Pinoy Food & Other Cuisine :: Food PhotoBlog and Events |

Pinoydon is a very casual, informal restaurant that gives a whole new twist to Japanese cuisine by cooking it Filipino style. Or is it the other way around? In this restaurant you’ll find an interesting combination of familiar Filipino food and the not so unfamiliar but not quite native Japanese food. On first glance you’ll see that the menu contains what you’d find in a typical Japanese restaurant - but look closely. Instead of California Maki they have Manila Maki, made up of tinapa and aligue, and their donburi has sisig.

I wish I was able to try out the more exotic dishes the first and only time I went there, but it was raining and I was in the mood for something hot. Upon a friend’s recommendation, I ordered a bowl of Batchoy Ramen, which I devoured instantly. Unlike other la paz batchoys from other restaurants, the soup wasn’t congealed with oil and the saltiness was just perfect. They didn’t scrimp on the ingredients either!

Don’t get me wrong - I enjoyed my batchoy ramen thoroughly but as a Filipino-Japanese fusion dish, it doesn’t really work. Nothing foreign was added - and if they used a different kind of noodle from whatever is used in traditional batchoy, I didn’t notice. But perhaps that’s why I loved it so much. I can’t really imagine eating a bowl of batchoy that has tofu bits or tempura floating in the soup. That, I think, would make it another dish entirely.

Pinoydon can be found at The Podium 5th level and at the Eastwood Cybermall 3rd level.