Tajimaya Charcoal Grill

Last week my wife and I dine in at Tajimaya Charcoal Grill. It is located in SM Mall of Asia in Pasay. This Japanese restaurant offers yakiniku style of dining. "Yakiniku" is a Japanese word that means "grilled meat". This Japanese style of cooking bite-sized meat, seafood and vegetables over charcoal. The customers will order different types of raw meat and veggies which are brought to the table with built in grill.  Most of their ingredients were from Japan.

The grill was not like other yakiniku style restaurant here in Manila because they use charcoal which gives you more smoky flavor. Most yakiniku styke restaurant here use electric grill.

We ordered this set which cost 580 pesos per head + 12% vat. It's and eat all you can yakiniku set, they will be the one who will serve the ingredients right at your table. You don't need to go back and forth for the things that you want to cook. They will quickly refill if you request but single serving was enough for both of us. It includes one serving of rice and bottomless ice tea. As a freebie you will receive a side dish or a salad. We opted for the salad, it consist of lettuce and Japanese vinaigrette. My wife love this one.

 The ingredients are cooked by the diners on a grill built into the table throughout the duration of the meal, several pieces at a time.Usual ingredients are beef, pork, chicken, seafood and veggies.

beef

chicken

pork

cuttlefish

japanese hotdog

shrimp

The ingredients are then dipped in sauces, you can create your own sauce for this one. It is best eaten with a cup of Japanese rice, they also serve an abundant serving of romaine lettuce which you can dip and then wrap the meat.

They also change and refill the charcoal once there was no enough flame to cook the meat. Each of you will also have tongs for cooking. They uses charcoal but it's a smokeless grill. You will still smell the aroma of the food while cooking that will makes you savor more of this grilled goodness. My wife live in Japan for 2 years that is why she like and love this kind of dining ambiance.

Most of the time she's in charge of the cooking and yours truly in indulging. We will surely go back here since we enjoyed our dining experience.


Tajimaya Charcoal Grill

SM Mall of Asia

2nd Level, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines 

Phone Number
(+63 2) 556-8929

Operating Hours
Monday to Sunday 10:30am to 11:00pm

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Bitter Beef Stew (Papaitang Baka)

One of Filipino's favorite comfort food "Papaitan".  This dish is mainly compose with innards of beef or goat. It includes small intestines, ox tripe, cow's heart or liver and the bile. The bitter taste or flavor of this dish mainly comes from the bile. It is sometimes bitter-sour stew because other varieties includes tamarind (sampalok). Its a hit among beer drinkers here in our country and it's one of the most requested "pulutan". In manila if you want to eat "Papaitan" just visit the nearest cafeteria or carenderia and I assure that they got a serving for you. Most of my kababayan prefer this as a pulutan but for us it is best eaten with steamed rice.

I've prepared this one on a gloomy afternoon, the richness of this stew can invigorate your body in this kind of weather. You can easily distinguish papaitan meat vendors in the market. Just tell the butcher if how many kilos are you going to buy and they will give you proper portion of the innards. You also need to buy some meat of beef.

My wife enjoyed this one, she even reserve a bowl of papaitan for her to munch while watching TV later that night. I hope you can also enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients

1 kilo beef innards

4 cloves garlic (minced)

2 pcs medium onions (quartered)

5 pcs long green chili

1 thumb ginger (julliened)

sampalok mix

1 sachet Maggi magic sarap

2 tsp freshly ground peppercorn

1 tsp bile

2 tsp oil
5-7 cups water

salt to taste

Instructions 

1. Properly clean the innards by washing it through running water. You may scrub it with salt then rinse.
2. In a large pot or pressure cooker, boil water and add the innards. Wait for 45 to 60 minutes until all the innards are tender.
3. Drain the water and cut the innards into small pieces. Set aside.
4. In a large pot, saute garlic and onion until its soften then add ginger.
5. Put the innards and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Add 5 cups of water and let it boil.
7. Put bile and chili's then add salt and pepper to taste. If you want a bitter-sour taste add the sampalok mix.

Just got Lucky!.

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Bibimbap (Mixed Rice with Vegetables)

Bibimbap or mixed rice with vegetables and meat are one of the first Korean dishes that I've tasted. It's like a Mongolian bowl but the ingredients are cooked separately. This one is a complete healthy meal, rice for carbohydrates, meat and egg for protein, vegetables for vitamins and minerals. The main highlight of this dish is the chili pepper paste but in this one I used garlic chili paste. Korean food are now popular in many countries together with their music and tv series/drama. Maybe someday I can visit Korea and try their authentic cuisine. Most Korean dishes are spicy, this is because of the cold weather in their country. You will notice that most of my recipes are about spicy and hot foods. Its a great thing that both my wife and I share the same spicy taste buds.

 Ingredients

250 grams beef strips

2-3 cups steamed rice

2 pcs egg

 1 medium carrot

1 medium cucumber

1 large onion

1 cup beansprouts

1/4 cup onion leeks

  salt 

freshly ground peppercorn

for garlic chili paste:

5 cloves garlic

3-5 chili fingers

2 tsp flour

5 tsp water

Instructions

1. Cut  carrot, onion leeks, cucumber and onion according to your preferred size.
2. Blanch the carrot, beansprouts and cucumber in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Set aside.
3. In a pan, saute onion and onion leeks, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from oil and set aside.
4. Put beef strips on the pan and saute until meat is cooked then set aside.
5. In a blender, put the garlic, chili fingers, flour  and water. Blend until the consistency becomes smooth. You may add more chili's depending on the level of spiciness that you prefer.
6. In a bowl put rice on the center and all the other vegetables on the side including the beef strips.
7. Fry egg then put it on top and add generous amount of garlic chili paste.
8. Mixed all the ingredients and enjoy.

Just got Lucky!

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