All-you-can-eat supper@ Smiley's, Saskatoon, SK

I'm not sure whats with me and buffets (we seem to click quite well ;p). Anyways, for a small place like Saskatoon, the number of buffets in town will definitely burn someone's goal to slim down. Reviews on Smiley's have been a mixed so I decided to try it out myself. For a dinner buffet at $16.95, I would say this is definitely cheaper than the whole lot out there. A huge building that also caters for events, banquets and of course, the daily buffet.  Reminded me much of a hotel buffet.

They have the usual salad bar with quite a variety of items. Although I didn't really try anything from there, the items looked fresh even though it was close to closing hours.

I was actually quite surprised with their hot buffet as I did not really expect much from this buffet. The variety of items they have was quite impressive. Friday was seafood buffet, so probably that was why there were so many variety of seafood; mussels, shrimp, fish filets, squid etc. Their Asian spread was also quite acceptable; maybe not the best Asian food in town but they covered the noodles, fried rice, pork roll, egg roll and even Vietnamese cold rolls with peanut sauce. A newer addition was the sushi bar with a few types of sushi offered; sushi were well-made and presented in a neat fashion (although I'm not sure what they do with leftovers!). And then of course, the much talked-about Smiley's Gourmet Fried Chicken. I honestly think it was quite good. Chicken was quite fresh, crunchy, and not too salty like KFC's. I was contemplating to whether have seconds but was just too full @__@

Eat eat eat with sunbae

Ok, the pics are not doing justice to the real thing but the stuffed zucchini at the top pic tasted awesome. I'm pretty sure its stuffed with fish and shrimp. Zucchini was a little bit mushy but this item reminded me of 'yong tau foo' (tofu/vege stuffed with fish meat).

One of the better dishes : Mussels ! Loved this!

Sushi

What I had on my plate - First round ;p

They have a huge assortment of desserts at their dessert bar; I'm pretty sure you will not be able to try all of them. Apart from pop and slushies (which I think there's additional charges), the rest of the items included frozen yoghurt and vanilla ice cream (with toppings!), assorted cakes and cookies, coconut bun and custard bun, English toffee pudding and rice pudding. One thing that I definitely like was their coconut bun and custard bun. Its really hard to get this kind of buns in Saskatoon because no one thought of opening a bun bakery (@__@, last spotted were some assortment of buns at the Asian Market on Clarence). Totally fell in love with these buns. They were freshly baked, soft with lots of coconut filling. Even the custard bun was pretty impressive, a little bit crispy on the top and tasted super good (maybe I'm being biased coz I love bread and buns ;p)

Left : Coconut bun, Right : Custard bun

Ok, not really presentable coz I took a bite and then snap a photo but there was lots of coconut filling that I just had to show you. 

I did not take any photos of their desserts because I did not touch any apart from their frozen yoghurt. One thing lacking in this buffet is the aesthetics of food presentation. Although there were lots of variety, the desserts did not look quite tempting to the point I was wondering whether they were left overs from events or banquets that they hosted. I'm sure they will taste good though (can't really go wrong with desserts I guess).

Will I be back ? Yup, probably. And I think Friday will be my favourite day because its seafood buffet. They have specials everyday so, it will be better if you check out what features they have for the day. We were there quite late so servers were quite attentive since there were already not many customers around. 

Address : 702 Circle Drive East Saskatoon, SK S7K3T7

Opening hours : Dinner buffet at 4.00-8.00pm

Website : Smiley's Buffet and Catering

(Revisit) Dinner Jap-buffet @ New Island Sushi, Saskatoon, SK

Since we were so impressed by New Island Sushi the last time we were there (blog post), we decided to give the dinner buffet a shot as well. It's $5 more compared to lunch but it's still cheaper than the dinner buffet in Nagoya or Go For Sushi. Here's the cheating part; if you are a sashimi-lover, you have to pay an additional $5/person (!!), which will then make it the most expensive dinner buffet compared to the rest. Also, make sure you go with everyone that eats sashimi, since they are going to charge the additional price / person at the table...smart 'ey. Anyways, those highlighted yellow are the extra things they have for dinner as compared to the lunch buffet…

Mango salad : I dunno why but we both loved this salad. Mango, vege, fish roe and dressing seemed very good combination 

Seaweed salad topped with fish roe : This is super tasty. Refreshing and healthy ?

Grilled shrimp - skip this. nothing special, really

Im pretty sure this is salmon belly teriyaki. Sinfully good though with lots of fats, and if you like deep-fried stuff

Salmon asparagus roll : small piece of thing but my friend said it was good.

Dim sum / steamed dumplings : Looked nice from the outside. Honestly one of the worst I've ever tasted. I reckoned eating those frozen dumplings from Superstore or Asian groceries tasted better.

The tiniest (cute though) ever siu mai (pork dumpling) that I've seen.

Tiger roll : Not sure what is the filling, but its slightly spicy and tasted like a mixture of crumbs, crabmeat or salmon. 

Slice beef with enoki mushroom. Good stuff.

Must-not-miss tempura-s! Shrimp was scrawny during the first order but look at the second one (right), super huge and with lots of fried batter.

Overall, food was good ( despite some people saying its not authentic Japanese!), serving was fast and waiters were attentive. Some might not like the fact that the sushis are smaller than the usual size that you get from Umi Sushi or other places but I think its ok (why stuff yourself silly with all the carbo @__@). If you prefer more of the authentic stuff like sashimi/salmon/teriyaki, you can try the dinner. If not, I think its not much of a difference compared to lunch. Desserts are the same for both. So I'll probably just stick with lunch the next time around! lols

All-you-can-eat Jap buffet @ New Island Sushi, Saskatoon, SK

After last week disappointing sushi lunch buffet at Nagoya-owner change ? different chef ? trying too hard to be like Go For Sushi ? Expecting too much since the previous visit for their dinner buffet was good ? (Check out my previous post on their dinner buffet), I couldn't wait to try out the 'best' sushi buffet in Saskatoon as reviewed by many people. My friend had a visitor from BC, so we decided to try this place out together. I will let the pictures do the talking. Photos were not of the best quality since it was taken with my S3 in a very quick manner (since there were sooo many little plates and bowls being served and everyone's waiting to chomp then down). 

Bottom half is sakura sushi; apparently one of the more famous items as I see many tables having this. One of my favourite!

Restaurant was full when we got there (place not as big as Go For Sushi or Nagoya) but we were seated within 10 minutes. Ambience was just ok; but the cubicles gave more privacy.

First look on the menu and I already got excited because what I have been craving for, were all there (tempura, udon and green tea ice cream-all three not offered in Nagoya's lunch !). Anyways, we ordered a variety of stuff and many had pictures on the menu in case you have no idea what is that. First up was the teriyaki beef, which totally did not look tempting and came in a really miserable looking portion. But thats the good part I guess, so that you will not have to stuff yourself silly if its not nice. Just pass this, nothing spectacular.

Grilled beef….just skip this...

Japanese curry chicken. Miserable looking for tasted ok

Then came the japanese curry chicken; something not offered in other sushi buffets. Portion was small but surprisingly, it tasted good as it was crispy and yet with the taste of the japanese curry. I kinda like this but it was gone within a few seconds (#regret should have ordered a second piece) lols...Another good part of this restaurant is that they offer stir-fry udon, udon soup, and fried rice from the menu. So, it came hot and thankfully, it came in small portions. Picture above was the seafood udon while below was the spicy seafood udon ( ok, basically they are the same thing with the exception of some sriracha chilli sauce mix in the soup to make it spicy @__@).  Very little udon ( good so that you are not stuffed with carbs) and came with generous slices of fishball, crab meat and prawns. We also ordered unagi don ( rice with grilled eel with teriyaki sauce). I did not get to try this unfortunately but it did look presentable. You can also order the sushi version.

Spicy seafood udon soup. Small bowl, sriracha-kind-of-spicy, tasted ok.

Unagi don

Finally the sushi we ordered arrived. Some of them was not presented in a very organized way since we ordered only a few of each; so one big plate and a variety of sushi. Loved the sakura sushi ( bottom right) which is basically little lumps of sushi rice with salmon encircling it and topped with japanese mayo and fish roe. I used to order this alot when back in Malaysia. Overall, the sushi were quite fresh, presentable and nicely shaped. Awesomely good with wasabi and pickled ginger.

Loved their mango maki rolls ( which what some other friends kept recommending me before this) and its totally superb (yup, just mango and crispy crumbs). Something not common in other japanese restaurant I would say and I have no idea who started this creation but it was definitely something good! We ordered this twice :)

I realized lots of tables were ordering shrimp tempura and that was what I came here for anyways ( so disappointed that Nagoya do not even offer tempura in their lunch menu). Satisfied my cravings here with some super crispy (but oily) shrimp, squid and stuffed eggplant tempuras.

They had their own fare of chinese food as well such as the won ton soup and sweet and sour chicken ; which I think you should just pass these since I think any Chinese restaurants would have served better ones. They also had dumplings, shrimp dumplings and siu mai newly added in their menu but unfortunately, after ordering them for 3 times and reminded the servers, none of them came. Ah well, if they didn't have it, they should have just informed us @_@

Wan ton soup. Skip this. 

Weird sweet and sour chicken. Chinese restaurants can do better

More maki rolls such as shrimp tempura rolls, mango rolls (again!) and white dragon roll. ALL of them were super delicious and their rolls were not as crude as Nagoya's. Look at the pretty platter of salmon sushi, unagi and more sakura sushi. They were definitely worth ordering and I could see the tables around me ordered more or less the same items as well. 

My favourites. Mango roll and tempura roll!

Done with sushis and tempuras. Next up was dessert. Other sushi buffets that I've gone to usually have a self-service dessert counter but not here. Their dessert options were limited; vanilla, green tea, red bean and mango ice cream and fried banana. Thats it. I'm not complaining though because even with their limited choices, they had the best dessert compared to the rest of the sushi buffets. We had 17 scoops of ice cream (#sugaroverload) to be shared among the 4 of us and I also had a piece of fried banana ( super oily though). Which flavor was the best ? I'm not entirely sure because I thought all 4 was pretty good especially the green tea and red bean. Mango was ok but my friends said it tasted weird.

Overall, after trying four different japanese restaurants in Saskatoon ( of which 3 buffets and 1 ala-carte), I vote this restaurant to be the best. Location is slightly further away from the rest but totally worth it. Servers were quite efficient even on a busy Saturday ( we did not meet with terrible service as some others had reviewed-apart from the 'lost' dumplings!). For lunch, it was $14.99. Now I feel tempted to see what they have to offer for their dinner buffet;P. 

Address : 2036 Quebec Avenue, Saskatoon, SK S7K1W5

Website : New Island Sushi

Go For Sushi on 8th Street, Saskatoon

Its been a month since my last post, sorry for being MIA ! Its the new term, so busy organizing my schedules, labs and seminars ( so that I can graduate in a timely manner ? ;P). For those who have been in Canada ( not sure of other provinces though) , Japanese buffet is quite a thing. For a small town like Saskatoon, we have a considerable amount of Japanese buffet restaurants to choose from. To celebrate the end of last term ( and Xmas hols!), a couple of us had a crazy time shopping ( and it was not even Boxing day !) and finally settled for Japanese buffet ( since we were so hungry we could probably eat a cow !). I have been here once previously but due to lack of photos, I did not post a blog on it. So here am I again. What put this restaurant above the rest of the buffet restaurants is that it has a buffet session which comprised of Asian ( mainly Chinese) dishes, a salad and dessert bar as well; while other places is solely Japanese. So, this place is good for those who wants a mixture of cuisines ( or if you are with a friend who does not really like Jap food)

I think this restaurant has one of the best ambience ; comparative to the rest!

What I had from the buffet spread. Tempuras, fried fish and chicken fillet, spring rolls and Chinese bun,  stir-fry noodles, red bean paste balls etc

Deep fried scallops, crab meat, fish fillet and chicken and some siu mai ( pork dim sum)

My friend's plate ! It was her first time here and she was soo hungry that she just piled up her plate at the first sight of food. Lols !

Buffet spread ( mainly Chinese dishes) : Overall, food was ok. They had quite a good variety dishes which includes stir-fry noodles, fried rice, spring rolls, dim sum, crab legs, wan ton soup, fried items, sweet and sour meat, Chinese buns etc. It may not have the best taste but for the price you pay, you do get a good amount of selection!

Menu : Japanese food. Browse and checked the items and quantity you want and pass it to the waitress. 

Sushi rolls. I dont remember what we had though , sorry ! It was good and acceptable.

Green dragon : Cucumber, tempura shrimp wrapped with avocado and eel sauce. One of my fav!  

Grilled meat. Just ok.

Well-grilled Japanese fish but tasted weird, according to my friend

Never go wrong with shrimp tempura ! I had this twice !

A variety of sushi. Loved all of these !

Never ever miss the specialty rolls. They are awesome!

Sashimi-based sushi, usually the most expensive items on a Japanese menu. Eat as much as you want !

Japanese menu : Overall, a great variety to select from. If you have more friends with you, the better ( four would be the best) , so that you can order, share the items and eat more instead of chowing down the same thing.
Tips : Do not miss the specialty rolls, sashimi and tempura. The ingredient combination is really good and depending what you like, I'm sure you will find one that fits your taste bud ( usual price of specialty rolls in a Japanese restaurant ranges from $ 10-14). Sashimi is fresh and tasted good as well, so be smart and order those that will be worth it for the price you pay). We paid about $ 26-ish / person ( excluding tips) for a dinner buffet. Apparently, lunch buffet had almost the same menu ( probably minus the sashimi) at a cheaper price ( I think it is between $ 14-16); so some said its more worth it. 

Dessert. Picture doesn't do justice to it but we were pretty full to really enjoy them anyways. Mango pudding (bottom right) was really good. Yellow and black jelly were Konyaku ( I think!). Cakes tasted like from pre-mixes you get from the supermarket; so you will not miss much if you skip these!

Address : Go For Sushi, 2105 8th Street E, Saskatoon, SK S7H5N9 

Website : Go For Sushi