Date Places Philippines

Having a Japanese citizen for a partner certainly has kicks – I get introduced to different best Japanese restaurants around the metro that are ‘authentic’. Earlier I made a blog post about Shinjuku in Makati, but recently I was also introduced to another Japanese restaurant that served great food, this time in Sta. Mesa.

The name is Yutaka Izakaya and it can be found along Aurora Boulevard, a little past Araneta and SM Sta. Mesa on the QC side. It’s small and unassuming, and it’s quite hard to believe that the place serves great Japanese food. But going inside, you’ll find the place qauint and aggressively Japanese, similar to actual ramen places in Japan.

A la authentic ramen restaurant in Japan

The wall is covered with photographs of interesting shots, which you can have as conversation topics for a little while. Afterwards, you can talk about the authentic sushi bar as the server prepares sushi for the customers.

We ordered uni (sea urchin) sushi (P110) for starters and man, was it exotically great! It tasted like the sea and crab fat and cream all together. It was fresh and we finished ours for 2 minutes flat. They served free miso soup with it and it was hot and delish – not too salty, as I find most miso soups served in other restaurants are.

Sushi corner - notice the strong Japanese banner

I had tempura (P130) as main dish next and nothing but compliments to this quite popular dish also. The reason why it’s hard to comment about tempura is that no matter how bad the cooking is, it can’t be so totally bad that you can’t enjoy the dish anyway. But the tempura from Yukata Izakaya was soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside, with the right batter thickness and really big shrimps.

Crispy tempura - the best for its price

My date had Tonkatsu (P120) and she had no complaints, too. And that’s a big thing, she being Japanese.

Crispy tonkatsu - also the best at its price

Unfortunately, we had about 10 minutes to finish our meal as had to go to an event afterwards, so we chowed it down as soon as possible. We didn’t have to enjoy the ambiance much, but we’re definitely going back. Also, another downside for rushing is that I wasn’t able to jot all the prices down. But not to worry, it isn’t too expensive. In fact it’s a little cheaper than Teriyaki Boy, just a little pricier than Tokyo Tokyo.

Head on to Yukata Izakaya for an authentic Japanese experience, and you don’t have to go all the way to Shinjuku!

P250 per person including sushi, main course, soup, and drink. Not bad!

It might be hard to spot the place amidst all the red light district-looking shops all around it, but we asure you that it’s worth the trip. Just secure your car and look outside every couple of minutes – I had my car opeed and my stuff stolen in Sta. Mesa before.

No kidding.

How to use chopsticks!