinner for weekdays cost 888 Php, but they had a soft opening promo that took 20% off the bill after a 5% service charge. We were anticipating a huge crowd, not just because of the promo, but also because of the number of followers in their page. The crowd was present, but we were there a couple of hours before opening, since they weren't accepting reservations yet, so we were sure that we'll be seated. However, what we didn't anticipate was despite the expected crowd, they were able to accommodate almost everyone. The floor area was about a quarter of the entire floor of the Block and could easily seat more than a hundred people.

The buffet covered about half of the floor area, which makes this one of the biggest buffets I've been to. Not the biggest, mind you, but very respectable compared to those near its price range. Most of their food come from the sea, hence the name, but there were also meat offerings and specialties from Japan, China, et cetera.

Papa John's - Unlimited Pizza Tuesdays (SM North EDSA)

Me, Beloved, and a couple of friends partook in Papa John's Unlimited Pizza Tuesday promo on its last day at SM North EDSA. This promo has been around for a couple of months. We tried going on the first day, but the entire corridor was packed with people wanting to try it out, and we ended up in Joey Pepperoni. We didn't have time or thought to go back after this incident. However, we found out that the last Tuesday was a couple of days ago, and we decided to take part in it, even if we had to queue.

There was a similar crowd, the corridor filled with people when we arrived, an hour earlier than the promo time. Luckily, we were among the first who got accommodated. Priced at 199 Php, you get to choose from four different varieties: Pepperoni, Hawaiian, Chicken Bacon Ranch, and Garden Special. Unlike Leona's all-you-can-eat promo, where an entire pizza is given for the table to consume, Papa John's Unlimited Pizza promo serves by the slice. Servers roam around the store giving slices to empty plates. You have to eat the entire slice, including the crust, before you can get another.

C2 Classic Cuisine - #Unlicrispypata (Missouri Street, near Greenhills)

Me and a couple of friends partook in C2 Classic Cuisine's Unlimited Crispy Pata promo yesterday. This limited time promo is being offered by the restaurant's Greenhills branch at Missouri street. Since crispy pata is mainly a dish known for causing instant hypertension, myocardial infractions, and cerebrovascular accidents, sometimes leading to death, I really wanted to try it out.

The mechanics were simple, you pay 299 Php for Unlimited Crispy Pata. If you have leftovers, you pay double. The usual rules such as no sharing applies. What we were curious about was how this will be delivered, since eating an entire deep fried pig's leg felt like a surmountable task in itself.