Dai Ka Lok Hotpot and Dimsum Review – After trying Dai Ka Lok’s a la carte dishes previously, we found ourselves wanting to see if the hotpot and dimsum buffet are worth it or not. All I can say is that, we might be back again in the future to stuff ourselves again.
Dai Ka Lok location
Dai Ka Lok’s location is at D. Tuazon, Santa Mesa Heights, Quezon City. The place is not that hard to find since they have bright signage outside and there are very few establishments on the side.
This restaurant with eat all you can in Quezon City also serves a la carte dishes. So, if you’re not up for an eating competition, you can try their dishes by order. Then, come back again to try their hotpot and dimsum buffet when you’re famished.
Quality chinese food
If you have tried Cai Hok Restaurant, then you’ll surely like Dai Ka Lok. The 2 sister companies share quite similar Chinese dish menu. So if you’re craving something Chinese, and couldn’t find a table at Cai Hok, then you can move to Dai Ka Lok for the same quality food you enjoy at Cai Hok.
Many Chinese restaurants in Quezon City serve quality dishes at an affordable price. And you guessed it right, Dai Ka Lok is one of them.
Dai Ka Lok hotpot buffet price 2025
Most buffet restaurants in Quezon City (or maybe in anywhere else) require that customers finish eating after eating for a certain amount of time. And at Dai Ka Lok, you’re allowed to eat with gusto up to 2 hours. Nonetheless, we were already too full even before the time was up!
All I can say is the 699 Php (11.94 USD), + service charge, is a good price for the buffet that they offer. And if you think you still can stuff yourself with unlimited dimsum, you just have to add 300 Php (5.13 USD) to your bill.
Also, make sure to order only what you can finish because you have to pay 500 Php (8.54 USD) for each person if you have leftovers.
Hotpot buffet
Upon arriving at Dai Ka Lok, QC, a table became available as one of the customers left. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long as my stomach was already growling when we got there.
The server immediately gave us the Dai Ka Lok hotpot and dimsum buffet menu so we could start ordering. Hubby ordered local and US beef for our protein fix.
Of course, I won’t forget ordering the mozzarella cheese ball, golden mushroom, and spinach.
Soup Base
First and foremost, you have to choose among the 5 soup bases: mala, mushroom, pork bone, satay and clear, and sinigang. I was almost tempted to try the sinigang, but thought that dipping my beef slices in it wouldn’t blend well, so I just settled with the satay and clear soup.
Hubby chose pork bone soup (we chose the double soup – don’t worry, no additional charge for this). Both soups were great and paired perfectly well with all our hotpot orders.
Hotpot sauce
How can you tell the best hotpot buffet restaurant from an ordinary one? First thing’s first, you check their hotpot sauce, and you’ll know if you’re in for an authentic hotpot experience!
What’s trending at hotpot restaurants these days are self-service hotpot sauces.
Of course, Dai Ka Lok wouldn’t want to be left behind, so they set up a buffet table just for the sauces. But what separates them from most hotpot restaurants is that their sauce plates are kept and sanitized below the sauces.
Dai Ka Lok Hotpot sauce includes spring onion, wansoy, fresh onions and garlic, and chili for the aromatics. Then for the sauces, they have satay (peanut sauce), onion oil, sesame oil, oyster sauce, black vinegar, and watered peanut butter.
They also have a special hotpot sauce, which tasted familiar, as it was the same as other Chinese hotpot sauces we’ve tried before. It was a sweet and salty soy sauce that tastes great even if you try it without all the other spices and sauces. You know there’s umami taste in it that makes you want to eat more!
Local beef
I was surprised that the lean beef we ordered was local beef. However, if you prefer juicier meat, then you wouldn’t like it. But, if your new year’s resolution is to lose weight, then this must be on top of your order list!
Although they were pure lean meat, each slice was very tender. Pro tip: Avoid overcooking your beef slices to prevent them from getting chewy.
Balls
Aside from mozzarella cheese balls, we also tried other balls available on the buffet table. However, the ball that we won’t be getting on our next visit would be the squid ball. I couldn’t describe the meat inside the squid ball because they weren’t really that bad, it’s just that they didn’t taste like how we imagined them to be.
IMO, you should try them if you love squid balls!
The mozzarella cheese ball and pork mushroom balls were the ones we always buy in groceries. I also tried the fish roe ball and it’s also superb. All the rest of the balls are ignored.
Hot food
Apart from the hotpot, there is also available hot food on the other side of the buffet table. During our visit, they had beef (I’m not sure what it’s called), Yang Chow fried rice, noodles, sweet and sour pork, and chicken poppers.
I’m not sure if they change the hot dishes menu from time to time, or you’d expect the same dishes on your visit. But what we highly recommend among them are the sweet and sour pork and Yang Chow fried rice. The chicken poppers was so-so because they were a bit spicy, not fit for children who hates spicy food.
But what turned us off is the noodles, because they seemed to have been cooked using an overused oil. I didn’t try the beef because they didn’t look that delectable, and to maximize my buffet experience, I’m going to eat only what’s pleasing to my eyes.
Desserts
Among the desserts, what we tried were almond jelly and coffee jelly.
After hearing from the other table that the coffee jelly is her favorite, I decided I wanted to see for myself if it’s worth trying.
The almond jelly tasted just like any other we have tried from other Chinese restaurants. The coffee jelly, on the other hand, tasted great too! It’s just that the milk sauce isn’t to my liking. It was creamy and sweet, just right to balance with the unsweetened black coffee jelly.
If you’re like me, who isn’t a fan of too much sweets, you’d just drink a bit of the creamy milk sauce. But I agree with the girl on the other table, that the coffee jelly is superb!
Dimsum Buffet
To get the best of both worlds, we decided to also try Dai Ka Lok dim sum buffet too. Just add 300 Php (5.13 USD) to the hotpot buffet price and you can already enjoy the dimsum included in the buffet.
Here’s what’s in Dai Ka Lok dimsum buffet menu:
Among the dimsums, our favorites are a must order!
We tried the pork siomai, chicken feet, xiao long bao, Japanese siomai, and egg yolk pao. All of them were great! However, we didn’t quite appreciate the egg yolk pao probably because we were too full.
The egg yolk pao had a generous amount of filling, so if you’re a filling lover, I’m sure you’ll love it! Maybe we have to try it again in the future when we come back! Has my Dai Ka Lok dimsum buffet review entice you to try it?
Dai Ka Lok hotpot buffet review conclusion
When looking for the best buffet in Quezon City, you might find many that offers different types of cuisine. There’s Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and many others. And while many claim other hotpot buffets are the best, I believe that Dai Ka Lok serves better quality of meat than the other trending ones.
Of course, it still depends on anyone’s palate to tell which one’s really the best. However, what I can say is that Dai Ka Lok hotpot buffet menu is an underrated (or probably isn’t that publicized yet) that you should try soon!
Not only that, but Dai Ka Lok dimsum buffet price is very affordable, so you might as well try it while you’re there. I hope you liked my Dai Ka Lok buffet review! Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Tiktok, and YouTube – for more food, travel, and hotel reviews!
