Ming Yuen unlimited dimsum from Groupon a disappointment

I thought I posted this after redeeming my daughter voucher but luckily my posting of this review at Open Rice is still available.


To those who plan to buy discount voucher your best bet now is to buy the buffet or the eat all  you can buffet table; since the food are on display and it's up to you if you can eat all the food they're offering. Got 2 disappointing meal from discount voucher already. But very happy with Vikings Buffet discount.

Ming Yuen located at the 4/f of Robinson Place Manila, Ermita, Manila. Operating house is base on Mall hours.

The table set up. Comfy sofa chair.

The Ceiling decoration.

Upon sitting advice of Ming Yuen staff that 3 items is only available for the unlimited Dimsum promo which my daughter pay P1,600 for 4 people. The Fried Spring Roll, Chicken Feet and the Siomai. 2 order of chicken feet and fried spring roll

There was no additional order of the Chicken feet because they said they run out of stock

The Fried Sio Long Pao Price : P100 per order of 4 pieces not included in the promo

The 4 order of siomai in a big steamer basket making it a total of 16 pieces. We were able to get this a total of 3 times afterward they said no more stock.

 

  The steam Sio Long Pao Price : P95.00 per order of 4 pieces

The Fried Onion Pancake. Price : P105.00 for 1 pancake. And it took almost 1/2 an hour to cook it.
Original Onion pancake is flaky because a frozen on is available in Binondo.

After computing base on their menu we just reach the amount my daughter paid for the voucher. This discount voucher is really a disappointment especially on the side of the merchant. If you're not willing to do as promise then better not join the company offering discount, people will get mad and will not come back especially since the price of Ming Yuen is already quite high than other dimsum restaurant.

Dissappointment with Pizzaville discount voucher at Ensogo

   Above picture is from Pizzaville promoting their discount at P925.00 for a 30" Pizza for 4 flavor. Below is our order of the 30" pizza too dry not a lot of cheese was added which my daughter paid at P990.00 Even the one with white dot as 3 cheese can only see that cheese in it. Our order was suppose to be 3 cheese pizza, all meat work, Chicken BBQue and Chorizo Longaniza pizza.

Below picture not sure if it's the all meat work can only see a few pieces of ham, ground beef, salami.

Picture below still guessing Chicken barbeque or the Chorizo Longaniza? Everything has the same flavor no distinction. I think they just use regular quick melt cheese and the sauce they just spread it as thinly as possible so when the pizza was cook everything is so dry. That if you have to re cook it you have to add more sauce and cheese.

The purpose of the voucher is for the merchant to buy their product in advance when the price of commodity is still low.  My daughter have already brought it 2 months ago therefore there's already an interest in it.

Even if Pizzaville continue to drop their price and still continue to lessen the items in their pizza; people will wake up to the disadvantage of the discount voucher. Not a single merchant will sell at a lost; they will either make the food smaller or make those topping even fewer.

And this is my 2nd disappointment from a discount voucher. The first is Ming Yuen for unlimited dimsum which the staff said they ran out of stock  and it just 12nn and all this voucher need to make an advance reservation. If there is nothing to serve what will the next customer eat?  This is their way of counting how much a voucher buyer may consume.

And the best voucher to buy is the buffet or the eat all you can table. This way it's your fault if you can't consume all that much food.

Viking Weekend Buffet

What's the buzz in Viking Weekend buffet even when the street of the metro is already flooded, people still brave through it just to get their food. Can't say my family was one of them since my kids brought it as a discount voucher and the reservation was made 1 month ahead.

    The Unlimited wine you can choose white wine or red wine. Since my family don't drink we didn't touch it. The next table has a red wine so they just alternate their wine but you can choose which one you preferred

From July 16-19 ,2012 Viking have been placing ad in their FB page about the unlimited lobster. The Lobster is so small and you have to wait around 15-20 minutes for the next round to come out. The lobster are place in front of the sushi bar. If you saw some guest getting their lobster that means you're already too late. My kids ask me to wait in front of the sushi bar and been waiting in front that I spotted an empty table and decided to wait there. Not fun to wait in front of the sushi bar. Since the staff saw me coming back and forth and waiting near the sushi bar they ask me if I am waiting for the Lobster and say yes. So they ask the cook to give me 4 lobster. A bit bland actually need to add some dipping sauce for this.

   My son's favorite spicy crab. You can find these beside the sushi bar going to the restroom. This one they really replenish it immediately. My son got 3 serving (estimate almost 3 kg) mostly crab claw and worth every penny my daughter paid for the voucher which is less than P800.00. Regular price of Viking on weekend cost around P1,098.00 per head. Those who goes to the market will know the actual price of the crab depending on where you brought them. Wet market is mostly cheaper than supermarket.

     Another Creme dela creme steak in Truffle sauce. There are also Angus beef and lamb which you can ask them to grill then add either onion sauce, red wine sauce or the truffle sauce. My other daughter said the truffle sauce is much better.

     1 big yellow fin tuna (sashimi grade) cut in slices. The warning above the tuna say: the seaweed is plastic and not for eating. Maybe there is already some person stupid enough to get the plastic sushi that they didn't even touch it to see if it's real or not. Below are the different Hot pot to choose from

                           

   Below are Viking version of the Xiao Long Pao which was unavailable during Viking Lazy Breakfast.

    There is an oven in the bread section where you can also find the hot pandesal. I got the spring roll (lumpia toqe) and the fried siopao there

                           

Below are the different type of Caviar you wish to spread on your bread. Really expensive.

              

There are 2 option for the soup: Pumpkin soup picture above or the sotanghon soup (picture below). Of course the pumpkin soup super delicious even the croutons are flavorful. A must try

For additional picture of what food are available in Viking Weekend Buffet. Click link below: Didn't take picture of the salad since it's still the same.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.449777771723662.107378.100000743306453&type=3

Father's Day winning of "Fruits in Bloom"

 Fruits in Bloom is located at the Ground Floor of Frabelle Tower, 109 Rada St., Makati City.

 It happen that we have a celebration of my mother's in law death anniversary so I decided to exchange my GC for the fruits.

   Inside the Fruits in Bloom store. Nice set up clean and homy. Since my name was on their list I do not need to wait for 4 hours to get my order. The staff were friendly while I wait for them to finish the last touches.

     Below are the different pots and mugs a client can choose wheere their fruits to be decorated in.

                  

                              

           Above is what my fruits look like in it's original packaging.

      The bouquet of fruits consist of grapes, slices of granny smith apple and oranges. While the flower is from pineapple and the center is 1 piece of grapes. The Elongated chocolate swirl has banana inside.

     After the fruits has been pluck and consume this cup was the only souvenir left. The cup has the size of a beer mug and not your regular coffee cup

     Got to win Yabu's Father's Day promo of Dad + 1 winner and Yabu really did give us a feast to remember.This Yabu is located at the 2/f Floor of the Atrium Bldg. of SM Megamall. The outside fascade and interior of Yabu: The House of Katsu (picture below)

    

 Below are the menu of Yabu and the 1st picture is made interesting by discussing the anatomy of the katsu.

                 

                
 
                 

      Below are the different condiments. The 2 tall bottles are the dressing for the shredded cabbage. The 3 small bottles are: Chili flakes (orange cap), chili oil (Yellow cap), and an herb spices (green cap). The salt is for the veggies like the edamame they gave us.

      While waiting for our food the server ask us to grind the sesame seed then afterward to add 3 scoop of the Tonkatsu sauce for dipping sauce of the Hire. Adding the sesame seeds really adds even more flavor to the sauce that after eating I still have an urge to go back to Yabu because I can still taste the sesame seed just like the taste of the Palitao with the sesame seeds. Yummy. (Picture below)

            

                                

       Below is the unlimited lemonade they serve us. Price : P160 my son really loves it that he has more than 5 refill of the lemonade.

     Below is their appetizer: Potato and Edamame. Price P195.00 The potato salad has some pieces of hard boil egg in it really delicious since my favorite has been potato salad. The Edamame actually is not bad if it was the beans inside is to be eaten. This is my first time to try edamame, since I know it's the bean inside that was eaten and not the outer skin.

   My son Hire 100gm. set meal which has miso soup, rice, shredded cabbage, pickled raddish and fruits (2 slices of pineapple and watermelon) The small yellow dot on the plate is a yellow wasabi. Price for the Hire 100 gms. Meal : P330.00

     My Rosu special Set Meal. Price : P330.00  A bowl of Rosu katsu with sunny side up egg, shredded Nori and I think some bonito flackes. Also with shredded cabbage, miso soup, pickled raddish and fruits. (picture below). Thinking that the yellow dressing was mustard I added to my sesame dressing for the cabbage and sure it really pack some heat. Hope they could also add yellow wasabi in their condiments since it's great with the shredded cabbage.  The picture on the right is the close up of the pickle radish and cucumber with the slices of fruits

      

We were given 2 option for the dessert either of Choco lava or the Magnum. We were also ask what kind of Magnum, the Classic or the almond  which my son choose the Magnum Classic.