Oishinbo (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Beloved and I had dinner at Little Tokyo's Oishinbo a few nights ago. This restaurant is among the "inner" places here, meaning you can optionally eat outside and have communal orders from any other place there. However, we chose to eat inside and was offered a seat beside the counter. We happily obliged.

Now, Oishinbo, unlike the rest of the places in Little Tokyo we've been to, is a bit different in that it doesn't have a specific Japanese food specialty. However, I found their menu to be practically complete. This was specifically good that night because we weren't really fancying anything in particular. In fact, the reason we went to Little Tokyo was because this was what came up after putting possible choices at decideforme.com. Like Hana, it was a bit more casual than Urameshi-ya and Seryna, having a homely Japanese family-owned home restaurant appeal to it. I smelt tempura on our way in, so I decided to order that in Japanese dinner box form: Ebi Tempura Bento (390 Php). Beloved ordered their Cold Ramen (380 Php). We also got their Salmon Sashimi (390 Php) and a couple of different yakitori, similar to what we had at Seryna, because the grill was just in front us and looked appealing: Shiitake Yakitori (90 Php) and Enoki Bacon Yakitori (120 Php).

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.

Hana (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Second and last stop for our Little Tokyo adventure was Hana. According to Beloved, this place specializes in Takoyaki, or octopus-filled balls. Since Beloved also saw that they serve some sort of coffee shake, it was pretty much a done deal.

Luckily, the menu here is better than Urameshi-Ya. It's filled with pictures and categorized cleverly: menu items belonging to multiple categories are placed into each of them. And while it still features Japanese words, they were translated instead of romanized. Also, I found the prices here to be quite fair, just a tiny bit higher than the Japanese restaurants we frequent.

Since this was the place's specialty, we ordered their Takoyaki (120 Php). We also got their Hana Maki (250 Php), because it looked beautiful in the menu. Finally, Beloved got their Coffee Shake (180 Php) and I got their Calamansi Juice (80 Php).

Urameshi-Ya (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Beloved and I had dinner at Little Tokyo a few nights ago. This special place features a small group of Japanese restaurants that serve authentic Japanese cuisine. As Japanese food lovers, we've been craving to go to this place since a few years ago. We finally had the chance to do so, and the area itself felt like another albeit small world, requiring you to pass through a Japanese garden to visit the interior restaurants. We tried out a couple of places on that area. Our first stop was the Yakiniku or Japanese barbecue place called Urameshi-Ya.

We researched this place before going, and we thought we got it all figured out. This is not your yakiniku buffet like YakiMIX or Sambo Kojin. First, this place does not feature eat-all-you-can meat, since the meat here was supposed to be authentically Japanese. In addition to that, the grill they use are live coal grills on small earthen pots. Similarly, though you get to cook over your table.

Now, what we didn't know was their menu was composed of purely Japanese and Romaji text. We can barely read what's in it. I had no idea what parts we were getting. Luckily, they had three set choices. We got the second least expensive, their Tarafuku Set priced at 2.1K Php. This is good for two to three, according to the servers, and, yes, we were aware of the steep price.