The Quirky Foodies : foodies

Showing posts with label foodies. Show all posts

June 26, 2019

Saboten Express (SM Megamall)

"Hailing from Shinjuku, Tokyo, Saboten first opened its doors in 1966 with the goal of serving the best Tonkatsu one could ever taste and experience. Now, it has flourished into one of the largest Tonkatsu chains with over 500 shops in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, China and now, the Philippines. Raintree Restaurants, which operates a collection of innovative and successful dining outlets, now partners with Saboten to bring the famed mouthwatering signature Tonkatsu to the Manila for the very first time." —Raintree Restaurants

The word "express" in Saboten Express is most likely to say that it's a mini version of the Saboten Restaurant main branch that you can easly take your orders specially for take out orders.

The flavors, the seasoning, the ingredients and even the smallest details of foods are all originated from the original branch of Saboten in Japan.

Saboten Express is located at 5/L at SM Megamall Food Hall. It's a grab a food, or to-go food if you want to take out and bring it to your wok or home.

They have their main branch at Serendra but it's a buffet-like restaurant with unlimited side dishes and unlimited soup.

We ordered our foods. They have lots of tonkatsu and it's hard to choose since all the things in the menu are all mouth-watering.

We waited for our order at of course, in one of the tables in the food hall.

We got our food and we are amazed how big is the serving of each meal. I never thought it would be that much.

We tried four varieties of their tonkatsu. Every meal comes with free miso soup and pickles.

Tenderloin Katsu Set

P265

This is one of their biggest meal. The tonkatsu with shredded cabbage is good for 2 person plus the original tonkatsu sauce made from Japan's original ingredients. Some of us know that the typical sauce of the shredded cabbage is mayonnaise but they offer different sauce, it's also the original sauce made from Japan's original ingredients.

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

Traditional Chicken Katsudon

P265

This katsu is made from chicken. It's a rice in a bowl with the katsudon. The rice is mixed with seasonings and egg to make it tastier but it's a typical tonkatsu. You can add side dish like tofu. This is also a big meal.

Rating: ★★★ (3/5)

Pepper Sauce Tenderloin Katsudon

P245

One of their premium tonkatsu. The taste of the pepper sauce will melt in your mouth. This is also a big bowl of rice. You can pair it up with the side dish, cabbage with yuzu dressing dip.

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

Chicken Katsu Curry

P285

Last but not the least, this is definitely my favorite among the four. I'm not into curry but when I tasted their Katsu curry, ugh! It tastes different from typical curry that I've tasted before. It has a mild spicy level but anyone who hates spicy will still be able to eat this because of it's "curry" feels-taste.

I actually love the curry sauce so I even use it as a dip of tonkatsu and it really tastes good.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

SIDE DISHES:

We tried two of their side dishes

Agedashi Tofu

P99

Rating: ★★★ (3/5)

Agedashi tofu is not your typical tofu. It is crispy deep fried tofu that is usually vegan. It's a big serving of three pieces tofu.

Crab Cream Croquette

P39

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

Made with bread crumbs, these croquette is a crispy dish yet creamy inside. The tastes of the crab melts in my mouth and to those people who loves seafoods will surely love this.

They also offers sandwich filled with tonkatsu. There are three fillings such as Tenderloin, Loin and what we tried is Chicken.

It's a heavy meal actually. It's very convenient for take-out orders since you can bite it while doing something or even if you're in your way to work or school.

Chicken Katsu Sandwich

P129

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

(Jona & Chelsea, IG: chelsea_3kings)

We really enjoyed the food. Happy tummy, happy face and happy experience.

BRANCHES:

Saboten Express

SM Megamall 5/L Food Hall

Saboten

Ground Floor, Serendra

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines

Tel. No.: +632-625-2000 or 2888

Thank you so much to Miss Michele Magtoto of Raintree Restaurants for accomodating us and also for being so kind and happy to talk with.

Check them out for other restaurants:

https://www.raintreerestaurants.com

or visit their instagram account

@sabotenexpressph

"As a restaurant family that complements your own lifestyle, Raintree Restaurants is committed to providing a pleasurable social and gustatory experience. We intend to do this by ensuring that only top-quality food items come out of our kitchens while our service teams give you the care and hospitable treatment you so rightfully deserve." —Raintree Restaurants

Instalog (Caloocan)

Another discovery in the North, Instalog is not an average food shop within the busy corners of Vicas, along Camarin road in Caloocan City. It might look small and simple, but their offerings is quite extensive which makes it really impressive for me. I have seen this a lot of times as the Vicas is where the jeepneys that I ride to is passing by. I was curious, alright. But I know that one of these days, I'll probably just have the time to have a taste and visit them soon.

Despite their space being small, they made sure to utilize the space by having smaller wooden tables and chairs to accommodate more customers. The place is also open so it is airy and you won't feel suffocated. It may look quaint but it is clean inside. No weird smell or something.

My cousin already ate here once, so she told me that they are really cheap but good. So I already expected something from them. I was quite surprised to see that they have a lot of food in their menu. I mean, it's not really a lot, but for a canteen-like feels of the place, aside from tapsilog and the likes, they also have a few desserts and soups.

Since I wasn't really that hungry and I immediately crave for mami when I saw that they have it, that's what I ordered.

My cousin, on the other hand ordered this. I tasted it and it might be a little salty for others because of the breading but it's good. And for its price, I am sure you'll think it is worth every penny.

Our desserts are these: Saba con yelo and Mais con yelo.

Mine's the Saba con yelo and my cousin wanted Mais con yelo.

At first glance after it was served, I was kind of worried that the ice already melted on the milk since you won't see any ice on the surface. I just shrugged my shoulder off and enjoyed the mami, same as my cousin enjoying her food. When it was time to eat our dessert, lo and behold! There's like an iceberg underneath the mais and the saba and it's still big! I was really surprised amidst the time that we consumed before eating the dessert.

This is a much recommended place. They have other branches as well.

You can check their page here: Instalog Facebook Page

Soban K-Town Grill (SM North)

Because it's the new trend nowadays, we're very fond of eating samgyupsal. We also love it because we're too addicted to kdramas, kpop and everything about korea.

With this, we tried to eat at Soban K-Town Grill, located at SM North. This is obviously a korean restaurant.

It is located at the upper ground floor, main building at SM North.

First, the place is really cozy. It has the korean feels-ambiance because of kpop music that they played. It's very spacious and they can accomodate numerous of customers.

We tried their MEGA MEAT BBQ set that is good for 4 person. It's 1,200 g of premium meat; Fresh Beef Belly, Marinated Beef Belly, Fresh Pork Belly, Soy Garlic Pork Belly, Chili Ben Pork Belly and Fried Chicken.

Fresh Pork Belly

Marinated Beef Belly

Fresh Beef Belly

Chili Bean Pork Belly

Soy Garlic Pork Belly

Fried Chicken

The meal set includes unlimited side dishes, rice, and soup.

We super love their kimchi because it's not that spicy. Some of us wanted to eat samgyupsal with kimchi but it's too spicy. Soban's kimchi is perfect for those people who has low tolerance of spice level and still, they can enjoy their samgyupsal.

One thing about eating samgyupsal is that you want to eat it with fresh lettuce. And Soban reached our expectations. They serves fresh and clean lettuce.

Mouthwatering meat. Ugh, saranghaeyo, samgyupsal!

We also tried their shakes and iced tea which looks really good. The moment we saw it, we just wanted to take a sip until its last drop.

Last, one thing we noticed about this restaurant is, you can see that their crews are well-trained. They are approachable and very accommodating. Good thing that they also give some instruction on what to do. It's very good thing for those who are first time to eat samgyupsal. They won't stand beside your table for nothing because they are really taking care of the customers.

After eating a lot of meat, we really need something sweet and we are able to try their dessert. Dang! Gonna be frank, but this is delizioso! The taste of the banana and the graham powder is just too perfect.

Don't worry, Soban K-Town Grill has a lot of branches: