Sinji yaki

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Through the menu on display overhead, I was trying to figure out from the outside if the restaurant is Korean or Japanese based on its name Sinji. A crew noticed me looking on and she came out to attend to me. I was not expecting that. I thought they will just wait for customers to get inside. She has that very good sense of customer service.

She asked if I had my choice already and I said I can't make up my mind. I asked what they are serving.

"Asian dishes, ma'am."

"Then what's that Sinji Yaki Rice? Is it Korean?" My first thought was that Sinji is Korean.

"It's like teriyaki, ma'am."

"Ah, it's basically teriyaki that you named according to your restaurant name?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay, let me have that."

She motioned me to have a seat and she got behind the counter to punch my order.

There were only four tables which each is good for two only so it was not surprising to see this notice on vacant tables.

Beside the POS is a tip box which has fairly big amount already. I wonder if the content was for the day or accumulated since I don't know when.

Below the counter is a poster for those who want to invest in franchising. So this is for franchising. I wondered how long it has been on business because this is my first time to know about the restaurant. I actually discovered it accidentally.

At the back of the counter is everything else like kitchen and storage. It seems a narrow space to work on for food preparations. Good luck to the crew.

I have known lumpia to be a Filipino dish. Now this display says Chinese. But seventy pesos? Not for now, thanks.

Their main menu of dimsums seem not Asian in general but Chinese.

The rice bowls are the ones that are indeed mix of Asian dishes but still more of Chinese ones. Anyway, I picked Japanese dish. I can't wait for my late lunch...

Just more than 10 minutes passed and a guy came out from behind the counter. He was holding a box and utensils wrapped in table napkin. Before I knew it, he was beside my table and serving in front of me. He was already explaining while fixing the box and utensils on my table.

"Sorry, ma'am. Our sink has a problem. We can not wash our dishes so we need to use the take-away boxes for now."

My rice bowl became rice box. I got nothing more to say than "ah, okay."

The side dish, which I did not expect, looked too lonely in the second partition of the box. 😄

This is just one of the moments when I was expecting good serving but got something else. "The container will not change the taste of the food for this case," was my consolation to myself.

I forgot about my frustration of the box when I started eating. The chicken teriyaki was so good. The chicken itself was so tender but not overcooked. The sweetness of sauce was perfect. The rice was so aromatic that I can eat without viands.

And the side dish? I can not figure what the vegetable was. I thought it was the Japanese kale kobachi but seems not. I was sure of the wasabi taste, though. Why was the wasabi already mixed with the veggie? It was a good thing that it wasn't so strong so far. It was actually a good compromise to the sweet sauce of the teriyaki. This restaurant knows good match of their food

Sinji Dimsum
Unit 101A
SM City Sucat Building B
Doctor A. Santos Avenue corner Carlos P. Garcia Ave Ext The
17000 Parañaque City
Metro Manila
Philippines