Lunch at Nihonbashitei

I was so involved with playing Creeps! HD on the iPad, I almost wasn't able to post the pictures from today's lunch. Thanks to a difficult level I am unable to complete, I finally gave up on the game and decided to tire myself out by emailing pictures from the iPhone for posting onto the blog.

Is there any easier way to transfer pictures from the iPhone to the laptop? Is it just me or was it easier to sync the pictures from the N8 to the laptop? Synching was usually via a bluetooth link from the phone to the laptop. With the iPhone, I have to email the pictures one by one. Anybody out there, please do advise.

Lunch today was at Nihonbashitei along Arnaiz Avenue. I actually didn't want to eat lunch there because of a horrible experience I had a couple of months back. My officemates and I went to have lunch there, we all ordered, and the food server forgot to put my order in. They were pretty full that day, and the preparation of the food was so slow, so my officemates ended up waiting 20-30 minutes for their orders to arrive, and I ended up waiting for nothing!

Today, I decided to give it another shot, to decide once and for all if this restaurant is worth all the hype. If you often pass by Arnaiz Avenue, turning to Amorsolo Street, you would notice that this restaurant is almost always full during lunch and dinner time. Why? If they can make such an idiotic and stupid mistake as forgetting an order, why would people bother, right?

So this is me giving this restaurant another shot.

Parking in this restaurant is horrible! Honestly, I see their valet staff, and they don't seem trustworthy. The good thing about it, though, is the parking area is open and small, you can watch from inside the restaurant while they park your car. So you would know if the valet staff end up snagging some of the fenders of the other vehicles parked. Seriously, if you're almost always full, ever thought of investing in some smart parking ideas?

A party of four can get one of the private rooms already. Good, because you get to maintain a false sense of privacy. False because the walls are so thin, you can actually hear the conversation of the other group in the other private room. To make matters worse, the private rooms only succeed in making it difficult for the food servers to notice you if you need anything. I suggest they put buzzers used in similarly priced Japanese restaurants (i.e. Mangetsu) inside the private rooms. The frames inside the private room were cute though, so I took a picture of them.

Couldn't decide which sushi to get, or whether I just wanted Uni Sashimi. Their Uni Sashimi was priced at PhP 280.00. I saw that their Chirashi Zushi was priced at PhP 280.00 also, and with a heft serving of Uni Sashimi on it, decided to get that instead. I enjoyed the Chirashi Zushi. It wasn't anything spectacular, wouldn't trade in the fresh seafood you could get from Seryna several meters over, but their serving was pretty hefty making the less than PhP 300.00 bowl quite worth it. Special request, though, add a little more Salmon Sashimi, perhaps? And they easily ran out of Kikkoman, which took several follow-ups for a replenishment.

Brian, my Atenean officemate, ordered the Toro Spicy Maki for his starters. They looked quite appetizing, and was pretty affordable at PhP 200.00. I tried a piece, and it wasn't as good as Isshin's though. It wasn't that spicy. I can be a bit liberal with the wasabi in my Kikkoman, but I don't think it would reach capabilities of masking the spice in this maki. But, sadly, the wasabi overpowered the spicy toro.

Zill, our Chief Engineer who is so fond of "fish" (he pronounces it ever so perfectly with a slight American-accent), was the culprit why we ended up eating in a Japanese restaurant. He was craving for sushi, almost to the point of chanting it before lunch. He did not disappoint though, and ordered the Nigiri Sushi set at PhP 280.00. It looked quite good!

Aaron ordered the Oyakodon, priced at PhP 230.00.

My main course was their Katsudon at PhP 230.00. Brian ordered this as well, I think. Or did he order the Oyakodon? I forget.

The food was okay. Most of what we ordered weren't spectacular. They were quite filling, and their servings were perfect, but they were lacking the wow-factor that I would often expect from eating this type of cuisine. The prices were quite affordable, but frankly speaking, I wouldn't trade these prices for the offerings in Seryna, or Isshin. If I were to add a few pesos more, I might've been floored and overly satiated with a set lunch from Seryna.

What prevents me from enjoying the meal much, also? Their horrible service. The food servers would bang the plates on the table. It would take several follow-ups for Kikkoman, or for spoons, or for forks, or for everything. Yes, I probably am biased since they botched up my order from before, but really, how do you move-on from that particular experience? You get to move on from it, if the food is spectacular, and honestly, what I tried today, didn't really do it in for me. So, no I don't expect any hankering for Nihonbashitei in the near future. And no, I wouldn't really waste time in bringing my family or friends here.

So to answer everybody's question, why is this place full during lunch and dinner? Simple. It might be one of the cheaper, if not the cheapest, Japanese restaurants in the area. Drive on up a bit, and you'd end up in Little Tokyo, where prices may be a bit higher by at most a hundred pesos, but food is definitely better. You do get what you pay for, at the end of the day.

Keep you guys posted for more!

If you don't believe me and want to try the restaurant out for yourself, here's how to get a hold of them:

Nihonbashitei
806 Arnaiz Ave. (formerly Pasay Road)
Makati
telephone number: 02.818.8893

Bianca's Graduation Gift

Since Apple announced the new iPad, they also announced that the prices of the iPad 2 will be discounted by $100.00.

I wasn't really counting on the discount being applied here in the Philippines. However, they announced in the Philippine Apple website that prices of the 16gb Wifi iPad 2 will be reduced to PhP 18,990.00, from PhP 23,990.00. That's more than $100 worth of discount.

So I decided to buy an iPad for my sister for her graduation. We went to Beyond the Box in Rockwell, as they still had supplies of the 16gb iPad 2. All the other stores were sold out, and they weren't expecting new stocks anymore. Good thing as soon as I discovered the price rollback, I was able to reserve one already.

Here's the proud gift recipient with her iPad 2!

I was thinking she'd be able to use this for UP Diliman. I wish during my time there was an iPad already, it has totally made my life in the office very convenient.

In case you're in the look out for iPad 2s on discount, and the new iPad doesn't seem to cut it for you, Beyond the Box still has stock, but supplies are about to run out.

Here's their contact information:

Beyond the Box
Stall 103, Ground Level,
One Rockwell East Tower, Makati
telephone number: 02-4787765

Ayala Malls 360 App Launch

I've been using the Ayala Malls 360 App for quite a few weeks already. Quite useful, if I have quick questions about the stores in Glorietta and Greenbelt. Thus, I was quite excited when I was invited to attend the launch of the app in Greenbelt 5's fashion walk tonight.

They had a wonderful booth set up with iPod Touches and iPad 2s lined up so that the guests can have a feel of the app. They were so cute!

After pausing to take a picture of the booth, I proceeded to the cocktail area, where I saw my kumare, who invited me to the event. I tried the Beef Tenderloin Tagliata, Pommery Mustard Glazed Pork Loin, and the Timballo Al Forno which is a cute dome-shaped grilled melanzane, Philippine ham, mozzarella, and zuchinni.

Dessert was good. I ended up trying the Panna Cotta Duet, and L'Ottimo, Double Cream.

The app was launched by three big bosses of Ayala Land, Inc. All three simultaneously pressed their iPads to launch a show on the giant LED screen.

Entertainment after the launch was provided by the Bloom Brothers. They played 70s music, which was kinda off because they were launching an app on a device that is just so 21st century. I love the songs though, reminded me of the the music my parents would listen to on Sundays, meaning, I grew up to them.

I stayed until after the raffle ended. They raffled off an iPod Touch and an iPad 2. Yes, yes, I kept my fingers crossed, because I wanted to win... and yes, I know it sounds selfish because I do have both already.

Before leaving for the night, I took a picture of the photo booth. Yes, a picture of the photo booth, and not of me with the photo booth behind. I just liked how lonely it looked.

Ayala Malls 360 is a free app, and you may download it at the app store.

Rockport Glenway Loafers

borrowed from rockport.com

Been having such a pain with my toe lately. Honestly, hectic office-days, coupled with virtually no weekends, and a pained toe to boot, doesn't really make a good combination. This is what happens when you've been wearing tapered office shoes for far too long.

I've worked in hotels at the front desk for about five years, where I had to stand for 8 hours a day, and I would often wear pointed leather shoes. Those days are gone. I have been meaning to purchase sensible shoes for quite some time already, but haven't really considered Rockport that much. I was actually waiting until I had enough time to visit Florsheim (*sigh, yes Daddy-shoes) to find a good pair of shoes for the office. Last night, however, Danny and I chanced upon a sale in Rockport in Glorietta 3. I was able to purchase a pair of rather-comfortable shoes at 30% off.

I purchased the Glenway loafers. They are so soft because of the Adiprene Adidas sole that Rockport used.

borrowed from rockport.com

I checked their website and the pair was priced at $110.00. I was able to get them for only PhP 2756.00. Quite a steal.

Really, though, this is not the usual style that I would purchase. However, I am rather limited to looking for shoes that are a bit on the wider side for my foot. Rockport is one of the few brands where you may customize the shoe's fit a bit by giving you options to get the shoe design in a wider variant.