Tikim26: Authentic Yedang (Ortigas, Mandaluyong)

I see alot of korean restaurants,groceries, and other korean-related establishments (face shop, etude house, missha...etc) popping up here and there there's one restaurant that stood out amongst the few known korean restaurants in Manila. Ye Dang, which means a "an official title name", is a shortened version of 예조당상(禮曹堂上). Ye Dang is a Korean BBQ restaurant which serves marinated meat [pork or beef] before grilling. They serve vegetables [take note: Yummy and healthy vegetables] in small plates as their appetizer. Do know that these veggie appetizers are refillable. My favorite appetizers include mini pancakes [동그랑땡(dong gu rang ddang)], the sweet sauced potatoes, and the garlic spinach [시금치(si gum chi] while Evan likes the kimchi [김치]. Thank you chloe for the Korean food names :) Aside from the appetizers, I also love the taste of their water; tastes like roasted rice which by the way, also smells so good!

Yedang 

I had eaten here for about 5 times already and on my latest visit I noticed they did some improvements :). They already installed extra ventilations (electric fans) to prevent smoke from clogging the restaurant. This made the place unfoggy and clearer to the eyes. 2nd, they added new appetizers like their green salad and dilis. What is great abour these appetizers is that you csn ask for a refill! 3rd, their yedang beef special is now sliced into pieces (better than cooking the wahoke thing)  which made eating it easier.

               Before: Appetizers                       After: More to taste

On the table we ordered the following...
The Yedang Special Angus beef [P600.00] is a must try, tasty and blends well with the sauce. The beef they now served are again sliced into smaller pieces, plus points for convenience! Evan usually wraps the cooked beef in cabbage and puts chili sauce with it while I like it partnered with rice.

Before: The beef was rolled



After: The beef sliced into bite size pieces! :) Yey

How to eat

Also ordered their Usamgyup, Grill beef belly [P300.00]; Dak Kui, Grill chicken which I thought has some chili marinated with it. If you can't take the spiciness of the chicken, I suggest you eat it together with the vegetables from the appetizers!  

Usamgyup

Dak Gui

Can't miss the Dolsot Bibimbap, vegetable hash rice in hot stone bowl [P280.00] I always make sure I order this, it is actually a mea in itself. It has veggies and meat that reminds me of fried rice! :) Don't forget to mix the egg with the rice while it's hot or it will be a fried egg yoke.

Dolsot Bibimbap

Taste: 4/5

Quality: 4/5 

Ambiance: 3.5/5

Ye Dang
88 Meralco Avenue, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Contact: 636-1461

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