LEGENDARY All You Can Eat Buffet in Manila Philippines - Spiral Buffet Review

Do you have a time limit for the guests? No? No time limit. No time limit? Eat as much as you can. Hey guys, it's Mike Chen. I'm just here by the ocean looking at the beautiful sunset. There's a party going on by the pool. There are people taking wedding photos sitting by the water. This whole romantic atmosphere and I can't stop thinking about the all-you-can-eat buffet I'm about to feast on tonight. That's right, I'm at the Softel Hotel, home to one of the best, well, supposedly one of the best buffets in the world. The Spiral Buffet. Now, I've heard about this buffet over four years ago. And it's supposed to be one of the biggest and best buffets ever constructed. And I've been wanting to come to the Philippines just to try this thing out. So finally, I'm here, I'm hungry. This whole atmosphere got me a little emotional. Let's go eat. Hey guys, we are in the Spiral Buffet. I've been waiting for this a long time. I have with me Eric. You run the buffet. Yes, I do. You're going to show us around. I will. He's going to be our culinary guide to this buffet masterpiece. All right, Eric. Ready? What do I need to know? Well, first you need to know the definition of an atelier. Okay. So, atelier is basically a French word. It basically is a workshop. So, we are showcasing here the chef working in front of the guests. So, preparing fresh food. So, basically you're trying to get the food out as fresh as possible. That's good. Please. This is what we call the Asian section. We start from Filipino cuisine on the other side of the corner. Okay. We also have Thai. Korean. And one of the major parts of this Asian area is actually Chinese food. Okay. Good, good. This is the Asian corner. So, we're in Asia right now. So, this will just be the corner. Yes. Okay. More of the healthy corners. We can skip the healthy corner. Okay. But that looks good. Actually, those herbs, we have a garden in South Italy. So, we grow them. On the other side, we transfer to our seafood area. But the beauty of this is that if you don't want to have it cold, you can actually have it reheated and serve with your own sauce like garlic butter. Wait, wait, wait. What are my options? Any. Just ask. We do. I can cook it any way I want? Yes. Jesus. You can also request for your whatever pizza you want. Hang on a second. You guys heard? I don't have to be limited to that pizza. A hot Japanese atelier. Okay. So, teppanyaki. No. Select your dishes and then the cheese room. They have a cheese room. Yes. And then we move on to the dessert area. Oh, I see. Whoa. Okay. You guys aren't seeing what I'm seeing right now. Usually, at a buffet, I see one chocolate fountain. One. They have three. Caramel, matcha, and chocolate. Matcha. This is the craziest thing. Look at that. She's making the desserts right now. Chocolate trees. Homemade. You make all this stuff. Yeah. I might just stay here for six hours. I don't know. All right. I appreciate your help. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. This is going to be so awesome. You guys know I'm always excited about a buffet. And this one, after getting that grand tour, I'm so pumped. And bread basket. Now, I don't, you know, I'm not going to stuff myself with bread because that's just not a cool thing to do at a buffet. But just one bite of that. You guys ready to hit up there? Let's hit up there. I am a little overwhelmed about what I should be getting. But let's start a little light. Let's start with the salad. A little lettuce. Some greens. A little tartlet thingy. Cheese. Do I give it to you? What dressing? I want, I will take some, maybe just like oil and vinegar. Oh, look at all the olive oil you got. I'll take some chili, or chili oil. Thank you so much. Alright, got my salad. Now let's go get something that typically eats this. When you're at a great buffet, there's so many options out there. You're feeling overwhelmed. You don't know where to start. Always remember, just like a good story, start at the beginning. This looks like the Korean section. Gotta have some bulgogi. A little kimchi to give it some balance. Thai spicy beef salad. You know, I already got a salad, so we're good. Tom Yum Goong. 100%. Add a little scallion. A little chili. Cilantro. Alright, let's see what else I want. Ah, look at that. Fresh salmon belly. Chicken adobo, sure. I'm in the Philippines. A little starch. Seafood. I think we've got enough for round one. Here we go. A meal, four years in the making. And it all starts with a bite of salad. Tom Yum Goong. Oh, I did not need to put that extra chili in there. This thing is super everything. Super vinegary, super spicy, super lemongrassy. So much flavor in this soup. This is my kind of soup. I have an eye on this. This is the salmon belly. And look, look at this. I'm just gonna say that it bruises easily. That cut like nothing. Oh my god. I cannot believe this is a buffet item. I feel like I got this fish at some fancy steakhouse. It's that good. I love fish belly because there's a lot of fat here. And this thing, look at it. You guys see the juice oozing out of this salmon? No wonder they put out the vinegar sauce for this. But you know what? This on its own, that's perfect the way it is. I hope you heard that. You don't need to change. You're just delicious the way you are. Oh, that's fatty though. That's why I got the vegetables. Most people eat vegetables because they're trying to be healthier. I eat vegetables because it's gonna help me eat more meat. Oh, this pork belly is ridiculous. It's a little sweet. I think some of that vinegar sauce touched it. And it just really highlighted the fatty, smoky flavor of the belly. Pretty good first plate. That salmon belly, definitely the star. Let's go for the main event. Gotta get some laksa. Hey, how are ya? Could I please have some laksa with some fish balls and tofu? And I think that's good. What is that? Spinach noodle. Yeah, I'll take some spinach noodle. Gotta be healthy, you know? Thank you so much. Let's get some extra chili in there. What is that soup? Bak kut teh. Bak kut teh? You have bak kut teh? We're gonna get some bak kut teh. I'll tell you, one of my favorite pieces of roasted chicken is just this tip of the wing here. You see how it's charred? I feel like this is the most flavorful piece of a roast chicken. This roast pork looks amazing. Look at all that fat. Can I get a Peking duck, please? Whoa, they actually use hand crepes. Usually when buffets say Peking duck, it's usually made with some bun. Thank you. Look at that. Can't wait to eat the heck out of that duck. I love parathas. This looks like some gold curry. Hi, could I please have a little bit of lamb? Thank you. And the final thing. We're gonna customize some seafood. Some prawns. These are big prawns, by the way. Mussels. And some crab. Let's cook this in some garlic butter. Can I cook this with some garlic butter? Oh, baked with cheese? Yeah, bake it with cheese, please. All right. Sounds good to me. Let's go finish this little bitty round two and come back for our seafood. Round two. Let's start with the soup. It's coconutty, spicy. That's actually really good laksa. Way better than something that belongs on a buffet. It's thick. Great curry flavor. Actually, what am I doing? This is not your laksa with a spoon. There's just tons of flavor in this soup. I can't get enough of this right now. Look at this paratha. Look at this thing flake. This thing's flakier than Phoebe Buffet. Grab some gold curry with it. Oh, nothing like fresh paratha with some good curry. This thing is so delicious. Crispy, buttery, flaky. The meat in this curry. My hand is just crushing my tongue. The lamb. Oh, I thought this lamb was going to be really tough. But no, it is not. A little fluffy little clout. This is what I'm really excited about. Look at these pieces of roast pork. You see all that fat? This is all lean meat and this is all fat. I bet you a lot that this is going to be excellent. Let me just close my eyes and enjoy this for a minute here. I can hear pork angels singing. Can you guys hear that? I love it when the meat's perfectly charred. A little sweet. Great ratio between lean meat and fat. That's what gives it that extra, you know what I'm saying? The beautiful flavor that only pork belly has. This thing is just filled with it. And like I said, my favorite piece of roast chicken. Not that much meat because it's a joint. But all the meat on here. That's the best meat. And the Peking duck. I hate it when buffets or restaurants give you a Peking duck and they put it inside that little steamed bun. It's not supposed to be like that. It's supposed to be in a crepe. But for a buffet Peking duck? That's not going to disappoint you. Just got my seafood. Check it out. All the mussels are oven roasted with cheese and garlic on top. You gotta eat this right away, otherwise this won't work. That is buttery, cheesy, garlicky. The crab, dip it in the butter and garlic. Made-to-order seafood on a buffet. You can't beat that. That was a good round three. Let's keep going. Oh, they got some shrimp pizza, mussel pizza. I kind of want to create my own pizza. I would like some bacon, that'd be great. Thank you. Let's go get some prosciutto. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, that looks beautiful. Oh, thank you. What cheese do you think will go great on a pizza? What? The beer cheese. Can I put this on a pizza, you think? Get this? I love this. Wow. Mmm. Wow. Think we got enough for a pizza? A little more. Come on. Oh, that cheese is good. Should we have a little fish cake on our pizza? Why not? Can I get a little onion and green... Oh, garlic. And some mushrooms. I think I'm ready. Thank you so much. Let's go make our pizza. Pizza. Can I make a pizza with this? Thank you. I think we got one more section to check out. Look at this. Tiny little crabs. Hello. Do you have any more beef strip loin? By the way, whenever I leave to grab something, they fold up my napkin, and whatever silverware I dirty, they give me new ones. Anyway, this plate is kind of weird. It's just a couple of little crabs. And some beef. At this point, I'm just waiting for my pizza. Mmm. There it is. My own creation. Look at that. Thank you so much. What was it? What did I put here? I don't even know what that is anymore. Oh! That's the fish cake. Look at this. The fish cake. They're different for sure. Different cheese. Yeah. Yeah, that looks good. Look at this. I gotta take a bite right here. I'm telling you guys. I'm 100% serious here. This is amazing. I know there's some weird stuff out here. But all the different types of cheese work so well. The ham and the bacon. Can't go wrong with that. The fish cake. Chewy and delicious. This is a pretty good pizza. And like I said, it is cheesy as all get out. Look at that. They should actually make this pizza, leave it out here, and call it a Mike Chen. Yeah, I bet people will like it. I just ate that whole thing. I'm gonna declare that pizza a success. There's only one thing left to do. You know what it is. Let's go get some dessert. Lava cake. Sticky rice cake. Can I get some gelato, please? Thank you. Alright, I gotta get some of this shaved ice. Oh, thank you. Some of this. Not sure what this is. Cornflakes? Sure. I'm not huge on beans, but I'll take some red beans. Milk. Get some ice cream in here. This one. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. Thank you. I'm gonna go grab one of the smallest oranges I've ever seen. This dessert selection is just insane. Check this out. So, this thing just pulls open. Chocolate moist cake. Ooh, mango passion shooter. Choco mousse. Chocolate mousse. This cake looks awesome. Oh, for the condiment? Sticky rice. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Appreciate it, thank you. So nice. This chocolate cake looks awesome. Little gummies. I don't even like gummies, but I just want it because it's in a drawer. And then their homemade chocolates. Chocolate truffle. Cornflakes with matcha. Wow, this is a dessert feast. Ice cream, bunch of desserts. Fresh pineapple juice. Ooh, that's thick. Halo, halo. I'm happy, happy. They make their ice cream in-house and this thing is kind of melting already. Beautifully creamy. Nice chocolate cake. That is a super smooth chocolate cake. Love anything with mousse inside. It's got a little bit of bread pudding. Eat it with the gelato. I got this rice cake and they gave me this. They said to eat it with the rice cake. By the way, every single staff member at this place is just beyond the nicest person ever. Oh, they're right. They're a little crunchy here. I'm not sure what the brown stuff is. Mm, maybe a little brown sugar. Oh yeah, it definitely adds a lot to this rice cake. On its own, the texture is good but it's not sweet enough because the only sweetness is coming from the coconut shavings on top and that's not all that sweet. But with this, this thing is elevated by a lot. Lava cake. Oh, jeez, look at this. Oh man, look at that chocolava flow. Oh my goodness. Wow, I just took a spoonful. Like pure melted chocolate. I feel like I need to eat some of this halo, halo. I'm just gonna give it a nice mix with the ice cream, with the ice. Oh yeah, it's refreshing. You know what, the cornflakes, that's not bad. And with the ice cream, it gives it a little creamy texture. Wow, favorite dessert item so far. Strawberry? I like this strawberry cake. I think I'm getting a little sugar high. This is a mango shot. That's tangy and pleasant. This is awesome. It's like a Pinnacotta with raspberry jam on top. A little smooth, a little tangy. A lot of awesome. Homemade chocolates. As full as I am, and I'm really full, this was so good, it brought back some of my appetite. Alright guys, I'm, I'm pretty much done. I'm gonna eat a little bit of orange because this thing is just so darn cute. You know when you've been wanting to go to a place for a long time, for years, you kind of play it up in your head and you're also kind of asking yourself, how good could it possibly be? It's much better than you expected and that's this place for me. It's funny, when I filmed my first buffet in Vegas, I thought that's where the best buffet in the world is. But after having the buffets in Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and now here, guys, it ain't even close. This buffet in particular, is unlike any I've ever been to before. It's like you're given a box of random Legos, in this case, food Legos, and you can make them into anything you want. Also, every ingredient is quality. They make all their stuff in-house. That all equals to one of the best buffet experiences I've ever had. So far, I think this buffet and the buffet I had in Vietnam, of all the buffets I've ever eaten at, these two, no question, the best. And all this, $60, tax included. And plus, like I mentioned, every single person here, from the managers, to the servers, to the chefs, some of the most courteous people I've ever met in this industry. So guys, do yourselves a favor, if you're ever in the Philippines, anywhere around this area, come here, try this place out, and find out for yourself why I think this is one of the best buffets in the world. And make sure you customize your own pizza. And guys, as always, the information for this place is listed for you in my description box below. Give it a try, let me know how you like it. Thank you all so much for watching, and until we eat again, see you later.