Yumemiya Japanese Cafe in Northeast Square, Greenhills
Before our fun bonding session over delicious icy dessert at Cold Layers, I met up with K and B for dinner at Yumemiya Japanese Cafe.
Side story: I heard learned about the restaurant on its opening day. This is because a couple of us were invited to the restaurant to celebrate their grand opening and to try the food until we were told that the event got canceled the morning of the event day due to them running out of food. We never heard from the PR guy ever since. *sigh*
Anyway, I found myself finally dining at Yumemiya Japanese Cafe a couple of months after. I purposely waited a while as I wanted to get feedback from friends regarding the restaurant. I heard a few, some raved about it, some had very neutral comments.
Thus, I went with an open mind and a tummy ready to feast on Japanese food. Since I arrived quite early, I had the chance to read through the menu over and over again. I noticed that unlike other Japanese restaurants/cafes, they have a very short line-up. No sushi, sashimi or even a bowl of edaname for me to munch on while waiting for my friends to arrive. I asked the very friendly server for her recommendations and she was kind enough to point out the best-sellers per category.
For starters, I decided to order the Deep Fried Chicken (Php. 178) to enjoy while waiting for K and B. It's a good thing they arrived just as the appetizer was served allowing all 3 of us to try this at the same time. The chicken was fully breaded and had a crunchy covering but I somehow did not appreciate how oily it was. I somehow wished they also served some Japanese dressing to go with this basket of fried chicken.
We agreed to have a light dinner as we wanted to save some space for dessert. We all wanted to eat healthy so we got a bowl of Seafood Salad (Php. 218) to share. Who would have thought that ordering this bowl of salad would be the best decision made that evening? I love the special Japanese dressing and the generous serving of seafood inside. This was indeed my favorite dish and I'm going back for more.
To complement our healthy salad, we got a pasta dish which was especially recommended by our server. The Spaghetti with Japanese Mushroom (Php. 248) had a very light flavor and it's loaded with two kinds of mushroom and a handful of nori strips. The serving is quite big making it perfect for sharing. This pasta dish was quite bland which I guess can be attributed to the absence of the usual tomato or cream sauce.
Lastly, after being convinced by our server, we ordered the Smoked Salmon and Egg Pizza (Php. 318). I'm glad we chose this as we all enjoyed the delicious savory salmon with a hint of creaminess brought about by the sunny-side-up egg. Next to the salad, this was my favorite. What I noticed though is that the flavor basically ends as soon as you have consumed the part which was loaded with toppings. Taking a bite of the crust alone made me feel like eating toasted bread which was bland and quite dry. Hope they can improve on the crust even more.
Yumemiya Japanese Cafe reminds me of a mini-UCC only I'd still choose UCC for their delicious baked rice and cakes anyday.
Check out Yumemiya Japanese Cafe at the Ground Floor Northeast Square Building, 47 Connecticut Street, Greenhills in San Juan City. Call them at 722-4838.
Side story: I heard learned about the restaurant on its opening day. This is because a couple of us were invited to the restaurant to celebrate their grand opening and to try the food until we were told that the event got canceled the morning of the event day due to them running out of food. We never heard from the PR guy ever since. *sigh*
Anyway, I found myself finally dining at Yumemiya Japanese Cafe a couple of months after. I purposely waited a while as I wanted to get feedback from friends regarding the restaurant. I heard a few, some raved about it, some had very neutral comments.
Thus, I went with an open mind and a tummy ready to feast on Japanese food. Since I arrived quite early, I had the chance to read through the menu over and over again. I noticed that unlike other Japanese restaurants/cafes, they have a very short line-up. No sushi, sashimi or even a bowl of edaname for me to munch on while waiting for my friends to arrive. I asked the very friendly server for her recommendations and she was kind enough to point out the best-sellers per category.
For starters, I decided to order the Deep Fried Chicken (Php. 178) to enjoy while waiting for K and B. It's a good thing they arrived just as the appetizer was served allowing all 3 of us to try this at the same time. The chicken was fully breaded and had a crunchy covering but I somehow did not appreciate how oily it was. I somehow wished they also served some Japanese dressing to go with this basket of fried chicken.
We agreed to have a light dinner as we wanted to save some space for dessert. We all wanted to eat healthy so we got a bowl of Seafood Salad (Php. 218) to share. Who would have thought that ordering this bowl of salad would be the best decision made that evening? I love the special Japanese dressing and the generous serving of seafood inside. This was indeed my favorite dish and I'm going back for more.
To complement our healthy salad, we got a pasta dish which was especially recommended by our server. The Spaghetti with Japanese Mushroom (Php. 248) had a very light flavor and it's loaded with two kinds of mushroom and a handful of nori strips. The serving is quite big making it perfect for sharing. This pasta dish was quite bland which I guess can be attributed to the absence of the usual tomato or cream sauce.
Lastly, after being convinced by our server, we ordered the Smoked Salmon and Egg Pizza (Php. 318). I'm glad we chose this as we all enjoyed the delicious savory salmon with a hint of creaminess brought about by the sunny-side-up egg. Next to the salad, this was my favorite. What I noticed though is that the flavor basically ends as soon as you have consumed the part which was loaded with toppings. Taking a bite of the crust alone made me feel like eating toasted bread which was bland and quite dry. Hope they can improve on the crust even more.
Yumemiya Japanese Cafe reminds me of a mini-UCC only I'd still choose UCC for their delicious baked rice and cakes anyday.
Check out Yumemiya Japanese Cafe at the Ground Floor Northeast Square Building, 47 Connecticut Street, Greenhills in San Juan City. Call them at 722-4838.
