Mystery Critic
The Best Restaurants Out There - And Much More!
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Tokyo Cafe, Manila, Philippines Last Visit: Sept 2009  "...If you are a lover of all-things-Japanese, you're going to LOVE the fact that I recommended this place to you..." OVERALL This is NOT exactly a fining dining place. It is totally just a "cafe". Nevertheless, after eating here simply tooooo many times I decided to write a full review for it but also keep a link from the casual dining in Manila page. It's casual alright, but it has the ability to keep attracting you back. It's a combination of very consistent and decent Japanese cafe food, lots of good desserts, great coffee, extremely convenient location, attentive service.... Need I go on? FOOD If you have been to Japan, you'd know that western-style Japanese cafes are pretty popular and it's been so for decades. It is characterized by cafe-style seating and utensils (unless you order an entree that MUST be eaten by chopsticks), a wide selection on the  menu, and some strange dishes like Japanese burgers and Japanese street food with lettuce and tomato as garnish. Well, Tokyo Cafe has done a great job replicating it. The selection is pretty interesting, ranging from broiled Wafu beef and eel over rice to chili or curry burgers to croquettes to pasta with shrimp roe.... You name it, they have it, all neatly presented the way Japanese people like it. We've  tried lots dishes there and they are all close (but not quite there) to what you can get in a nice western-style cafe in Japan like the Fujiya in Narita airport. What makes this place even better than some similar joints in Japan (like Jonathan's) is the high-quality Japanese-style coffee (try the Sawayaka - not as famous as Sumibiyaki, but even better to me!) and variety coffee drinks, plus the great ice-cream based desserts. Top it off with very crispy fries (caution - with very mild coconut oil flavor!), you've got an amazingly complete dining, or just eating-out, experience! . SERVICE There's a pair of Japanese eyes watching the servers working in this restaurant. OK,you get the point. This is one place where you can witness some Filipinos actually getting stressed out and mildly agitated because, I think, they are drive hard and their boss is watching every move they make and their customers (annoying jerks like us) demand Japanese-style service from them. Poor folks - they do a very good job though. They serve and respond quickly, try very hard to work with tiny tables (love it, just like in Japan!) and are generally nice and polite (except one lady who gets agitated very very easily when you ask her for utensils that are already right in front us).
Not much of an ambience in this mall restaurant, but it is, after all, in MOA, the 2nd largest mall in the world. The restaurant is situated so that you get to see people in and out from one of the side doors. Also, there's a very nice display of plastic food (a MUST for any authentic and respectable Japanese cafe). Finally, I love the fact that is has a restroom inside, very nicely kept as well so that you don't need to fight to use a toilet with no toilet seat cover with 1000 other MOA visitors.
VALUE It there's a poll, I'd vote Tokyo Cafe as the TOP value for dining in this whole country in the category of "non-filipino food." It is serious an outrageous value when you can have a top-quality cup of Japanese coffee, a meticulously prepared sandwich or pasta, top it off with crepe with ice cream, all for around P500 (US$10), AND it's a real restaurant where you can sit comfortably to enjoy good service. Cannot beat it!! It's very exciting to find a restaurant in MOA that we can visit frequently and constantly enjoy the food, service and watching a ton of people walking by us. If you are a lover of all-things-Japanese, you're going to LOVE the fact that I recommended this place to you; if you just want a quality cafe to take a break from this godzilla-sized mall without paying the UCC prices for average coffee, Tokyo Cafe is for you too!! BTW Avoid lunch or dinner rush hours because you'd have to wait. Also, this is a great for take-out coffee too, especially the smogees (blended ice coffee) on a hot summer day (i.e. just about any day in Manila).
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