This was our second time at Hodai. It has become our go-to unli seafood place.
Most samgyupsal places mostly offer meat options for diners, but we’ve found a place that we go to mostly for the SEAFOOD 🙂
HODAI Unlimited Korean Barbecue and Seafood
Hodai is located at Examiner St. in Quezon City (a few minutes’ walk from the big West Avenue Starbucks). I first discovered this on Tiktok a few weeks ago and we went to try it.
Parking is available, best to go there early or during off-peak hours. There’s a guard that helps with the parking. You might not think this is helpful, but it is. Many times, we gave up on going to a restaurant in QC because “bahala ka sa buhay mo” in terms of parking and there was no easy parking spot available. Having a guard who’s helpful in assisting customers’ parking is such a bonus!
There’s a waiting area and someone is there to take your name for the waitlist. However, for both times we went there (around 11:30am the first time, and 4:30pm the second time, both during the weekend), tables were available and we didn’t have to wait too long. We only waited until they set up our tables and we were ushered in.
They have indoor and outdoor seating. We always choose indoor seating. I need aircon, LOL.
How to Order
On our first visit, they set up our tables with an initial set of food for grilling plus some cooked food like tempura and sushis, fried chicken, etc. For our second visit, we asked them not to set up the dishes on our table anymore, we will just order what we want. This is because we’ve already tried the other dishes before, AND THIS TIME, WE’RE JUST HERE FOR THE SEAFOOD 🙂
We got the P799/person selection, which includes Wagyu cubes, as well as all the other offerings.
To order, you just fill up this form:
They provide the usual samgyupsal set-up – plates, cups, cold water, tongs, scissors and utensils. The provided chopsticks are plastic, but you can ask for disposable bamboo ones.
Tables are spaced enough that you won’t feel cramped into another customers’ table.
What to Order
We can’t pass up any wagyu cube, we always end up ordering some 🙂
What we specifically came back for were the shrimp! On our first visit, the shrimp we had were sweet, fat and fresh. This time, they were also sweet, fat & fresh. Between us, we must have eaten at least 1.5 kilos of shrimp 🙂
We loved the shrimp so much, I wish they had ginger scallion sauce! I’m so tempted to bring some ginger scallion sauce next time… haha. But the sesame oil + salt dip they provided was okay. Or next time, I’ll try to ask if I can have some of the butter used for the oysters 🙂
The shrimp were not deveined, so if you like to devein your shrimp, you have to do it yourself 🙂 we made good use of the scissors and tissues.
We also really liked their oysters and scallops. I would have wanted to order more rounds of the oysters, but we were already full after 2 or 3 rounds of oysters. Make sure not to spill any of the sweet butter sauce while grilling the oysters!
Ever since I got food poisoning from eating oysters many years ago, I’ve been iffy about eating them, but these were good, and it’s been a few days and my tummy is okay. I can’t wait to go back and eat some more oysters at Hodai!
Make sure not to overcook your seafood! When the sauce starts bubbling inside the shell, keep an eye on them, they are close to being cooked.
They also have salmon sashimi. Your choice if you want to eat it raw. For me, I very lightly sear it on both sides on the grill before eating, it’s still very succulent 🙂
We ordered the Cajun Crab last time. I remember it was delicious but the crab was the small kind, I was too lazy to peel it this time so we didn’t order any.
Anyway, they have a sink where you can wash your hands. But I still suggest bringing your own wet tissues to use in between peeling seafood.
Cheesefall Ribs – these are ribs on a sizzling plate with some mozzarella. The waiter did some presentation with the mozzarella cheese, rolling the soft cheese around with some chopsticks before pulling the cheese on top of the ribs. Taste-wise, they were not bad, but not as juicy as I had expected.
The other meats were just so-so. After trying them the first time, we just came back to Hodai for the seafood 🙂
We weren’t able to try the Odeng Soup. I’m sure we will be going back to Hodai so that’s something to try next time.
For dessert, we had their Watermelon Punch. It’s a cold dessert made of diced watermelon, diced apple, sliced bananas and cornflakes in a yogurt drink sauce.
It’s worth it for us to just go to Hodai for seafood – beats having to go to Farmer’s Market in Cubao to shop for seafood, and then having to cook them, and then having to prepare all the side dishes, and then having to clean up afterwards! Haha.
We’ve tried many unli hotpots / kbbqs, and so far, Hodai has the best value for money seafood, they have the best quality seafood of kbbqs we’ve tried at this price range.
The grill is a gas grill, not charcoal.
Cleanliness / Facilities – 3.5 out of 5
Manage your expectations about the cleanliness of the restaurant. While I’m sure the restaurant looked sparkling when it was new, the constant exposure to grilling has taken its toll. There were also at least 50-100 customers both times we were there.
Cleanliness level is typical of a samgyupsal restaurant that’s located outside a mall. Some parts of the floor look greasy, etc.
Overall, it was still at par with places like this, so we didn’t let it bother us and we still enjoyed the food. We’ve dined at worse.
The service was nice, the staff were friendly and helpful. No nega vibes from the staff.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hodairestoph/
Address: #14 Examiner St, Quezon City, Philippines
Dessert
After our first visit to Hodai, we ended up at Starbucks West Avenue for dessert. You can drive to Starbucks (there is ample parking space, more at the back), but you can also walk to Starbucks from Hodai, it’s about 3-5 minutes’ walk. It’s not that far.
For our second visit to Hodai, we went to Cafe Dominique for dessert. Again, this cafe is not too far from Hodai, but you might want to drive, especially if it’s late and dark. It’s about a one-minute drive away. Cafe Dominique has some parking spaces in front.
They only had 2 choices for dessert. We had coffee earlier in the day at Zus, so we didn’t want any more caffeine.
We ordered the What the Fudge (P250) from Cafe Dominique – it’s 3 big slices of brownies stacked into a tower, topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup. 3/5 nothing memorable, big enough for sharing. The tower of brownies even fell before I was able to take a photo 🙂
However, Cafe Dominique has a cleaner ambience than Hodai, so if you need some respite from the samgyup smells, or want to use cleaner facilities and drink better water (Cafe Dominique serves lemon water), this is a nice stop 🙂
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CafeDominique/
Address: 42 Examiner St. West Triangle, Quezon City, Philippines
