Lunch at Nomama

I have a couple of friends from Ateneo that I keep in touch with at least three times a year, usually on our birthdays. But this year Jane was unusually busy with her new career as an interior designer so we combined our birthday treats into one lunch instead.

I don’t get a chance to eat in Quezon City much and it’s mostly when I go out with these two ladies. I chose Nomama since I’ve been reading about it in several blogs.

I really liked the minimal interiors. It felt very “New York” to me.

The wash basin was made of thick metal.

I love gyoza and mushroom so ordering this variant was an easy choice. I was quite disappointed that it wasn’t hot when it arrived and it tasted quite greasy. I didn’t taste much mushroom in the filling instead I tasted something mushy. When I asked the waiter what else was inside the filling he said it was peas.

mushroom gyoza P125

The tofu fries were just ok. I wish it were more aggressively spiced. It was quite bland although it did come with a dipping sauce.

tofu fries 110

I was really excited to order the fried squash blossoms stuffed with prawn mousse and pork and sprinkled with lime salt. Even though this was off limits on my diet I wanted to try it. One bite and I had to spit it out. The filling was very malansa or fishy. I had to return the dish. Chef Him came to our table to apologize and explained that old filling was inadvertantly mixed in with the new batch of filling. Too bad.

squash blossom tempura 230

The pork belly teriyaki came out covered in plastic wrap. The waiter told us to wait for one minute before opening it. I guess that’s why it’s called “twice cooked”. Good gimmick.

twice cooked pork belly teriyaki 410

I must say it looked lovely.

twice cooked pork belly teriyaki

I’m not allowed to eat pork on my diet my but I just had to try it (for the sake of my blog – yeah right ;p). Some pieces of pork were more tender than the others but the flavor was very good. The skin was still crisp and had the most flavor and little fat underneath.

The beef was tender and the sauce tasted rich but I wasn’t really blown away by this dish. I didn’t taste any curry either. I think I had really high expectations.

curry short ribs with roasted kobacha 540

We didn’t plan to order a seemingly ordinary dish like roast chicken but the waiter said it was one of their bestsellers. I’m glad we did since it was our favorite dish that lunch. The flavors were just wonderful and the chicken breast remained very moist and soft. There was bok choy and mushroom under the chicken which I highly appreciated.

The best part of this dish was the mashed potato & squash mixture. It was sweet and salty and just perfect together with the chicken. There were so many different flavors from the chicken, sauce, veggies and mash but they all complemented each other. Really outstanding, Chef!

roasted chicken with ponzu cream P330

My requisite veggie dish. It was my first time to try zucchini even though it’s allowed in the Cohen diet. I can’t say I’ll be eating it again soon. Although Jane said she loves zucchini. I really have to learn to appreciate it more.

teppanyaki vegetables 280

chef Him Uy de Baron

The chef sent us free dessert to make up for the squash blossom tempura. We didn’t like it very much. It lacked chocolate taste and I didn’t like the weird texture that was a cross between a dense bread pudding and mousse. The salted caramel sauce was exquisite though.

I really wanted to try their famous kit kat bar but we were already too full. I wonder why they didn’t send us their specialty instead.

flourless chocolate cake

with Jane and Mila

I really liked their “American” style menu with only a few choices instead of menus that go on and on with several confusing pages. Most ‘good’ restaurants in the US just have a single page menu that are constantly updated depending on the food that are in season.

Nomama menu

My friends didn’t want to order ramen maybe they because they knew I can’t eat carbs. But if I can I really want to try the ox tongue and chili tofu ramen. Next time I plan to try their steak which my friend Jin said is spectacular.

Nomama
G/F FSS Bldg 2, Scout Tuason cor Scout Castor St.,
Quezon City, Philippines
telephone: 542-2558
cellphone: 0917-522-8272