Tsugi sa Tsujiki - Turning Japanese

We had a chance to use the voucher my wife won in a raffle in the office. It was set meals for two at either the Cafe in the Park or the Century Tsujiki Japanese Restaurant at the Century Park Hotel. My wife chose to have Japanese.

We parked just across the hotel in the parking lot of Harrison Plaza and walked a few steps before reaching the entrance to the lobby. The Century Tsujiki is just to the right once you enter the building. As you enter the restaurant you are greeted by a samurai costume encased in glass and the staff with the usual "irashaimase" (or something like that).

samurai costume welcoming you

My wife quietly told one of the staff that we are claiming the gift certificate. She asked us  where we want to be seated: smoking or non-smoking. Being both non-smokers, we told her that we prefer the latter. There were only about 2 or 3 tables that was occupied. The section still smelled of smoke probably coming from the smoking section.

As we were led to our table, the waitress shouted at the top of her lungs, "GC ito!" To think that this was in a 5-star hotel, I would have expected that the staff would have been more discrete and not act as if she was in a "turo-turo".

We were given a menu to choose from which bento we would want. My wife ordered the tonkatsu bento while I had the tempura one. Since, we were having our lunch for free, we decided to at least order drinks. We both had iced tea (P150 each) and was served immediately. The waitress returned and asked us what we wanted for appetizers: sashimi or sald. I asked what salad they have and was just told that it was lettuce with a dressing. We opted to have sashimi.

iced tea @ P150

The sashimi consisted of two slices of salmon and 4 slices of tuna. For the first time I had raw fish (except of course for kinilaw, he he he). Dipped in soy sauce and wasabi, the sashimi didn't taste fishy at all and I actually liked it.

tempura bento

The tempura bento consisted of various tempura,: prawn, fish, sweet potato, etc. , miso soup (i think), sashimi, rice and pickled veggies. The tonkatsu bento contained the same except for the main dish: pork tonkatsu.

tonkatsu bento

Finally, we were served two small slices of sweet pineapple for dessert. Before the meal, I didn't thnk that the meal served would be filling, but to my surprise, I felt really full. The tempura was good and so was the tonkatsu which I tried when my wife wasn't looking. Didn't like the miso soup, the sashimi was really new to me. Overall, the meal was good, the place was relaxing as there were still only 3 or 4 tables occupied when we left.

We saw a promotional ad in the restaurant that offers a bento for P500 plus service charge.