Tokyo Tokyo Ramen : What’s Your Ramen Personality?

Dining at Tokyo Tokyo has been one of our guilty pleasures, even though we haven’t written much about it on the blog. I just can’t count the number of times my favorite Fried Chicken Karaage has comforted me during the toughest of days. And I still remember being sorely heartbroken when I found out that they no longer offer the Chicken Yakitori that I always ordered when I was still in college. Now we’ve found another reason to frequent Tokyo Tokyo for their Ramen, which comes in three flavors: Braised Pork, Spicy Chicken, and Tempura Miso.

Tokyo Tokyo Ramen comes in 3 flavors - Braised Pork, Spicy Chicken and Tempura Miso

As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” Tokyo Tokyo took that to heart and came up with a short quiz to determine which flavor of Ramen best fits your personality. I took the personality test and the result I got was really spot on!

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WAFU Greenhills Teppanyaki Omakase Buffet

Over a week ago, Ken and I were invited to a 12-course sit-down Teppanyaki Omakase buffet at WAFU in Greenhills. They’re a Japanese restaurant nestled right in front of the Greenhills Shopping Center. Since Ken has been craving for Japanese food for quite some time now, we accepted the invite right away.

Wafu Japanese restaurant at Greenhills Shopping Center

I initially chuckled when I read the name of the restaurant. 😀 After Googling about it, I learned “Wafu” means, literally, “Japanese style“. I’ve had my fair share of Japanese food, particularly tempura, tonkatsu, sushi and sashimi, but I’m pretty sure there’s a ton more for us to know about their cuisine and their culture – which we’re hoping to continue learning through this blog. 🙂

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Yabu : An Extraordinary Katsu Experience

When Yabu opened last year at Robinsons Magnolia, we initially weren’t that excited. We thought it’ll just be another hyped, overrated restaurant. We couldn’t be far more wrong. We were invited to the opening, but couldn’t come because of work. The anticipation started to build up when fellow foodies started raving about them. So, one weekend, we trouped to Robinsons Magnolia (which isn’t really accessible to us) to finally feed our curiosity (pun intended). 😉

Yabu - An Extraordinary Katsu Experience

Since they haven’t opened any other branches yet that’s closer to us (we’re looking forward to their SM North Edsa branch!!), we couldn’t dine in as much as we’d love to because their nearest branch is at SM Megamall. Commuting from Malabon to Ortigas is such a hassle because of the traffic, so it took us awhile before we had a chance to dine in again, finally, at their SM Mall of Asia branch about a week ago. They now have 4 branches and from the looks of it, they’re not slowing down.

Anyway, back to our Yabu katsu experience. If there’s one similarity I’ve noticed from restaurants that didn’t wow us, it’s the number of dishes on their menu. When I see that there are too many items on it, I somehow expect to be disappointed. I prefer to see a smaller menu because that means the restaurant gets to focus more on the quality and flavors of the dishes they serve rather than coming up with mediocre dishes while trying to please everyone.

And this is exactly why we fell in love with Yabu. Though they have other items on their menu, you know that they’re focused on one thing: to give you the best Katsu experience – consistently. With every slice and every bite, you’ll sense the technique and passion put in every katsu they serve. It’s no wonder people are coming back for more, hence the Katsu craze.

Yabu - Jumbo Prawn Set with Japanese Black Tiger Prawns

“Delicious is in the details. At Yabu, everything is prepared meticulously, and nothing is left to chance: from using Koshihikari, the finest japanese rice, to knowing the exact second of lifting the pork from the bubbling oil. Discover what makes our katsu better than the rest.” It’s no wonder since they claim to have learned the art of making the perfect katsu from Chef Kazuya Takeda, the head chef of a renowned tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo.

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Cafe Jeepney : Buffet in Intercontinental Manila

Being a group-buying site frequent shopper, I actively check various deals sites to find out if they have anything new that I’d be interested to purchase. Since I haven’t bought anything from Deal Grocer yet since the 3rd quarter of last year, I decided to buy 2 half-priced vouchers for Cafe Jeepney’s banquet buffet that they were offering. I’ve done my research and I’ve read fellow food lovers enjoying their buffet spread, so I had some set expectations already.

Cafe Jeepney

This is a long overdue post. We dined here in December last year, but they’ve had their famous buffet for decades, so I don’t think there’ll be a lot of changes you can expect, except some of the dishes that were available during our visit might not be the same ones you’ll get when you dine in.

Cafe Jeepney is located inside the Intercontinental Manila in Makati, right beside Ascott Manila and across Glorietta 4. When you come in the front entrance, they’re on the right side. You’d see this:

Cafe Jeepney inside InterContinental Manila, Makati

As soon as you enter, you’d be welcomed by this cozy, well-lit dining area, with high walls and plenty of decors.

Miniature SARAO jeep inside Cafe Jeepney

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F Restaurant : A Flavorful Feast at BGC

It was the first day of December last year (sounded like a really long time ago eh?), we were headed to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. It was a very familiar place to me since I used to work there at ePLDT Ventus so now, I always look forward to any opportunity that brings me to this same place where I spent two years working. This time though, the whole BGC is populated with more establishments everywhere you look and it’ll take some time before we can try all the restaurants here.

Best Western Premier F1 Hotel at The Fort, Taguig

The reason why we were at BGC : we were invited to dine at F Restaurant on the fifth floor of Best Western Premier F1 Hotel, the first hotel in the area and is located (strategically perhaps) in front of St. Luke’s Medical Center. Just by the sound of the name of the hotel where the resto is located, you’d know our expectations were set high. 🙂

As soon as we entered, we were welcomed with a very festive scene – beside two tall Christmas trees is this house made of candies, marshmallows, and other goodies. I began to understand Hansel and Gretel. 😉

House made up of candies, marshmallows and other goodies

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Yurakuen Teppanyaki in Manila Diamond Hotel

Manila Diamond Hotel’s award-winning Japanese restaurant Yurakuen is proudly offering a totally unique Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can experience for all us buffet lovers out there. Instead of getting food from buffet spreads and cooking them on your table’s hot pot and griddles, Yurakuen lets you sit back and relax as you watch your personal chefs prepare food at your very own tables.

Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant in Manila Diamond Hotel - Teppanyaki Eat All You Can Buffet Promo

Available during lunch and dinner, enjoy the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can with unlimited flow of local drinks, local beer, and Japanese Kirin beer, all for the price of Php 1,970++ per person. My sister, Mhel, and I got to experience it ourselves when they invited us to experience a Teppanyaki dinner. It may be a little pricey, but we can seriously say that it’s worth every penny! Not convinced? Let me walk you through it.

Yurakuen's Teppanyaki menu

First, above are photos of the long lists of food you can order with the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can promo (click to zoom), which include appetizers, soups, noodles, meat dishes, and even desserts!

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Yakimix Eat All You Can Smokeless Grill Restaurant, Trinoma

We love eat-all-you-can or buffet style restaurants. I mean, who doesn’t?! You get to pick the food you want on your plate and you get to try different dishes all on a fixed price. This is why we are scouring the Metro for all these restaurants so we can try them and post a feature or review here. First up is Yakimix in Trinoma.

YakiMix Sushi Smokeless Grill Restaurant in Trinoma - CertifiedFoodies.com

We’ve heard of Yakimix from friends and they were 99% raves. I wasn’t really convinced before ‘cause of the price tag. But, I’ll try anything once.

We’ve actually been to Yakimix twice for the past 3 months. For our first visit, we had to wait for over an hour to get a table. That’s why we strongly suggest you call them for reservations or be there really early.

They only have 2 buffet schedules you can choose from. Lunch is served at 11am to 2:30pm everyday, while dinner starts at 5:30pm to 10:30pm Mondays to Fridays and starts 15 minutes earlier on the weekends. Lunch and dinner schedules at the Trioma branch of YakiMix - CertifiedFoodies.com

The lunch buffet on weekdays costs Php 499 per head; Php 580 on weekends, which is also the same price for dinner every night of the week. A little expensive, but considering the amount of food choices you get compared with other eat-all-you-can restaurants we’ve tried so far, I say it’s worth it. 🙂

For children below feet, they offer a special rate of Php 380. Their bottomless drinks cost Php 65. And in case you have leftovers (a no-no when you’re at eat-all-you-can restaurants), they charge Php 699 per head.

Though we had to wait for a long time on our first time there, I observed that their crew are organized and quick in taking care of customers, cleaning up tables, and are generally accommodating.

By the way, the second time we went there with our parents, we actually had a table reserved a few days before. But, my mom said they can’t find my name so they just had their names listed at the reservations desk. Since they were early, they got a table right away and were already stuffing their mouths full when we arrived 30 minutes after. 😀

The pretty lady at the reservations desk of YakiMix in Trinoma with Ken and Jhay - CertifiedFoodies.comThis pretty lady, Dimple, was the one at the reservations desk.
She’s very organized and friendly, too, obviously, as she willingly posed for us. 😀

Note: Make sure you get your name listed at the reservations table / booth located right outside the restaurant’s door. We saw a couple of customers lining up thinking there was really a queue without having their names listed first and were disappointed to know they were waiting in vain.

Oh, by the way, you can also come by and reserve a table for a future date. Or you can just call them. Their branches and contact numbers can be found at the bottom of this post.

I love the color scheme inside Yakimix Trinoma. They used brown and black on their furniture and walls. The tables are also very spacious so you can place multiple plates on it. Just look at ours. 😀

Our second time at YakiMix in Trinoma - CertifiedFoodies.com

On each table at YakiMix is a smokeless grill. As soon as you settle in, a crew member will fire up the grill for you. And, yes, the grill is smokeless, so no worries about smelling like everything you had for lunch or dinner when you leave the restaurant.

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Raku Hokkaido Ramen House at NAIA Terminal 3

When Kenneth flew to Singapore for a “vacation” in January, our family decided to have like a goodbye lunch at NAIA Terminal 3. I suggested we do that instead of going to a restaurant we’d pass by on our way to the airport since there are food places in NAIA Terminal 3 that I wanted to check out.

So, there. As soon as Ken checked in his baggage, we went up and saw Raku Hokkaido Ramen House by Ministop.

Raku Hokkaido Ramen House at NAIA 3 - CertifiedFoodies.comPhoto credit: Kat’s Musings

First off, we ordered drinks. I wanted to try their Apple Nectar, but Php 145 is just too expensive for me. So, I decided to order Raku’s Japanese Ocha for all us, at Php 29 each. At that price, I expected it to be bland. Well, it met my expectations. 😀

Japanese Ocha from Raku in NAIA 3 - CertifiedFoodies.com

Though we wanted to try their Ramen, we opted to order their Bento meals since we haven’t had anything yet for breakfast or lunch.

Before I tell you about what we ordered, I wanted to mention that I was completely disappointed with their service. By the time our orders arrived, we were all very hungry. And they weren’t served like a few minutes after each other or at the same time. We had to wait like 5-10 minutes for each of our orders to arrive. My dad’s order came last while we were already in the middle of finishing off ours. We had to follow up 4 times on our orders. It was that bad. It wasn’t that hectic when we were there. People only started coming in while we were already eating so I don’t understand why it took them that long to serve our food.

First off, my bro ordered their Chicken Teriyaki Bento, Php 145. As you can see, there’s a generous serving of rice topped with sesame seeds and veggie side dishes on all their bento meals. But, I would’ve wanted more pieces of chicken. I got to taste it and the chicken meat were tender. My bro enjoyed it.

Raku's Chicken Teriyaki Bento, Php 145 - CertifiedFoodies.com

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Dinner at Tokyo Bubble Tea Restaurant at SM The Block

Exactly a month ago (yes, another late post), right after grocery-shopping, my nanay and I were on the lookout for a new restaurant to try out. And, just right outside SM Hypermarket was Bubble Tea, one of the popular places in the Metro where you can enjoy milk teas. I’ve read about them from fellow foodies so I was looking forward to our dinner at Bubble Tea.

Bubble Tea Tokyo Milk Tea at SM The Block North Edsa - CertifiedFoodies.com

We weren’t sure what to order yet ’cause I’m on a low carb diet. But, everything on their menu looked tempting so I said “forget about it” (in Italian mafia accent). I think it took us almost 10 minutes before we finally decided on what to order.

My mother posing while looking over Bubble Tea's menu - CertifiedFoodies.com

First, we ordered drinks. I chose Bubble Tea’s Taro Milk Tea (large, Php 125). I picked the Passion Fruit Black Tea (Php 95, cold, large) for my mom. After tasting both drinks, she wanted my Taro Milk Tea. She found the passion fruit too citrusy/sour for her taste. I enjoyed it though.

Bubble Tea - Taro Milk Tea and Passion Fruit Black Tea - CertifiedFoodies.com

If you look at the photo, the glasses don’t look that tall. But, they were. I still think it’s a bit pricey. 😀

By the way, you are given options of less sugar and the size of tapioca pearls (“bubbles”) you want in your drink. You can go for big pearls, small or a combination of both. We forgot to mention I preferred bigger pearls so we both ended up with the other choice.

Now, on to our main orders. My nanay wanted to have fish for dinner so we ordered this for her – Bubble Tea’s Fish Katsudon (Php 195), breaded fish cutlet with cheese filling, egg and tonkatsu sauce.

Bubble Tea Fish Katsudon Php 195 - CertifiedFoodies.com

It was a bit bland for our taste. I loved the crunch you get from each bite of the Fish cutlet though and that the egg was perfectly cooked sunny side up. 🙂 The serving was big enough for my mom. She, again, preferred the one I ordered.

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How to Make Bento – Foodie Video Hunt

Have you heard of Cooking with Dog? It’s a popular cooking show on Youtube. The host is, well, a dog named Francis. No, he’s not the one who’s actually cooking, silly. He’s just hosting (for viral purposes). Chef San is the lady who does all the preparations and cooking.

Cooking with Dog - Certified Foodies

Their videos are guides on how you prepare popular Japanese dishes like Futomaki Sushi, Chicken Curry Udon, etc. Chef San is a highly skilled Japanese cook so you’d definitely love their cooking videos.

Here’s one of them, preparing a Bento or Japanese Boxed Lunch:

I love the sausage octopus! Can you imagine opening up your lunch box and finding this?

Cooking-with-Dog-Bento-Box

Cooking with Dog‘s guide on making Bento is so easy to follow. I’m planning on making one since I still have leftover Nori from the last time I made Sushi. I’ll share the photos here when I’ve done it.

How about you? Have you made your own Bento already?
Care to share a link or photo of it here?! We’d love to see it!

Here are a couple more videos from Cooking with Dog that are most viewed on Youtube.

How to Make Onigiri

 

How to Make Yakibuta Ramen

 

You can join Cooking with Dog’s Facebook page or subscribe to their Youtube channel.