BOTEJYU

 Food had always been a  fascination for the family. With the advent of  apps like  Zomato, it is now easier to choose the restaurant you want to dine in with info such as average cost per person, reviews and photos at your fingertips.

Last  week heralded the arrival of my balikbayan sis in law. As is our Filipino custom, we almost always bend over backwards to make sure our visitor enjoys their stay while in the country.

So as a bienvenida or welcome  to our visitor, we booked a table at Botejyu in SM Megamall. Of course there was an initial shortlist of restaurants to choose from. But we narrowed it down to Japanese cuisine and restaurant we had not tried before. 

Origins

Apparently, Botejyu is from Osaka founded in 1946 and specializes in okonomiyaki . The name Botejyu was derived from the rhythmic sound heard while cooking okonomiyaki

"bote" - the sound of okonomiyaki when flipped with a spatula

"jyu" -  the sound okonomiyaki makes while sizzling

Premium  Moonlight Okonomiyaki P395

Although the restaurant's specialty is okonomiyaki in several variants,  Botejyu also has a plethora of familiar Japanese food in its menu like tempura, ramen, gyoza, etc.

Teppan Grilled Pork Gyoza  P200

Pork Paitan Ramen with Charsiu P425

Beef Hayashi Rice P345

Shrimp Tempura Platter P345

Overall..

Our 82 y/o Pa-in-law loved his beef Hiyashi Rice. The gyoza was different from what we were used to so we will nix that the next time we are here. Bunso piggery was not happy with his ramen but to be fair, this is not a ramen place to begin with.

Clearly their strength lies in their okonomiyaki. I can still taste the chunks of beef, shrimp, pork and squid in the Premium Moonlight Okonomiyaki we ordered. The price looked high at first glance. But the dish is meant to be shared so its value for money 

Overall, I think Botejyu deserves another visit from us if  only to try the other interesting okonomiyaki variants.