There’s still a whole world of Japanese food you need to discover. The best place to learn about Japanese food is at Nagomi Japanese Restaurant, one of Ortigas Center’s best dining finds.
The secret to Nagomi is in its huge picture menu. Just browse through the pages devoted to sushi and sashimi (all four pages of them) and you’ll be amazed at the variety of seafood you can have with (sushi) or without rice (sashimi).
Apart from the more familiar tuna, ebi (prawn), and salmon sushi, the menu lists 14 more sushi: hamachi, ika (squid), shimesaba (mackarel), salmon toro, uni (sea urchin), tamago (egg), hotate, amaebi (shrimp), ikura (salmon roe), unagi (eel), tobikko, kani (crab stick), tekka maki, and kappa maki. And those are just the simple sushi. There are also hand-rolled (temaki) sushi like tuna, salmon, California, and natto. Other fancy sushi varieties are inari sushi, futo maki, and California maki, as well as innovative ones like firecracker roll, salmon skin roll, sesame cheese tuna avocado salad roll, rainbow roll, sunset roll, and more. There is also a selection of vegetarian sushi like the John Lennon roll (carrots, asparagus, lettuce, and other vegetables) vegetable inari roll (sushi rice rolled in a bean curd wrapper), and renkon sushi (sushi rice wrapped with carrot and lotus root slices). There are also picture-pretty children’s sushi, which will surely put them on an early start. The dragonfly sushi uses a prawn sushi as the body of the dragonfly. The Anpanman sushi are as big as futo maki slices but decorated with funny faces.
Had enough? The pages come with a discussion on the fine art of dining on sushi.
"Sushi is finger food. Don’t be shy about picking up the sushi with your fingers.
"Originally, sushi was eaten without dipping it into soy sauce. If soy sauce is needed, dip on the topping side, not on the rice. Pick up the sushi with your fingers, turn it over and lightly dip the fish in the soy sauce. If you dip the sushi into the soy sauce rice side down and let it soak the rice, the sushi disintegrates, leaving little soy-stained rice all over the table. Japanese people rarely have this problem because they know the purpose of the soy is not to flavor the rice but the fish."
And the instructions go on.
For the past three years, the charming family-run Japanese restaurant has been attracting discerning diners to visit it regularly. Nagomi Japanese Restaurant offers guests authentic Japanese cooking matched with Japanese-style service. It is owned and operated by Jun and Gemma Isono.
Gemma says her husband’s family in Japan is involved in the restaurant business. He runs the kitchen here the way his family runs theirs in Japan. That’s why guests at Nagomi are assured of quality Japanese cooking.
"If my husband doesn’t think a dish is good enough to serve to guests, he would send it back to the kitchen and order a new one made," she says.
Aside from its extensive line of sushi and sashimi, Nagomi also serves ramen, nabemono or dishes simmered in stock, teppanyaki, teriyaki and yaki, tempura, yakitori, a variety of Japanese appetizers, Japanese hamburger and curry meals, and some desserts.
The list of appetizers is just mind-boggling. It is rare for most Japanese restaurants to serve starters other than sushi and sashimi. There’s hiyayako, raw silken tofu, that comes with a dipping sauce, the more popular tofu agedashi, edamame (boiled snow peas) and many more. The picture menu offers an exact image of what you are ordering.
Nagomi’s picture menu is a work of art made by hand by Gemma’s husband. The images are taken by her husband, composed on the computer and painstakingly printed from a color printer at home. The menu changes twice or thrice a year.
"We could have the menu printed professionally, but it has become restaurant’s signature. I’ve seen even bigger menus in Japan that are thick and heavy," she adds.
Most seafood items are sourced from suppliers from the Philippines, although much of the stock, from basic ingredients to condiments, are still sourced from Japan. Gemma says this has affected their food costs, although they have kept their prices at a reasonable level as an incentive for their guests.
One item at Nagomi that diners shouldn’t miss is the sake. Served either hot or cold, depending on the weather, it is the perfect accompaniment to any Japanese meal.
Nagomi can seat 130 guests, and has function rooms for more intimate dinners and gatherings. Frequent diners are mostly Japanese and expats, as well as Filipino guests. Though the restaurant’s location may be out of the way, those who have discovered the restaurant’s charms are not fazed by the traffic or the distance to Ortigas Center.