We wanted a change from our usual Sunday lunch at Choi Garden so I suggested Mangetsu, a Japanese restaurant in Makati Creekside Mall that I saw from Rica’s blog and as recommended by my friend Arlene.
Mangetsu was right beside Sango burger. The last time I ate at what used to be called Mile Long arcade was sometime in the 80s when Mongolian barbecue was the craze.
There was no seating on the ground floor of this small restaurant. Upon entering you turn left and walk a few steps to the stairs.
This was quite a narrow staircase. We sat at the mezzanine level which was accessed from the first landing on the stairs. You can see the opening on the right. The main dining area was at the top of the stairs.
There was really no ambiance. The ceiling was very low and it was super dark. Our table for ten was lighted by only 3 pieces of halogen lights. I had to use flash for the picture below. It was really, really a huge challenge to shoot all the food pictures without flash.
From our table we had a view of the kitchen. We were intrigued by what was cooking in that big stock pot.
Ewww not my idea of a clean restaurant kitchen.
After seeing the kitchen, the restaurant and the super thick menu with small pictures of food at high prices I already had my doubts if the food was going to be good.
The free cold barley drink was very good and tasty unlike the watered down versions in other Japanese restaurants.
cold barley drink
This was what was cooking on the big pot above. Slow cooked pork belly on top of rice. It came with a bowl of salad. The meat was tender but it wasn’t very tasty. I think all the flavor went to the stock.
chasyu bowl set meal P253
Anthony did all the ordering and was he confused. There were 36 pages of the menu with 4 items per page or 144 items. We thought the servings were small so Anthony ordered almost 2 of everything. Imagine our shock when the servings were all normal sized.
potato salad P150
Simple canned tuna and eggs with Japanese mayonnaise and bonito flakes. Not bad but quite ordinary.
tuna omelet P275
We loved the small crunchy pieces of fried chicken. I really liked the different flavors of salt too.
Japanese fried chicken w/ 3 salts (sansho salt, green tea salt & black pepper salt) P330
Both fried rice were simple but very flavorful. Sarah, who’s Japanese, said the flavors were very authentic.
egg & leeks fried rice P195
seaweed fried rice P225
deep fried tofu P185
My favorite was the unique Japanese cheese and leeks pizza. It was a cross between Chinese onion cake and Italian thin crust pizza. Really, really yummy!
cheese & leeks pizza P115
green vegetables P115
This stew was basically a rich beef broth with generous amount of melt-in-your-mouth beef with “litid” or ligament.
salt stewed fibrous meat P345
The beef was a bit rare for our taste but the sauce was citrusy and potent.
beef steak w/ ponzu butter sauce P650
We liked the thin and tender beef slices better.
beef slices w/ teriyaki sauce P345
The kids shared a bowl of ramen. They said it was just average.
shoyu ramen P350
Despite all the initial negative impressions we had, we finished what we could, took home lots of left-overs and just loved the food. There were so many different things to order that for the first time we didn’t order the usual tempura or sushi in a Japanese restaurant. We were already thinking when we could go back again. Two thumbs up!!!
Mangetsu’s menu (all 36 pages!)
Mangetsu Japanese Fusion Restaurant
Makati Creekside Mall. Ā Amorsolo corner V.A. Rufino
Legaspi Village, Makati Ā (this branch is now closed)
telephone: 894-1553
New Location
38 Jupiter Street, Bel-Air, Makati
telephone: 478-3292
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