お任せ (It's Up To You!)

Flashback: sometime in late 90s (1998-99 i think)

Location:  Cecillevile St., Whiteplains QC

After a hours and hours of Tekken matches, we found ourselves exhausted from laughing. Exhausted and hungry. After all, it was almost dinner time then. Of course, the next question that popped up was…

“so where we eating?”

Lucky enough, there was a new Japanese restaurant that just opened outside the village. Almost in front of Christ the King Church along Green Meadows Ave.

The place was called Omakase. Just a small rectangular space, enough for 15 people to  fit in as far as memory serves.

We ordered the usual fare of Sushi and Sashimi and Rice Toppings. To our surprise, the food was a lot better than the usual mid-level Japanese restos that time. What I couldn’t forget though was the Salmon Sashimi. It was the freshest, sweetest Salmon I've tasted that was not ordered from a hotel/high end Japanese restaurant. Plus the price was affordable. We found ourselves coming back a few more times before it closed down due to some ordinance banning  stores within the vicinity of the Church in that area. 

Fast Foward: Present Time.

About a month ago, i was walking inside Greenhills Shopping Center when something took me by surprise:

Technically, by this time they have already reopened and successfully put up 3 branches and none of which is near my house or office. Partner that with "i'm such a lazy arse" will equate to "no, i have eaten there since '98"

I've been going to Greenhills since forever and have eaten in almost every restaurant there is so imagine how happy i was when i saw this. Sadly it wasn't open, but soon. Soon..... *insert evil laugh*

Finally got a chance to eat there last Saturday with the usual "Greenhills Tambay Crew" (-1 since he had to go home to the province). The place is always packed during dinner so we decided to come earlier -a little past 6pm-.

The dining area is located on the 2nd floor, having a set of spiral steps leading you up. The first floor serves as a waiting area with couches placed about. The Sushi Bar was the first thing I saw as soon as we reached the 2nd floor. The place is pretty big. I'm assuming it can seat about a 80pax or maybe more. There's also an open area/balcony that serves as a smoking section with about 4-6 tables set.

We got to our seats and after a few discussions on what to get, we decided on the following:
JSC Platter
Stuffed Chicken
Beef and Chicken Teppan Comb
Agedashi Tofu
3 Plain Rice.

Didn't take that long for our orders to arrive. Almost 10minutes i think, which is not bad at all.

 

The JSC Platter is a combination of 3 types of special Makizushi -or Maki for short- namely: Jurassic, Seabreeze and Crazy Maki.It also comes with a special dip which i think is made from Japanese Mayo, Teriyaki Sauce and Sesame Seeds.

-The Jurassic Maki contains Ebi Tempura, Kani, Fish Roe, Salmon Skin, Cucumber topped with Unagi
-Seabreeze also has Ebi Tempura and Spicy Salmon on the inside and a Tuna Sashimi is placed on the the    outside as a topping.
-Crazy Maki is made of Spicy Tuna and Salmon with Scallions and Salmon Skin on the inside and Fish Roe   covering the outside.

All three are equally yummy but the Jurassic caught my taste bud's attention more. Somewhat salty and sweet and crunchy.What i love doing is, one side i dip in the special sauce that came with the platter and the other side dip in Kikkoman-filled Wasabi. Mmmmmm~~

The Stuffed Chicken is a must order in my opinion. It's basically a Chicken Roll with Bacon stuffing with Tartar Sauce on the side.

What i love about this dish is that the Chicken meat isn't dry at all and you can actually taste hints of smokiness from the Bacon stuffing. Goes well with or without the sauce.

I tried dipping it in the sauce that came with the JSC Platter and it worked well too.

The Beef and Chicken Teppan is nothing great. It's just plain good. Beef was tender and the Chicken on its own isn't dry. The veggies was a bit soggy, although i did take my time before i reached into it so i guess the sauce kinda mixed in with the Bean Sprouts and Carrots.

The Agedashi Tofu in Tempura sauce is simple yet can hold its own. The Tofu is cooked a bit crunchy on the outside and all soft on the inside. It matched well the Tempura Sauce,a  having just the right sweetness although not much of that Ginger taste, in which case, i didn't really mind.

We ordered bottomless Raspberry Iced Tea, which didn't really taste like Raspberry but a still tasted pretty ok nonetheless. Desert didn't come up since all 3 of us were stuffed.

Another great thing about this resto is, it's still very affordable. I'm not sure about how much the bill was since it was footed by the Birthday Boy but seeing the amount of change he got, i think it was about P1,5k++. I know the JSC Platter cost around P695 and drinks are P60 each. The rest i don't have any idea.

Overall, everything was close to perfection. Yummy food, exceptional service and that feeling of utmost satisfaction. It's great that good old memories can suddenly come back at you with more tenacity and vibrancy. That's how I'd like to describe the feeling i felt, being able to eat again in Omakase after more than a decade.

Definitely, definitely a place worth coming back to.

Omakase has 4 branches to date:
Libis

Unit 207 Interpid Plaza Building, E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, Libis

Quezon City, Metro Manila

Alabang

Casa Susana, ATC, Alabang Commercial Corp.

Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila

Quezon City

UG/Lvl. Il Terrazzo Mall, Tomas Morato

Quezon City, Metro Manila

San Juan, Greenhills

Ground Level, Connecticut Arcade, Greenhills Shopping Complex
Ortigas Ave.
San Juan, Metro Manila