Omakase Japanese Cuisine

I wanted to try out Omakase in their Ayala Triangle Gardens branch but never got the chance to try it out.  Either my colleagues wanted to try some other restaurants or there were just too many people and we didn’t want to waste time in waiting.  However, I was glad that my friends invited me to join them for dinner, which was at Omakase!  It was their branch in Quezon City.  It was their branch in Il Terrazo to be exact.

We arrived around 9pm but we had to wait for several minutes as the restaurant was jam-packed.  We were seated around 9:20pm.  I loved the interior of Omakase.  They used a combination of red, black and white colors which was really pleasing to the eyes.  I believe Japanese love the color red & black right?

We didn’t waste time and immediately ordered our chosen dishes in the menu.  We were starving as it was past dinner time.  We hoped to stay for long as we wanted to catch up with what has been happening in our lives.

We ordered the following:

• Omakase Salad (Php 140)

My friend Tere was bragging about Omakase Salad.  She kept saying that this will always be part of her order whenever she visit Omakase.  I wondered why.  When I got to taste it, I kinda understood why.  Omakase Salad is a different kind of salad.  It composed of Japanese crabsticks, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and ebiko.  I do think that the secret ingredient in this delicious dish was the special mayo dressing which I couldn’t figure out how it was done.

• Miso Soup (Php 45)

As expected, my friends ordered Miso soup.  I’ve chosen a different variant of soup as I’ve grown tired of Miso soup hahaha.  Well, nothing special there.  Just plain old Miso soup that had tofu, wakame & spring onions.

• Omakase Soup (Php 70)

There must be a reason why they put their restaurant’s name in a dish.  It must be original and it must be good!  Though miso soup was everyone’s favorite, I didn’t follow my friends’ orders and went with Omakase soup.  It was a great decision!  I actually loved the soup!  I also let siobs Tere try it and she said it was good!  Well, yeah, it was a bit expensive but hey, the taste and bigger serving of the soup is more than enough.  Basically, Omakase soup was a thick clear soup with egg, crabsticks & wakame.  Best if you finish this soup while it’s hot! 🙂  Yummy!

• California Crunch (Php 170)

My friend was about to order the ever-famous california maki but I stopped her immediately.  I really grew tired of the same old california maki.  I suggested if we could order California Crunch instead which was also california maki but deep-fried.  At least, there’s a kick to our usual California Maki.  Inside the fried maki were crabstick, mango, cucumber, japanese mayo & ebiko.

• Tofu Steak (Php 210)

This dish was pure genius!  My perception of tofu steak was breaded Japanese tofu served in a sizzling dish.  I was pleasantly surprised when Omakase’s Tofy steak was served.  It was a generous serving of Japanese tofu wrapped with beef.  It tasted wonderful!  You must try this too!

• Unagi Kabayaki (Php 330)

Grilled eel at its finest.  I rarely order eel as the price is really a bit steep considering the premium put into unagi.  But whenever I get to try one, I really appreciate its unique taste and flavors.  I can actually eat this dish alone with plain rice.  It can already fulfill both my taste buds and stomach 😀

• Katsudon (Php 170)

I remember I mentioned this in a post that we tend to always have Katsudon in our table whenever we dine at a Japanese restaurant.  Funny that upon our next visit, we indeed have Katsudon in our table haha!  There wasn’t anything special with this dish.  Same recipe with all other Japanese food places.  It was pork cooked in sauce with egg, onions and scallions.  I grew tired of this dish that I ended up not appreciating it 😛

• Fried Rice Cup (Php 60)

I used to dislike the fried rice dishes served in a non-traditional Japanese restaurant.  It usually felt like rice with certain topping but still tasted like plain rice.  I’m glad Omakase’s version wasn’t like that.  Even though, it wasn’t something I would order again.  I ordered the cup size but they also have the bowl size (Php 230) which is good for sharing.

• Panama Orange (Php 60)

It says Panama Orange in the menu but I think it was flavored iced tea.  I never knew that the orange iced tea tasted so good.  I ordered the bottomless one which was only Php10 higher than the price of a glass.  There was also another flavor called wild raspberry but I felt it was common already.  I wish I had more refills but we arrived late and was only able to eat for 30 minutes and it was almost closing time.

As much as I liked the food in Omakase, I was VERY disappointed with their service.  As early as 9:30pm, they asked for last orders even if our orders have just arrived as we were seated around that time.  To my dismay, they were already cleaning up the sushi bar and closing all the lights that doesn’t have customers in it.  We were still eating that time and it made us feel that we were being shooed away even if not told verbally.

They were lifting the chairs too.  We had to quickly finish our food and leave.  They really followed their 10pm closing time.  As I understand it, they should still be accepting customers at 10pm right?  Maybe, my understanding is really wrong about this thing.  Anyone who want to clear this up?

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Omakase Japanese Cuisine
Il Terrazzo, Scout Madrinan, Tomas Morato, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 332-4115