Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant

I once tried out Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can at Guangzhou China when I was on business trip last year.  I couldn’t get over how delicious it was.  So when I found out that there is indeed that kind of restaurant in Manila, I couldn’t contain my excitement!  The place is called Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant and it’s located at the ground floor of Diamond Hotel Manila.

Be ready to splurge about Php 1,970++ per person when you avail of Yurakuen’s Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can.  If my memory serves me right, it’s Php 2,500 net per person.  Price is already inclusive of free flowing standard drinks (iced tea/softdrinks), local beers and kirin beer.  You can order anything from the menu.  However, if you want premium food items like spine lobsters, black cod,  chilean sea bass, black sea bass, US black angus beef tenderloin, US wagyu beef sirloin center cut, US wagyu beef striploin & US wagyu short ribs then you need to shell out Php500 for each on top of the standard price.  The price is a bit steep I know but this will be all worth it.  This has got to be one of my most memorable dining experience in Manila.  I’m already planning my next visit within the year with my friends.

I find it sad that I only found out about Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant now in spite of it being around for several years.  It’s actually one of the award-winning restaurants in Manila having been awarded by Asian Tatler Dining.  But it’s better now than never, right? 🙂

Yurakuen is indeed a Japanese culinary paradise having three different kinds of dining experience to choose from:

• Main Dining Room
• Yakiniku Room
• Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can

While I was curious to find out the other offerings of Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant, I still prefer the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can for my next visit.  I guess after having sampled most of the Teppanyaki menu, I wanted to go back for more!

I was greeted by Yurakuen’s kimono-clad food attendants as I entered the restaurant.  I was escorted to one of the four Teppanyaki tables available.  The first thing I noticed was the beautiful view that I could see from the room.  There was a rock garden full of plants and cherry-blossom tree.  Having seen the costumes of the server plus the wonderful view reminded me that I was in for a Japanese treat!

Each Teppanyaki table can accommodate up to a maximum of 8 people.  This is especially perfect for small groups since they can enjoy their meal in privacy.  This is not the same as what I have experienced in Guangzhou.  I actually prefer Yurakuen, it has a personal touch in it.

One of the reasons why I loved my first visit at Yurakuen was the nice, cheerful and talented chefs in the restaurant.  We enjoyed how the chefs in our respective tables cooked the food in front of us complete with flare-filled presentation.

There are a lot of items in the Teppanyaki menu but considering we only had 2 hours to eat and our stomach can only take so much.  We were able to try out some items..

Appetizers – Sashimi, Sushi, Temaki, Maki, Salad

I skipped the appetizers as I wanted to have more space for seafood, hehehe!  I wish I was able to try the crab stick salad, tuna salmon sashimi, california temaki & tempura temaki served to us though.

Vegetables

I was like a kid excited to watch the chef cook the veggies in front of us.  The chef was all smiles and was even dancing at certain point when he was cooking.  I was so looking forward to eat those food that was fondly prepared by him.

We were able to sample asparagus, spinach, enoki mushroom, shitake mushroom and vegetable jelly.  Surprisingly, I’m starting to love mushrooms more and more.  I guess it really depends on how the food was cooked.  I’m now a convert (I used to hate eating mushrooms)!  The spices put into the veggies plus the right amount of time it was cooked made us like the first batch of items we tried out at Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant.

We could have more servings of the veggies but the portion given to me was more than enough as I knew there were more items to eat later on.

Meats

For some people, I believe meats especially lamb chops would be a favorite food item at Yurakuen.  Considering you can have unlimited servings of those premium quality meats are just divine!  I was drooling just by seeing the raw meat platter at the table, hahaha!  Yeah, I’m a foodie and I’m always so giddy and ecstatic about food! 🙂

I loved it when the chef did the flaming trick!  Such awesomeness!

US Beef Rib Eye, US Beef Tenderloin, Baby Lamb Chops and US Wagyu Beef Striploin (additional Php500) were among the items we tried out.

Food were neatly served to our plates.  We were so spoiled 🙂  Loved the awesome service in Yurakuen!

Of course, I had to give special attention to the lamb chops as it was the item that I loved the most in the meat platter.  The chef was very cautious of what the guests prefer as he asked us first if we wanted to have the mint sauce combined or separate from the meat.

Fried Rice

I felt that I can’t just keep on writing my thoughts about my experience at Yurakuen so I decided to take a video of the chef while he was cooking our seafood fried rice.  I wanted you to see it for yourself how cool the chef was.  The video also gives you an idea what to expect in Diamond Hotel’s Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can.

And this is the finished product!  Nothing beats a newly cooked, fresh from the grill fried rice!

Trivia: Japanese eats their fried towards the end of the meal.

Seafood

The seafood was the main reason why I can’t wait to go back to Yurakuen.  I actually already told my best friend that we would be having dinner at Diamond Hotel for their Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can on Christmas.  I’ll make sure that I would just have those yummy seafood over and over and over and over again till I can’t eat any longer.

We had black cod/gindara(additional Php500) and salmon.  I know my companions that night would have wanted to eat the salmon raw.  For me though, I hate anything raw so the fishes cooked teppanyaki way was preferable for me.

Tiger prawns – just one word DELICIOUS!

the winner of the night for me was scallops!  It was huge!  And boy, when eaten right after it was just cooked?  Oh my gosh, heavenly!!!!  H-e-a-v-e-n-l-y!!!  I must go back to Yurakuen for this!  I don’t care if this is the only item that I’ll eat the whole meal!

Lobsters

Among the premium items that Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant has, I believe the lobsters has got to be the item of choice.  I wouldn’t mind shelling out additional Php500 just to be able to get unlimited servings of spine lobsters,

I think made a lil shriek when the chef started to cook the mouth-watering lobsters!  I couldn’t contain my excitement! Luckily, noone noticed hahaha!

I appreciate that the chef removed the meat from the shells making it easy for us to eat the uberly delicious lobsters!

The group was also able to try out Lobster Miso soup.  It’s miso soup combined with lobster head and shells resulting to a unique soup experience.

Dessert

Last, but definitely not the least, dessert.  Unfortunately for me, I was too full already to eat any of those.  We were served with assorted fruits and pancakes w/ black beans & ice cream.

I think for my next visit, I’ll still skip the dessert.  (Sorry, I have my eyes on the scallops)!

I’m really thankful that I was invited by Diamond Hotel to try out Yurakuen’s Teppanyaki all you can.  Because if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t even know that there is indeed a Teppanyaki all you can here in Metro Manila.

Oh boy, this post literally took me ten hours to compose (no kidding!).  My gosh, reliving the experience is really hard especially remembering how nice the dining experience was.  Uggghhh… Such punishment and I shall avenge by eating more scallops when I go back! 😀

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Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant
Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can
Php 1,970++ per person
11:00 am to 10:00 pm
G/F Diamond Hotel, Roxas Blvd. corner Dr. J. Quintos Street, Manila 1000, Philippines
+63-2-5283000