Delightful gyoza!

I have not been to SM Megamall for quite some time now and have been curious about the new restaurants and shops at the new wing of the mall. The new wing looks like it was inspired by the SM Aura by the look and feel of its design. It is more spacious and better lighted than most SM malls. The shops are different and not the usual anchor stores you will find in the typical mall. But what interested me were the restaurants and cafes. I have seen at least three that are definitely worth eating at - Tim Ho Wan, Lucca and Osaka Ohsho. The first is a Chinese restaurant is easily the most popular restaurant in SM Megamall given the long lines forming once the mall (and the restaurant) opens its doors. The second is more like a cafe and has a full menu of baked delights aside from sandwiches and pasta. Lucca reminds me a lot of Wild Flour and is a most welcome option, an alternative to rice meals that are the staple of most restaurants in the Philippines.

We decided to have an early lunch and saw from afar that Tim Ho Wan was already full of people and had a very long queue of customers waiting for their turn to eat there. Our first interest was Lucca but then the wife recently ate at Wild Flour and wanted to have Japanese food. There was already a crowd at Osaka Ohsho but there were no lines yet so we easily got a good table at the restaurant.

Menu and chopsticks

The menu contained a lot of familiar items including katsu, teppanyaki and curry. What distinguishes Osaka Ohsho from other restaurants is that they are supposed to have one of the best if not the best gyoza (fried dumplings). And this shows in their menu where there is a gyoza set and most if not all sets have gyoza. Each set had miso shiru, fruit and unlimited koshi hikari rice.

Fresh lemonade and house tea

Chicken karaage set

Salmon teriyaki set

The chicken karaage was cooked and presented donburi style.

The best gyoza I've tasted so far in the Philippines is plump with the fillings.

The salmon teriyaki was just right if not perfect. I look forward to the saba next time.

Osaka Ohsho is a restaurant we'll definitely go back to especially when we feel a craving for Japanese food (which is quite often). Their menu has a lot of items worth trying aside from the usual offerings you'd find in Japanese restaurants that some of us regard as comfort food. In the case of Osaka Ohsho, they definitely cook up good Japanese comfort food. I for one love gyoza and have always ordered gyoza whenever it was available even at the shokudo at the university when I was still studying in Yokohama.

-