Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant: A Gastronomically Explosive Feast for the Family

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Your friendly neighborhood Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas, together with my wife and kids, had a pre-Christmas meal at one of the fab Japanese restaurants in the Metro located inside one of the popular malls in Mandaluyong city, or is it Pasig city?

Well, we really don't know since we don't care much of the city boundaries as long as we know the landmark establishment housing the restaurant. When we take a taxi, we don't really tell the driver to take us to the address of a location but normally we just name the mall or the building we plan to go to. Since EDSA Shangri-La Mall is one of the widely known malls, except for some confusion from the hotel nearby, or the other hotel located in Makati, as long as you say EDSA, the taxi driver will surely get you there easily without any need to mention the exact address.

Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant in the Philippines belongs to the Bistro Group of Restaurants alongside other brands like Italliani's, Bulgogi Brothers, T.G.I.Fridays, Village Tavern and so on. The restaurant also has other branches located in Makati and Mall of Asia but the one at EDSA Shangri-La Mall is probably the newest since I don't see it yet on their Facebook page.

The family decided to try out the restaurant during our pre-Christmas bonding time after we had a family portrait taken at one of the photo studios at the nearby SM Megamall. Why did we transferred from one mall to the next when SM Megamall also has a lot of new restaurants? I guess we just wanted a change of scenery since we've been going to the same mall ever since it was built because it was the nearest and most convenient mall to go from our Pasig city residence aside from Robinson's Galleria.

Top Food Trends for 2015

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Since it's the beginning of another year for us, I might as well re-post what I have learned about the possible upcoming food trends for 2015 and beyond which I learned from a famous chef from one of the events that I attended last year.

The chef says food trends are like fashion trends because they come and go and speak of the times. When not in current style, food appears dated, unappealing and not so fresh. A good example is the cronuts which are like the loom bands that turned out to be more like a fad, and the food trucks that never caught on in the country because of licensing issues.

Globalism with socialism is now in the rise. There is now the demand for global flavors but with local ingredients and a mix source of herbs and spices.

Comfort food is still king, but they are now elevated by adding new ingredients, like mac and cheese with lobsters, and burgers with artisinal cheese.

There is also the interest for food with a conscience emphasizing on the keywords: sustainable, local, organic, farm-raised, free-range, pro-biotic, artisinal, heirloom, fair trade, and grass-fed.



Less in now more. Minimalism is in, the purity of ingredients and dishes with very few but tasty ingredients so that the quality and flavor of each will shine through.

There is also the Nose-to-Tail dishes where restaurants use the whole animal including the offal, intestines, liver, tripe and cheaper, tougher cuts of meat that are braised for a long time.

Wazzup Pilipinas Founder Featured on ABS-CBN's Rated K

Wazzup Pilipinas!

I'm so excited to share another lucky opportunity given to yours truly as your friendly neighborhood Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas, Ross Del Rosario, gets interviewed for ABS-CBN's Rated K hosted by Korina Sanchez-Roxas, one of the top broadcast journalist and news anchor of the country, and the supportive wife of Mar Roxas, our Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary.

This is a delightful way to start 2015! It may be just a short interview but being featured by one of the popular television shows of one of the top local channels of the Philippines is something to be proud of already. I am also overwhelmed that it was the very first activity I did this 2015 with special thanks to a friend who recommended me for the spot.


ABS-CBN has been one of the leading TV networks in the country and many people are saying that you've got it made already, or at least on your way to better opportunities, once you've been seen in any of their shows. Rated K is one of their top prime-time TV shows aired every Sunday and hosted by Korina Sanchez-Roxas, one of their top-notch and senior talents handling the news on both TV and radio stations of the ABS-CBN network.

They said I am sharing the segment with a Chef they interviewed earlier, probably a few days ago, on the same topic, and they wanted to hear about my own comments based on their research of 2015 food trends (Papatok na bagong kainan at lutuin na tiyak na pagkakaguluhan!). So I tried my best to share some thoughts even though I was trembling in nervousness. Lol!