The name Banzai（万歳) is very fitting to celebrate a birthday because it literally means "ten thousand years of life", and it can be translated as "long life" or "hurrah". That's the reason why last Sunday we had a family get-together to celebrate a special day at Banzai The Teppanyaki Theater, a Japanese buffet restaurant. We thought we won't be able to make it here since BDO Pasay employees reserved more than half of the place. But fortunately we did.

Before even setting foot inside the buffet restaurant, we begin to be immersed into Japanese culture in the mini trick art gallery (near the entrance), which has three life-sized art paintings featuring ninja clan, sumo wrestling arena and Japanese street scene from the olden days.

Finally we got a table and hit the smorgasbord of buffet spread. We were like a group of edacious sumo wrestlers getting ready to devour all the food. :D

It has a plentiful variety of food. Most of their offerings obviously are traditional Japanese cuisine like teppanyaki, gyoza, ramen, tempura, takoyaki, tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, sushi, sashimi etc. There are selection of mains, hot entrees, Korean appetizers, desserts, pizzas, salads and seafood. There's also a porchetta section. For drinks, they have unlimited lemonade, tea, milo, coffee and beer. Sake and whiskey are charged separately. Most of their offering were pretty decent but some are just so so. I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of their desserts most of them are a little too sweet for my preference.

Another fun attraction is the dinner show (starts between 7:30 to 8:00) featuring geisha and ninja parade. I was like crazy moving around to capture them. Phew! :) Then there's the knife-juggling by the teppan chefs. Throwing knives in the air and skillfully catching them. Wow! And the performance ended with an explosive show of fire.

Overall, not bad for a birthday celebration, but not super impressed with some of the food. Wait staff were attentive. The atmosphere was lively and loud that night because of the Christmas party going on.


Banzai buffet rates on weekends and holidays is Php 1,088, weekdays lunch is Php 699, weekdays dinner is Php 899, and for kids it's Php 499 and free for below 3.5 feet.

Banzai The Teppanyaki Theater is owned by former actor turned restaurateur Marvin Agustin, actress Anne Curtis and their partners in the High Jap Group. It  is located at Bldg J, SM By The bay Leisure Park (near the Ferris wheel), Seaside Blvd., Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.

Till next time... toodles,
♥June