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On The Tummy Spot: The Maisen Katsumabushi Tastexperience!
A few years back the Philippine Japanese restaurant market changed for the better with the addition of tonkatsu chains from Japan coming over and opening their branches here. I’d say they were very welcome additions for the foodie demographic.Some of the big chains are Yabu, Saboten, Maisen, Tonkatsu by Terazawa, and little mom and pop shops with authentic Japanese chefs or Japanese-trained chefs have also opened up their little tonkatsu places all over the PH. Needless to say tonkatsu is one of the many things I get immense pleasure from especially if the quality of the pork is great, the cabbage fresh, and the pickles lovely.I think Maisen was the latest to open here with THE Ben Chan behind it and their first store opened in the posh Greenbelt location.One hot summer day when I was running errands and debating where to eat lunch solo, I decided to make myself comfortable at Maisen. I like the coziness of their interiors and the fact that when I was shown to my table, I was immediately offered either hot or cold house tea and a cold towel to refresh myself. I appreciate these little comforts. For me, it speaks about the thoughtfulness of the restaurant.
I was debating whether to get the Kurobuta tenderloin katsu set or just the plain tenderloin katsu set (which is what I normally get in tonkatsu restaurants) when I saw something interesting in the last few pages – one of Maisen’s specials which was a Katsumabushi set. It included tenderloin bite-sized katsus over rice served together with dashi stock, onsen tamago, and a delightful variety of side condiments (sesame seeds, wasabi, and green onions) that I decided to just order it. I usually am quite visual with the food I order so this one caught my eye.
There are also instructions on how you can enjoy the Katsumabushi set so you needn’t worry should you decide to try this out on your next tonkatsu craving. I tried to eat it in all the ways they instructed in the menu so I could figure out how I wanted to eat it. You can just eat it however way you want but the best one for me would be to put the rice and katsu piece in the bowl provided, sprinkle sesame seeds, dab a little of the wasabi, put some green onions, then pour the dashi stock on it. This was how I preferred it. One more thing I loved in this set was the Onsen Tamago!! This foodie just has a penchant for eggs. 😉
I liked what I had here and I loved that the lunch crowd wasn’t in yet so I got to enjoy my katsu in peace. Raring to go back to check out the quality of their other katsu sets to compare with my Yabu, Saboten, and Tonkatsu by Terazawa experience.XoXo-EV- -
Ramen Fuss: My Ramen Nagi Tastexperience
Ramen places have been sprouting all over the metro like mushrooms. Nowadays we have a variety of really good ramen places to choose from as compared to a few years ago when the only ramens we could get where from the Japanese fastfood chains.Ramen Nagi is one such example of a nice ramen chain which has come to our PH shores. Although it is somewhat a fastfood chain but the restaurant has it’s roots in Japan and is dedicated to serving a really good bowl of ramen.
Since they are mainly a ramen place, there are only 4 variations of ramen that customers can customize once you get there: Butao King (tonkotsu broth), Black King (garlic and squid ink combo), Red King (spicy), and the Green King (cheese and basil). For some reason, my favorite among the 4 is the Black King one. I love how it taste with all that squid ink and al dente ramen noodles. They also serve some side dishes that go well with a bowl of ramen.
As of this writing I have made many visits to Ramen Nagi since it turns out my friends also love it. Basically this is a rundown of what I have eaten there and what I recommend. By the way, they don’t allow take aways in all their branches and this is because they don’t want the quality of their ramen lowered down. I always think I cannot finish one big bowl but I really do. Blame it on that rich and flavorful ramen broth! 🙂
For our side dishes, me and my friends almost order the same thing. We had their Nagi Star Salad. This is a refreshing salad with lots of crunch. It is composed of sliced cabbages and lettuce mixed together with some crispy fried noodles and topped with some sesame oil and a secret Ramen Nagi dressing. This is a really rich tasting salad but it is really good.
Next up, always on the table is their gyoza. They serve them perfectly cooked and piping hot all the time and we all just love it. I haven’t been disappointed with their gyozas ever. Really crispy bottom and soft and tasty insides.
I have also tried their Chicken Karaage and it is just delish. Crispy and very flavorful and the meat is so juicy inside. Kids would love this.
Now when you take your seat at Ramen Nagi you are immediately given a sort of paper checklist of how you want to customize your ramen. This is also a feature that I like very much because you can tailor fit your ramen to suit your tastebud demands for the day. Also, you can order extras like Tamago, green onions, noodles, and etc. They also have condiments in each table like pepper, sesame seeds, pickled garlic, and spicy bean sprouts.The first ramen bowl I tried in Ramen Nagi was their Black King and I immediately fell in love. It is spicy and rich but not “umay” as some would call it. It is also yummy with Tamago. The garlicky and squid ink taste really does it for me. This ramen is very flavorful and rich and one that you should try! I make sure to sprinkle some sesame seeds on top as well. This is one that I really love. A favorite of mine.
I also did try the Butao King and while it is also tasty and delicious as well with the soft chasu slices, somehow I find it not as rich as the Black King which I like. The broth is very milky though and really good as well. You cannot go wrong with this one.
Ramen Nagi really has a simplistic approach to a bowl of ramen by just having 4 variants and sometimes they have another flavor they rotate but it is limited to certain months. Here you won’t be confused to what kind of ramen to order and also I think just by having4 variants that they would really do their best to serve it at optimum quality at all times. Do check out Ramen Nagi for a ramen fix. I promise it won’t disappoint.XoXoEV -
Restaurant Feature: My first foray into Izakaya Kikufuji @ Little Tokyo Makati
For months really I’d been raring to go to Little Tokyo to explore and check out one of the main restaurants there – Izakaya Kikufuji but I just didn’t have the right timing always that is until I met up with an old friend from way back for some lunch. He was also fond of Japanese food and so I decided that we should check out Izakaya Kikufuji.It was kind of crowded during the Saturday lunch hour so we just sat at the bar facing the sushi chefs and I was so excited to see them in action. This post is many months late so I’m not sure if I can still relay all the essential details but one thing is for sure, the restaurant had pretty decent fresh fish and I loved the food that I was served. I loved it so much that the very next week, I brought other foodie friends to enjoy another lunch there.It’s value for money Japanese fare. I highly recommend it! 5 stars for Izakaya Kikufuji!
Assorted Fresh Sashimi – Tuna, Salmon and Uni 
Friend DR suggested this delicious sushi. He says he’s eaten better so I’ll have to take his word for it. Not so bad though! 
One of my new favorites – Crispy tuna salad! This was really delicious for me. 
Since it is an Izakaya place, we got ourselves a few and sampled them. There was one with enoki mushrooms, cherry tomatoes wrapped in bacon, leeks and some other good stuff I was not able to take note off because I was busy eating! LOL! After the meal there was even complimentary iced coffee which I liked! Nice one!
Overall it was a very pleasant first time at this restaurant and I suspect I will be coming here often and introducing it to friends as well who appreciate good food!XoXoEV -
Restaurant Feature: Bowls of Ramen at Mitsuyado Sei-Men
Ramen craze has been going around the metro ever since last year if I’m not mistaken, and foodies have been relentless in their search for the perfect bowl of ramen as well as ramen shops sprouting here and there. One such shop would be Mitsuyado nestled in the bustling Jupiter Street in Makati. It’s been getting rave reviews from ramen lovers and foodies so naturally I had to check it out.I went one Saturday night if I can still remember it right because of the delay this post has taken but it was with SinfulBombs and MommaBombs (both foodie enthusiasts). We ordered Japanese gyoza as appetizers and 3 steaming bowls of Japanese ramen – Chasyu, Tan Tan Men and Cheese Tsukemen.We all loved the gyoza they served us. Cooked just right and tasted really flavorful. We ordered a second serving of these lovable dumplings because they were good.
When our ramen bowls came, we were all excited and we tried out each of these ramens. MommaBombs had the tan tan men and we all loved it. It was spicy, tasted like curry and the noodles were al dente.
My Chasyu ramen was not really to my liking after all the hype Mitsuyado has created. My ramen was served to me lukewarm, almost cold and I did not like the taste much. I do not have fond memories of it but maybe a second visit is in order to re-evaluate this ramen.The Cheese tsukemen that SinfulBombs ordered was also not to our liking. The ramen noodles also arrived cold and the cheese looked like it had been sitting stagnant for a bit. It did not tickle our taste buds as much as the tan tan men had.
For that night we came to the conclusion that among the 3 ramen bowls we had, the tan tan men reigned supreme in taste. But who knows maybe a second visit will be a better experience. Not so impressed with Mitsuyado just yet.XoXoEV -
A Taste of Japanese at Teriyaki Boy
I am a lover of Japanese cuisine. I just think the sushis are great and their food artistry is superb. Teriyaki Boy is not really a Japanese fine dining restaurant but sort of a Japanese fastfood which can cater to all levels of Japanese food-loving customers and can give good value for money. I remember the first time I tried it with friend G back in Cebu. We had a lot of fun eating and talking over Ebi Tempuras and a bowl of Chawan Mushi which I really really loved.One rainy afternoon friend B and I decided to have some Teriyaki Boy fare. We started with an appetizer – Gyoza. This is the Japanese version of siomai as I like to think of it. The gyoza tasted so fresh. Crispy and savory thin wrapper enclosing juicy steamed pork meat filling. It was served together with a tangy soy dipping sauce which was perfect for the mouth-watering gyoza’s. It was a really good to start our early dinner.
Friend B ordered Gyu-Yakiniku Don, a big bowl of steamed Japanese rice topped with thin slices of stir-fried beef sprinkled with sesame seeds with a half cooked egg in the middle. Since we took turns sampling each other’s plate, I was able to try this dish out. I think the beef was overly cooked. It was not as tender as I had expected but the flavor was okay. I mostly liked the egg part because it made the dish really creamy.
For my part I ordered their Katsudon. It was just okay, nothing really special or extraordinary in that dish. I think it was not really freshly fried but it was okay since I had this sense that it might have been under the food warmer for a bit of time. I was a bit disappointed with this though but on a regular day, it seems like a good bowl of Katsudon. Overall, I got my fill for dinner. The breaded pork cutlet in the Katsudon I had was quite big and of course there is no scrimping in the rice there. Not bad if you want to have your Japanese fix without paying overly much. Which reminds me that I have to go check out Little Tokyo in Makati once more.
I will have to come back and try Teriyaki Boy again. Who knows, I might be really really super happy with their food by then.
P.S. Photos courtesy of friend B from her Iphone.XoXo -
Tokyo Tokyo Reinvented!
A few years back, I used to say that TokyoTokyo was falling behind in the food chain race. They had the same food items on their menu and there were no new additions for long periods of time and their stores were getting a bit old. They were really behind in the times but just recently they’ve discovered their MOJO back it seems.
Last February 16, I was invited for their blogger event at their Shangri-La Mall store and I enjoyed the time spent. I have noticed that they have implemented renovations in all of their stores and particularly because I am a provincial resident, their SM Dasmarinas store seems to be less gloomy now and more welcoming today. It has better lighting as well as better fixtures. The old TokyoTokyo store before was really falling apart. Aside from that, I have noticed new innovations as well as other creations from their menu. They have added a variety of items to their food list and it has boded well for the consumers and for TokyoTokyo as well. It makes me want to go into their stores more often than before.
Their blogger event last week has pushed them to catch up in the fast food race as it was a fun and delicious event with the special appearance of no less than their poster boy – Daniel Matsunaga. He had the crowd hooting and all fired up with his tall and handsome boy-next-door look. Heart certainly is one lucky gal. Geez, enough of the girl talks already!
They had the event hosted with DJ Gino from RX and the first part was a sushi making demonstration by their trained chefs. Their invites were also thoughtfully done – their burger boxes wrapped in cloth with wooden chopsticks on top reminiscent of a real Japanese bento.
They made California maki (kani strip with mangoes and Japanese mayo in Japanese rice with nori and coated with fish roe) and one of their new products – the American maki (Americanized version of the sushi: ham, cream cheese wrapped with rice and nori with colored version of the fish roe used in the California maki which comes with a somewhat sweet dipping sauce different from the usual sushi sauces). After the demonstration by the chefs, they asked the bloggers as well to try their hand out at making the 2 products. The bloggers had fun doing those rolls that’s for sure!
We all got to eat some California and American maki too. After the Maki session, we were presented with one of their newest products – the Shogun burger! Being true to its name, it commanded attention from all of us. Juicy beef patty slathered with their tonkatsu sauce layered with their signature crunchilicious Onion rings and cheese. They gave us 1 big burger so I took only 2 bites in preparation of the others.
Next, we got served each with halves of their Shiitake Mushroom burger. I’d say this is a healthy burger option and the shiitake mushrooms only added to the meatiness and the juiciness of the already tasty beef burger! A good addition I must say as I am a mushroom lover.
The final half for the burger department would be their humungous Godzilla burger and as the name denotes it is a huge burger with 2 layers of juicy beef, cheddar cheese slices and some zesty Japanese mayo. I couldn’t try and eat them all as you might have guessed so I went with a few bites of each. Of course a meal in Tokyo Tokyo won’t be complete without their famous Red Ice tea and we each had tall glasses of that refreshing drink!
It still wasn’t the end as lo and behold, Daniel Matsunaga made his entrance and it made all the girls in the crowd swoon. He is something else! Hahahaha! The good looking factor is there! He was the judge for the best Japanese inspired costumes for the night. The best in Japanese customs actually won prizes from MUJI! How cool is that!
Good job on your restaurant overhaul TokyoTokyo guys! Looking forward to more interesting developments!
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On The Tummy Spot: Eating Japanese at Zensho’s Eat-All-You-Can Buffet
When I hear Japanese food, I always equate it to great food with more than the average price, after all they use good and fresh ingredients so I always expect to pay more than the average when eating in a Japanese restaurant. I’ve had Japanese in Cebu and here in Manila and they don’t disappoint. They rarely do! Just a few months back (so sorry for the late post), me and friend L decided to do a catch up lunch and she suggested a Japanese eat-all-you-can feast at Zensho’s in Tomas Morato. I haven’t heard of Zensho before but friend L said that it was value for money at around 595++ so I jumped at the chance. Japanese is Japanese!
Now what was more delightfully surprising was the fact that it wasn’t a buffet spread where all the dishes they had on their menu were showcased in chafing dishes and such but rather it was an a-la-carte type of buffet where you just order anything you want on their menu and they will cook it for you. This for me was a great plus. As a diner, you get your food freshly cooked and you are sure that you aren’t getting leftovers. As for Zensho, it ensures them that they will not waste so much food. Quite a win-win situation for both sides. Friend L and I started ordering from our appetizers to our main dish and also the side dishes.
Our first appetizer was one of their bestsellers – Oyster Motoyaki! Plump and buttery oysters served in their shells with this really creamy and buttery sauce. This was creamily delicious and I believe we finished off 3 orders with around 20 oysters between the both of us. This was really deliciously sinful. Friend L and I agreed this was really one of their bestsellers. Who could resist it!
Then, of course assorted sashimi – from salmon, tuna, tangigue and crab sticks. We had our fill of fresh and juicy fish.
Friend L then introduced me to Tofu Agedashi– Crispy fried tofu on the outside and silken goodness on the inside. Tofu should always be this good. It was bathed in a soya and green onion sauce with that distinctly Japanese flavor. We had 2 or 3 orders of this very healthy tofu dish.
For a refresher, we had some Yasai Kani salad. Cucumber and mango strips mixed together with crabstick strips make for a very refreshing salad topped with some fish roe. Cool and light. The perfect go-between! Of course we had some California maki rolls. Mango, crabstick and cucumber little strips rolled with Japanese rice and wrapped in seaweed. A Japanese dining experience wouldn’t be complete without it.
For our star dish, we had order after order of one of my most favorite things to eat – Ebi Tempura. We had several orders of this yummy fried goodness. Crispy and light batter enclosing meaty and juicy shrimps. Absolute heaven! Friend L and I had no problem stuffing ourselves with piece after piece of this heavenly morsel.
We also had this chicken dish and I forgot what it was called (This reminds me to make my blog posts very current! J). It was also good.
Everything that I ate at Zensho really made me happy and the service was also good. I had no complaints and had only my big tummy to show for it. As always a food trip with friend L is GREAT. Good food, good friends and great conversation! Thank you friend L for another great food trip date! Until the next time!
XoXoYou May Also Like
On The Tummy Spot: The Maisen Katsumabushi Tastexperience!
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A Foodie Destination: Witchy Crazy Mommy’s Home
One lazy Sunday, friend Witchy Crazy Mommy and hubby invited me over to their house for a housewarming party. They had just transferred to a new condo and now they were living in a posh neighborhood in Eastwood. It was like a mini city and I think they made a good move because I did feel that their old neighborhood was a bit scary especially with baby S in tow so this move was really nice. It may be a little bit farther but it really is a nice place.
Brother B fetched me, my crazy sister and Z from our place and we proceeded to go to Eastwood. When we arrived at the condo, what greeted me was an assortment of ingredients on the table and a busy Witchy Crazy Mommy. She was still preparing our fare and boy what a delicious and humungous lunch it turned out to be. Brother B also brought some good old “Ngohiong Cebu” for us complete with the spicy dip of which I am a huge fan off. I couldn’t help myself and got a piece of ngohiong and were they really great. I missed that ngohiong! Crunchy kinda greasy outside and spicy soft inside together with that equally spicy dipping sauce. One thing I forgot to bring though was a housewarming present. I promise to make this up to you Jho!Witchy Crazy Mommy was busy with her dishes as she was making them from scratch. She told me she had pre prepared the pork leg for our crispy pata and soon after we were helping her to fry it. All that crispy skin and meaty pork was making my mouth water.
Aside from that, she also prepare sushi for us. A variety of sushi and it was so great to look at super appetizing.
I also spied some shabu shabu items all together. Variety after variety of them! She told me she was making some broth with dashi for it. I love her house. Everytime I am in their home, Witchy Crazy Mommy always feeds us delicious stuff so her house is a favorite foodie destination of mine. I’m hoping we can have Christmas dinner with Beef Wellington? Heheheheh!
When we finally started to eat, I didn’t know where to start and after a while I felt so full and happy and satisfied plus we had some good red wine. Happy lunch with happy friends and good wine. It was indeed a great Sunday! Thanks Mark, Jho, Bens, Bri, Krizzy, S and Z!
XoXo
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On The Tummy Spot: Lord Stow’s Light Japanese Cheesecake
Cheesecake! Cheesecake! Cheesecake! Don’t you just love them! I for one am a cheesecake fan. There is just something heavenly about sinking your teeth into all that creamy goodness, topped with that luscious tartness from blueberries or the syrupy sweetness of cherries. They’re comfort food and that is for sure. I haven’t yet met a person who hasn’t liked cheesecake. They’d be crazy not to.
In my recent foodie adventures, my friend JL introduced me to another kind of cheesecake. This was one I didn’t expect. It was Lord Stow’s light Japanese cheesecake. They reinvented the word “light” in this cheesecake. I didn’t quite expect it but it was a good surprise.
The cheesecake in itself was not your usual one with the graham/cookie crusts. The size itself was another thing. It was not your usual cheesecake size but rather it was sized as small as that of the plastic lid on a can of milk. Also, it is not flat but it looked kind of puffy sporting that soft brownish tinge. It looked like a regular puffed up cake with some cracks here and there in its entire appearance. When I sliced it up, I had the feeling that the cake’s consistency would be that of a mamon (Philippine sponge cake). When I first bit into it, the cake really felt like I was biting into a mamon. Fluffy and light and not to sweet at all. Soft and airy, it was just right.
I was waiting for the cream cheese part and it was as its name promised. The cheesecake was not heavy as your usual cheesecakes go and it was also very light inside my mouth. It was not too sweet and I felt like I could eat a ton of them as they weren’t that sinful at all. It was as dense as the regular cheesecake and at the same time light in your stomach. You’d never feel guilty at all.
I think this particular cheesecake really did live up to its name – Light cheesecake. It was really that! For those on a diet and still want to get their cheesecake fix, I think this is an alternative. I don’t really know if it is really lighter in all those calories, but if you bite into it, you’d never feel guilty at all. I for one did not and managed to chow down 2 little slices. 🙂Enjoy!XoXo -
My Foodie Experiments: Fried Chicken Karaage
I have been meaning to experiment on this food item ever since I tasted Tokyo Tokyo’s Sumo Remix with Fried Chicken Karaage so I finally got the chance to experiment on it. I was having a bit of a problem finding the potato starch and the sake which are key elements in the recipe. Luckily I was able to get the potato starch from the nearby Korean grocery store in our area which also sells some Japanese products although I got the sake from the mall. The potato starch can actually be substituted with cornstarch but I don’t like substitutes if I haven’t had the chance to try out the recipe first. I am OC that way. 🙂
I got this recipe from one of the blogs that I follow constantly, this is from Makiko Itoh at JustHungry.com. Thanks for this recipe Makiko!Prep time: 10 min :: Cook time: 20 min :: Total time: 30 minYield: 10 to 12 piecesServing size: 3-4 pieces as part of a Japanese meal or in a bentoIngredients:· 10 oz (300g) boneless chicken thighs· 1 piece fresh ginger, (about the size of your thumb)· 3 Tbs. soy sauce· 1 Tbs. sake or dry sherry· about 1/2 cup Potato starch (katakuriko) or cornstarch, (enough to coat the chicken. Potato starch is better, but cornstarch will do)· peanut oil or other vegetable oil, (for deep frying)· a few drops sesame oil, (optional; add to the frying oil for extra flavor)Directions:Cut up the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces. You can take off the skin if you like, though it does make the chicken crispier.Peel and grate the piece of ginger. A microplane grater works great for this task.Put the chicken pieces in a bowl. Add the grated ginger, soy sauce and sake, and mix well. Let marinate for a minimum of 10 minutes. Around 30 minutes is ideal. If marinating for more than an hour (say, overnight), use 1 tablespoon soy sauce, then add the other 2 tablespoons just before you’re ready to cook them; this prevents the salt in the soy sauce from drawing out too much moisture from the chicken.Heat the oil; if using a temperature-controlled fryer or a thermometer, aim for 180°C / 355°F. If not, a test with a single piece of chicken or a small piece of skin. Toss enough potato or cornstarch into the marinated chicken (drain off a bit of the marinade if it’s too watery first) so that each piece is completely coated. Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time until a deep golden brown.Drain well – a wire rack is best for this, but paper towels work too.Serve with lemon wedges. Some people like to add a sprinkling of grated yuzu peel and/or sansho pepper.Ingredient notes:Potato starch flour, or katakuriko, is standard for karaage in Japan. It creates a wonderfully light, crispy, greaseless surface. It’s not that easy to get a hold of in many places though (look in a Japanese grocery store), so cornstarch is an acceptable substitute.My Personal Notes:I had actually doubled the quantities so I doubled up on the ingredients here. I think the chicken would have tasted even more delicious with more time to let it marinade and will definitely make this again but this time will try to marinate it overnight and see if that changes anything. The chicken courtesy of the potato starch had a very crispy covering. Thin but crispy layer(which tasted like chicken skin chicharon) unlike when you dredge chicken in flour.This recipe just made me a potato starch convert. Also, letting the chicken hang to drip on a wire rack after it has fried to a golden brown is really advisable because if you don’t there is the tendency that the chicken comes out kind of oily. The ginger taste was dominant and made all the difference in taste while I think the sake also did contribute to the flavor as well as tenderizing the chicken more. It was juicy to eat as I bit into it and the refreshing taste of ginger filled my mouth somehow compensating for the heaviness of a fried dish. The sesame oil I added to the oil before frying also added another dimension to the chicken making it more authentic. These days one of my favorites in the kitchen is my bottle of sesame oil. 🙂P.S. I am making my descriptions more graphic and complete as I got feedback from a reader that she wanted this so. Thanks Tza! 🙂
Happy Cooking!XoXoYou May Also Like
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