Japanese Comfort Food At Yu-Yu Tei

CEBU, Philippines - By all means, Japanese cuisine is one of the healthiest dishes in the planet.

It frowns on oil and grease, and fresh is one of the key requirements for its ingredients, not to mention that some dishes are actually prepared raw, making it even healthier. You see, a number of nutrients are lost when food passes through heat.

The hallmark of Japanese cuisine would be the quality of the ingredients, and here the seasonality of the ingredients would play a vital role, as some fruits and vegetables would taste best at a certain time or season, and of course because when you buy fruits and vegetables when they’re on season, you are assured of its freshness.

Presentation is also vital in Japanese cooking, maybe to compensate for what it lacks in taste. Food that’s delicious to the eyes, somewhat reinforces the belief of it being delicious to the tongue.

In Cebu, the growing number of health-wary individuals resulted in the proportional increase in the number of establishments that are trying to cater to their whims. Hotel restaurants and even some fitness centers started offering dishes inspired by the principles of South Beach diet when the fad was at its peak.

Banking on the healthy eating fad, most restaurants now offer a touch of Japanese in their menu, famous of which is the delightful sushi, tempura and sashimi. And then there are the Japanese restaurants per se, cropping up in almost every food scene in the city.

One such restaurant is the nine-month old Yu-Yu Tei Japanese Restaurant at The Gallery in Juan Luna Ave., Mabolo, Cebu City.

Yu-yu tei, which denotes a restaurant with a happy ambiance, specializes in Japanese comfort food like heart warming ramen that comes with different toppings. Their specialty is aptly called Yu-Yu Tei Ramen, noodles with toppings of naruto (fish cake), chashu (pork flank), menma (bamboo shoots), nori (dried seaweed), long green onions, and other spices.

Usually for ramen, the soup base is either vegetable stock or meat stock (chicken or pork); almost often, meat stock is used by most restaurants because of its flavor.

Other variations of the ramen served at Yu-Yu Tei are shio ramen (with clear salt soup), tan men (salty soup with vegetables), miso ramen (seasoned with miso), pirikara miso ramen (hot and spicy), tsuke men (cold ramen), and yakisoba.

One of Yu-Yu Tei’s come on would be the set meals that would afford the diner at most 20 percent discount. The meal would already include ramen and one or two okazu (viand). Set meals are pegged between P300 to P350 and would already be a satisfying meal for two to three persons.

Other must tries are the shrimp tempura, gyoza (pork dumpling), and their chahan or Japanese fried rice.

Owner Bernadette Kawakami said that most of the vital ingredients, like the seasonings and some fresh fish, are sourced straight from Japan, to ensure that the guests would be given an authentic Japanese flavor.

Their chef, Tomuyuki Oyaki, is, himself, an expert in Japanese cuisine with 38 years of experience working in hotels and restaurants all over Japan.

“We are inexpensive and our food is healthy,” said Kawakami. “We don’t use MSG in any of our dishes.”

A 60-seater restaurant, Yu-Yu Tei also tries to target the barkada market with its promos on beer and other drinks. Six bottles of any local beer would only cost P250, and that’s anytime of the day.

Yu-Yu Tei is open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and in the evening from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. or as long as there are customers in the house.