Yesterday, I met a friend at TriNoma (it was his birthday yesterday). As he was hungry, we decided to eat, and I thought revisiting Oki Oki would be nice. I had tried that restaurant months ago, and I was craving for ramen yesterday, so Oki Oki we went.

The restaurant is located on Level M1 (TriNoma’s floor configuration is very confusing), near Super Bowl of China. It has two entrances, one at the mall, the other at the garden area. The garden side has glass for a wall, and the mall entrance is quite wide open, with traditional Japanese eatery banners. There were padded seats at three sides of the resto, while there are benches and tables at the middle area. Funny thing was, yesterday, they were playing Filipino music; first time I visited, they were playing enka.

Now, to food.

My friend ordered this Gyudon for Php 185.

If you order this one, you would be asked if you want the egg raw, or scrambled together with the beef. My friend chose it raw; the heat of the food cooked it some. The beef were cut into strips. I couldn’t say anything on the taste since it was not the food I ordered. But he did gave me some beef strips. The beef wasn’t tough, but the texture was like bacon. No, it doesn’t taste like bacon.

I ordered Tonkatsu Ramen for Php 225. The last time, I ordered Oki Oki Chicken Teriyaki Ramen. Maybe I should have ordered it yesterday instead of this one.

If you will notice, the presentation appeared to be disturbed. Because it was. I already ate few pieces of pork, put the egg on the side, and stirred the noodles when I remembered to take a picture. (You see, this is what Juned always says about food blogging: sometimes the food appears so inviting you devour it immediately.) The breading of the pork tasted a bit salty. The vegetables were crisp, not overcooked, which is nice. There were two pieces of what I think was the Japanese version of squid balls, except that these don’t have distinctive tastes, as if they were just pastes. The soup had a hint of shrimp stock, which surprised me, but I think it worked well.

I also ordered Mushi Gyoza for Php 125. Basically, it was just five pieces of steamed dumplings.

I’m not sure what’s in them, but they were tasty, with a hint of vegetables in them. There’s a dipping sauce of soy sauce with a bit of vinegar. The vegetable leaf is edible, but we did not eat it.

If you are a light eater, avoid Oki Oki. Their servings are huge. Otherwise, if you really need to eat large and craving for Japanese food, you may want to try Oki Oki. And no, this is not a good day-to-day eat – it will burn a hole in your pocket, and it will make you obese. Is it a good date place? Depends on your date – if she’s a light eater, avoid Oki Oki, or try their hot pot, which might be good for two. Next time I should try that out with friends.

Maybe next time I will do a Oki Oki v. Teriyaki Boy post. Any sponsors? =P