Homegrown restaurant Inari Sukiyaki offers foodies a place to savor both Japan’s famous sukiyaki dish and the glories of eating alone.
There’s joy—and art—in eating out alone. It gives you time to unwind and reflect amid the hustle and bustle of our busy lives. It allows you to relish the restaurant’s ambiance, crowd, flavors, and textures, all at peace. Not to mention, food tastes better when you’re eating it alone.
While the history of solo dining hasn’t always been welcoming, eating alone at a restaurant is totally thrilling. Take it from homegrown Japanese restaurant Inari Sukiyaki, which offers solo diners (and more) a place to savor both Japan’s famous sukiyaki dish and the glories of eating alone in locations other than your home.
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Since it launched its first branch in Robinsons Magnolia in November 2023, Inari Sukiyaki has been attracting foodies who want to enjoy a unique localized version of Japan’s sukiyaki, a popular dish comprising well-marbled beef and fresh vegetables served with soup or on top of rice in a cast-iron pot.
In Japan, sukiyaki is often prepared and served at the table, then eaten communally. Here in the Philippines, you get to devour every bit of the dish all by yourself, with Inari Sukiyaki’s solo rice bowls and soups cooked right in front of you in Manila’s first sukiyaki bar.
The concept of preparing the sukiyaki in front of counter-dwelling guests is the creative vision of husband-and-wife duo Rich and Maxine Sanz. During the media day of Inari Sukiyaki’s Taguig branch last week, Maxine told The POST that the idea came to mind years after she and Rich became avid fans of Kyoto’s sukiyaki in 2016.
“Every year, we go back to this restaurant in Kyoto serving this style of sukiyaki—one that is served with rice and cooked in front of you,” she recounted. “Then two years ago, we wondered why the dish is not yet popular here in the Philippines. That’s when we realized that maybe it’s time to bring home the dish and the wonderful experience that comes with it.”
True enough, the same appetizing experience awaits you at Inari Sukiyaki’s newest branch at the fourth level of SM Aura Premier in Bonifacio Global City. Guests stepping inside the restaurant are welcomed by an inviting and warm atmosphere typical of a traditional restaurant in Japan. Wooden chairs, tables, and other furniture fill the space that is cozy enough to provide customers with intimacy and comfort.
The feature attraction in Inari Sukiyaki-BGC is its sukiyaki bar, which Maxine describes as the “DNA of the brand.” Here, every customer is welcome to dine solo, giving them front-row access to the restaurant’s culinary spectacle.
Compared to its Quezon City branch, which is confined to a food court, Inari Sukiyaki in BGC offers a more expansive sitting capacity of 21 at its sukiyaki bar and up to 10 people in its private room. This makes the restaurant also ideal for large groups of people who want to celebrate with a one-off Japanese-inspired dining experience.
Inari Sukiyaki’s menu is as noteworthy as its unique interiors. At its core is the sukiyaki, which is done in two ways: Kyoto-style, wherein dry sukiyaki is served over rice, and the Tokyo-style, with sukiyaki soup and glass noodles. Inari Sukiyaki’s menu also features non-beef rice bowls, appetizers like tuna sashimi and gyoza, as well as Japanese rice rolls.
During the store’s media day, we were served two dishes as starters: the Ebi Tempura House Special and Sizzling Salmon & King Prawn Aburi Rolls. While tempura is a dish that’s basically everywhere, what makes this one special is that the shrimp is not only succulent but also fresh and big. It is wrapped with a doughy coating that has a light, crispy texture, which, all in all, makes the dish a delight to the palate.
The Salmon & King Prawn Aburi Rolls are every bit umami; I dare say it’s the best I’ve had in my life so far. Each roll in the four-piece dish has a rich flavor enhanced further by the smoky blowtorched salmon that melts easily in the mouth. The dish is so good, I regret not ordering another set for takeout!
For the mains, I opted for the Tokyo-style USDA Black Angus Ribeye over the Kyoto-style OMI A5. My dish features one of Inari Sukiyaki’s bestselling meats—boneless Angus ribeye—that has a rich flavor and a juicy and tender texture. The buttery meat complements the dish’s sweet and savory broth, alongside other ingredients such as the chewy shirataki noodles, tofu, mushrooms, and carrots.
Meanwhile, the Kyoto-style OMI A5 Wagyu is Inari Sukiyaki’s bestselling dish which Maxine highly recommends to first-timers. The dish features the restaurant’s BGC-exclusive A5 Wagyu sourced from Shiga Prefecture in Japan. To cater to the Filipino palate, Maxine and Rich localized the dish—and the rest of their Tokyo-style offerings—by adding a generous amount of sauce to it.
“In Japan, they only put a few sauces but, as founders of Inari Sukiyaki, we love sauces so much. And we know Filipinos love them as well,” Maxine told The POST. “So we added a Filipino twist to our dishes by infusing it with so much sauce. You’d see that your rice is full of sauce.”
This, in addition to the dish’s “exquisite marbling and flavor,” made the restaurant’s Kyoto-style OMI A5 a favorite of customers who have dined at the store since it was soft-launched last November.
From classic sukiyaki sets featuring USDA Karubi and Australian High-Choice Striploin to premium options like USDA Black Angus Misuji and A5 Wagyu, Inari Sukiyaki is one of the ideal restaurants to dine when you’re craving the authentic taste of Japan right here in Manila.
Inari Sukiyaki’s newest branch is located on the fourth floor of SM Aura Premier in Taguig. It is open from 10 am to 10 pm daily and also accepts orders through GrabFood Delivery.
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