Before anything else, we should first point out that Yayoi is pronounced yayo-ee, not yayoy. Secondly, no, it doesn’t refer to the special interest literature of almost the same name. Put simply, Yayoi is your new favorite place to cure those Japanese food cravings.
Located on the 3rd floor of Building B at SM Megamall, Yayoi offers teishoku meals to counter the overwhelming preponderance of ramen, sushi, and tonkatsu places peppered all around the city. For Filipinos, Japanese cuisine needs no introduction. We’re all too familiar with how the cuisine’s food tastes like. But perhaps, for a new, unfamiliar terms, we need a bit of a culinary lesson.
What is teishoku? The term simply means “set meal”—a main meal, rice, a couple of sides, and some soup, served on a stylized obon tray. More formally, the culinary term ichiju-sansai, which means “one soup, three sides” also refer to Yayoi’s scrumptious meals. No doubt, you’ve come across this type of dish before. Set meals are popular both in the Philippines and in Japan, especially for those looking for a quick, wholesome, and affordable lunch. Combining a variety of individual items and dishes for a complete and well-balanced nutrition, set meals are still considered a basis for a healthy, well-balanced diet.
Yayoi takes inspiration from this culinary tradition and its dining concept of serving home-style set meals, consisting of a main dish of meat or fish, miso soup, a steaming bowl of rice, and side dishes of vegetables and tsukemono (Japanese pickles). Established 130 years ago, it all began in the historic Meiji era that opened Japan’s doors to the west. The founder, Tamijiro Shio, had trained in France as a professional chef and returned to Tokyo to open the first YAYOI-KEN in 1886, serving superb East-meets-West teishoku meals at 1 yen per set, attracting even the prime minister as a frequent customer. Today, Yayoi has over 300 outlets located all over Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, and now, the Philippines.
Yayoi offers much more than your traditional fare of Japanese cuisine in the East-meets-West, traditional-meets-contemporary approach. Here are some of the dishes you can try in Yayoi:
The Namban Teishoku is a succulent fried chicken steak in sweet and sour sauce, topped with Yayoi’s special tartar sauce.
The Mix Toji Teishoku is breaded pork loin, fried shrimp, and sukiyaki beef simmering in special sauce and egg.
The Saba Shio Teishoku takes mackerel to an all new level by grilling it in salt until it’s crispy but still fresh.
The Sukiyaki Teishoku is one of Yayoi’s meals that brings cooking to a whole new level. This beef hot-pot with assorted vegetables stewed in sukiyaki sauce. Customers can enjoy the meal in three different ways, depending on his/her preference: enjoying the original flavor of the sukiyaki, dipping the beef in the slow-cooked egg, or finishing up the sukiyaki with udon noodles.
The Hitsumabushi is grilled eel over rice, served with a side of dashi broth and some condiments. Served Nagoya style, the meal can be enjoyed in three ways: enjoying the original flavor as is, sprinkling the condiments over the rice, or pouring the dashi broth over everything.
On the side, customers can also enjoy a helping of edamame, or lightly-boiled salted soybeans.
In addition to its Japanese menu, Yayoi also imports its design elements from Japan. The restaurant is inspired by Japanese interior design. Besides the physical menu, the ordering system makes use of an iPad menu where customers can tap and send their choices to the kitchen, and monitor the status of their orders in real time.
Yayoi is located at the 3rd floor, Bridgeway, Building B of SM Megamall. To add to this first branch, Yayoi hopes to have 15 branches after five years.
