Seoul Garden in SM North Edsa : Review

We were supposed to write a year-ender post for 2011 featuring our top favorite restaurants, food products and/or recipes/dishes we prepared, but since we still had a ton more reviews we haven’t posted yet, we decided to skip it this year and will do one next year instead. One of these uber delayed reviews is of Seoul Garden in SM North Edsa Annex.

Seoul Garden at SM Annex in North Edsa - CertifiedFoodies.com

When Ken and I have time to spare or we need to relax after hours of shopping, we usually end up at buffet style or eat-all-you-can restaurants. Though we spend a lot of time together at home, sometimes, talking about tasks seem to be more effective when we do it somewhere else. That afternoon in July 2011, we had hours to spare because we were scheduled for a Harry Potter movie screening late in the evening. Ken insisted he wanted to watch on the first day so we ended up with the last screening time. 😐

We decided to check out the restaurants at the newly-renovated SM Annex building. First restaurant we considered was Seoul Garden because, at that time, it was the least busy of all the places there.

Me at Seoul Garden - just showing you the grill at our table - CertifiedFoodies.com

The grill wasn’t on yet so that plastic thingy hanging from my old phone was safe.:D

If you haven’t heard of them yet, Seoul Garden is a Korean-styled BBQ buffet restaurant. They’ve had success in other Asian countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia before they opened here in the Philippines. What’s unique about them is they offer two options to their diners – a do-it-yourself BBQ buffet and a hotpot.

Each table at Seoul Garden has this grill - CertifiedFoodies.com

We were warmly welcomed by their wait staff (sorry, I lost my notes so I forgot her name) and given freedom to choose where we want to sit. We chose the table near the meat station and buffet area.

Raw ingredients for cooking - CertifiedFoodies.com

Each table has their own stove-top grill with the center for cooking your hotpot. As soon as we settled in, we were asked what soup base we wanted. Being a fan of anything spicy, Ken immediately picked Kimchi Jjigae (aromatic soup base of fine, pickled Chinese cabbage). I had no problems with it since I do love some spiciness in my food. 🙂

Menu at Seoul Garden - CertifiedFoodies.com

Ken then went to the buffet area and started grabbing squid, shrimps and fish balls we could cook in the hotpot. I focused my energy on getting me some meat. 😀

Ken at the raw ingredients display at Seoul Garden - CertifiedFoodies.com

Seoul Garden has a variety of raw meat available to you. They have fish, innards (chicken liver, gizzard), vegetables, beef, pork (garlic, black pepper, curry, spicy bulgogi, etc) and chicken (curry, Tom Yam, Char Siew, Szechuan, etc). All of the ones displayed are already flavored and marinated for you. I enjoyed all of them, especially all the grilled beef I grabbed from the meat station.

A lot of raw meats and fish are available for you, all were flavored or marinated already - CertifiedFoodies.com

By the way, pardon the photos. We were only using our digital cameras. The lighting also kinda sucked when we were there. 😀 And it was only now that I realized we didn’t take much photos of the food. I guess we were already busy with discussing some important things (read: chismis / gossip).

Seoul Garden also offers Bulgogi bowls, but they’re not readily available. Make sure you ask the wait staff to find out what other dishes are included in the buffet price.

On the other end of the buffet area is a wide selection of sauces for you.

Selection of sauces at Seoul Garden in SM Annex - CertifiedFoodies.com

They also have rice rolls, noodles, and, of course, the dessert area. You can make your own halo-halo and scoop your own ice cream. I think we had two servings of ice cream. I forgot what brand they had available at the restaurant. But, definitely, not Selecta or even Fruits in Ice Cream, as far as I can remember.

Our first serving of ice cream from Seoul Garden - CertifiedFoodies.com

Though we did enjoy the food at Seoul Garden, what I didn’t like though is the grill. It’s not smokeless. I had to move around our table just so the smoke coming out won’t hit me. I didn’t want to smell like ulam at the screening. We know how bad that smell could get. Plus, it made our area too warm.

Our spicy Steam Boat Soup with sauces

Also, they only have a common restroom, which is nearby the kitchen area that probably has stainless steel undermount sinks. No, you don’t have to worry about food contamination, but you have to be careful not to bump into any of their staff.

The prices are affordable. It was lunch time on a weekday so we only paid Php 529 each. The prices are already inclusive of refillable non-alcoholic beverages. Here’s the complete list of prices and the schedule of their lunch and dinner buffets.

Seoul Garden at SM Annex in North Edsa price list - CertifiedFoodies.com

Overall, I’m giving Seoul Garden a 3-star and a Recommended rating. We weren’t really amazed by any of their food, but I say it’s still worth a visit. Let us know what you think and if you agree with us. 🙂

Seoul Garden

SM North Edsa – Annex building
Website: www.seoulgarden.com.ph
Contact Info: 355-4006 / info@seoulgarden.com.ph

Desserts at Seoul Garden

The rest of our desserts from Seoul Garden in SM North.

Published by

Michelle Ignacio

Michelle (aka Mhel / blankPixels) is a social media nerd and works as a Digital Marketing Lead for one of the top online companies in the Philippines. On her free time, she travels, goes on food trip and loves to take photos. She's the main editor of this food blog.

14 thoughts on “Seoul Garden in SM North Edsa : Review”

  1. I’d love to give this a try but my food buddy and bf is not too fond of Korean cuisine and hot pots.. 🙁 Medyo limited din ang choices for grilling, but we’ll see.. Maybe he’d agree to give Seoul Garden a go. Lalo na we’re also in SM North/Trinoma most of the time.. 😀

    PS: Why haven’t I bumped into you yet? I’m from the Camanava area too.. >.<

    1. Yes, almost the same. Their prices include unlimited drinks though, unlike in Yakimix where you need to pay for it separately. Yeah, I agree, the options are limited, but still worth the try though. 🙂

    1. They offer the same price as Yakimix, maybe a little cheaper. The choices may be a little limited, but I think it was worth it since I enjoyed the hotpot and the grilled meats.

    1. Awww really? I’ve seen other blog posts about them and they seemed to be okay with taking photos of the buffet, basta ata don’t take individual photos, but just wide shots.

      Yeah, the grill was a little small, but I guess it was okay for us since it’s just me and Ken. If the whole family was there, we might have something else to say. 🙂

  2. I always love your reviews on restos around the area of QC and Camanava…your know we just run around the circles…same are that I am frequenting too.

    And Ohhh BTW , Ken’s sideview post with matching taas ng kilay here is remarkable 🙂

    Miss U guys

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