To a Japanese Restaurant, we go! A SATISFIED FANGIRL!

Hello Food Bees! It's me again your food buddy. How are you? I hope everyone is doing well today. This time, let me engage you with my experience in eating ramen for the first time!

Yes, this is my first time. 😅 This is because we are not a "fine dining" kind of couple. We choose to eat street foods or "pungko-pungko" as we call it here in Cebu rather than eating in the restaurants. I guess I’ll blame Naruto for this because he loves to eat ramen which made me want also. He said, “If you eat ramen, it will drive your fatigue away.” And it turned out that I was conveyed by what he said and was curious about the feeling of eating one. Haha!

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Thankfully, there is a Japanese restaurant just a 5-10 minute walk away from our house - the Shizen Ramen Restaurant. We managed to allocate time last February and tried their ramen. When we arrived, the place was so spacious. It looked like it used to be a rest house with a lake beside it. A place perfect to relax, unwind and have a great meal. I bet a lot of big assemblies are held in there like weddings or birthdays.

Since ‘twas 6 pm and was quite dim already when we went there, I hadn’t got the chance to see the lake clearly that’s why I picked some pictures from the restaurant’s page. Here:

Tho it's a bit dim, this is the facade of the restaurant.

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The waitress who I knew and ‘twas Ate Aimee, the daughter of my mother’s close friend, approached us immediately. I was glad to meet her hoping to have a discount because I bet Japanese restaurants are expensive. Haha I said, “Yes! Thank you for the advance discount, ate!” teasing her while choosing what to order. Kidding aside, she smiled while listing down our orders even though I had the hard time pronouncing the food 😅. We had a quick chat and she headed straight back to the counter after. Anyways, this is their menu:

And these are what we ordered:

Katsu Curry

_{This is a plate of breaded chicken dredged with ‘brown’ sauce with rice. My boyfriend ordered this and he left nothing on the plate after. So based on what happened, he liked it. He should because it’s expensive! 🤣✌️}

Tori Karaage

_{This is basically a Japanese-style deep-fried chicken with mayo mixed with lemon juice dip. It is very crunchy outside and deliciously yummy on the inside.}

Yaki Gyoza

_{These dumplings are perfect for ramen and are delicious with a soy sauce on the side.}

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen

Of course, with an extra cup of rice (I know it sounds strange but we Filipinos don’t live without RICE! Right? 🤣).

_{The ramen though it is not the same as Naruto’s, was aesthetically appetizing. I was excited to see a real ramen (Imagine a fangirl. That’s me when ate Aimee served the ramen). I was satisfied and happy right from that moment. Little things make me happy, I guess.
Ramen is perfect when it is hot so I dug right in. I would describe that it was like the ‘pancit sinabaw’ in the Philippines without cabbages and carrots. I would rate the spiciness with 7/10 because I thought it to be super spicy. The noodles were just right and tender. Their ramen servings are, I guess, good for two because I was not able to finish the whole bowl.}

For the drinks, I ordered a mango juice and a coke for him.

What I found uninterested in was the queue time of the food. We waited more than an hour to eat but my eagerness to eat made us wait and be patient. However, their place is very nice and clean. They have very understanding staff also. All in all, my experience was fun and amazing!

A quick picture2x for the fan girl 🤣

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By the way, these are their restaurant hours:
Tuesdays-Thursdays (11:00am-8:00pm)
Fridays-Sundays (11:00am-8:00pm)
Monday (Closed)

I guess that’s all for now. Have a Joyceful day! Sayonara! 🤗

Have you tried to eat a food out of curiosity? How did it go?

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