Japanese dinner @ Oishinbo

I already lost track how often I've visited Little Tokyo for a choice of authentic Japanese food. Last Black Saturday, we dropped a visit to Little Tokyo again as we introduce atsie Michelle (my gf's older sis) to the place.

Loitering in the courtyard we finally made a decision were to dine. We chose Oishinbo.

Oishinbo specializes in yakitori, teppanyaki, sushi and sashimi. I am excited to try their yakitori dishes since I am not that fond of sashimi.

We tried their Butabara which is a dish of skewered pork belly and just seasoned with salt. It comes with its own tare sauce for you to dip it if you wish. The skewers are chunky and 'siksik' that is why they are great. Though a bit pricey since the pricetag comes per stick and they are bit smaller compared t0 the Pinoy barbecue, they are still worth trying.

Another wonderful dish that we were lucky to order is their Gyu Niku Teppanyaki. When I eat at japanese restaurants, I usually don't prefer teppanyaki dishes since for me they just taste like steaks which were cut into small cubes then stir-fried with veggies like cabbage and bean sprouts. But I had a different one here. Oishinbo's teppanyaki tasted so great. It tasted well that after we finished the plate, we got the drippings and mixed that with our rice because the teppanyaki tastes so good. The meat cubes are so tender.

You may also try their luscious and meaty Ebi Tempura, their Wakame Salad and their Sake Sashimi.

ebi tempura

wakame salad

sake (salmon) sashimi

Cheers!

Oishinbo

Little Tokyo

Chino Roces Ave. ,

Makati, Metro Manila

Japanese 'Torta' experience

After my Hana Takoyaki experience, we then tried it's neighboring izakaya, the Kagura. Kagura's specialty is the Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a compound word which derives from two words; ''Okonomi" which means" to one's liking" and "yaki" which means "to grill". It is a popular teppan-fried, batter-based dish. It is served throughout Japan but it is extremely popular in the Kansai region. Okonomiyaki is made from a batter of egg, water, cabbage and flour then grilled in a teppan griddle with an assortment of stuffings like meat, seafood and vegetables. When cooked, it is then brushed with a sweet spicy Okonomi sauce (a brownish sauce similar to Worcestershire sauce), Kewpie mayonnaise and finally dusted with Katsuboshi and Aonori flakes. Okonomiyaki is also commonly called as the "Japanese pancake".

Kagura's Okonomiyaki is cooked right in front of the customer. They have a bar-style arrangement where customers are seated right in fornt of the teppan grills. I find this as a very good style since the customers (specially first timers) can have a first-hand view of how the Okoniyaki is prepared. Aside from that, they also have 3-4 tables where diners can have a privacy. Kagura prepares the okonomiyaki a la 'Kansai-style', which means they grill the
batter together with the stuffings over the hot teppan grill.

We chose to order the Okonomiyaki-mix since it is our first time and that posed as the
one with a little bit of everything. The dish boasted generous amounts of cabbage, pork,
shrimps and squid. It is not over-brushed with the mayonnaise and okonomi sauce that is why it doesn't have a very rich and no 'umay' taste. Well, for me, its more comparable to the Pinoy
'torta' than a pancake since it involves savoury ingredients instead of sweet stuffings like in
pancakes.

Okonomiyaki-mix is a very tasty meal on itself. I think it is a meal on itself since I saw that
several Japanese patrons are eating their okonomiyaki on its own devoid of a cup of gohan.
We chowed our Okonomiyaki-mix with a side dish of their Yakisoba and several rounds of complimentary of Mugi Cha.

The staff is warm and very entertaining. You can have converstions with them as they cook
your order. You can also see that the owner is a huge fan of Hanshin Tigers baseball team
of Japan. Aside from baseball mementos, this cozy restaurant is also adorned with different
Noh masks.

We'll be coming back here to try their other okonomiyaki and their Hanshin Ika as recommended by one of the staff.

Gochisosama Deshita!

Kagura
Little Tokyo,
2277 Chino Roces formerly Pasong Tamo St.,
Makati City
(632) 894-3856

Takoyaki experience

When I was a kid, I used to see a stall in Landmark where the vendor would pour a batter into a hot iron plate with small 'dimples' (i call it that way back then) and put pieces of octopus on it. It will then be cooked and served with a reddish sweet spicy sauce topped with a brownish, fishy powder. It is then packed in a rectangular styro box to be consumed by the customer. This is where I got introduced to Takoyaki.

Takoyaki is a popular Japanese food made with a batter, tempura scraps or tenkasu, a chunk of octopus, Kewpie mayonnaise, katsuoboshi, aonori bits and topped with okonomi sauce, . As named, Takoyaki means 'baked/fried octopus'; 'tako' which is octopus and 'yaki' which means to bake or grill. Takoyaki is a popular street food or snack food.

Right now, I've always come back to my favorite takoyaki stall in Makati. It is the takoyaki stall in Little Tokyo. It's right in front of Hana and is manned by a Japanese named Takumi who hails from Osaka which is the hometown ofTakoyaki. I always go back to his stall since this is the best takoyaki that I have tasted. Over the course of several servings, I've managed to strike some conversations with him and he shared to me his method of cooking his takoyaki. Takumi cooks his takoyaki in the usual way but with a difference. The difference is on his use of the beni shoga or the red pickled ginger. I haven't seen a takoyaki stall here that does the same way of cooking like him. When he cooks his takoyaki, he sprinkles bits of chopped beni shoga into the batter. For me this makes the difference. It has a more 'well-rounded' taste since the ginger has added another balancing flavor to the dish apart from the 'seafood' taste made by the diced octopus and the katsuoboshi powder. His verion of okonomi sauce also suits my taste. This is the most authentic and best-tasting takoyaki that I have tried. It's already great to be eaten on its own but I wouldn't hesitate to have it wolfed-down with a cup of gohan.

The takoyaki is sold in a 6-ball serving for 100Php.

Try it!

HANA RESTAURANT

Little Tokyo, Makati City

Telephone: +63 2 339 3855

Turning Sumo Wrestler @ Sekitori

Sekitori is our third installment in our Little Tokyo Trip (first is Hana then second is Urameshi-Ya). Sekitori means a rank in Sumo Wrestling professional division: makuuchi and juryo .

Owned by Masakazu Seto, a retired sumo wrestler himself, Sekitori is a Japanese restaurant that specializes the Sumo Wrestler's Stew or Cyanko(chanko).

The stew comes in a big hotpot of different meat, seafood and veggies cooked in a choice among the following broths:
a. Sekitori Cyanko (chicken broth)
b. Miso Cyanko (Miso broth)

c. Kimuchi Cyanko (Kimchi broth; spiced-up version)

As beginners, we opt to choose the Sekitori broth. We were then surprised the moment that the cast iron hot pot was served since we only ordered the Ozeki(medium) portion, the one good for 2-3 persons. I think what they meant was 2-3 sumo wrestlers can enjoy the dish! Hehe! Kidding aside, the cast iron pot was so big and together with it, the meat and vegetables were so plenty. There were pork belly strips, chicken meat, shrimps, fish, fried and soft tofu, mushrooms, crab(not imitation crabmeat!) and tons(yes, I mean tons!) of veggies like cabbage, beansprouts, leeks and lettuce. I think 4 people can still share and enjoy this Japanese dish.

The mixture of meat, seafood and vegetable pieces are then dunked into the hotpot and left to boil for a few minutes.The attendant was attentive to guide us about the dish and was kind enough to cook the dish for us.
The broth is very light and refreshing. I think all the flavors of those dunked into the pot blended well together. The broth is somehow similar to the Chinese Hototay soup but minus the ginger and the egg.
The meat/vegetable pieces is then ready to be picked up when it is already cooked and tender. It is then dipped in a daikon oroshi sauce and then eaten with rice. The daikon oroshi sauce is great. At first, when the hot pot was not yet ready, I was not fond of the sauce's taste since it is somehow soury/pickle-like taste but when I ate it with the dish, it was a blast! The strong pickle-like flavor balanced the stew's light flavor. At your own discretion, you can also choose to put ground sesame seeds and chilli powder to spice-up your sauce.

Though a bit pricey for 980Php for one Ozeki serving of hotpot, I think 4 person can still share on the dish since the serving is huge. Also available is the Yokozuna (large) serving which caters to 5 persons.

This is my first time to try a hot pot dish, Japanese style and I'll be coming back for another Sumo meal. :)

Gochisosama deshita!

Sekitori Japanese Restaurant

Little Tokyo

Chino Roces Avenue,

Makati City

02 894 3876

seto@bnft.co.jp

click here for more photos.

Urameshi Ya - Yakiniku experience

Next stop after the Hana experience last week, it's yakiniku time at Urameshi-Ya.

Yakiniku is a Japanese dish that means 'grilled meat'. At first look, what makes Urameshi-Ya unique is its theme. It's motif is more of into the 'funeral/cemetery' type. Its layout, according to the attendant are inspired by Japanese funeral customs like the making use of sotoba as decos.

As first timers, we asked the attendants what are the best sellers. At first, she offered us theTarafuku Set but we declined on it since it contained beef tongue which I am not a fan of. We instead ordered the Tokujyou-Karubi (beef slices) and the Buta Bara (seasoned pork slices).

left: Tokujyou-Karubi

left: Buta Bara

A plate of yakiniku comes in generous servings complete with sides of a slice of lemon, lettuce and leeks. The beef were so tender and tasty while the pork was not tough as well. A dipping sauce is provided for the barbecues. They all went well with a bowl of Japanese rice and an ice cold Coca-Cola. This experience was a lot different from the japanese barbecues (i.e yakitori) in commercialized japanese restaurants. This yakiniku is somewhat similar to the Bulgogi dish of the Koreans but they do taste uniquely.Urameshi-Ya also offer pork and beef intestines as well as vegetables for you to grill.

What I also love here is their table setting where you get to grill your own barbecues in your table. The ambience is perfect and well lit. I like their lighting and wooden appearance. They also have a good ventilation system so no fumes or smoke from the grill lingers inside the restaurant. The staff are also very warm.

We had a great and yummy Japanese Barbecue experience in Urameshi, though it is a bit pricy compared other Japanese restos.

We ended the night with a hearty "burp!".

Take note, Urameshi-Ya is only open at 5PM to 1PM.

Urameshi-Ya

Inside Little Tokyo

Chino Roces Ave., beside Makati Cinema Square

02 813 2210

Open @ 5PM-1AM