Seryna (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Beloved and I celebrated our fifth anniversary at Seryna. This Japanese restaurant is one of the few gastronomic places located at Little Tokyo. This one is at the outer periphery, and can be accessed without going to the communal alfresco area. According to fellow foodies, this place has the best sashimi in town. Excited, we opted for a reservation since we heard this place always gets full. Luckily, we were able to get one.

I've noticed that most of the places in Little Tokyo specializes in one particular Japanese specialty. However, most places have common dishes, specifically sushi and sashimi, among other Japanese favorites. Beloved got there first, and it took me a while to get there. During her impatience, she ordered for herself their Matcha Shaved Ice (135 Php). When I got there, we finally got to look at their menu, which isn't actually very different from the usual Japanese restaurants, if not for the unusual varieties of the usual stuff. For example, there were sushi and sashimi choices that I've seen for the first time, and there were yakitori or skewered grilled choices that, although I've heard of, seemed like only this place carries. They also have nabemono or hot pot among the usual tempura and donburi or rice meals. Both Beloved and I aren't really big on sushi, since it has rice. So we opted for the latter specialty. We got their Nanaten Moriawase Sashimi (860 Php), literally seven various sashimi. We also got their Yose Nabe (1100 Php), which was good for two because it was one of the more unique choices here. Finally, we also ordered a couple of each their Shiitake Yakitori (50 Php each) and Bacon Enoki Yakitori (70 Php each). Their yakitori can have either teriyaki sauce or salt. We opted for one of each.

Ganso-Shabuway (Shangri-La Plaza)

Beloved and I had dinner a few nights ago at Ganso-Shabuway. This place is located at Shangri-La Plaza's new East Wing, which is just starting to get populated with commercial outlets. We used to have little reason to go here, but since Beloved started working nearby, expect more blogs on food places around the area. Anyway, I have honestly never heard of the place before, but their menu is simple: Japanese hot pot or shabu-shabu, hence the name. Although the prices were a bit steep, I somehow convinced my stingy Beloved to splurge a bit.

As I've mentioned, they have a pretty simple menu consisting of stuff you put in shabu-shabu. They're all also conveniently placed into sets good for even-numbered people, instead of served up individually (although there are still individual selections). We ordered their Set B Menu set for Two (1095 Php), which has 250 grams of USDA Meyer Natural Angus Beef. Since it sounded a bit light, I urged that we get their Wagyu Beef Plate (200 grams for 825 Php). We were asked what broth to choose from traditional seaweed or spicy miso. Good thing you can order both, and we did so.

Seoul Garden (SM North EDSA)

A couple of days ago, beloved and I ate at Seoul Garden. This was one of the first restaurants to open during the opening of the brand new Annex of SM North EDSA. From it's name, it's safe to assume that it's Korean. What kind exactly, I wasn't too sure since every time we pass by, I see there's only a few people in to pique my interest. However, I notice there were plenty of dividers inside, so I couldn't be too sure. I grow curiouser each time we pass by, especially after our wonderful experience on YakiMIX and realizing that Seoul Garden was a do-it-yourself-barbecue-and-hotpot-buffet. The day before yesterday was our chance to try it out.

As I've said, this was a Korean buffet. They specialize in hot pot and barbecued items, although they also serve some bibimbap and other cooked Korean staples. Perhaps what was keeping me from being too enthusiastic (although still curious) on trying this place out was the fact that it eludes Korean just from its name alone. And, quite frankly, I'm not really fond of Korean, especially its spicy side. Anyway, this was an opportunity, so I said why not. They charge 585 Php for adults on weekends on lunch, which was the day and time we happen to eat there. We went in and they showed us our table. Each table had its own stove where you cook your food. They also asked us what soup base we would like for our hotpot. The choices were chicken soup, kimchi, spicy somethings, and Chinese herb. Because all the others sounded spicy, we picked the Chinese herb one. While waiting for our soup, we went to the buffet table to get our raw stuff.

My first impression on their available meat was disappointing. As I expected, everything was marinated in something spicy. They had kimchi beef, peppered chicken, spicy curried fish, spicy pork, et cetera. Luckily, they had pork belly, or, in my favorite words, plain bacon. They also had crab and shrimp balls, shrimp, and fish sticks for the hotpot. There's a lot of choices of vegetables as well. Since this was a hot pot, we got a very varied plate filled with meat, seafood, and balls, without any space for veggies, before going back to the table.