Last month, I took my Nanay out to see a movie. We still had an hour to waste before the screening, so we decided to have dinner first. We headed down to the ground floor of SM North EDSA The Block because I remembered a number of restaurants are scheduled to open in February. When we got there, we saw two new Japanese restaurants standing adjacent to each other. It was a tough choice to make, but we ended up choosing Nadai Fujisoba since my Nanay wanted to eat some ramen (or so we thought).

When we were handed the menu, I asked the server what their bestselling flavor of ramen is. She was quick to inform us that they don’t serve ramen and that they only use udon and soba for their noodles. At that point, I still had no idea what she was talking about. It turns out, udon is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, while soba is thin and made using buckwheat. Well, I was extremely glad I learned something new about Japanese cuisine that day.

Nadai Fujisoba is a popular restaurant chain in Japan, which was established in 1966. The Philippines is only the second country they have entered after Taiwan. Now they have five branches in Metro Manila: Bonifacio High Street, Lucky Chinatown Mall, SM Aura Premier, SM Mall of Asia, and SM North EDSA The Block.

The restaurant looks cozy and inviting with its brightly lit dining area, which is accentuated with oriental design pieces. Their wooden table and chairs added to the whole Japanese vibe they had going on.

Now, let’s talk about their food!

For our appetizer, we ordered their O-Ebi Ten (PHP 290) – five big pieces of deep-fried prawns. The breading was thick and crunchy, but they were cooked all the way through so you don’t get raw batter when you take a bite. Actually, Nadai Fujisoba is quite popular in Japan for these deep-fried goodies!

I’ve been craving for a good pork katsu, so getting a bowl of their Katsu Don (PHP 190) was not a hard decision to make. For that price, you get a big piece of deep-fried pork cutlet, topped with egg and served on a heaping portion of steamed Japanese rice. Not bad of a deal!

We ordered their most popular noodle flavor which was the Niku Fuji (PHP 260). We were then asked to choose whether to have soba (thin) or udon (thick) noodles in our bowl. We chose the soba noodles just to play safe. It came with tender beef strips, poached egg, various greens, and a warm and flavorful broth. It’s actually one of the cheapest (but really, really good!) Japanese noodles we’ve had, considering most ramen shops could cost you double the price from Nadai Fujisoba.

Would we come back to Nadai Fujisoba? Yes, of course! Nadai Fujisoba has surely become our favorite go-to place for affordable but delicious and authentic Japanese food. And I guess it’s about time we finally break from the ramen bandwagon and start trying the other noodles Japan has to offer!

Nadai Fujisoba

G/F The Block, SM City North EDSA, EDSA cor. North Ave., Quezon City, Metro Manila

• Hours of Operation: Open daily from 10:00AM to 09:00PM
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fujisobaph
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FujiSobaPH/ #‎FujiSobaPH ‪#‎NadaiFujiSobaPH