Yomenya Goemon Philippines (Greenbelt 3, Makati) Review

In a bat of an eyelash, there are only three restaurants that comes to mind when I want good comfort food, where I wouldn't have any issue if I randomly select from the menu as I know they only serve the best of what they can offer. One of these three restaurants is Yomenya Goemon, a unique pizza pasta place made the Japanese way.

Yomenya Goemon, located at (the far end) 2nd flr, Greenbelt 3

Yomenya Goemon first opened its doors in the Philippines back in 2012. We actually tried it during its first few months of operations and we have been regular customers ever since without any disappointments so far.

 

Yomenya Goemon outside food display and restaurant interior

Last week, my friend and I were craving for something Japanese so I told her to give this restaurant a try since it has also been a while since I last tasted their version of pizza and pasta.

 

Pizza and Pasta made the Japanese way

Before going to any restaurant, I usually search the internet to check if the restaurant has any outstanding promos. Luckily, when I visited their Facebook page at Yomenya Goemon (Philippines), I learned that they currently have promo from Mondays to Fridays where they sell their Goemon Pizza for only 199php!!! Cool!

Advertisement copied from the Facebook page of Yomenya Goemon Philippines




Break free from your Monday morning blues by heeding the tempting call of authentic, freshly prepared Italian flavors at pocket friendly prices with Yomenya Goemon's NEW P199 Pizza Promotion! Get your pick of these authentic Italian gourmet pizzas at only P199 each: Margherita, All Meat, Hawaiian, Smoked Chicken & 3 Cheese, and Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza available for dine-in transactions only all day from Mondays through Fridays!


Visit Yomenya Goemon at the 2nd level of Greenbelt 3 Ayala Center, Makati City to avail of our sweet P199 pizza deal today!




With this, we were then set to dine in this restaurant for lunch that day!

Even though it was just the two of us, we ordered two pizzas and two pastas - it was indeed a Hungry Tummy mode for the two of us! :) We were told that their pizza serving time takes 8-10 minutes while the pasta takes a little bit longer (15-20 minutes). During the wait, we were both served with a mild Miso soup which had some spring onions and small tofu cubes in it, which was good enough for the few minutes wait.

 Miso Soup

It didn't take too long for our pizzas to be served. First came in the Smoked Chicken with Four Cheeses Pizza and the All meat Pizza came right after.

Smoked Chicken with Four Cheeses Pizza

The Smoked Chicken pizza had just the right amount of parmesan which complemented the strong flavor of the smoked chicken. The good thing about their Goemon pizzas is that they use a unique crust which tastes similar to a Naan bread but has a slightly similar texture of a normal thick pizza crust. The crust itself is good enough to eat solo!

All Meat Pizza

The All Meat pizza on the other hand also had a good blend of tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese. The ham, chunky bacon and hungarian sausage were magnificently mixed on top to make this pizza one of the best all meat pizzas out there.

Carbonara with Yolk and Bacon

The noodles was al dente and after mixing the egg, the egg taste disappeared and became one with the carbonara sauce resulting to a mild tasty-herby sauce. It also had chunky bacon pieces and small slices of hungarian sausage which both had distinct tastes. For me, their egg yolk pastas are simply the best!

Mentaiko Spicy Cod Roe Pasta

The dish had a slight hint of spiciness to it but the fish eggs were so tasty, the whole pasta tasted like cod roe! The addition of seaweed and long thin mushrooms make it a hearty dish.

As much as we wanted to gobble everything up, two pizzas and two pastas were too much even for foodies like us. I believe one pizza and pasta is good already for two people. And if you're a budget fanatic, you will need to consider that they have an 8% service charge on top. Without the promo, the average cost per person would range from 400 to 500php. Despite the steep prices, I'm sure you'll get to understand why, as it has not only my day but my friend's day as well! :)

Not sure why this restaurant hasn't gained popularity yet, despite being open for four years already and that they offer the best and most unique pizzas and pastas in the metro - recognition of this store has been long overdue.

Most of the time, it takes us several tries before we can fully judge a restaurant due to hit or misses in the food that they provide but Yomenya Goemon has been consistent ever since we first tried it back in 2012. So if you want to try something different and new, I can say with pure confidence that this restaurant is THE place to go to! I'm 100% confident, it does not disappoint!

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Guide: Munchpunch VIP Menu Deals - 15 Day Free Trial Instructions

While I was researching for some details of a restaurant in Munchpunch, the food advertisements on the right side of the page were too appealing to be left unnoticed. Upon checking this out, I learned that Munchpunch is now offering deals similar to what typical voucher sites are offering, the only difference is - you don't need to purchase anything yet. Munchpunch will be giving you your "deal voucher" in a form of a text message and you can still decide later on whether to push through with the deal or not, with no charges whatsoever.

The VIP Menu of Munchpunch may be too good to be true but of course it has limitations as well. One of the caveats of this privilege is, it is NOT FREE but you do get to try it for 15 days free of charge. Other limitations are: (1) only the registered person can avail the deal and (2) only one "voucher" for every specific deal can be availed per day.

Below are instructions on how to register for the Munchpunch VIP Menu - 15 day trial. Screenshots were taken from my mobile phone as this would benefit more people since most of us, are now using mobile phones for surfing due to the increased accessibility and affordability of internet wifi and mobile data today. :)

Munchpunch VIP Menu Registration Instructions - 15 day free trial

On their full site capability (not on mobile site mode), you can also add a filter to limit the display of deals depending on the selected criteria. I frequently use their Location filter to see the deals offered in the Makati and Quezon City areas. I have only tried availing their deals once - we tried their Buffalo Wings N' Things Free Dirty Rice promo and each one of us, was able to save 39php each! Not bad considering we didn't pay for anything to get the promo!

Deal complete! Mission accomplished!!!

Hope this post (and the instructions above) helps! We're planning to go to Ryu Ramen this Friday to avail the 20% discount on the Katsu Curry! Can't wait!!! Let me also know if you find a great deal not worth missing! :)

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Mangan, SM North Edsa Annex Review

On one family day Sunday, we went to SM North Edsa to pay some bills and since we seldom visit this mall, we decided to check what's new in its Annex section. Upon checking the first three floors (which most, if not all, the restaurants are located), we learned that they have removed their Savemore supermarket (seems like it has been decades since we last went here, LOL, does SM even have Savemore supermarkets ever since they've deployed their Hypermarkets?) located at the far end and replaced it with interesting new stores and restaurants.

Although the Annex section offered a lot of new restaurants which were also new to our knowledge as well, we went for something Filipino which my mom actually prefers. The Annex section however didn't offer much options for Filipino cuisine except for Mangan which we have already tried in Glorietta. Forgettable our experience maybe with the Glorietta branch, we pushed through with dining in this restaurant as this was the only resto in SM North Annex that catered Filipino food.

 

Mangan at 2nd Level SM North Edsa, Annex 

Mangan which means "eat" in Kapampangan, offers Filipino cuisine. The restaurant having adopted a Kapampangan name, would make you think they would offer more unique or different Filipino dishes, their menu however depicts otherwise as they serve typical Filipino food most of which can be cooked by every Filipino family at home.

 

Mangan Menu

If dining in a group, average cost would be 300-400php per person

We tried their Adobong pusit and Kare-Kare for our main dishes and went for Bibingka for dessert. And since kare-kare is one of our favorite Filipino dishes, we have sort of established a high standard for this unique Filipino food and we were looking forward on how this restaurant's version of the dish would compare to other restaurants like Recipes which offers one of the best kare-kares here in Manila.

Pusit Adobo 

Their version of the Adobong pusit was just right for our taste, having a good blend of salt and sourness to it. I believe they used calamansi instead of vinegar which we prefer, as calamansi gives a different sweet sourness compared to vinegar. They also used baby squids which we find better too as baby squids are softer, offering the same taste as bigger and older squids at the same time. We also liked how they presented the dish as the onions and garlic were very finely chopped (and not burnt) mixing well with the whole dish entirely.

Kare-Kare Buntot ng Baka

Sadly, their Kare-Kare wasn't able to match the excitement we had for the dish as it only gave us pure and utter disappointment. The different ingredients of the dish were totally out of sync where the vegetables, beef and peanut sauce had distinct tastes and tasted like as if were cooked separately and then just mixed all together. The taste was also bland that you had to put a lot of their oily bagoong to make the dish somehow work. The only good thing about their kare-kare is that it had a good amount of beef in it, though it wasn't purely from a Cow's tail as the name of their dish suggests.

Bibingka with Salted Egg, Grated Coconut (with Kesong Puti)

Their bibingka didn't have a bready texture to it and was a little bit mushy for our standards. We couldn't taste the kesong puti which was said to make the bibingka special. Good thing their grated coconut tasted fresh which somehow salvaged our dessert.

Lastly to add up to our disappointment, they offered poor service where they didn't even give out additional saucers for our dessert and we really had to call them out to get service water. Their tableware was poor too where they served water in tiny glasses and their bowls and plates had very apparent wear and tear which most had big chips in them.

The Mangan Glorietta branch may be forgettable but our experience with Mangan SM North Annex made its mark, its mark as one of the worst Filipino restaurants here in Manila, offering not much but with above average prices. So if you're adventurous enough (despite my forewarning), you may want to try this restaurant - I'm sure it will one of those experiences that you'll be charging to experience just like I did! :)

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Vikings, SM North Review

Last week, we celebrated father's birthday at Vikings SM North and I was able to compare how this branch fared against its older brother at SM MOA. Having been to its older brother for four times already, I have nothing but high regards for the Vikings franchise as the SM MOA branch has never failed me, even becoming better and better each year.

                   

Vikings SM North Edsa (4th Floor, The Block)

Before going to the restaurant, I lowered my expectation as my initial thoughts were, this branch being a smaller one, would cater lower quality and lesser selection of food. But I guess this wasn't the case as I wasn't able to restrain my gluttonous instincts. I took some pictures and below is the list of food I liked most or were interesting enough to deserve a mention on this post.

Turkey, Lamb and Angus Beef

This was just the first one, we had several more orders of Lamb and Angus Beef as the hours progressed. It was also my first time to eat Angus Beef and now I know what I've been missing all this time! The soft and tasty meat was just pure bliss! I also love Lamb meat and it was perfect here too!

3 kinds of Sauces for the Grilled Meat Section

Their sweet Cranberry sauce gave a good twist to the lamb and angus beef . Nomnomnom!

Cheese Station

It was also my first time to eat so many different cheeses at the same time. Though it would have been better if these had small labels on them, nevertheless I was able to identify some like the blue and mozzarella cheeses - Good job to me! Haha!

Extensive Salad Bar

Spoon dishes

These were interesting enough that I gave few of these spoons a try (mainly for the experience) and yes my hunch was right, nothing spectacular in these.

Create your Own Pizza Station

I found this station cool as it allows you to create your own pizza just the way you like it.

Pesto Pasta

Made from the Create Your Pasta station and using the meat from the Pizza station. It tasted good to me as the pesto mixed well with the all the meat I put in.

Grilled seafood

Shrimp Pomodoro Pasta

The shrimps tasted fresh and was snappy in every bite.

Shabu Shabu Meat

Shabu Shabu Noodles and Vegetables

Shabu Shabu at your table

You'll need to pick your ingredients and soup from the Shabu Shabu station first and they'll then serve this pot (with your selected soup inside of course) and heater to your table. You'll then need to cook the ingredients you initially selected using this hot pot! Cool right?! :) Vikings SM MOA offers this as well but I've never got to try it until last week.

Mango Crepe

Nothing special with Vikings' crepes and I don't know why I always go for this but how often do we eat crepes?

Happy Birthday Cake

It was good that they had customized cakes as their Birthday cakes and the chiffon was nicely baked too. Ate half of my Dad's cake - sorry Dad and belated Happy Birthday to you once again! :)

Vikings SM North Map

As you can see from this map, the food stations are located along the sides of the restaurant (the other stations in the map were covered by my utensils, sorry!) and since the space between the food stations and tables weren't that wide, it was hard to move around freely and we had to be cautious not to bump to the other customers.

To sum up this experience, I have listed the things that worked well for Vikings SM North and the things that they can improve on in the future.

Good Points

● There were station name plates on the different food stations which enabled its customer to immediately identify the type of cuisine the station is offering

● They had a cheese station where I was able to eat interesting cheeses
● They served Angus Beef even on weekdays

● Food on spoons made things interesting

● The Pizza making station offered something new
● Customized Birthday cakes made birthdays more special.

Needs Improvement

● Wasn't able to move freely. There was not much space between the stations and tables and I found it difficult to move around.

● People had to queue in the grilled meat section to order and then wait for their name to be called to get their meat. It felt forever to get your Angus Beef! LOL!

● I may be bias but I believe Vikings SM MOA has a better set-up.

I wasn't expecting much from this branch but it has lived up to the high expectations I have set for the Vikings franchise by offering something new and interesting to its customers and serving good grade food. So if you're used to going to the SM MOA branch but live in the Quezon City area, it wouldn't hurt to go here instead.

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Hand Pulled Noodles and Noodles Everday (Washington, Makati) Review

Ever since I've tasted hand-pulled noodles, it has made its mark on me as the best noodle out there. When compared to the conventional ready made noodles, it can be considered to be in a league of its own as it needs to be skillfully made. By repeatedly stretching a lump of dough and then stretching it over and over again, the long thin strands of this noodle is then produced. This noodle making method originated from China where it's called Lamien (where lā (拉) means to pull and (麵) miàn for noodle). As lamien may be similar sounding to the more popular ramen, the former is limited to hand-pulled noodles only. Yet some say "Ramen" is the Japanese adaptation of the Chinese "Lamien", the two are different and should not be confused with one another.

Since making hand-pulled noodles requires skill and experience, there aren't a lot of noodle places here in Manila that offer this one of a kind noodle. Fortunately, we have a good one near our place.

Noodles Everyday at Washington St., Makati

Everyday Noodles is a Chinese restaurant specializing in hand-pulled noodle dishes.

   

  

 

They also serve other Chinese food like congee, rice bowls, and dumplings but I frequent this store mainly because of their hand-pulled noodles. I have tried their other dishes as well, like their pan fried dumplings (which tasted like gyazo) and crispy shanghai spring rolls but these were not out of the ordinary. So I have always sticked just with their Braised Beef noodle dish.

Hand-Pulled Braised Beef Ramen

hand-pulled noodle soup with beef, chinese pechay and (a lot of) dried seaweeds

Hand-Pulled Braised Beef Tossed

hand-pulled noodles with thin slices of carrots and cabbages, soup is separated and put in a bowl

Most of their hand-pulled noodle dishes are priced at 138php which comes with a small apple ice tea too. I like their Braised Beef Ramen the most since this dish gives the most bang for your buck plus I like their beef too which is soft (but a little bit fatty!). The soup is fine too with mild sweetness and some spiciness to it.

Just like any other Chinese restaurant, they have black vinegar, pepper, soy sauce and chili oil at your disposal.

As a Chinese restaurant, I find it weird that Noodles Everyday calls their noodle soups - "Ramen", nevertheless, if you're into noodles or overpriced Japanese ramens, you should definitely check this store out, you might be surprised on how great hand-pulled noodle dishes are despite their average prices.

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Brothers Burgers 15th Anniversary Promo (50% off)

modified advertisement from the Facebook page of Brothers Burgers

Every once in a while, Brothers Burgers goes on sale on their Big Brothers Burger!!! And when this promo happens, I always take the oppurtunity to grab their tasty half pound burger for just half the price.

If you don't like waiting long queues, you can actually call them up to place your order and tell them it's for pick up. At the RCBC and Ayala Convergys branches, we just tell them the time we will be picking up our burgers and then pay and get our burgers at the said time.

And if you're not sure if there's a branch near you, here's munchpunch's listing of Brothers Burger Branches with their contact numbers listed as well.

PS: I hope in the future they would include their signature burgers to the promo too! :)

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Zabo Chicken (SM Jazz Mall, Makati) Review

Upon learning that the commercial area of Jazz Residences has been open for quite some time now, we were excited as this meant new eating places and more restaurants for us to try out. And since Jazz Residences is just located at the back of Mapua Makati, this place is well within walking distance reach from RCBC, and is even nearer than Ayala Triangle, Glorietta and Greenbelt.

Being ramen fanatics, the first restaurant we wanted to try out, was Ryu Ramen, however when we went there (last Friday), we learned that they only serve ramen from 12pm onwards. Thus, we had no choice but to look for another restaurant to dine in.

While going through the different restaurants at the ground floor of this condominium, we were enticed by the unlimited rice buffet offering by Zabo Chicken, so we decided to give this new store a try.

   

   

Judging from their menu, this restaurant caters low to medium budget range of food, from 99php rice bowls to 240php Half Chicken meals. Most of us went with their best seller which is the 165php Zabo Chicken, Quarter Roast Chicken meal, upgraded to unlimited rice (additional 29php).

 Zabo Chicken, Quarter Roast Chicken

 

Right to Left: Carrot, Garlic, Brown, Plain, Zabo Spicy Chicken, Zabo Chicken rice

Their roast chicken was soft and had a nice garlic taste to it, though the serving was a bit disappointing as we were expecting to get a fourth of a chicken and this looked like a big one piece chicken to us. As for the rice, we didn't expect much as we only paid 29php to get unlimited servings - their Zabo rices (regular and spicy) for us were the better ones since these are curry flavored rices and we just love curry.

Aside from the gravy, they also offer two different sauces you can consume for free to enhance the flavor of your food.

Beef Turna wrap

Zabo Popcorn Chicken

One of our colleagues deviated from the group and ordered something else. According to him, the Beef Turna wrap was just alright - the beef, despite being a little bit hard to chew, was tasty enough, also with a good amount of it in the wrap. As for the Zabo Popcorn chicken, we were in a agreement that most of it was just breading and even the small chicken meat inside wasn't exemplary.

In summary, not sure if we'll be going back to eat in Zabo Chicken, definitely not anytime soon nor in the next 3 months, but if you're heavy on rice and work nearby Jazz Residences, you may want to check this store out.

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