For the love of Japanese food!

If there's one thing that I could binge one, it would be Japanese food! On a particularly hungry day (or night), I would drag Kyle to one of my favorite stop for good Japanese food, Sambokojin. As most of you may already know, Sambokojin is a "grill and eat all you can" restaurant. Their buffet offers a lot of yakiniku varieties and a great plus is that they also serve cooked dishes. The cuisine is not limited to Japanese, but is composed of a fusion of Asian dishes.

Yesterday, our hunger pangs kicked-in, and we decided to treat it with a little Japanese cure :).

We were lucky enough to get seated immediately when we arrived at their West Avenue Branch, a bit past 12 noon.

On to the feast!

I immediately went to the sushi / sashimi station and was greeted by a colorful array of maki, sushi and sashimi.

    

My first two plates. Yes, I finished everything on those two plates. :D Both the salmon and tuna tasted fresh!

      

Next stop, the meats! Sambokojin offers a wide assortment of both marinated and non-marinated meats. I love the fact that they serve quality USDA beef which are very tender and flavorful when cooked. They also have a variety of bacon and beef  rolls, including my favorites, the bacon-asparagus and beef-enoki. (YUM!).

   

They also have a fried station where you can eat tempura to your heart's content! I do advise not to binge on tempura as this can fill you up very fast because of all the breading and oil.



Here's what we got:

      

      

I wasn't able to take anymore pictures after we sat down and started cooking. We got a few more plates after that round and also got some items from their dessert area.

Their dessert selections presented fresh fruits, assorted cakes and pastries, chocolate fondue and an ice cream station.

Our meal left us happy and very satisfied.

I find their buffet rate very reasonable. For just Php 699 per person (either lunch or dinner), you get to feast on quality dishes that will not disappoint your taste buds!

GOOD NEWS! They'll be opening a branch at SM MEGAMALL, soon.

SAMBOKOJIN

EDSA Branch - 207 EDSA, Greenhills, Mandaluyong City  (02) 726-4466 / (02) 726-4520 / 0917-8964465

West Avenue Branch - 15 West Avenue, Quezon City  (02) 372-8846 / (02) 921-2873 / 0917-8948845

Eastwood Branch - Eastwood Citywalk, Bagumbayan, Quezon City  (02) 421-0145 to 46 / 0917-3160144 / 0939-9340144

SM Southmall Branch - Ground Level Eastwing Food Street Alabang Zapote Road, Las Piñas City  (02) 511-7843 / (02) 511-7853 / 0917-8107833 / 0908-8757833

Bubble Tea!

I've been craving for some good milk tea, so we decided to have dinner at Bubble Tea.

Bubble Tea specializes with Japanese milk tea, and of course, Japanese food.

We got the large Almond Milk Shake (Php 145) and Japanese Green Milk Tea (Php 125). For the food, we got the Kani Salad (Php 135), Takoyaki (Php 175), Salmon Sashimi (Php 170), Nippon Ebi (Php 285), and Sukiyaki Beef (Php 255).

     

Both drinks we ordered were delightful! The Almond Milk Shake was very creamy and was not too sweet. The almond flavor was also just right and didn't overpower the drink. The Japanese Green Milk Tea was just lovely. I might be a bit biased about this since I love matcha. It's a bit of an acquired taste, so if you haven't tried it, might as well go for another flavor. :)

Compared to other milk tea places, Bubble Tea's versions stand out mainly because of the "bubbles" that they use. It has a very unique syrupy flavor and a nice chewy texture, that got me addicted to it.

The food was served with only a few minutes of interval between dishes. Food line-up: Kani Salad, Takoyaki, Salmon Sashimi, Nippon Ebi and Sukiyaki Beef.

     

 



Love the Kani Salad! They did not scrimp on the amount of kani, mango, and Japanese mayonnaise.

The Takoyaki was just ok. Their version is a bit firmer than what I usually have.

The Salmon Sahimi tasted fresh and was just wonderful. It's also priced affordably, compared to other Japanese restaurants. My only complaint is that the wasabi should have had more kick in it.

The Nippon Ebi is a panko-breaded prawn, rolled in sushi rice and topped with mango on melted mozzarella cheese. I found the dish just ok, nothing really spectacular.

Their Sukiyaki had generous helpings of thin slices of beef. The flavor of the soup was very mild, we couldn't find the bold flavor that we've tasted from traditional sukiyaki.

We had a satisfactory meal. The food is nothing really extraordinary, but its their bubble tea that keeps me coming back.

TOKYO BUBBLE TEA

Tomas Morato Branch - 220 Tomas Morato Avenue Corner Scout Deguia, Laging Handa, Quezon City (02-9217382)

Trinoma Branch - Second Floor, Trinoma Mall, North Triangle, Quezon City

SM North Branch - Ground Floor, The Block, SM City North EDSA, Quezon City

SM Megamall Branch - Lower Ground Floor, Building A, SM Mega Mall, Ortigas Centre, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City (02-6387479)

Taguig Branch - Unit 1 and 2, Ground Floor, The Fort Residences, 30th Residences, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City (02-4787483)

A Touch of TORCH

Torch was introduced to us during a car-club meet. Ever since that event, we've been coming back here when we're within the Greenhills area.

It's located along Connecticut Street and can be a bit tricky to see because it's signage is covered by a tree branch.

The interior has a casual and comfortable feel.



Their menu is also quite interesting, it's like East meets West.

We were in the mood for a heavy lunch so we got quite a lot from their menu.

For starters, Volcano Roll (Php 369.95) and Buffalo Asian Wings (Php 324.95).

    

The Volcano Roll is a baked sushi with tempura, tamago, topped with spice-baked scallops and smothered with cheese and Japanese mayo. I love their presentation! Overflowing, lava-like cheese that makes this dish just delish!

For the Buffalo Asian Wings, we requested it to have less heat, they happily accommodated our request. :) The crispy wings were coated with a sweet glaze, followed by a subtle kick of spice that balances out the flavor. Perfect.

Next dish we tried was the Philly Cheesesteak Pizza (Php 369.95).



Simply put, it's your favorite philly cheesesteak sandwich turned into a pizza. You can never go wrong with this one.

For our main dishes, we got the Beef Short Plate (Php 249.95) and Salpicao Medallion (Php 449.95).



The Beef Short Plate (left) had hefty servings of tender beef belly with a generous amount of fat in it, served with garlic parsley rice with a side of beans and carrots. This was probably the best dish I had during our meal. The beef was just bursting with flavor and the fat, oh the fat, the words escape me.



The Salpicao Medallion is certified Angus Beef wrapped in bacon also served with garlic parsley rice with a side of sauteed French beans and carrots. We preferred it well-done. They serve this dish on a sizzling hot stone to prevent it from getting cold and greasy easily. The plating gives this dish a good first impression, but there was really nothing special with the steak.

Torch is a good place for simple, casual dates and budget friendly, feel-good food trips. We really enjoyed and were greatly satisfied with our lunch.

TORCH

Home Studio Building, 63 Connecticut Street, Greenhills, San Juan City (02-4773771, 02-5020000)

Celebrating Life at Octoboy

Last night we celebrated my dad's 63rd birthday at Octoboy, Tomas Morato. Octoboy is an establishment specializing in Japanese food.

My brother bought a couple of vouchers from Ensogo. The voucher was limited to the following food items: Okonomiyaki, Udon, Ramen and Sushi Rolls.

From that selection, we ordered the following:

Ramen - Roast Pork (Php 295) and Seafood (Php 285)

Udon - Beef Udon (Php 335)

Okonomiyaki - Octopus (Php 285) , Bacon (Php 290), Peppered Beef (Php 340) and Mushroom (Php 285)

Sushi Rolls - Unagi (Php 195), Philadelphia (Php 195) and California Crunch (Php 165)

The ramen were served first.

         

The Roast Pork Ramen had thin pork slices that had a decent amount of fat on it while the Seafood Ramen had kani, naruto maki and fish fillet. Both the Roast Pork Ramen (left) and Seafood Ramen (right) used miso as soup stock, and were garnished with spring onions and dried seaweed strips. The broth was really flavorful and it was a nice way to start our meal and warm our tummies.

The Beef Yakiudon came in next.



Stir fried noodles topped with beef strips, vegetables, Japanese mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce (I think). I couldn't really understand the overall flavor that it had, but it didn't taste bad. I guess it just had too many flavors in it.

Okonomiyaki (clockwise: Octopus, Bacon, Peppered Beef, and Mushroom) is basically like very soft and savory pancake wit toppings

            

The Octopus Okonomiyaki (octopus, mozzarella, okonomiyaki sauce, bonito shavings, Japanese mayonnaise and dried seaweed) had a very similar taste with their takoyaki.

The Bacon Okonomiyaki (bacon, mozzarella, okonomiyaki sauce, onion mayonnaise, lettuce and toasted cheddar) was very cheesy and was loaded with bacon in every bite.

The Peppered Beef Okonomiyaki (gyudon beef, mozzarella, black pepper sauce, miso mayonnaise, crispy onions and corn kernels) was the crowd favorite. It had a generous amount of beef with a peppery flavor that was balanced out by the mayonnaise.

Last was the Mushroom Okonomiyaki (sauteed mushroom, mozzarella, tonkatsu sauce, garlic mayonnaise, sauteed leeks and bacon bits). Unfortunately, this was the least liked and most forgettable among the four.

On to the next set, Sushi Rolls (left to right: California Crunch, Philadelphia Roll and Unagi Roll)



California Crunch is a variation of the traditional California Maki. This is basically california maki that's been fried and topped of with spicy mayonnaise. This one delivers a "kick", brought about by the spicy mayonnaise.

Philadelphia roll had salmon and cream cheese fillings and was also fried. I practically like almost anything with cream cheese in it, so this one's a keeper.

The Unagi Roll was the biggest disappointment of the night. The piece of eel that's used as the filling was tiny, and you could hardly taste the flavor of the eel. It was like eating a roll of rice with sweet sauce on it.

Over all, the food was just ok, nothing extraordinary.

 

Advisory: Certain portions of Tomas Morato's undergoing drainage improvements. Traffic is pretty heavy and parking is more limited than the usual.

OCTOBOY

Tomas Morato Branch - 186 Tomas Morato Corner Scout De Guia, Sacred Heart, Quezon City (02-9902357)

Banawe Branch - 670 Banawe Street, Santo Domingo, Quezon City (02-4092704, 02-5835496)

Libis Branch - Fourth Floor, Eastwood Mall, Libis, Quezon City