The first time I heard the name of this restaurant I found it quite amusing. Yakimix. Yaki. How could a restaurant that sounds like the word yucky be any good so it was a surprise that I found myself waiting in line just to get a table inside. Really, it must be good because why would these people patiently wait outside just to get in and mind you this happened to me not only in Mall of Asia but also in Trinoma. Okay, so I got impatient waiting in Trinoma and went home with a cranky toddler in tow. So this post will primarily be about my Yakimix Mall of Asia experience.
Yakimix is a Japanese-themed all you can eat restaurant or an eat all you can restaurant as they call it in the Philippines. Please don’t ask me about the price, I’m sure the price was quite affordable hence the queue. At that time I attended a birthday celebration so I wasn’t able to note the prices. So while waiting in what seemed to be a busy market atmosphere outside, I peered in and noticed an interesting blue lemonade from afar and at the same time gawked at the variety of sushi on the table. If there’s anything I love about Japanese food, it would be hands-down the California maki and of course, the tempura.
Unlike shabu shabu restaurants which meant drowning pieces of meat and seafood in a hot broth, Yakimix meant grilling, with a griller on each table so you can fascinately watch pieces of marinated meat, sausages, salmons, shrimps, scallops silently hiss on the smokeless griller. But since I’m the type who dislikes the inconvenience of cooking my own food in restaurants, I opted to fill my plate with prepared viands. I especially liked their sweet and sour pork that is tender and cooked beautifully with the right touch of sweetness and sourness. It seductively prompted me to get up and scoop another portion of their flavored rice on the buffet table. I love rice with sumptuous dishes so how can I possibly think of scrimping on it to accompany this brightly orange colored dish? And noteworthy too is their taro puff because unlike the ones I’ve tasted before this is the first time I had shrimp embedded on it. The creamy texture of the taro delicately hid the shrimp that provided delicious texture. Quite ingenious.
Lastly, how could I forget the various sushi laden on the table. Unbelievable. But if you’re wondering if there was sashimi too, I think there was. Though, I’d like to inform you I’m not a fan of raw food so sashimi is definitely a no no for me, yeah even if it was freshly drawn from the ocean. I unwillingly tried it before and no amount of sauce can take my mind off its fleshy rawness. Ugh! So yes, I think there was sashimi in Yakimix because I recall my seatmates excitedly dipping strips of fresh raw salmon in a small pool of soy sauce. Going back, the variety of sushi I witnessed in Yakimix was dumbfounding. There were sushi with rolled egg inside, tuna, crabstick, cucumber, mango and many more. So many, I can’t even recall their names or if there was anything that tasted more than spectacular. Maybe there was but nothing really stood out for me. But I appreciated the effort; I haven’t seen so many varieties of sushi not since I dined in Spiral which was eons ago.
So unlike my intitial impression of their name, Yakimix is definitely far from yucky. It’s a restaurant that provides an affordable and tasty banquet. It has a rather different concept with a griller on every table, providing the fun of grilling your favorite meat and seafood and sharing it with family. Definitely a find for people who enjoy discovering new restaurant concepts, notwithstanding the long wait so long as they can try this new experience. Overall, it was worth the wait because not only is the concept interesting and a little fun, I also had a kick seeing the parade of sushi spread out before me. Moreover, I will always oddly remember their blue lemonade, a light blue lemon-infused liquid in an ice-filled clear glass, a quirky-colored drink that coolly washed the seemingly endless offerings of this wide buffet selection.
