New Found Love!

Last Friday night, the wind took us all the way to UP Town Center for dinner. Our first choice was Shrimp Bucket, but unfortunately, we were seventh on the waiting list. After being listed, we went around the area and my attention was caught by Tokyo Tonteki's Php499 Meal for Two promo, and of course, because they had bottomless drinks. :)

     

Tokyo Tonteki deviates from the over-hyped katsu craze and specializes in making the best pork loin steak you've ever had! With this, we were very intrigued on trying their specialty. We availed the promo and got their Regular Tonteki (Php 375 per order) and the Stir Fried Japanese Mushrooms (Php 250 ala carte) for our sides. We also added an order of their Chicken Karaage (Php 250) and a bottomless rootbeer (Php 85).

We were first served with their pork miso soup. The flavor of the miso was very light and delightful. The soup was also very meaty, having a lot of pork bits in it. This is probably my favorite miso soup.  The  best part is, it's refillable! I was able to finish three servings, while Kyle had four. Yes, it was that good. :)



Our mouthwatering main dishes: Regular Tonteki, Stir Fried Japanese Mushrooms and Chicken Karaage

      

Their tonteki was heavenly! Premium pork loin slow cooked and simmered in their signature tonteki sauce, topped with toasted garlic chips. The meat was so succulent and really soaked up the delicious sauce, it also had a decent amount of fat on it.

Complementing  our main dish were the stir fried mushrooms and chicken karaage. The mushrooms were divine! It had a very bold buttery flavor. Texture wise, it was both soft and chewy, very enjoyable to eat. The chicken karaage tasted like your usual boneless fried chicken.

The promo comes with refillable soup, rice and cabbage, but we only managed to finish one serving, except for the soup. I think their promo is actually good enough for three people.

Tokyo Tonteki is a definite go-to place for meat lovers! Will definitely be going back here!

TOKYO TONTEKI

Ground Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City (02-9552269, 02-9552270)

A Taste of Authentic Ramen

Last night we tried out this ramen place called Ramen Nagi at Robisnon's Magnolia. This place is known to serve authentic Japanese ramen, and I'm pretty curious about how an "authentic" ramen tastes like.

Entering the restaurant gives you a glimpse and feel of Japan. Seats are all for sharing which makes it feel a bit awkward. Also, they have a "no take-out policy", even for left overs.

     

The menu features four types of ramen, we opted to share the Original King or more popularly known as the Butao King Ramen. The ramen broth is made from tonkotsu pork broth with classic Nagi pork chashu. You can choose to customize your ramen through their order sheet. I went with "normal" everything and got the pork belly. In addition to our ramen, we also tried their Chicken Karaage.

The ramen was served within a few minutes. I requested for two additional bowls, but we were given only one bowl. We had to ask for another bowl when the chicken karaage was served.

     

Original King (Php 390) looked really appetizing. We first tried the broth and we were both taken aback. The broth tasted like egg, to be exact, it had the exact taste of the soup of "balut". Balut is a Filipino delicacy,  it's a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. Yes, the broth of the ramen tasted like that of the balut. The pork belly was nice and tender and the noodles were cooked al dente.

The Chicken Karaage (Php 200) had a very strong umami flavor. It was crunchy and juicy and was accompanied by my favorite shredded cabbage with wasabi mayonnaise. The chicken wasn't really anything special.

It was worth a try, just to satisfy our curiosity. But it wouldn't be a restaurant of my choice.

I still can't get over the fact that I felt like drinking loads of balut broth.

RAMEN NAGI

Robinsons Magnolia Branch - Upper Ground Floor, Al fresco Dining Area, Robinsons Magnolia

SM MOA Branch - Ground Floor, South Wing, Mall of Asia Complex (MOA), Pasay City

Bonifacio Global City Branch - Fifth Floor, SM Aura Premier, C5 Road Corner 26th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City