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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