Have a Wagyu feast at Nomama

MANILA, Philippines - Serious foodies always find comfort at Nomama.

The restaurant is committed to using the very best ingredients it can source — preferably local ingredients. It’s known for its bold use of Japanese flavors, though it also borrows influences from other Asian neighbors. This month, the restaurant has Wagyu and teppanyaki offering on its menu.

Ever since Nomama opened, Kitayama has been its choice of beef because it’s locally raised. I can personally swear that Kitayama Wagyu is the best local beef that I have ever tried.

It also serves beef tataki that is cooked with the familiar technique that the Japanese use: searing the beef, chopping it and serving it raw. The umami taste is present in the dish as fresh uni butter, Kikkoman roasted garlic teriyaki marinade, tomato confit and shiitake mushrooms are incorporated in it. Kikkoman is a Japanese staple known for its highest standards of brewing soy sauce and Nomama uses its many variants in the dishes the restaurant serves.

The dish called Thai crusted tri-tip steak with jasmine rice and pineapple salad in red curry vinaigrette is a play on Thai flavors using one of the best cuts of meat, the Kitayama tri-tip. This is a bit spicy because of the Thai red curry used in the vinaigrette.

Also in the menu is the Kitayama striploin seared and roasted, served with oyster mushroom teppan cooked in miso butter and sauced up with braising jus. Sharing the plate is the vegetarian mushroom steak, seared and roasted, served with three sauces. In keeping with the teppanyaki theme, the dessert rounds up the menu with a simple fruit teppanyaki and crowned with a tart yuzu gelato.

Other items on the menu for the promotion are the rib-eye teppanyaki with miso-roasted garlic paste, Kikkoman caramel and Japanese mustard and the pork loin kurobuta glazed with guava and miso with pickled mushrooms, kobocha purée and edamame.

Nomama also has something in store for vegetarians. Using mushrooms from the Ministry of Mushrooms (of Marco Lobregat), the restaurant has a dish that looks and tastes like a rib-eye steak.

To make the experience complete, the restaurant serves Lagarde Wine from Argentina, home of some of the best Malbecs in the world.

The Wagyu and teppanyaki menu offering is available this March. Don’t miss it!

(Nomama is located at G/F, FSS Building 2, Scout Tuason cor. Scout Castor streets, Quezon City. Visit its Facebook page www.facebook.com/nomamaramen or follow it on Twitter @nomamaramento get updates.)