Mu Noodle Bar

Near the corner of Wilson ave. and P. Guevarra st. at San Juan, with it's distinctive bare wooden panel front design is Mu Noodle Bar.

Despite it trade specific name, a glance from their menu one can easily surmise that this is more of a standard Chinese cuisine restaurant than a noodle specific store. Nevertheless they seem to have some noodle dishes that one got to try.

I ordered their Miso ramen with thin noodles. The Ramen comes in this stone hot-pot bowls where they seem to cook the noodles. The broth is still actively boiling when it came to the table, which is quite promising for a group share dish.

It's pretty hot, best to get one's servings in another bowl than getting it straight from the bowl.

The 'Miso ramen' seems to be lacking in miso, the soup taste more distinctively Chinese than Japanese ramen with it's slices of radish and hints of ginger.  It's warm and refreshing flavour makes it a good broth, not Japanese but it still taste good just the same. The toppings are slices pork chasu with alfalfa sprouts and hard boiled egg.

The noodles are thin and straight. More like Saan mien than La-mien, so it tends to be starchy and soggy. I probably would recommend that you try the thick noodles if one is bothered with it being too soggy. The thin noodles suck up the light broth as it slowly cools down making it thicker in the process.

I've eaten here before during their initial opening months ago, I've commented how soggy their noodles are due the stone hot-pot bowl they use, which continually cooks the dish. I recommend that they try not to cook it much and just let it sit and simmer in it's pot when it's served.

They have the thin noodles now in the side and the costumer themselves add it to the bowl, so they can cook it themselves with how they like it done.

The ambiance of the place is cool and comfortable. With it's low light and simple stone and wooden furniture's, gives it a calming feeling without being too imposing.
 
Again, Mu noodle bar has some decent noodles but I would suggest that one try their Chinese entree dishes. Their Shrimp egg fu-yong is really good. 




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Ted's oldtimer Lapaz batchoy

Ted's Lapaz batchoy is said to be the authentic Lapaz batchoy, if we'll believe the write-up of their advert poster. Then again the owner is said to be one of these so called originator of this local noodle soup, whether that has any substance to it's claim is still debatable.

To those unfamiliar to the dish, La paz batchoy is a Pilipino noodle soup dish that had it's roots in Lapaz dist. Iloilo city, mid-south of  the Philipines. It's a bowl of pork and beef broth with fresh egg noodles, topped with chopped pork meat, liver, offals and crispy toasted garlic and pork cracklings.

I usually partake a small bowl of batchoy when I had a little hungry pang for some lite meal of noodle soup. I ate this one at SM Mega-mall's food court.
 
I've never consider Lapaz batchoy as a full dish in itself. I treat it as something between a snack and a lite meal. Comfort food that one partakes usually at street food stalls when one is on his way to school/work. A lot of us Filipinos also take it as a side soup dish along with a main entree.

Now Ted's Batchoy is not something spectacular or even memorable, but it has all the basic essentials of a bowl Lapaz Batchoy that we've grown to used. Reminds me of those really old fashion ramen bars in Tokyo, their bowls unadorned and basically simple.

Their soup hearty but not salty, unlike other Batchoys being sold around. The noodle is partly dry fresh egg noodle that suits the dish strangely well. Using fresh Cantonese style noodles like one used in ramen seems, to me, is not that suited to this fatty pork laden soup. The salt semi-dry noodle strength is in it's inability to absorb the soup into it, making it's taste separate and texture distinct from the soup. It's like having two meals at one. Such idea to a noodle soup bowl is blasphemy to true Ramen lover, but to La paz Batchoy it works unusually quite well. 



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Jipan's - curry rice

 Jipan's bread store is one of the first store here in the country that sells totally organic breads and cakes for decades.
It is also famous for serving various authentic Japanese dishes like ramen and donburi food.

When they first opened their Megamall outlet, which is right besides the main Asian Development Bank in Mandaluyong city, they've been catering to the banks many Japanese executives during lunch time. Their most popular item is their beef curry rice.





Their curry rice is probably my favorite. the quintessential Indian dish by way of Japan is quite popular comfort food for many Japanese and it is something that we Filipino's might find rather familiar. One could say that Jipan's curry rice is like thick sauced version of our beef Caldereta. This is quite evident with shops cut of meat which tend to be chunkier than most Japanese curry rice, but is still tender with a good bite. The sauce is the just the right spiciness and the proper savory flavor without being too masked by the use of spices.
You only need a spoon to eat this stew which is laden in a heart bed of rice. It also come with a side salad of shredded cabbage and corn. I would recommend you try the curry rice with a spoonful of the salad's mayo dressing. Gives it a good creaminess to the dish.

The place at Megamall had just been renovated. It is more like a casual Cafe than fine dinning. It may not look like it, but here you can savor authentic popular Japanese home cook meals in the country that any Japanese salaryman would recognize.





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Moshi Koshi Noodle Boss - ramen shop

Moshi Koshi Noodle Boss is one those new Ramen specialty shops that have been popping around the city. There had always been numerous Japanese food restaurants in the country for years. There are those catering to hi-end expensive ones and there those oh so dozens of Japanese fast-food chains with cheap good eats. Most of these had the standard menu with various popular Japanese food like Sushi, Tempura and Teriyaki meat dishes. Dishes that the Filipino palate found comforting that most have been taken in and absorbed to the Filipino cuisine, much like Chinese foods.

Ramen are available in these standard restaurants, but their quality tend to be much to be desired, some can't even hold against to instant ramen. Nowadays with these Ramen specialty stores coming out, Filipinos are slowly being reared to the rich ramen culture that is prevalent in Japan. Each of these store vying  for the Filipino market with each trying to present the real "authentic" Ramen taste.

I ordered a Shoyu ramen as sort of test case comparative menu, since Shoyu is the most common ramen type in Tokyo.

The soup is quite clear and clean, with a very respectable taste. Though the soy sauce base they use makes it quite pungent. The bamboo shoots they used isn't pickled right that it is soggy to bite and it's odor, though not unpleasant, conflicted with the broth.

The noodles are made in-house, that they are fresh and are cooked just right. Straight and smooth, they have that nice chewiness. I can't taste the wheat flavor that much but they go really well in soup that they get soaked on. Again there is a problem with the odor. The smell of kansui is slightly noticeable, especially to ramen connoisseur.  Perhaps letting the fresh noodles rest a lot longer before cooking will help remedy it.

Overall, they still have a very good bowl as a start. It is rather cheap than most specialty Ramen store. I sure would like to try their other menu.

I also ordered a plate of Gyoza. Again they're fresh with good filling. It's pan-fried with sesame oil like those done in Japan.


The shop is bright and had that nice modern minimalist design to give Japanese air, with that straight flat wooden benches and utilitarian setup. The Shop is partly self-service. that is you order in the counter that is right by the door, with the help of that large menu plastered besides it. The food will be served to your table by the staff.

 I should point out that this is specifically a Japanese Noodle shop, so it's not just ramen that they specialize but also Udon and Soba.

 The restaurant is quite close to the Studio that I'm connected to, so it is a must that I should try it.I ordered the Shoyu ramen as a trail order. It's not they're specialty ramen flavour so I must return to try their other dishes. I have high hopes for this store. I'll post on the other ramen, udon and soba when I got around to trying them.

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Moshi Koshi noodle boss
Shaw Blvd cor Ideal st, Mandaluyong City, Philippines