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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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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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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Tsing Tao Garden (Dela Rosa, Makati) Review

Tsing Tao Garden is a 24 hour restaurant offering Chinese cuisine located along Dela Rosa St. near Pasong Tamo (Chino Roces Ave). Tsing Tao Garden, which is Beer Garden in english, has a good selection of Chinese food and delicacies, ranging from the usual braised beef brisket and pancit noodle dishes to the exotic eel and frog meat dishes.

Having a neat interior design and being just opened for barely a week, this restaurant restaurant piqued our curiosity and during one of our office lunch outs, we had to try this place out. And just to see if this place deserves a second try, we started with checking their value meals - the rice toppings.

 

We tried their Braised Beef Brisket and Hot & Chili Fish Fillet rice topping meals and upgraded our combo meal to a value meal (by adding 30php each), giving us the right to get unlimited rice, soup, and vegetables.

Hot & Chili Fish Fillet Rice Topping

Braised Brisket Beef Rice Topping

Their rice topping meals are priced at 128php plus 30php if you would like to go for unlimited rice, soup and side dish (vegetables). They do also have service charge where an additional 8% is added to the customer's total bill.

The restaurant did meet expectations even if the soup and vegetable were just okay, the main meals were in large servings without compromise in taste and quality. The beef was tender and had that braised beef flavor we were looking for. And although the hot & chili fish fillet tasted more like a sweet sour dish than a chili hot one, it still passed our standards. To sum things up, we were satisfied on our first round of tasting, so we're giving this store not only a second but a third try as well.

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Empanada Nation (Dela Rosa, Makati) Review

Empanada Nation, along Dela Rosa Makati, is a newly opened restaurant serving Ilocano dishes - their main offerings are Empanadas, Bagnet and Longganisas.

Empanada Nation

Located near Makati Med, along Dela Rosa St., beside My Tea House and D'Cream

Longganisa Combo Meal

A rice meal with three pieces vigan longganisa, half salted egg, tomato salad and soup. Add 20php to go for their combo meal which adds a medium red ice tea to the set. 

Bagnet Combo Meal

A rice meal with three to four pieces of bagnet, half salted egg, tomato salad and soup. Add 20php to go for their combo meal which adds a medium red ice tea to the set. 

Double Special Empanada

A fried empanada - consists of two longganisas, one egg and a mixture of vegetables wrapped in an orange sort of lumpia wrapper

Though their store name is a little bit misleading as you would think they would have one of the better empanadas out there, they only serve Ilocano empanadas and their version didn't really suit my taste (which may be just a matter of preference as I'm only used to eating the normal empanadas).

Overall, their price falls on the low to medium budget range where you can eat a decent meal for 150php or less. I believe their best dish would be the longganisa and then bagnet as second. So if you have cravings for Vigan longganisa, you should definitely give this store a try.

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