Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Dinner At Omakase

Everyone was craving for Japanese tonight.

My sister sent me a text message to get ready because we were going out for dinner.  I told them not to choose any restaurant that requires a dress code because I was wearing my pambahay shirt.   So we all headed to the nearest Japanese restaurant which is right across the village gate.  So we took the 10 minute ride.  It took that long to go through the traffic in the main road during rush hours.

I had already something in mind what to order during that 10-minute ride.  Crunchy spicy tuna salad is always my favorite in any Japanese restaurant.

Upon entering the restaurant, I saw two of my high school batchmates in the table near the entrance.  So much for dressing down.  I hope they didn't see me or recognize me.  There's something about meeting people from high school again.  It makes me so uneasy.  But that's another blog post in the making.  

So here's what's on our table:


I ordered the JSC(?) Platter which was good for four to six persons depending on the appetite.  I love the one with smoked dried fish sprinkled with sesame seeds.  It comes with a Japanese mayo dip (which unfortunately, I missed trying out).


Here's the bottomless raspberry iced tea.  I usually don't order iced tea anywhere but the word raspberry made me want to try it out.  I ended up shivering.  I don't think I'm used to ice cold drinks anymore.  Anyway, there was a tinge of raspberry flavor in it.  (Honestly, I haven't tried eating raspberries for real in my entire life yet so I don't really have an idea how raspberry flavored drinks are supposed to taste like.)


For the love of soup, I ordered their Omakase soup.  Since it bears the name of the restaurant then it must be good.  It didn't fail me.  I love sipping through the warm broth of vegetables and seaweeds.


                 Here's my brother's Gyudon that I didn't bother tasting so I cannot say how good it was.


Since they were taking a long time deciding what to order, I ordered us a basket of shrimp tempura.  It tasted like any tempura in any Japanese restaurant around the metro.  It was only special because it is what it is - tempura.


My cousin's tonkatsu and salad on the side.  I didn't try it out because I was immersed in eating sushi that I failed to notice this until I was downloading pictures from my camera.  She took this picture awhile ago without my knowledge.


Spicy crunchy tuna salad.  Bow! 
Super love this!  
Must order this in any Japanese restaurant.


Not in pictures:  Yakisoba.

The Great Miss:
Something bad happened while we were dining in that I almost lost my appetite.  I overheard our waitress tell the cashier out loud, "Ang dami kasing additional orders".  Well, I for one know for a fact that we keep ordering one by one so it was probably tedious for her to get our orders.  But I really stopped eating when I heard her.  I motioned for her but the cashier got off her post and approached me along with the waitress.  Here's what I told them as far as I can remember:

"Miss, bawal bang magbigay ng additional orders?"
"Kasi narinig ko nagrereklamo na yung staff niyo eh."
"If bawal mag additional, hindi na kami mag o-order, sabihin niyo lang"
"Kasi Miss, kahit sinong makarinig sa sinabi mo, ma-o-offend."

What the concerned waitress did was approach me herself and apologize.  She was really trying to ask me to overlook the incident.  And I implied that I'm going to let it pass.  I also told her that if they're to complain about their work, she should do it in the proper place (behind close doors) and time (after closing hours).  

I was an employee myself and I have encountered difficult people before.  I understand that she wanted to air her work woes but she has to do it tactfully next time.

After that, I got my appetite back and raved about their food relentlessly.

19 comments:

  1. everything looks soooo yummy! :) i super love japanese food! i'm curious about the omakase soup. is it ramen? O.O

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  2. nope, it's an egg-drop soup. no noodles here, sis :)

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  3. I know there's an Omakase in ATG, I want to try their food out, wala nga lang ako pig out buddy :(

    How much for one person? and the JSC(?) platter and the crunchy tuna salad? Do they have service charge?

    I bet the waitress who blurted her irritation out loud does that on a regular basis, I hope I don't encounter any like that when I dine in their ATG branch :P

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  4. around P300 per person sis. You need pig out buddIES kasi medyo malaki serving except the usual ala carte tonkatsu, gyudon and the like. Yep they have 10% service charge sis. O di ba siningil pa kami for bad service LOL!

    Re: the waitress, wag na nya ulitin kasi baka makakita na naman siya ng katapat niya LOL!

    I hope they don't have more waitresses like that around. Nakakasira kasi ng dining experience :)

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  5. also, the JSC Platter is P645 yata pero parang 4 sushi pa yung natira (6 kami sharing that platter). The crunchy tuna salad? I forgot sis, sorry.

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  6. Sige, thanks sis! Can't drag BF there kasi our schedule is in conflict, my BFF is in the province naman. Try ko ayain housemates ko haha.

    Maybe one time 3 tayo ni Chyng mag food trip, If I remember right nag aya sya last time :P

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  7. Omakase is a favorite and I love their sushi. Pero si hubby hindi mahilig. :( I have to wait for my brother to be in the mood for eating out before I could go to Omakase.

    Too bad for bad service. Kapag ako siguro nakarinig noon, pinatawag ko manager and hindi na ako makakakain. ;(

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  8. @madz: naku sis, sana matuloy yung food trip natin :) para ma-meet ko na kayo :)

    @Diane: despite the bad service, I think Omakase is going to be favorite Jap resto from now on :) In what omakase branch do you go sis?

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  9. Spicy crunchy tuna salad..parang ang sarap:)

    "There's something about meeting people from high school again. It makes me so uneasy."-- same here!

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  10. I haven't eaten in a real Japanese restaurant (consider ba na Japanese restaurant ang Karate Kid? hehe). But the food in your photos look tempting especially the crunchy tuna salad. And I haven't eaten real raspberry, too but I love raspberry iced tea (kahit yung Sola lang, hehe).

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  11. @storybookmom: hindi pala ako nag iisa :)

    @sheng: Haven't eaten at Karate Kid before. I hope I could. I think halos lahat ng Japanese restaurants have almost the same things in their menu. Kasi the menu in Omakase is almost the same in Sumo Sam... pero much cheaper lang :)

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  12. Agreed with the tempura sentiments. Personally I think tempura is played-out and overhyped.

    The Omakase soup looks delicious. Any miso in there?

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  13. I want to try the spicy crunchy tuna. Yummm! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  14. -omg! you are right! i get so uneasy whenever i see hs classmates in the public. i hide! lol

    -ill remember your spicy tuna crunchy if ever ill try japanese.

    -that b_tch!!! what she did was bad.

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  15. JM: there's a separate miso soup in their menu :)

    Mav: you should. kasi it's really good. Light but seems heavy on the tummy :)

    Reina: LOL! I never did like people from HS :) except for my friends ahaha! ... and about the waitress, I guess she won't do that again ever. She probably learned her lesson already kasi parang natakot yata eh.

    Pink: yes please do. Okay food :)

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  16. looks delicious and i love how the food is presented.

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  17. Omakase is love!
    I like their SUkiyaki and Jurassic Maki! Yum!

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  18. Arghh Nakakagutom talaga ang blog mo! :))
    I've never seen an Omakase branch yet (i shall google promptly after this!)

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