We’re talking about "The #1 Special," which practically made a name for the restaurant Wasabi. It’s sushi, but – and this is where it gets exciting – it doesn’t have rice. Instead it has fish fillet wrapped around the center, which is crab meat, and on the outside it has nori (seaweed) and on top is a dollop of cream sauce.
Really, the word "special" is well deserved.
Freddie Carmona, one of the owners of Wasabi, says that for the past three-and-a-half years since the restaurant opened on Makati Avenue, The #1 Special has been a consistent bestseller. It made people come back then and until now it’s what Wasabi patrons always order along with new dishes they want to try.
"As you can see, competition in the restaurant business has improved drastically especially in the past year," Freddie says. "Gone are the days when restaurants used to compete only with those having the same type of cuisine. We thought it was time to add more dishes to the menu, be creative with our food and take on the challenge of coming up with new things."
Last month, Wasabi rolled out new dishes created by chef Roland Laudico who, according to Freddie, is "one of the freshest blood you can find in terms of talent and creative genius in the country."
Roland is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He apprenticed in France in 1999 and worked in Sydney in 2000. He came home, got married and put up a catering business with his wife Jacqueline, who specializes in pastry making, and they’ve been cooking for Manila’s A-list crowd since. It so happened that he was catering for one of Wasabi’s owners, who was immediately impressed with Roland’s cooking and invited him to do his magic for Wasabi.
"It’s important to have fresh ideas all the time because people get tired of restaurant menus easily," says Freddie.
Wasabi has always been an authentic Japanese restaurant bordering on the modern. Freddie explains that in Japan even though the food is generally traditional, restaurants are already adapting to changes. You still get sushi rolls, it’s still Japanese, "but not the sushi of a hundred years ago."
He adds, "Mayonnaise, for example, is not Japanese but they’ve adapted it to their sushi. Our food is probably 30 percent of what’s classified loosely as fusion, and the rest is contemporary Japanese."
Roland says, "It’s both in our culture and palate that we tend to look for something new all the time. Though Filipinos have favorite foods and they stick to them, they’re also more discerning and open to different things. You have to keep them interested in your restaurant. As a chef and caterer, I get tried of doing the same things also. Sometimes when my clients ask me to do the same dishes for their parties, I encourage them to try another menu. Chefs and artists are similar, they’re creative and you have to give them space to try different things."
For Wasabi, Roland created five new dishes.
"The challenge was to put out dishes that would not only satisfy me as a chef, but would also affirm the integrity of the restaurant and complement the existing menu."
Roland had been a patron of Wasabi for the past years and before he even conceptualized the new dishes, he went to Wasabi as a diner to eat his way through the menu, so to speak.
His training in France came very handy because Roland wanted to put an emphasis on the sauces rather than relying on the one-sauce-fits-all Japanese way. Plus, his experience in Sydney, a city he describes as having a very diverse cuisine that swings from Europe to Asia, helped put his new menu in perspective. "I wanted to utilize the French techniques of cooking and use Japanese ingredients. I’ve always believed that before you can do fusion or mix cuisines, it’s very important to have knowledge of the cuisines. You can’t invent without knowing the basics."
Diners mustn’t miss Roland’s confit of Chilean sea bass (P600), which comes under a dome of crisp potato strings. The fish is cooked with spices like turmeric and coriander and instead of cooking it in its own fat, Roland slowly poached the fish in extra virgin olive oil. The result is a richly flavored sea bass, drizzled with orange miso emulsion, that’s just heavenly.
Then there’s the Chicken with Rosemary and Dijon Mustard (P420). Roland describes it as a "French traditional dish a la chicken in wine sauce, but instead of wine I used sake." The dish comes with pureed potatoes on the side, flavored with wasabi and other spices.
Another seafood dish on the new menu is the Grilled Squid Stuffed with Saffron Risotto (P420) and served with vegetables. The roasted capsicum sauce pulls the dish together while the flavors of Italian balsamic vinegar and Japanese soy go well with the smoky taste of the squid.
The Tamarind-Glazed Broiled Pork Tenderloin (P490) comes with shiitake mushroom ragout sauce, served with baked tomato stuffed with edamame. He explains that his ragout sauce has soy sauce, giving this classic European sauce an Asian flair.
The seared tuna comes with a mango ponzu sauce. Roland explains that "ponzu" is "a mixture of different citrus juices" and for this he added mango to give it a more interesting taste.
Roland relates that he has been cooking since he was eight years old "but really didn’t think it would be a career" until he was in high school.
"It was a natural thing for me because I come from a family of cooks. I used to watch my mom, artist Yola Johnson, cook. She had these stacks of cooking and gourmet magazines that I’d read and that’s when I realized it was what I wanted to do."
He asked his parents if he could go to a cooking school right after high school, but they told him to get another degree first. So Roland enrolled at AIT, UP’s tourism department, but his heart wasn’t in it. He laughs when he says, "I met my wife there and I think that’s the only thing I got from college!"
Even before he had formal training, Roland applied for a job at the Italian restaurant Carpaccio, where he manned the pizza station.
"After that, my parents sent me to New York to study at CIA," he says. "After Sydney, I decided to come back here because the distance was killing us," he says referring to his relationship with Jacqueline, who was then his girlfriend. When he came home, they established Chef Laudico Culinary Services, which started catering for parties and small weddings (well, not that small – weddings for about 200 people) for Manila’s name-droppables .
Aside from Roland’s creations, Wasabi’s menu is peppered with creative dishes that have won the hearts of diners through the years. Ever heard of Papaya Motoyaki (P325)? It’s shrimp and scallops baked in a papaya shell with zucchini, bell peppers and mushrooms. What about its Baked Scallop Special (P375), which is an oven-baked dish with scallops, crabmeat, mushrooms and a special cream? What about the Dynamite Roll (P185), which has finely chopped tuna, green onion and a special spicy sauce or the Softshell Crab Roll (P275)?
Leave room for desserts, such as Green Tea Cheese Cake (P250), Wasabi’s own recipe served with a chocolate shell; Baked Alaska (P125), ice cream and fruits, with a delicious meringue topping; Mango Creme Brulé and some crepes.
Wasabi also has bento box specialties that range from P499 to P599. The former is a satisfying meal that includes grilled salmon teriyaki, mixed shrimp and vegetable tempura, Wasabi grilled chicken, maguro sashimi, mahi-mahi special, kani salad, and skewered chicken and asparagus; the latter has gindara, shrimp tempura, beef tenderloin teppanyaki, maguro sashimi, mahi-mahi, tofu salad and The #1 Special.
Wasabi has lunch buffets on Sunday for families and Monday for office people who want a quick, quality meal. You’ll find its signature dishes on the buffet and Freddie says, "We don’t scrimp on the buffet items. It’s as if you ordered them off the menu."
And that’s the #1 special thing about Wasabi.