A Friend Treated Us for Dinner at Mendokoro Ramenba

My wife's friend can't make it to our baby's Christening, so she treated us for dinner instead at Mendokoro Ramenba. It's a very popular Japanese ramen restaurant. That have some branches in the Philippines. This branch in particular is at SM Mall of Asia and at the ground floor outside of IKEA Philippines.

I always wanted to eat at Mendokoro Ramenba. Years ago, my "balikbayan" (a Filipino coming back to Philippines from abroad) cousin invited me to eat in one of its branches located at Salcedo, Makati City. He said that the place serves really great ramen and it's popular with famous personalities eating there. When we arrived, the line is super long and it will take a few hours to get inside. We are super hungry, so we went to another ramen shop instead. Today I will not let this chance go to waste. Me and my wife are going to eat here despite the long waiting line. Well thankfully, we went at Mendokoro during work days so the line is shorter.

Like I said it's a popular place, as expected the place is packed with customers inside that are eating and outside that are waiting. While waiting, we checked out their menu. The selection is good and not overwhelming with lots of food to choose from. Those Tonkotsu Ramen are tempting.

Now it's our turn to go inside and eat. We already made our order while waiting so the waiting time for our food is lessened.

It feels like we're in Japan because of the interior design and ambiance of the restaurant. We can see the crew working and preparing meals for the customers. They also taste test the food for quality and consistency before serving it, that's transparency.

I ordered TanTanMen. I already tried one of these in other ramen restaurants, but this is the best one I've eaten. The balance of the flavors is great and I managed to completely empty the bowl.

My wife ordered Miso Ramen. When I looked at her ramen, my mouth watered. I mean, look at what's in the bowl. It's a big serving and my wife can't finish it so she gave what's left to me. This is another tasty ramen. I will order this when we get back.

Lastly my wife's friend ordered Gyoza. We asked why she just ordered this. She said she's not that hungry because she already ate before going to Mendokoro Ramenba. She shared some to us. It's a great appetizer.

After eating dinner at Medokoro, we spent the night doing some light shopping at the mall. The ramen served at Mendokoro Ramenba is top class and this restaurant became my top 1 ramen shop to date. The place, the food, the authenticity of the ramen is amazing. I feel like I'm in Japan. We will go back here to try the other ramen and food in their menu.

Cheers!