The Upscale Counterpart

Tokyo Tokyo Metro - SM City Fairview
12 May 2010

It's a family tradition to eat out whenever someone celebrates his/her birthday. My birthday was actually the day after (13 May), but since it was a Thursday and my sister's dayoff was every Wednesdays, we decided to do the celebration a day earlier. It was set for dinner, but my sister always wanted to go out during her day off, so us three siblings went out to have lunch together.


Choosing where to eat was difficult for us because unlike in some occasions when one of us pays for the whole meal, this time it was KKB. I was hoping to eat at any burger joints in the mall, but brother never classified burgers as "real lunch." When we passed by Metro Tokyo Tokyo, sister wanted to go for it, but (again) brother was a bit apprehensive - he said, it was basically the same as Tokyo Tokyo, and he has already eaten there. We insisted that this one wasn't the same because it was "Metro." Foods might be the same, but literally speaking, "Tokyo Tokyo" will never be the same as "Metro Tokyo Tokyo," even if they carried almost similar menu. Our opinion stood out, so we entered the store - after all, we were already getting hungry.




Unlike its sister, Metro Tokyo Tokyo looked a bit upscale and wasn't as crowded as the other one. Another difference was that instead of lining up to the cashier to say the orders, here guests can sit comfortably because there will be someone to take the order. One downside... since this was a bit upscale, their foods were a slightly more expensive as well.

They had a promo that time, and because I normally allow myself to pay p200 whenever I eat out, we just went for the prome. From their Bento menu, we chose:


Beef Misono Bento (p169). Unlike the one served at Tokyo Tokyo, the beef misono here wasn't as oily, which made it more pleasurable to eat. It also had pickled red bell pepper, which was slightly sour for my taste, but a good compliment to the meat.


Prawn & Vegetable Tempura Bento (p175). My brother loves tempura, so this was the obvious choice for him. It had 2 prawn tempura, 2 small butterfly cut fish tempura, and some veggie (carrots, onions, potatoes) tempura. I found the prawns a little small, but brother liked it.


Pork Tonkatsu Bento (p159). Sister's meal. Her favorite Tokyo Tokyo foods were the pork tonkatsu and chicken karaage, but since they didn't have the chicken karaage, she decided to go with this. I found the pork very thin, but it tasted okay.


All bento dishes were served with a small bowl of miso soup, a small cup of dessert (which was so creamy and delicious), and a choice of drink. Sister and I had the Metro Iced Tea, which was much, much better than the red iced tea served in Tokyo Tokyo.

Since we still have some excess with the p200 budget we gave ourselves, we figured we might order other dishes, too, because we wanted this to be different than the food trip we had in Tokyo Tokyo. We had:


Yakisoba (snack size - p39). I still haven't tasted yakisoba (other than the instant ones) and I wanted to know its difference with other noodle dishes. It wasn't as delicious as the Chinese counterparts, and although it wasn't much, I still let my brother eat up the rest of it after I gave it a few taste.


Spicy Tuna Sushi. I forgot how much my sibs paid for this, but initially, sister wanted to go for 4 slices of sushi (it was served in 4s and 6s)... and at first we were persuading brother to go with a different kind of sushi (so we can taste their other sushi, too), but he really loved tuna...and seeing the word "spicy" made him want it even more. They both went with the one in 4s, but asked the staff to serve it in one plate. I am not fond of sushi, but I want to allow myself taste different flavors, so I took one. It was so delicious! Well, I didn't put any wasabi in it, I just dipped it in the toyomansi dip and it was really delicious.

I loved the ambiance of this place more, but one thing that will make me hesitant in coming back will be their prices. Well, unfortunately, a few months after this food trip, the store closed up and is now occupied by Racks. They have branches in Greenbelt and SM North Edsa, but I am not sure if the other branches are still open. I am just happy that sometime during its existence, us three siblings were able to dine there.

*** Jenn ***