Lunch at Niu

About a month ago, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary at Niu by Vikings. It has been a couple of years since we dined at Vikings. And what better way to make a comeback than to try Niu.

Their tagline is "An evolved buffet dining experience". So to be honest, I had very high expectations. I placed our reservation through their website and in no time at all our lunch was booked.

On the day of our anniversary, we got to SM Aura a bit early as we added some allowance of time for our travel. One good thing about being early is that you don't have to wait that long to be seated. At the entrance, you would already see the posh furnishings. It is what I would have expected from Niu.

The walk to our table was quite impressive as it showed more of the posh interior design of the restaurant. The only thing that I could comment was that they try to maximize the dining space that walking it limits the walking path. It was more evident later when the place had more diners seated. There are a lot of tables that could seat parties of two, four, six or even ten. They even had a function area that can fit 20-30 people. We got seated on our table and we were told that we could start. Since the buffet just started, only a handful of people were at the queue and we were able to capture plenty of pictures of the spread.

Asian Spread

The Asian Spread was quite a handful. They offer a lot from Japanese, Chinese, Korean and ASEAN dishes. It is quite surprising that though Niu offers a very limited Japanese spread. I was expecting a little bit more. I was actually disappointed with their Salmon Sashimi as it seemed to have been left soaking in water.

Grilling Station

Their grilling station was unexpectedly limited as well with only a few options for grilling. Although limited, the taste is still superb.

Western Station

I held back at this station as most of the items here would fill me up and I would have less opportunity to try out the other selections.

Carving Station

I have been curious about Niu for quite a long time already and this is mostly because of their carving station. What can I say, I was not disappointed. There were several items to choose from and I had to back for multiple servings of that Roasted Angus Beef Karubi.

Just Desserts

Niu offers a wide variety of desserts. They offer the usual cakes and pastries, several flavors of crepe, white chocolate and chocolate fondue and native desserts. What surprised me was the wide selection of gelato.

Overall, the dining experience was satisfactory. I would say that ambiance-wise it was a cut above the usual buffet restaurants. The spread was very satisfactory. I would say our visit was short and would merit another visit. There are still a lot more to taste here.

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Resto Info

Current rates

ADULT RATE:

Adult Weekday Lunch: 938 (+5% service charge) Adult Weekday Dinner: 1,438 (+5% service charge) Adult Weekends/Holiday Lunch & Dinner: 1,438 (+5% service charge)

KIDS RATE:

Kids below 3 ft: FREE

Kids 3 ft - 4 ft Weekday Lunch: 308 (+5% service charge) Kids 3 ft - 4 ft Weekday Dinner: 408 (+5% service charge) Kids 3 ft - 4 ft Weekends/Holiday Lunch & Dinner: 408 (+5% service charge)

Kids 4 ft - 4 ft 6" Weekday Lunch: 618 (+5% service charge) Kids 4 ft - 4 ft 6" Weekday Dinner: 718 (+5% service charge) Kids 4 ft - 4 ft 6" Weekends/Holiday Lunch & Dinner: 718 (+5% service charge)

*Prices are subject to 5% service charge.

Reservations are made through their app, website, or through the contacts below