TAJIMAYA CHARCOAL GRILL

DEAR DREAMERS

A few weeks back, my family and I went to dine at Tajimaya Charcoal Grill, a Japanese restaurant in Mall of Asia. We had a blast. The interior and ambiance was pleasing and fitting for the food served. Although we availed of the eat-all-you-can, they also serve a la carte such as wagyu beef dishes of which they are known for. Overall, I had a tummy-tingling experience in Tajimaya.

Every table has its own set of condiments composing of sauce, minced garlic, spicy paste and sweet paste. Table napkins, toothpicks and a buzzer to call a waiter can also be found on each table.

Every table has its own set of condiments composing of sauce, minced garlic, spicy paste and sweet paste. Table napkins, toothpicks and a buzzer to call a waiter can also be found on each table.







You can order as much of beef, pork, chicken, squid, special sausage and shrimp to grill. You can also order as much kimchi, bean sprouts, lettuce, salad and Japanese rice as you want. There’s bottomless iced tea as well.



I have my friend who also went to Tajimaya who made the same mistake as me. We both made the mistake of calling the restaurants as “Tajiyama” when it should have been “Tajimaya”. I asked him about the food that he and his family ate for the eat-all-you-can and he told me that he and his family only ordered rice, beef, kimchi and chicken. Majority of their orders were of beef because, as he told me, the beef is what they are known for. Now I found it a waste that they did not try the other dishes. As for my family, we tried a little bit of everything first. One of my favorites include their sausage which was surprisingly scrumptious. Take note that it is no ordinary sausage.



However, the one that I ordered the most was probably their chicken and their salad. Their chicken was tender and drool-worthy, it is probably marinated in the same manner as the chicken from chicken teriyaki dishes are marinated.



Their salad had a scent of sesame oil in it. It is probably the sesame oil which made it so appetizing.

They had these cozy looking booths where diners are given more privacy. As for us, we chose the tables without the dividers.

You can find Tajimaya on the second floor of Mall of Asia. Other branches include One Rockwell West Tower and The Crossroads Mall. The eat-all-you-can costs 599 pesos per person.

The back of the chopsticks holder illustrates a map to finding the three branches of Tajimaya Charcoal Grill.

Here are some tips to eat their food based on my experience:

• Do not cook too much food at a time on the grill.
• Once you have tried their food as they are, try mixing and matching.
• For the sausage, I added sweet paste before I grilled them. The same goes for the spicy paste. I made shallow cuts on the sausage, hoping they would have crispier edges.
• As for the beef, I wrapped the grilled beef around some lettuce and dipped them into some spicy paste before consuming. Kimchi gave the beef an extra crunch with a spicy edge.
• What I did to the beef, I did the same thing I did to the shrimp.
• If you want a hint of crunchiness but without the spiciness, try opting for the bean sprout instead of the kimchi.
• Although the bean sprout won’t add much to the flavor, you can still use the sweet paste or the garlic.
• If you are like me, I doubt that you would get tired of the plain Japanese rice but just in case you want to try mixing it up, try mixing in some spicy paste or sweet paste to your rice to let the flavor sink in. After that, consume your rice with some meat as usual.
• Maybe you want to try something more different? How about doing something sushi-esque? Try wrapping a lettuce around ball of Japanese rice added with some beef and maybe even some kimchi. You can dip the lettuce in sweet paste if you like.