Chibo Okonomiyaki at The Podium

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: the different varieties of okonomiyaki at Chibo are excellent! 

These Japanese-bred pancakes are as exciting as seeing your favorite sports team win. Well, that analogy will work if you're both into food and sports. If not, then please feel free to substitute the latter with whatever you're into. I'm assuming everyone loves food? Yeah? All right!

Butatama Okonomiyaki  PhP 288

Chibo has been churning out mouthwatering okonomiyaki since 1973 in Osaka. The company has soon opened branches all over the Japan and the rest of the world, too.

Okay, so the first-ever okonomiyaki that I've tried from Chibo is the Butatama Okonomiyaki. This is a great starting point for uncomplicated okonomiya eaters. Yes, in the world of okonomiyaki, this is already considered simple.

For this one, the superstar ingredient is pork. That meat is enhanced by an evenly distributed set of other ingredients that makes this one simple yet very satisfying dish. 

Let's not forget about the batter. It turned into a springy, moist, and light pancake. I like that it embraces the ingredients rather than dominate them.

Shirayukihime Okonomiyaki  PhP 588

There were "wows" and "what's that?" when this beautiful beast came out of the kitchen. Given that there are no soft and hard rules when coming up with playful variations of okonomiyaki, still it takes a good amount of creativity to create something like this!

When something's this pretty, the usual question that pops out of my head is "is this delicious or just 'grammable?" We've all experienced that at some point, right? It looks good on the 'gram, but sucks in real life. Chibo Okonomiyaki's Shirayukihime is both delicious and 'grammable.

The four scoops you see on top are meringue, not ice cream. I thought they were scoops of vanilla ice cream at first. Anyway, this one-dish stunner is filled with prawns, pork, bacon, tomato, avocado, and cheese! It's streaked with umami-packed okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese mayo.

And just to make it "so extra!", they sprinkled the top with bonito flakes, seaweed flakes, and then inserted a shrimp head as literally, the crowning glory. As crazy good as this is, there's no way that I can finish it alone. It's big! Two to four people can enjoy this.

Mixed Seafood Ju Lunch Set  PhP 688

Chibo specializes in okonomiyaki, but its menu extends to other commendable dishes as well. In terms of taste and good value, Chibo's lunch sets are definitely must-tries.

Each lunch set comes with a single-serving of delicious potato salad and miso soup.

The Mixed Seafood Ju is a personal favorite. Like I said before, seafood trumps beef, chicken, or pork. That's just my personal preference.

The garlic-laced salmon, scallop, squid, and tiger prawn were simply delicious! I thought I needed extra rice, but then the potato salad was more than enough in lieu of. 

Hamburger Steak Lunch Set  PhP 588

My eldest enjoyed the Hamburger Steak Lunch Set. The juice seeping right through the kissed-by-teriyaki-sauce meat is a clear evidence of how juicy it was; and it comes with a surprise center, too! Molten cheese right in its core is simply divine! 

US Angus Steak Ju Lunch Set PhP 788

Thin and tasty strips of US Angus steak with a pool of garlic ginger wine sauce bathing the steamed white rice below is my youngest's happiness. The meat was perfectly tender when we first tried this. It wasn't so much on the second go. The taste was still the same, though.

Unagi Kabayaki Ju Lunch Set   PhP 888

Chibo infused a well-balanced flavor to this delicate meat. One order is not enough. That's the problem I had with this one. I've always loved unagi, and Chibo's version is something I'd never get tired of eating, even on a daily basis. 

Oden Meal

This odd-looking dish is a winter favorite in Japan. If you're curious to know what's been dumped inside this golden bowl of soy broth, well, here's a list:

Satsuma-age - fried fishcake

Konnyaku - the dark-colored cube made from konjac

Daikon - radish

Chikuwa - tubular, spongy Japanese fish cake
Hard-boiled egg

I thought the broth was a little on the mild side. But once I've tried all that's been floating around inside it, I realized that the mildness of the broth complements the flavorful ingredients. The dish comes with delicious sides such as a nicely browned chunk of Norwegian salmon as well.    

Based on what we've tried, we can surely say that Chibo is definitely not one of those one-off restaurants. The food pleases our palates, the services satisfies our hearts, and the quality justifies the prices.

Chibo Okonomiyaki

5/F The Podium

18 ADB Ave, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila

Website: www.chibo.ph

Facebook: Chibo Okonomiyaki PH

Instagram: @chibookonomiyakiPH

Operating Hours: 

11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Mondays - Thursdays

10 a.m. - 10 p.m. Fridays- Sundays

Onward and Upward!