You can never have too much Japanese

Last week, my office mates and I decided to finally have the lunch we have been hankering for a long time at the Pepper Lunch near the office in Greenbelt 5. It was also a reunion as our dear Mario was home for the holidays, on break from NYU grad school. It was a fine time to catch up.

As Mia suggested, and to be different (I always get the same thing whenever I eat here) I ordered the beef teriyaki pepper rice (Php185) , though I was very tempted to order the yakiniku, which was new on the menu. If you add 60 pesos, you get a drink and choice of soup or salad or ice cream. What a great deal!

 Japanese version of tapsilog

 ice cream bonus...but hard to finish after that heavy meal!

bunch for lunch

Dinner that same evening, I had dinner plans. Whenever my friend Lia is in town, we always make it a point to get together at least once for lunch and once for dinner. Seemed like my Rotterdam-based friend was in the mood for Japanese, so we went to Seryna in Little Tokyo. Plus, it was Marga's first night out in ages!!!

feels like you are in a steam room

 with its wooden interiors...but you are not.

 With Lia: she's checking off her Manila list...

The siblings Cobbarrubias: Jose and Marga

Japanese partner in crime, Amy

This was my first time there as I was not really a big fan of shabu-shabu, but this restaurant changed my mind about it.

First of all, the shabu-shabu I've tried in the past wasn't very exciting. It seemed like being in a big steam room with your clothes on as you throw in as many things as you can into one boiling pot of broth. At least you get a nice facial from it, but the food to me was boring!

Seryna was classy- someone else cooked it for you and it came with two dipping sauces, and there were other things to order as well, such as:

 steamed spinach with bonito

 salmon sushi three ways

 salmon sashimi

 uni

 spicy tuna

 a strange mutation of a kani salad

chahan

and of course, the shabu-shabu. The things I showed you above were just appetizers for the main event:

 Now that's McSteamy!

quite a delish dish

I suppose ordering the right type of meat makes all the difference as well. And those dipping sauces! Sarap!

When this came out

grill it your way

I was too stuffed for anything else. It's nice to let other people order and you just eat, at least you try different things instead of the old favorites. What a laugh trip we had this evening!!! The place was packed like a mother! Defnitely must come back here. Aside from the company and the food, another yummy part of the evening was this:

Asahi super dry

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!

Pepper Lunch: 

Second level, Greenbelt 5

Seryna:

2277 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City

tel +632.894.3855