Ukokkei: The Best Ramen in Town?

Nissin Cup Noodles Seafood Flavor. That's the closest we got to ramen before. Admit it, that's how most of us knew about Japanese ramen. It is only now that we get a plethora of choices when it comes to authentic Japanese ramen. And while Japanese restos have been offering such, real, thick-souped ramen has yet to become popular...until now.  

Ramen Cool, Ramen Bar, Shinjuku...these are just some of the ramen places known to Filipinos. But whenever you Google "best ramen in the Philippines", one restaurant always comes on top: Ukokkei. I (Glutton Girl) have been hearing about this restaurant for quite some time now, but I've never had the chance to really dine there because of its proximity from my place of comfort (aka Fort) and because it seemed so hole-in-the-wall. And when I think of hole-in-the-wall restos, I suddenly worry about parking. (And she was right. - Glutton Guy)

An Exceptional Ramen Rave-iew!

Japanese food, you ask? Well, that's really not much of a problem, especially here in the Metro. With the emergence of Japanese food places such as Tokyo Tokyo, Teriyaki Boy, and Tempura, people would definitely not have a hard time looking for delicious and close to authentic Japanese dishes. One noticeable thing about Japanese cuisine is that they are offered in big servings. Restaurants would usually serve Japanese dishes in a big bowl (a good example would be Tokyo Tokyo's Sumo Remix bowl). But, big servings don't usually come without a price. A bowl of this yummy Japanese goodness would usually cost you around 200 to 300 pesos. The good thing, however, is that it's worth the price you paid for, not like some restaurants that focus more on presentation and ambiance. Now, we bet you wanna know if there's a Japanese restaurant somewhere around Metro Manila that would absolutely satisfy your Japanese cravings without sacrificing a lot of what's inside your wallet. Well, our answer is....YES.

Just along Araneta Avenue is a Japanese food place named Atsu Atsu Ramen. The place might seem a bit out of place because it's beside truck dealers. It actually is the only food place in that area. But, it is amazing how they, despite the geographical situation they are in, managed to stick that Japanese aura in their food place. The entrance definitely looks like an old Japanese house with Japanese lanterns adorning the door. We have actually done a little bit of research (since we really were curious what the name means). We found out that Atsu Atsu in Japanese means "very hot". Obviously, it is usually used for hot Japanese soups like udon and ramen. According to tradition, atsu atsu dishes stimulate the appetites of the Japanese people during winter. Well, with Atsu Atsu Ramen's delicious dishes, you really won't need a change in season to stimulate your appetite.

Yakimix-and-match-all-you-can!

To most hungry people, it's all about quantity when it comes to looking for a good food place. Most of the time, it all boils down to which food place can offer the most amount of servings at the lowest possible price. This is the reason why food places which serve the eat-all-you-can promo, or what we commonly know as buffet, continues to flourish in the Metro. Basically, a buffet is like a bottomless iced tea, for a fixed price you can eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, until you get full. There are, of course, downfalls to buffet. Firstly, they don't come really cheap. The cheapest lunch or dinner buffet in the Metro could actually cost 400++. There's a ++ because some restaurants don't include the service charge or the drinks in the buffet price. So, a complete buffet could actually cost as much as 600 pesos. Secondly, there's the value for money issue. Basically, what we're saying is just simple logic. If you're not that hungry, you won't even plan on eating at a buffet. This is because spending 400 or 500 pesos on a meal would not be worth it. The goal in a buffet is to have at least 2 to 3 full plates of food. That's when you say that you have wisely spent your money on a buffet. But of course, it all depends on the price. There's a buffet place that we tried which might not be that cheap, but really has a lot of delicious food to offer.

Yakimix is one of the fast-growing buffet places in the Metro. We actually would not be surprised if it's even more popular than Saisaki or Cabalen. What makes Yakimix different from other buffet places is variety. Yakimix offers Korean, Chinese, and Japanese dishes for customers to choose from. You'll be amazed when you enter the restaurant. There's a long line of raw foods that you can cook on your table on the smokeless grill. There are usual yet delicious dishes that will surely satisfy your cravings and your appetite such as tempura, fried pork lechon, and different types of rice. There's a sushi section where you can find the popular California Maki and Sashimi and the other never heard yet delicious sushis like the Hawaiian Maki and the Tuna Dynamite Maki. There's also a desserts section where it's practically a wonderland of sweets. They have fruits, cakes, flans, ice cream, anything that a person with a sweet tooth would crave for. So, you say it might be quite expensive, but looking on the brighter side, it's practically all you wished for in a buffet! What more could you actually ask for?