Tikim 59:Spaghetti + Chopsticks in Yomenya Goemon

I am a big fan of Japanese food and for some reason Japanese style pasta are always delicious. It must be their spaghetti sauce --- not too sweet and strong tasting! Check out this new Jap Pasta restaurant, Yomenya Goemon, and you'll eat spaghetti with chopsticks!

Yomenya Goemon

When I arrived at Yomenya Goemon, it was full so I had to wait about 20 minutes before I got seated. As I waited, I started to pick out what to order. Their menu was very helpful because you get to see a pictures of their offerings so it made life easier in choosing what's for dinner. They have 2 main categories for their food, it's pizza and pasta and since I want to try both, I ended up ordering a dish from each category.

I ordered one of the legend favorite/house specialty, Carbonara meat sauce with onsen egg, which comes with a teacup of wafu soup. The serving is good for one person only. I wish they had a sharing size for couples and families. Taste wise, the sauce was subtle and nice, the mushrooms added texture, and the noodles was smooth and tasty! I just wish it had more ham/meat in it.

Carbonara meat sauce with onsen egg (beef&pork) P325.00

Up close, spaghetti sauce looks awesome

Literally, a teacup of wafu soup

The restaurant has around 8 pizza flavors, I ended up ordering their smoked chicken with 4 cheese because it is also a legend favorite and if you know me well, I'd choose chicken over red meat/seafood. Their 10" pizza dough was soft and baked fresh, it was served hot and you will end up eating all parts of the pizza (even the crust!) because the dough is soft and hot!

Smoked chicken with four cheeses P350.00

For drinks, I got curious with how their milk tea tasted, 2 comments: it was bland and the glass is so small for its worth. Next time, I'll just buy from Serenitea/Gongcha/Happy Lemon instead.

Iced Royal Milk Tea P80.00

Great pasta and pizza but I find serving small, you might want to order double if you are really hungry!

Taste: 3.5/5
Quality: 4/5
Ambiance: 3.5/5

Yomenya Goemon
Address: 2nd floor, Greenbelt 3, 1228, Makati City
Contact: +632-7290586
Website: https://www.facebook.com/YomenyaGoemonPhilippines

Tikim58:Yamato Bakery Cafe (Jupiter St; Makati City)

Are you fond of Pastries? Or maybe want to try something new? Here's a newly open Japanese Bakery Cafe!Chaley and I went out to grab some lunch along the street of Jupiter in Makati City, we opt to drop by on some of the newly open restaurants in the said street. So, if we were not mistaken Yamato Bakery Cafe (Japanese bakery) beside the Mitsuyado-Seimen Japanese Restaurant  just open recently, and we tried it for the first time. 

As we enter the cafe, we immediately looked around to find something to drool on.

These are the arrays of pastry, just pick your tray and thong, and you're free to choose your pastry. (self-service) but the crews are very accommodating and of course they will let you know and try their best sellers and most recommended pastry.

A spot for the sweet tooth

The place is very open, you can see their oven, and you can watch them while they take good care of your food:)

Japanese pudding for 80php/slice only and P600.00 fot the whole cake

 Chox Cream for P65.00/pc.

  Here's our order (clock-wise) 2 salad rolls, Okonomiyaki and Chocolate Danish

Okonomiyaki P55.00/pc)

This is their most famous pastry and one that they'll recommend you because of its complete balance taste, you'll taste the saltiness of the dried fish toppings but its not that salty as it is, just a pang of saltiness. It also have slices of sausage, ketchup and mayo for its dressing.. A complete meal pastry!

                                                             Salad Roll P45.00/pc.)
This pastry is for vegeterians out there, but surely will recommend for others who's not that a fan of veggies,the veggies are not that overpowering neither its dressing. I guessed they used lite dressing to compliment the pastry and veggies.

Chocolate Danish (50php/pc.)

 For something sweet, we also recommend their Chocolate Danish which is not that too sweet because of what they used for chocolate, I guessed they used dark chocolate to lessen the sweetness and get more depth flavors. It reminds us the Chocolate Danish in Starbucks which is more sweeter because of its confectionery sugar and almonds that give it more texture. I suggest, if they make it more special, like put something that will compliment its bitter sweet taste chocolate for its maybe their trademark when it comes to its sugar level, so add something for texture and taste, to make it more special.:)

                                                                   What's inside...
You can always ask to re-heat your pastry, the Danish really looks good in this shot as well as its taste..:)

                                            Chaley decided to take out a slice of Japanese Pudding P80.00/slice)

Amazingly, we liked it. It wasn't that sweet unlike the typical Filipino pudding which is also known as "leche flan" it was over the top caramelized brown sugar. The best for this kind of pudding is it's very light and you would probably would like to have another slice..

Yamato Bakery Cafe will be a very big hit soon, as it will surely grow fast.. Because of its delicious pastries. We were actually surprise on how many customers they've got in such a day. It's not even weekend yet what they've got there is a very well start as an exposure and a great find for loyal customers. For those who wants and fond of pastry out there, you can try this cafe for a new spin-off for Japanese's Pastry. Though, they still haven't got drinks to offer, we hope that they'll come up with beverages soon.The place and crews are good. Good service, good pastries and very affordable for as low as 50php you can already experience their sumptuous pastry! Let your taste buds experience something new!:)

Taste: 3/5
Quality: 3/5
Ambiance/Service: 3/5

Yamato Bakery Cafe
Address: #22 Jupiter St. Brgy. Bel Air, Makati City, Metro Manila
Contact: 8230960

Tikim25: Urameshi-ya at Little Tokyo (Makati City)

Looking for authentic Japanese food? Go to Makati’s “Little Japan Town” and rediscover your the real taste of Japanese food! Little Tokyo has been around for quite a long time but because of its far location from Quezon City; I seldom come here. But let me assure you that every visit makes me feel that I am in Japan --- ambiance and food! =)

 

Little Tokyo at night

On my recent visit, Evan and I decided to try Urameshi-ya. It is the Japanese restaurant that has some charcoal being prepared outside its restaurant. Upon entering the restaurant you might hear some Japanese men talking in their native language; the television turned on to a Japanese baseball channel; and see that the dining tables are small and square-ish with space underneath the table for your legs. 

On the table, Evan and I went for the beef set menu. We really couldn’t understand the menu since it’s in Japanese, so we had it translated by the waitress. It is good that the waitress understands or has memorized the menu options [plus good service points =)]. 

Japanese menu that I don't understand. Ask help from the waitress

By the way, if you have eaten in other Little Tokyo restaurants, don’t hesitate to ask the server that you want to cross order from the other establishments, they’ll gladly get you a menu from your requested establishment and take your order! It’s so nice that you can cross-order because each restaurant has a specialty. Cross-ordering allows you to hit 2 birds in 1 stone! Yay for convenience :D and restaurants helping each other :D Since I love okonomiyaki, we asked for Kagura's menu. I went for ordering the modern ebi tama, which has shrimp, egg, and noodles. 

Kagura restaurant: Modern Ebi Tama P280

The set menu includes salad, kimchi, 1 half-sized Japanese rice, 4 selection of different meat, fruits for dessert…I like their salad, it has a unique sauce that’s quite addicting! No comment for kimchi but Evan liked it! As for the sauce, all I can say is "yum.." it adds some kick to the meat and its not that spicy!

Yummy salad, kimchi, and the yakiniku sauce

I love their thinly sized beef dipped with the sauce [yakiniku sauce, garlic, chili paste, brownish sauce] they provide.  The server too is very respectful and accommodating in cooking the food for us; I don’t remember my food being offered to be cooked last year when I went there.

Omakase set menu includes the following

Ready to eat!

I will really recommend my friends here looking for great authentic Japanese food. Sometimes the size of the restaurant doesn’t really matter at all. What is I think important is its unique taste and offereings that sets them apart from other “Filipinized Japanese food”

Taste: 5/5

Ambiance: 4/5 

Service:  4/5

Little Tokyo

2277 Between Pasong Tamo and Amorsolo Street,

Beside Makati Cineme Square, Makati City

Contact: 819-5008/ 819-5009

***I found a website with directions on how to get to Little Tokyo. click here

Tikim12: X.O Kitchen (Bel-air II, Makati)

X.O Kitchen seemed like a new restaurant to me in the few times that me and Evan passed by Jupiter street. Since our first choice of dinner "Mickey's Delicatessen" was already closed :(, the bright lights and big windows of X.O Kitchen attracted me to try out the place.

X.O kitchen seems a high class restaurant from outside

First thing I asked Evan, "what is X.O sauce"? Neither of us knew about anything about the sauce except that it is served in Chinese restuarants. Here is a definition by Rhonda Parkinson of about.com

 "X.O Sauce -->  is a flavor-packed sauce made with dried shrimp and scallops and spicy seasonings, including chile and garlic. The exact origins of X.O Sauce are unknown, although it is said to have originated in Hong Kong, where it is served as a table condiment at higher-end restaurants. In cooking, X.O sauce is used in stir-fries, particularly seafood dishes."

The restaurant offers a lot of food variety; I just think that the X.O sauce was not given justice as it was not highlighted in their menu. Food was served quickly [except fot the Ferrero butchi] and in small serving. We were both a bit dissappointed with the serving size and the food tasted "normal --- nothing special about it".
We ordered the following for dinner:

Egg Chinese Sausage Rice Meal P120

X.O Kitchen Special Beef P230

Asparagus with Oyster Sauce P120

From my dining experience here, all i could remember was the little serving we had! I guess the price compensates with the quantity of food. I ordered Egg Chinese Sausage Rice Meal which costs only 120; I was excited at first but disappointment took over when I saw how little meat/Chinese Sausage there is in the meal :( I also think that the restaurant uses some kind of flavoring because even if there is not much meat in my rice meal, the food was so tasty! In fairness with the X.O special beef, I like this better than my original order. The beef brisket was tender and it highlights the X.O component in its sauce :)

Buchi Combinations with various chocolate filling

Ferrero Buchi: Hot warm and a new kind of buchi

For dessert, me and Evan got intrigued with their specialty buchi combinations so we decided to give Ferrero buchi a taste. When it arrived (it took a while for it to cook so I suggest you order this at the beginning, not after eating your main meals), I excitedly took a bite..hmmm...warm..the chocolate has melted with the buchi was fried..can't really describe it properly since   I am not a fan of chocolates but you might like it! Give it a try! Let us know what you think of X.O Kitchen :)


Quality: 3/5
Price: 3/5
Ambiance: 3/5


X.O Kitchen
134 Jupiter Street,
Bel-air 2, Makati City
Telephone: 519-1238

reference: 
X.O sauce - Glossary of Chinese Ingredients and cooking terms, Rhonda Parkinson, http://chinesefood.about.com/od/glossary/g/xosauce.htm (June 2011) 
X.O sauce - Picture, Chokeedee, http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chokdeedimsum.com/menu-pics/xo-sauce.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.chokdeedimsum.com/en/menu.php&usg=__FNB_7sDJNKCs8DTBYyzQgyL_JZU=&h=600&w=400&sz=138&hl=tl&start=5&sig2=stBHZ_UpbMxEEVyJWhD_sA&zoom=1&tbnid=xUhnWV0xChH0MM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=90&ei=e4XvTauGJI6-vgPSxN2VCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dx.o%2Bsauce%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dtl%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D624%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1 (June 2011)