If you are seriously hungry while out and about in Japan, a good term to know and look out for is tabehodai 食べ放題, meaning “all you can eat” (the drinking version is nomihodai 飲み放題); you pay a set price and chow down all you can within the time limit, usually 60 minutes to 90 minutes. There also different kinds of all-you-can-eat as well; Pizza, takoyaki, sushi, gyoza, sweets, hot pot, among others. Here is an example of all you can eat yakiniku :D

Some places offer a “system” where you can choose your course. The more expensive the course, the better the selection on the menu. Of course, everyone in your party must agree to the same choice as well. Luckily, the place we went to offers just one price for everything on the menu. 2000 yen for 90 minutes ^_^

There are like 50+ items including sides and desserts on the menu that you can continually order. You be adventurous and try everything on the menu or aim to find the best slice of meat and repeatedly order just that. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you eat your money’s worth ^^;. My methodology is “shut up and eat!”; meat must be grilling at all times, there must be a meat ready to be grilled at all times, you must be eating at all times, and save the chat for later.

This is what it looks like when the party starts rolling!

BURN, BABY, BURN!

90 minutes seem short at first but surprisingly, it is enough; the average person would be done in about an hour and spend the last 30 minutes either chilling, burning food for fun, or eating desserts. I eat until the bitter end ^^;.

Yakiniku at another location on another day. I was puzzled and surprised that even though this is the same company as the first one above, the grill and menu are different. Instead of fire, we get an electric grill and this one have the course selection. Basic menu for 2000 yen, or better meat for 2500 yen. Still 90 minutes.

 

We went for the 2500 yen course for a better selection of meat and other assorted things like scallops. mmm… grilled scallops… :D

I was a tad bit disappointed that it is not a fire grill like the others I have been to so far. The electric grill also wasn’t very hot… that was also very annoying since the meat wasn’t grilling fast. I thought since it was the same chain of restaurant, the grills and menu would be the same but apparently not. Learned something new that day. The food was still good though, thankfully. Guess I need to make sure what kind of grill they use next time before sitting down.

Some non-meat items like kimchi kige tofu soup, grilled veggies, and squid. The soup and the squid were awesome :D

The staff will usually let you know that you have 10 minutes left so you can finish up or make a last order. Since I haven’t had dessert yet, I ordered mine all at once ^^;. Mango sundae, coffee jelly sundae, and cacao cream cake. They won’t kick you out if you run out of time so you can finish the last bits of food sitting around, otherwise they will charge you a leftover fee at the tune of 500 yen per item. So better eat ‘em all up!

ごちそうさまでした！