Category: Lifestyle

I wanted to try out Omakase in their Ayala Triangle Gardens branch but never got the chance to try it out.  Either my colleagues wanted to try some other restaurants or there were just too many people and we didn’t want to waste time in waiting.  However, I was glad that my friends invited me to join them for dinner, which was at Omakase!  It was their branch in Quezon City.  It was their branch in Il Terrazo to be exact.

We arrived around 9pm but we had to wait for several minutes as the restaurant was jam-packed.  We were seated around 9:20pm.  I loved the interior of Omakase.  They used a combination of red, black and white colors which was really pleasing to the eyes.  I believe Japanese love the color red & black right?

We didn’t waste time and immediately ordered our chosen dishes in the menu.  We were starving as it was past dinner time.  We hoped to stay for long as we wanted to catch up with what has been happening in our lives.

We ordered the following:

• Omakase Salad (Php 140)

My friend Tere was bragging about Omakase Salad.  She kept saying that this will always be part of her order whenever she visit Omakase.  I wondered why.  When I got to taste it, I kinda understood why.  Omakase Salad is a different kind of salad.  It composed of Japanese crabsticks, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and ebiko.  I do think that the secret ingredient in this delicious dish was the special mayo dressing which I couldn’t figure out how it was done.

• Miso Soup (Php 45)

As expected, my friends ordered Miso soup.  I’ve chosen a different variant of soup as I’ve grown tired of Miso soup hahaha.  Well, nothing special there.  Just plain old Miso soup that had tofu, wakame & spring onions.

• Omakase Soup (Php 70)

There must be a reason why they put their restaurant’s name in a dish.  It must be original and it must be good!  Though miso soup was everyone’s favorite, I didn’t follow my friends’ orders and went with Omakase soup.  It was a great decision!  I actually loved the soup!  I also let siobs Tere try it and she said it was good!  Well, yeah, it was a bit expensive but hey, the taste and bigger serving of the soup is more than enough.  Basically, Omakase soup was a thick clear soup with egg, crabsticks & wakame.  Best if you finish this soup while it’s hot! 🙂  Yummy!

• California Crunch (Php 170)

My friend was about to order the ever-famous california maki but I stopped her immediately.  I really grew tired of the same old california maki.  I suggested if we could order California Crunch instead which was also california maki but deep-fried.  At least, there’s a kick to our usual California Maki.  Inside the fried maki were crabstick, mango, cucumber, japanese mayo & ebiko.

• Tofu Steak (Php 210)

This dish was pure genius!  My perception of tofu steak was breaded Japanese tofu served in a sizzling dish.  I was pleasantly surprised when Omakase’s Tofy steak was served.  It was a generous serving of Japanese tofu wrapped with beef.  It tasted wonderful!  You must try this too!

• Unagi Kabayaki (Php 330)

Grilled eel at its finest.  I rarely order eel as the price is really a bit steep considering the premium put into unagi.  But whenever I get to try one, I really appreciate its unique taste and flavors.  I can actually eat this dish alone with plain rice.  It can already fulfill both my taste buds and stomach 😀

• Katsudon (Php 170)

I remember I mentioned this in a post that we tend to always have Katsudon in our table whenever we dine at a Japanese restaurant.  Funny that upon our next visit, we indeed have Katsudon in our table haha!  There wasn’t anything special with this dish.  Same recipe with all other Japanese food places.  It was pork cooked in sauce with egg, onions and scallions.  I grew tired of this dish that I ended up not appreciating it 😛

• Fried Rice Cup (Php 60)

I used to dislike the fried rice dishes served in a non-traditional Japanese restaurant.  It usually felt like rice with certain topping but still tasted like plain rice.  I’m glad Omakase’s version wasn’t like that.  Even though, it wasn’t something I would order again.  I ordered the cup size but they also have the bowl size (Php 230) which is good for sharing.

• Panama Orange (Php 60)

It says Panama Orange in the menu but I think it was flavored iced tea.  I never knew that the orange iced tea tasted so good.  I ordered the bottomless one which was only Php10 higher than the price of a glass.  There was also another flavor called wild raspberry but I felt it was common already.  I wish I had more refills but we arrived late and was only able to eat for 30 minutes and it was almost closing time.

As much as I liked the food in Omakase, I was VERY disappointed with their service.  As early as 9:30pm, they asked for last orders even if our orders have just arrived as we were seated around that time.  To my dismay, they were already cleaning up the sushi bar and closing all the lights that doesn’t have customers in it.  We were still eating that time and it made us feel that we were being shooed away even if not told verbally.

They were lifting the chairs too.  We had to quickly finish our food and leave.  They really followed their 10pm closing time.  As I understand it, they should still be accepting customers at 10pm right?  Maybe, my understanding is really wrong about this thing.  Anyone who want to clear this up?

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Omakase Japanese Cuisine
Il Terrazzo, Scout Madrinan, Tomas Morato, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 332-4115

I feel so touched that my high school friends picked me up at my home and we had a nice lunch in Kimono Ken.  We haven’t seen each other for years!  It was nice to catch up with each other & enjoy nice Japanese food at the same time.  Some of us had restrictions: Ann & I doesn’t eat raw food and Chris doesn’t eat chicken.  We compromised, we still ordered raw food but we still have some other dishes that we can share.

It wasn’t my first time to eat at Kimono Ken but I remember that I had a pleasant experience when I dined there before.  I also got feedback that their food is worth trying for.  I had high hopes.  Fortunately, the experience was as expected 🙂

The ambiance during lunchtime is good especially with them using natural light.  It was refreshing and we didn’t feel like we were enclosed in a secluded place.  There weren’t too much people as we arrived almost 2pm already.  We were really starving then.  Just glad that service was fast and we didn’t have to wait for long.

Here’s a list of our orders:

• California Maki (Php 135)

California Maki will always be in everyone’s table in a Japanese restaurant.  I do not know if this is a tradition in the Philippines or all over the world.  I may have to check when I get to visit Japan if this dish really is a hit there.  Basically, all california maki dishes taste the same.  Kimono Ken’s california maki was no exception.

• Sashimi Moriawase (Php 300)

If you love sashimi then you will definitely love this sampler!  It has sea urchin, egg omelette, crab sticks & tuna sashimi.  Since I don’t eat raw food, I only took one serving of crabsticks.  I totally forgot about the egg omelette but just seeing those sashimi made me wanna run away hahaha!

• Spicy Maguro (Php 120)

As soon as I saw this dish, I knew that it was raw! RAW!  I stayed away from it.  For your information though, this dish is fresh tuna with spicy sauce.  They finished it so I guessed it was good.

• Uni Spaghetti (Php 180)

It’s rare that I eat fried noodles in a Japanese restaurant but Kimono Ken’s Uni Spaghetti was definitely nice to look at, mouth-watering and you would wanna try it right away.  It was basically sauteed sea urchin with butter sauce on spaghetti.  Not so bad.

• Katsudon (Php 165)

Another usual order in Japanese restaurants – Katsudon.  I love Kimono Ken’s version as the porkloin was flavorful.  It must be because it was deeply breaded.  Egg was also mixed into the porkloin.  This was served with rice.

• Beef Teriyaki (Php 200)

This was my favorite, I cannot get enough of it.  I love the sweetness of the sauce and the tenderness of the beef.  The teriyaki sauce was the perfect mix into the thinly sliced beef with sesame seeds.  This was the winner dish among the ones that we ordered.

• Gindara Teriyaki (Php 480)

If you love to order california maki & katsudon in a Japanese restaurant, I, however, wouldn’t miss ordering Gindara teriyaki.  I just love this cod fish cooked with teriyaki sauce.  Of course, there’s always this impression that you’re eating something healthy but I can’t deny how delicious this dish is.  I loved Kimono Ken’s version but I think they cooked the fish too much that it was burnt on the sides.  You can see the black thingy in the picture.  I had to take it out before eating.

• Kimono Ken’s Special (Php 75)

Kimono Ken’s specialty drink which is a fruit punch but this has more orange-y taste.

• Green Tea Shake (Php 100)

You must ORDER this green tea shake from Kimono Ken!  Please don’t ever snob this drink in the menu!  I never thought that green tea shake would taste this good!  It wasn’t too sweet and it wasn’t watery!  I was sipping through it until I noticed that I finished it already.  We may like Green tea ice cream but gosh, it works too as a drink!  Yummy!

I’m glad I can finally share with you what Kimono Ken offers.  Sometimes, I do admit that I tend to forget to share with you some of my food experiences.

Kimono Ken has decent food.  Their place is good for friends who wanted to hangout too!  Price is a bit on the expensive side but still acceptable.  The picture below is me with my high school friends.  Aren’t they pretty?  We’ve finished eating and was just capturing our moments 😛

I was actually about to eat dinner at Kimono Ken again earlier but couldn’t find any parking.  They do offer valet parking though.  Have you tried Kimono Ken?  What do you think of their food?

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Kimono Ken
256 Tomas Morato corner Scout Fuentabella, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 928-1228

March is The Establishment’s anniversary month.  To celebrate it, they offered a special menu wherein we can enjoy 14 of their signature dishes.  I wouldn’t want to pass up on that!  I heard that The Establishment serves good food but they are quite expensive.  So Php 1,998 for an Anniversary Dégustation is definitely a steal (well more as they offered it in Deal Grocer at 50% off!).

I can’t quite find the time go to the Fort area last march.  I had to push myself to go there last March 31 to avail of the limited time offer.  It was the last day and whew, glad that I was able to go there finally!  It was well-worth it!  The experience was great!

As I entered the restaurant, I felt like I entered into a different world.  The interiors are totally astounding.  They really invested a lot of resources in making the restaurant/bar look good.  I noticed that they divided the place into 3 different areas.  On the left is their minibar wherein you can just hangout and have your favorite drink/s.

The biggest area which is located in the middle is the Hall.  People usually go to Establishment at around 10pm, hang out and enjoy live bands while eating & drinking.  Definitely for people who love to go out and stay till wee hours in the morning.  I’m old already for that kind of gimik but I’m surely the young and active will love this.  We can also enjoy our dinner in this area while listening to music.

On the right is the Crystal Room.  This is where I had my dose of The Establishment’s Anniversary Dégustation.  Crystal Room is the area where people usually dine in just for the food.  Best for small groups and for those dating as the tables are small hehehe 😛

The Anniversary Dégustation is a sampler of The Establishment’s 14 Signature dishes created by Chef Godfrey Laforteza.  It includes 3 different appetizers, 3 kinds of sushi rolls, 2 different salads, 4 main entrees & 2 desserts.  It was just a sampler but it could really fill an empty stomach.  What I really love is that I was able to try out most of The Establishment’s specialties.  Now, I know what to order when I go back.

While we await for our orders, we were served bite-sized bread with 2 sauces on the side.

The dishes were served in batches.  I loved the presentation!

Appetizers

• Pan Seared Foie Gras & Sweet Miso Glaze

Foie gras drizzled with miso sauce and served with mushrooms.  I love that the dish was super flavorful and the foie gras was soft.  The best appetizer among the ones I tried.  Ala Carte version of this is at Php 475.

• Salmon Tartare

I’m not fond of raw food but I tried this anyway.  It’s fresh salmon with chopped hard-boiled egg.  There was also crostini on the side.  You can eat it in such a way like a sandwich.  Yum!  Ala Carte at Php 225.

• Golden Camembert

I didn’t enjoy this dish but this was deep-fried camembert with raspberry puree.  Ala Carte at Php 345.

Salads

• Oriental Chicken Salad

this was my favorite among the salads served.  Oriental Chicken Salad is lettuce topped with chicken strips & orange wedges.  I can’t stop eating this and hoped that there was more.  I’ll surely get this when I get back to the Crystal Room.  Ala Carte at Php 250.

• Warm Goat Cheese & Roquette Salad

Goat cheese atop aragula and lettuce leaves.  Goat cheese is really not my thing but I tried it anyway. Ala Carte at Php 345.

Sushi Rolls

• Spicy Tuna Rolls topped Mango

Fresh tuna roll spiced & garnished with chopped mangoes.  Ala Carte at Php 300.

• Avocado Salmon Salsa Roll

Salmon roll with avocado and topped with salsa.  I’m afraid to think that the salmon was fresh because I don’t eat raw but I loved this dish too much!  Yummy!  My fave among the sushi roll sampler.  Ala carte at Php 350.

• Prawn Tempura Roll

Our old favorite shrimp roll, just the way we like it.  Ala carte at Php 370.

Main Courses

• Pan Seared U.S. Angus Beef with Lychee Truffle Sauce

This is a must-order!  The meat was cooked excellently!  Wow!  It was juicy & tender all throughout.  With flavors of sweet lychee, it was a perfect combination indeed.  I was slowly enjoying each bite, it was heavenly!  Ala carte at Php 990.

• Green Tea Crusted Australian Lamb Chops

I don’t eat lambs but I tried a bite of this and surprisingly, it didn’t have any after taste whatsoever.  I do not know how the chef did it.  Maybe, it was because of the green tea flavor?  Whatever it is, I liked it!  Ala Carte at Php 975.

• Sea Bass with Teppanyaki Rice

The original dish was a Hainanese salmon but they ran out.  They apologized to me and asked if they could substitute the salmon with sea bass.  I was more than happy!  I’d choose sea bass over salmon any time!  This was my favorite among all 14 dishes from the anniversary degustation.  The sea bass with teppan rice was a good pair too!  I loved it a LOT!

• Tofu Tempura with Mixed Mushrooms

I wonder how a single tofu can be so delicious.  It was perfectly seasoned with soy sauce, enoki and shitake mushrooms. I highly recommend this dish too when you visit the Crystal Room at the Establishment.  Ala carte at Php 295.

Desserts

• Pistachio Jateu de Lupe

21-layered cake with pistachios.  Wow! 21 layers of deliciousness!  I always prefer pistachio whenever I buy ice cream but now, I think I will have to choose pistachio too for cakes.  Why?  Just because I loved The Establishment’s Pistachio Jateu de Lupe.  Delicious!!  Ala carte at Php 375.

• Chocolate Bette Noir (Php 350)

One important thing to note: The Crystal Room’s Chocolate Bette Noir was flourless.  I wish they have a white chocolate version of this though.  I’m not a fan of dark chocolates huhuhu.

I was totally satisfied with the food I tried out at The Establishment.  I believe those 14 dishes already make up 70% of the whole menu.  I now know what to expect next time I go back.  I’m not sure if it’s going to be anytime soon as the prices are a bit steep hehehe 😛  But you do get what I mean and I hope I was able to give you an idea too through my experience.

I also like to commend the excellent service in The Establishment.  Every single staff were courteous, tactless, proactive and friendly.  Even the guard were knowledgeable of the menu, the restaurant and was able to answer our questions with great respect and knowledge.

Top notch service, great food, awesome interiors that’s The Establishment for you.

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The Establishment
Unit A, The Fort Entertainment Complex, 26th Street corner 5th Avenue, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines
(02) 844-6364

I’ve been hearing a lot about Sunrise Buckets but I didn’t have a chance to try it out.  I heard they started out selling their products in bazaars.  Since they were successful, they ended up expanding and opened up their first branch in Greenhills.

I keep seeing their big signage in Ortigas avenue as I always pass by that area whenever I drive home from work.  I was curious but didn’t have that much urge to try out.  However, when I saw their promo at one of the budget sites, I knew then that I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity.

As I entered the place, I was in total awe.  They have a beach theme.  There were surfboards all around and some other beach stuff in Sunrise Buckets.  The place was lively!  Servers were very friendly & accomodating too!

See?  Even their menu were written in surfboards!  Total coolness!

One more unique feature in Sunrise Buckets was their gloves!  We get to grab those gloves so we can use while we eat Sunrise Buckets chicken!  There’s no other way to enjoy chicken but with our hands right?

We ordered too much as I bought Php 1,000 worth of food vouchers!  I should have used only Php500 hahaha!  Oh well, at least I get to share a lot with you in this post 🙂

• 1/2 Pound Sunrise Original (Php 155)

I liked this flavor among all the ones that we ordered.  Sunrise Original is the restaurant’s Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings with Sunrise Original sauce.  I was also about to order their ‘Real American Buffalo Wings’ but the server told me that it has the same sauce as Sunrise Original, it was just a spicy version of Sunrise Original.  This was the only 1/2 pound chicken wings dish we finished.

• 1/2 Pound Smokin’ BBQ Chicken (Php 145)

A bestseller in Sunrise Buckets but unfortunately, I didn’t like the taste of it.  The chicken wings were tossed with their homemade barbeque sauce.  I’m not sure if I just ate too much chicken that I didn’t appreciate this anymore but I think the flavors really didn’t fit my taste buds.

BTW, Sunrise Buckets also offer boneless chicken wings.  You might wanna try it out if you dislike deboning your chicken.

• Cloud 9 Garlic Parmesan Poppers (Php 165)

I can now say that parmesan cheese & chicken doesn’t blend well.  As much as I appreciate the way poppers are prepared with chicken meat lightly breaded cooked and tossed with the sauce.  I would advise to order a different flavor over garlic parmesan.

Here’s the list of flavors available: smokin’ bbq, Juan’s buffalo, crispy, garlic peppered, sunrise original, hickory, pepper steak, teriyaki, real American buffalo, honey jalapeno, honey mustard, Jack Daniel’s, garlic parmesan (yeew), ultimate crazy hot.

• Jack Daniel’s Porkchop (Php 275)

I didn’t like this dish and we ended up just trying it out.  We just ate the fries 🙁  The meat was too tough and it wasn’t tasty at all.  We didn’t intend to order this but their fish & chips was out of stock.  Tough luck.

• Wild Rice (Php 60)

Tasted like a Java rice.  This was good.  You’ll like it.  Order with your favorite flavor of chicken wings if you’re used to eating with rice.

• Solo Poutine Fries (Php 115)

Very unique recipe as they put melted cheese & gravy into the fries.  I didn’t find any special with it though.

• Rootbeer Float (Php 115)

I was amazed when the rootbeer float was served to us.  The rootbeer was literally put in a bottle.  The glass was filled with ice and topped with a huge serving of vanilla ice cream.  This was the drink ordered by my friend but boy, it did look yummy!

• Sunrise Iced Tea (Php 55)

As with most restaurants, Sunrise Buckets also have their own homemade brewed iced tea.  Yummy!  I wish though that they make it bottomless in the future.

While I may not have given Sunrise Buckets’ food products a perfect approval score, I have to give them a perfect score with presentation.

Their chicken wings are served in buckets with a mini chalkboard in front wherein they put the name of their customers.  Perfect visual presentation, I really loved it!

Sunrise Buckets’ poppers & fries, on the other hand, are served in mugs!  You can buy those mugs too!  Sunrise Buckets have their own merchandise to sell inside the restaurant.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience though I wouldn’t rate their chicken wings as top-notch.  Looking at how successful they are, there were able to capture the taste buds of their target market.  Kudos to them for being a successful chicken franchise.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to see more branches of Sunrise Buckets in the Metro.

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Sunrise Buckets
Unit 1, Madison Square, Ortigas corner Madison St., Greenhills, San Juan City, Philippines
(02) 477-7636