Daddy’s Omakase Birthday Lunch

Two weekends ago, Yna and I went home to Laguna to celebrate Dad’s 55th birthday. Our budget was Php1,000/pax since our original plan was to have lunch at Gourmet Farm in Silang, Cavite but the weather was acting like a total B so Dad decided to go for  Omakase instead. It is a Japanese restaurant in the new Molito Mall in Alabang.

(L-R)Our paternal grandma Mommy Lily, me, our Mommy Meng, Ate Yna, and Daddy Edwin. Only half smiles for now since we’re still hungry, we’re more photogenic most of the time, I swear.

We ordered Shoyu Ramen since all birthday celebrations in our family requires noodles for long life. Plus, we totally needed the soup to warm us up since it was raining heavily when we arrived.

We ordered a Mt. Fuji Roll, a rice roll with tuna in the middle and unagi and cream cheese(yay no mayo!) on top. It’s the first time I tried eating a maki(is this a maki?) since most maki I encounter has some sort of mayo on it or with it(we could just say that me hating mayo is an understatement.)

We also tried Nana’s Wings(some sort of chili wings), a serving of Omakase(beef tenderloin) steak, and 8 pieces of Ebi Tempura. Ate Yna liked Nana’s Wings’ level of spiciness which is deliciously hot but tolerable.

The Ebi Tempura was Mommy Lily’s order(I still ate two even though I’m allergic to shrimps, hoho thank you antihistamines!) The breading was light and crispy, while the shrimps inside are juicy and fulfilling(unlike SOME Jap restos who cheat their customers by slicing the shrimps IN HALF).

But the star for me is the Omakase steak. The meat was tender while the sauce was savory sweet. If ever I’ll come back to Omakase, I’ll order a serving of this steak for me alone. It’s the best tenderloin steak I’ve had recently.

Dad opted for a separate Beef Bento which is a meal complete with Miso soup, sushi, Beef Teppan, potato salad, and rice. For our desserts, Dad’s bento meal has a complementary vanilla ice scream while the rest of us ordered a tempura ice cream and a green tea ice cream. I’m a matcha milk/ice cream junkie, and Omakase’s green tea ice cream is way better than Fruits In Ice Cream’s. It reminded me of matcha flavored milk that I used to buy when I visited my brother in Taipei. The tempura ice cream was disappointing since most of the ice cream inside the tempura breading already melted.

Here is the price breakdown of our meal:

Shoyu Ramen             190.00

Mt. Fuji Roll                295.00

Nana’s Wings              150.00

Omakase Steak          360.00

Ebi Tempura              425.00

Beef Bento                   375.00

Tempura Ice Cream   95.00

Green Tea Ice Cream 80.00

The food, plus two cups of extra rice, Yna’s iced tea, service charge, and then deduct Mommy Lily’s senior citizen discount – our bill was around Php2,200: waaaay below our allotted budget and more importantly, the food was awesome. You can find Omakase in Molito Mall, Alabang. They also have branches in Ayala Triangle Gardens, Intrepid Plaza Bldg, Libis, and in Il Terrazzo Mall, in Quezon City.

It was a great break after days of heavy workload in the office, and no bed relaxes me more than our childhood bed in Laguna. And as dessert for this post, here’s me and Yna making faces while on our way to Omakase.

Yes our sweet smiles could give you diabetese. Lol JK.

 

Us and Mr. Jones

Father’s Day gave us the perfect opportunity to try out a new resto and splurge on food. After trying out their milkshake a few weeks back, we decided Dad will like Mr. Jones’ big serving and macho menu. Plus, they have an interesting beer selection – a definite Father’s Day treat.

Located at Greenbelt 5, Mr. Jones has an American diner theme that is very evident in their menu and 50s inspired decor. Compared to other American diner-themed restaurants we have tried, Mr. Jones is a bit more upscale, but offers a wider and more curiosity-picking range of food choices. We browsed their menu on MunchPunch beforehand – 1) to decide what food we like, so we don’t have to do it on the spot and 2) to determine our budget. When splurging, we always make it a point to have a budget. Splurging doesn’t mean sky is the limit.

A portion of Green Garden Salad

Salad is always a-must when eating out with our parents. It’s not that they are keeping a strict healthy-diet; they just love their leafy greens. We had the Green Garden Salad, an assortment of green leaves were mixed with walnuts, grapes, kalamanta olives, feta cheese, boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, and shallots, then dressed with herb-raspberry-walnut sauce. We love the different texture of the salad and the dressing gives it a surprising sweet tangy taste that makes the salad go so well with the pot roasted ribs.

Finger ribs slow roasted to perfection.

The Even Better Yankee U.S. Pot Roast is the best item we had at Mr. Jones. Tender and flavorful, it’s a comfort food through and through. The gravy is perfect – it is thick enough and doesn’t overpower the meat. The ribs come with pureed potatoes that balance the flavor of the meat, but on its own, it doesn’t really stand out. Anyway, I can’t wait to try my own version of pot roasted ribs, which our mom push us to do.

The biscuits – WOW!

I love fried chicken. A friend of mine said that fried chicken is so easy to do that if a restaurant fails at it, then you know they are no good. I want to try her theory so I got the Honey Drizzled Fried Chicken and Homemade Biscuits– it did not disappoint. The breading is crunchy and most of all does not overwhelm the meat. It is sweet enough without making it weirdly sweet for the juicy chicken inside it. The chicken is good, but the biscuits that came with it blew me away. Super moist and rich, I have to find the recipe for it.

Sweet, cheesy, and creamy.

We also tried the Wicked Truffled Macaroni n’ Cheese just to compare it with the one we tried in Epic Boracay. Mr. Jones’ version is definitely livelier. It has three kinds of macaroni, plus bacon, mushrooms, and green peas coated all over with four cheeses and truffled oil. Rozza loved it, but I prefer the much simpler Epic version. Epic’s seemed like a grown-up Mac n’ Cheese.

Photo from Spot.ph

Dad didn’t want to try and of beers. At more than 300 a mug, he just doesn’t think it’s worth it. But nothing is gonna stop us from ordering a milkshake even if it is 275 a glass. Crowned by Spot.ph as the number three best milkshake in Manila for 2013, Mr. Jones’ Chocolate Malt Milkshake is heaven on a glass. It is everything a milkshake should be – thick, creamy, and rich with flavor. Not too much, but just right. Even on trying it for the second time, I still can’t figure out what makes it stand out. All I know is my milkshake standards just got higher.

We are the kind of family of who never pass on desserts. All of us have the sweet tooth and no matter how full, there is always room for desserts. Especially if dessert we are talking about combines ice cream and bacon. How do I begin to describe Maple Bacon Sundae? Think of your favorite waffles with bacon and drizzled with caramel maple syrup, then topped with whipped cream and almonds. Add another two scoops of ice cream and put it all together on a sundae glass. The result is pure guilty pleasure. The maple syrup may be on the sweet side, but the idea of bacon on ice cream is just genius. We should always put bacon on ice cream. Always.

So that is everything we had at Mr. Jones. Tummy’s happy and full – we can’t finish their big servings, so we had our leftover potatoes, Mac n’ Cheese, and chicken wrapped. Dad loved the food, and Rozza and I loved the fact that the bill was less than our budget of 3000Php. Will be coming to Mr. Jones again? Definitely. It might be too much for a payday treat for yourself; but for a special occasion treat, it is totally worth it.