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Wazzup Pilipinas!

What do you think are the ways to keep Japan near to the Philippines? Have you ever thought about through Japanese businesses? 

 

Yes! One of the ways to keep Japan near to us is by Japanese restaurants. Japanese restaurants here in the Philippines started in the late 1970s, when Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited Southeast Asian countries, including our very own, to present his economic front to build Japanese restaurants. Kimpura restaurant, the oldest Japanese restaurant in the Philippines started and officially opened on October 10, 1970, at Makati City that serve authentic and oishi nipponshoku (Japanese food).

Tokyo Tokyo is well-known for their eat-all-you-can rice that started in 1985. The first branch of Tokyo Tokyo also opened where the Kimpura branch also first opened. Tokyo Tokyo offered lots of menu including sushi, all-time favourite tempura, best seller pork tonkatsu and beef teriyaki that has side dishes.

Currently last month of June 2013, my family and I had just visited and ate at one of the well-known Japanese restaurant here, Tokyo Tokyo in SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City. That was my first time to enter and ate Japanese food at Japanese restaurant. The ambiance of the place was like you will really feel you were in Japan. The place have different picture displays that show different  The utensils were chopsticks and spoon that has big head. We also used small bowls for the rice and the bento (complete meal) plate that has many divisions. Our family ordered pork tonkatsu and tempura. As my surprise when it was served to us, whoa! It was big! We all shared for it because per order was good for two persons. When I have tasted the dishes, it was oishi desu (delicious). The vegetable side dish was also very good but it was only good for one person. You can really feel the love within every preparation they did for cooking the food because, it was crispy and tasty. I recommend Tokyo Tokyo for all who wanted to eat nipponshoku (Japanese food). Also the beverage, red iced tea (aka aisu tii desu – Japanese Romaji) was also very good, it tasted like a mixture of grapes and apple. That was so refreshing, there’s also a BUT because that was also limited for one person. I have wished that iced tea have refill. Tokyo Tokyo has affordable menus and the taste of the dishes fit the Filipino taste.

We enjoyed the experiences and food especially at Tokyo Tokyo because while eating, we were sharing our own experiences for everyone. We laughed and talked about many things. And I have considered it as one of the happiest event of my life. I have wanted to come back to taste another dish like sushi, teriyaki etc. And after we ate we watched Man of Steel the movie. I’m looking forward to eat at many Japanese restaurants like SumoSam, Saisaki, Kitaro and many more with my friends or with my family to taste their best selling products. I’m also looking forward to ramen, udon noodles and many more. Japanese culture is one of the most fascinating cultures I have experienced, of course excluding our own because for me Filipino culture is the best among the rest for me.

Contributed by Mitszi Rebua