I went to “Michela” at the Urawa Pines Hotel.
This time I chose the premium plan with all-you-can-eat crab and wagyu. ¥8,800.
Not a cheap amount.
But it's not only crab and wagyu.
Pasta, pizza, salad, assorted dishes, drinks—the usual hotel-buffet fare is quite rich too.
Normally, the proper way is to take a little of various dishes, plate them nicely, and enjoy the hotel buffet elegantly.
In fact, the surrounding guests were all like that.
And KAZUKIN, of course, entered intending the same.
...Supposedly.
The moment I saw the crab, I abandoned diversification
The moment I saw the crab lined up at the counter, my policy changed.
Today is crab.
There's pasta.
There's pizza.
There's salad.
There's wagyu.
But KAZUKIN's eyes were almost entirely on the crab.
In investing terms, a complete concentrated investment.
Normally I like to think I understand the importance of diversification.
But on this day, I couldn't find a reason to diversify.
First plate.
Crab.
Next plate.
Crab.
And another plate.
Crab.
Before I knew it, KAZUKIN's table had three heaping plates of crab.
With a little wagyu in between.
That was pretty much it.
Thick meat, and well-salted too
What stood out most this time was the quality of the crab itself.
The meat was solid and thick.
The saltiness was just right.
Once I took the meat out of the shell, it was so good I wanted to put it straight in my mouth.
When you hear “all-you-can-eat crab,” you sometimes hear stories like
“the meat was thin,”
“the crab itself was small,”
“hard to peel for so little to eat.”
But here it was the opposite.
I was completely smitten by the thick-meated crab and the exquisite salting.
Both hands were slimy with boiling liquid.
Even so, I kept eating without rest.
Peel, eat, peel again.
Before I knew it, my fingers had gone pruney.
If you ask whether I needed to go that far, probably not.
But I couldn't stop.
Before I knew it, I'd poured three years' worth of crab into my stomach.
I was probably the only one splattering crab juice
Midway, I glanced around.
Everyone was truly elegant.
Taking salad, pasta, meat dishes, enjoying dessert too.
One of their plates had crab.
That is probably what a proper hotel buffet is.
Meanwhile, KAZUKIN's table.
Three heaping plates of crab.
And flying crab juice.
Looking around, probably no other guest was as all-in on crab as KAZUKIN.
I imagine I caused the hotel quite a lot of trouble.
Even so, the staff kept smiling without a trace of showing it.
Impressive, as expected.
The crab never ran out, not for a moment
What I found even more impressive was the crab replenishment.
Even with customers eating this much, the crab almost never ran out.
Even when I piled it so high I thought “did I take too much?”, before long the next crab had already been added.
At buffets, it's not unusual for a popular dish to run out and you wait a while.
But this time, at least in the range KAZUKIN could see, the crab was never out for even a moment.
That is quite something.
Overwhelming operational power. Impressive, to say the least.
指までふやけてきたね・・
Losing completely on nutritional balance. Winning overwhelmingly on cost performance
Of course, nutritionally speaking, eating a huge amount of one food isn't good.
In that respect, the other guests who enjoyed various dishes in good balance win overwhelmingly.
But.
In terms of cost performance, KAZUKIN's “all-in on crab investment-style dinner” wins overwhelmingly.
I fully understand the importance of diversification.
But today was different.
Overconsumption is welcome. I came to eat crab.
Of course I don't intend to eat like this every day.
But it's an occasional all-you-can-eat.
And a premium plan with crab and wagyu at that.
Then eating what you like as much as you like is fine, right?
Is ¥8,800 expensive?
¥8,800.
Looking at the number alone, it's a fair amount for dinner.
But in fact, beyond crab and wagyu, you can enjoy the whole hotel buffet including pasta, pizza, salad, assorted dishes and drinks.
On top of that, you can eat thick-meated crab as much as you like.
In KAZUKIN's case, rather than enjoying the whole buffet evenly, I thoroughly went after the premium part.
So satisfaction was quite high.
I don't intend to calculate in detail whether I broke even.
I can say just one thing:
I ate until I thought “I don't need any more crab.”
That's enough.
And a few days later, I'll probably want it again.
Crab is great, right?
KAZUKIN Rating
- 🦀 Thickness of the crab meat — ★★★★★ (thick; worth peeling)
- 🧂 Saltiness — ★★★★★ (makes you want to eat it straight)
- 🔄 Replenishment — ★★★★★ (never out for a moment)
- 📉 Practice of diversification — ★☆☆☆☆ (changed policy right after entering)
- 🍽️ Dignity around the table — ★☆☆☆☆ (crab juice flying)
This article is a personal opinion and record. KAZUKIN LAB has no relationship with the Urawa Pines Hotel. I'm just a buffet-loving customer. Prices, plan details and menus are as of writing and may have changed. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
The illustration is an image based on KAZUKIN's experience. It may differ from real stores and dishes. It is not an official photo or advertisement.