For affordable buffet, go to Tramway

Tramway's buffet selection

Tramway offers an affordable buffet that is perfect for family celebrations such as birthdays, baptisms, and other life milestones. This restaurant's image is exactly that -- homey, kid-friendly, and laid back. I initially thought that this is one of those upscale buffet joints but I was wrong. It's as mass market as your regular corner eatery. I've had the opportunity to try Tramway twice, first was in Timog and second was in Mandaluyong.

What's good about it is that Tramway has a huge selection of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino cuisines and native sweets. Diners will enjoy steamed dumplings, Chinese cold cuts, and chicken, meat, and fish dishes.

For starters, one may opt to get siomai and century egg slices. The California Maki is also a nice and tasty appetizer. These are not sophisticated dishes but still satisfy the palate of the average Juan.

For mains, I really loved the steamed fish and Yang Chow fried rice. The big steamed fish is tasty and swimming in thick soy-based, slightly sweet sauce. The fish, which I reckoned was fresh, was meaty and rich-tasting, the flavor of which is further enhanced by the sauce.

The Yang Chow rice is not as good as the authentic kind but, nonetheless, tasty and loaded with vegetables, generous bits of Chinese sausages and eggs. In fact, it was a good alternative if you are just trying to satisfy your craving for fried rice.

For dessert, one will definitely enjoy the variety of fresh fruits, selection of native cakes, fruit salad and buko pandan. The fresh fruits are of good quality as they taste ripely sweet. The fruit salad and buko pandan, on the one hand, is as great-tasting as the homemade kind.

Service is good and fast as empty food trays are immediately refilled. Price is also reasonable at around P500 per head.

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Photo taken from Tramway's website.