CONTRIBUTED BY JULIA

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Hotel Nikko Alivila’s Kinshasa restaurant serves a deliciously satisfying dim sum lunch buffet. They have dishes that you can choose from at the buffet table and then a cart that is filled with dim sum goodies. The last time I was there with hubby and the kids the buffet table included mapo tofu, congee, a scallop and eggplant dish, and beef and vegetables. Between the buffet table dishes and dessert we only lasted through one round of the dim sum cart. With that first round we received sticky rice and four different types of dumplings including the typical har gow shrimp dumplings and siu mai pork dumplings. Everything was reliably good.

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Dessert included egg custards, almond cookies, fresh fruit, mango pudding, and apricot seed tofu. The almond cookies scored with the kids but my favorite was the apricot seed tofu which you can drizzle with either blueberry, mango, or brown sugar sauce.

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The hotel grounds are beautiful with a courtyard by the pool that is fantastic for a relaxing stroll. Especially after stuffing yourself silly!

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Cost: I’ve only been here twice mostly because it’s hard to enjoy buffet lunches with one picky toddler and one squirmy toddler. The other reason is because at 2500 yen per adult it ends up being a quite expensive lunch. Great for special occasions or the occasional treat otherwise it’ll break the bank!

Address: 600 Gima, Yomitan

Google Maps Coordinates: 26.4153835, 127.7151202

Directions:

  • From Kadena Gate 1 take a RIGHT onto Hwy 58.
  • Pass Kadena circle and take a LEFT at Route 6 heading towards Torii Station and Cape Zanpa.
  • Pass Torii Station on your left and a Lawson’s on your left.
  • At the 1st traffic signal after Lawson the road will split (this is about 4 km after your turn off of 58). Take the LEFT fork and follow the signs for Hotel Nikko Alivila (they’ll have a big orange circle that says Alivila on them).

Website: https://www.alivila.co.jp

8 COMMENTS

    • I just ate there a week ago with friends–chicken feet and ginger tripe made an appearance during the second round of dimsum. They had an amazing variety of delicious dimsum. I highly recommend it!

  1. We went to the Coco Gardens dim sum lunch yesterday and it was delish! I didn’t think it took too long. The first thing came out in just a few minutes and they kept bringing things out as they got finished. It was 2500Y per person for all you can eat. I had read somewhere that it was less during lunch, but either that information was old or the Sunday lunches are more. Either way, I’m happy to pay that price for what we got. It was amazing. I will admit that I’ve not been a dim sum fanatic in the past because the couple that I have been to just weren’t all that. But I am a convert after Coco Gardens! Can I go every week?

  2. Here’s my take on Dim sum lunches on the island. I really like Niko Avila because the food comes out super quick (we have a wiggly 3 yr old) and is delicious. Coco gardens also has a delicious and I think more authentic Dim sum lunch which is well worth a try. However, they are slower and its hard to be patient with a toddler. I thought the ANA hotel one was good but the flavors were definitely a little more on the Japanese then chinese side for me and the day we went they weren’t super quick either. There is also another one at Busenna Hotel near Nago but I found them a bit pricey and not any better then Niko Avila. (can you tell that I’m a dim sum fanatic?) As pricey as it all is though Its still cheaper then a plane trip to Hong Kong for the real thing!