Our tipid naman tayo! (let’s save!) kind of Friday ended up in Nanbantei of Tokyo, although we knew we would spend over a thousand pesos there. Whatever happened to wanting to spend less on food? Haha! Well, as long as the food’s worth our money why not!

Nanbantei is located at the 3^rd level of Greenbelt 3 in between Bollywood and J.Co Donuts & Coffee. We have frequented this restaurant for quite some time now because of their delicious yakitoris.

Just to give you an overview… Yakitori actually means grilled chicken in Japanese. But in Nanbantei, there’s more to enjoy than just chicken. They also grill beef, pork, seafood, and even vegetables. Not only that, their menu stretches to different Japanese dishes such as sushis, sashimis, soups, salads and desserts.

While we were waiting for our food, we were served complimentary vegetable sticks – cucumber, carrots and jicama (singkamas) – together with miso paste dip that tasted fantastic! We didn’t know what exactly it was but it was really appetizing! We even used it in our yakitoris.

I wasn’t able to take a picture of it though. Instead, I took a shot of the grilling station where they cook the food right before our eyes.

Yaki Onigiri (P85). This grilled riced ball on a Nori is one of my old time favorites! It might look different now (as far as I can remember it used to be wrapped around Nori about 5 years ago) but it was still as good as before.

Pork Garlic Yaki (P130). These garlic-flavored pork is one of Nanbantei’s bestsellers! The pork was tender and juicy despite being grilled. In between were tasty leeks that surprisingly went well with the pork.

Yaki Ika (P125). Grilled baby squids. They were literally baby squids; too small I could stuff them both in my mouth. Haha! But mind you, they were very tasty and delectable!

Corn (P80). What better way to eat grilled sweet corn but on a cob? Yum!

Assorted Sushi Platter (P395). This was the first time I tried their sushis and I was a bit disappointed. They were good but there were better versions.

Their Green Tea Ice Cream has always been my choice of dessert. This time though, I went for their Black Sesame Ice Cream (P100) for a change. It wasn’t on the menu. I just knew they serve one. Hehe. The first few spoonfuls tasted a little weird but it gets better and addicting eventually.

The thing about Nanbantei is that their serving sizes are too small for the price. But I wouldn’t mind going back over and over again because their grilled dishes are really worth coming back to. 🙂

Oh, before I forget… Do note that this branch almost always gets crowded every Friday evening. So it’s best to go there early or near closing time (10:00PM) to avoid the long line.

LOCATION: 3/F Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati