Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot

Four Seasons Buffet & Hotpot is a hot pot specialty restaurant from the Viking Philippines group. 

The Hotpot Experience

Hotpot is quite popular in some South East and East Asian countries but the style is definitely not foreign to the Philippines as we do have own soup-based meals like sinigang, bulalo and more. Shabu-shabu, a somewhat related concept had also been around for a while too. What just makes this (hotpot) different is the variety of ingredients which can be added to the soup and mix base, without following any specific cooking style or dish name (i.e. sinigang na...). 

Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot Menu 

The menu consists of the same options present in most Viking Buffet branches but with the addition of a hot pot experience. 

To start with, you'll be provided with options for the soup base and mix. I make my life easier to always ask for the bestseller wherever I go but you can always ask for each selection to be explained for a more informed choice. 

Soup base menu include include pork, chicken, fish, vegetable and sinigang while mix include sate (that's like barbecue but in Indonesian style), szechuan, tomato and Chinese herbs. 

But before turning on the stove as well as requesting for your soup mix, you can start collect items to use. You can also turn it on anyway and just set the heat to low fire while you roam around the stations for the ingredients. 

I suggest gathering items depending on what may probably be best suited for the broth base. Don't hoard on varying combinations just to try them all. They'd taste awful. You can try one group for one bowl and test the rest for the other bowls, i.e. just seafood, chicken, pork, etc. 

The tables will have separate hot pots for each seat anyway so everyone can try their own style. Some tables will just have one pot but with dividers. 

Different types of noodles

If you're trying it alone, there's always another visit to make another experiment, errr... combination. 

Ingredients Available for the Hotpot

Aside from the noodles, mushrooms and more items shown above, here are more ingredients available. 

I'm amazed to see how tofu (above) is not always the same and there are several types of it based on texture, color etc. 

These ones are familiar as they're always present in shabu-shabu and even in some of our local street food, i.e. squid balls, chicken balls, kikiam, and so on. ⬆️

Different meat cuts of beef, pork and chicken already sliced to ideal hotpot serving size so they're easier to cook on boiling soup. 

Seafood, including clams and other shells ⤴️

Veggies (above and below); some of the finely chopped veggies can also work for the hotpot's dipping sauce after they're cooked

The Actual Hot Pot Cooking in a Video

There's no audio, only a background music. 

And you can always try other menu selections aside from the hotpot. There are supposedly more regular buffet stations compared with the hotpot related items but I didn't really notice those since I spent more time cooking and then enjoying the hot dish. 

So apart from the meat, seafood and vegetables for the hotpot, appetizers, desserts, and more are also served. 

Some diners even recommend starting your meal here with an appetizer first before indulging in the hotpot experience. I'm more of a soup person though so I'd dig in to the hot meal first. "Para mainitan ang sikmura" / to warm the stomach kind of thing. 

Tuna and salmon sashimi from the Japanese section ⤵️

Another familiar site --- a station filled with sushi rolls: 

And the dessert choices kept chilled in a glass display counter: 

Some items from the sweets section (gelatin and panna cotta with whip cream):

Different flavors of ice cream scoops with some toppings too 🔽

Quite an interesting fountain during this visit; not sure if this is how it always looks like everytime, and didn't ask if this is still a chocolate fountain with additional flavor. Cherry/strawberry chocolate perhaps?

Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot in Video

Everything in this post as well as more images and clips on this video:

Branches

SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City

Bldg E, SM By the Bay area          

Phone Numbers: 8-831-7777 and 8-835-7777

Araneta Center Cubao, Quezon City                            

G/F, Manhattan Parkview, Gen. Ave., Araneta Center                        

Phone Numbers: 8-932-7777 and 8-939-7777

The SM Southmall Las Piñas City location seems to be closed now (?). 

Rates

Fees are subject to change. 

Weekday Lunch

Kids 3-4 feet: Php 188

Kids 4-6 feet: Php 388

Adults: Php 688 

Weekday Dinner | Lunch & Dinner during Weekends & Holidays

Kids 3-4 feet: Php 288

Kids 4-6 feet: Php 588

Adults: Php 888 

Kids below 3 feet can dine for free anytime. 

Dining Hours

They're open from Monday to Sunday from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM for lunch and 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM for dinner. 

More Information

More details are available on their channels online:

Website - www.fourseasonshotpot.com.ph

Facebook: varies depending on branch

Instagram: www.instagram.com/fourseasonshotpotph

Twitter: www.twitter.com/fourseasonsHP