tanabe

i think this is my second time to dine at tanabe.

it was a bitter sweet lunch at tanabe. i had lunch with my supervisor and colleagues from the division/office.

my japanese supervisor was having his last lunch with us as he will be transferring to our viet nam office.

my supervisor and i got the sashimi bowl (for lunch). our other colleagues got curry and pork. my japanese colleague joked that the service and the curry was just like from his canteen during college. he was not happy with his curry. my russian colleague/boss thought that his pork cutlet was just okay (the wait staff forgot to get his order and he ordered the quickest meal that can be prepared).

the sashimi bowl was great. i had a nice time trying to finish it. this is my new go to place for a sashimi bowl in manila as sakura was closed last year.

for apettizers we gotsalmonand yellow tail sashimi. the quality of the fish was excellent. the sashimi is highly recommended.

i heard from staff from my office that they saw cockroaches in this store before. luckily, we did not see any. but such rumors from credible sources will still earn a 0.5 point deduction in my rating.

to date, tanabe is the main japanese restaurant in manila, in my humble opinion

i enjoyed dining at tanabe, there i said it. i loved how fresh their octopus andsalmonare and how moist, tender and smoky their grilled mackerel and pork belly are as well. what i wasn’t fond of was the feeling i felt after seeing the bill as i realized how expensive dining here is. if money is not an issue for you or you live on a self liquidating trust fund, go and try tanabe though i think you can get better value for money japanese cuisine else where within a 3 km radius.

the uni foil yaki was a revelation! also loved the chawan mushi, so flavorful and comforting. thesalmonsashimi was fresh and "creamy", which is a good thing, because it didn't seem like it was just defrosted off a freezer. the steak kaku bento was great, meat was really tender. if you're used to the taste of nihonbashitei's spicy salmon, i would skip it here. while i appreciated the large chunks of spicy salmon, the taste was a bit too spicy for me. the tempura was standard.

3.5
food: we requested for medium well beef teppanyaki. while the taste was good when dipped in sauce, it was on the tough side. my mom had a hard time chewing the meat. seaweed salad was not what i was expecting. it had varying types seaweeds and the sauce didn’t blend well with it. special california roll was a bit disappointing. their version was fried the outside of the roll with kani and roe on top. what we considered a hit for us was thesalmonsashimi and maki which were both creamy and tasty.
staff/service: staff who got our order was either new or really not efficient. she doesn’t seem to know what is the best seller, or how to describe the menu itself.

authentic japanese food :) kinda pricey compare to other japanese restaurant near the area.

we orderedsalmonsashimi, spicy salmon, gyudon and katsudon.

we ordered our usual - edamame, california maki, teka maki, agedashi tofu, chicken karaage,salmonsashimi, spicy tuna tartare - everything was good and authentic.

it was for my birthday dinner and i'm glad i found another legit japanese restaurant that i can go back to 😘

a japanese resto in malate, nothing remarkable. didn't see any cockroaches as some diners here have. the food was okay, gyudon was tasteful. thesalmonsashimi was fresh. i find the tables disturbing though, looked old and not properly cleaned. plus the smoking area had a smell i can't quite describe and didn't like. the price was acceptable though, not cheap and not too expensive.

this is my first time to eat sashimi. i am very satisfied with their tuna andsalmonsashimi. their fish are are so delicious and tasty. :) i can not find other sashimi just as what i've tasted in this restaurant :)