Foodgasm: Ramen Sora at Robinsons Galleria Cebu

On the first week of June, my ROTC buddy (from our Cadet Officer Candidate Course days) and I met for a reunion. She and her constituents (turns out she's already the manager or head of her team) were set for a human resource seminar in my province of Cebu. Basically, she ended up treating me for food since I'm broke.

Anyway, we agreed to meet on the newly opened Robinsons Galleria. It just so happened that when I finally get to meet with the rest of her company, we were standing closest to Ramen Sora. With no delay, we just went straight to it... to eat.

Gosh, was it so expensiiiiiiive!

Since Robinsons Galleria has just been on service for six months, there aren't that much stalls open yet. Therefore, there aren't that much people coming there... yet. Thus explains why Ramen Sora looks barren:

The restaurant is very presentable not just from the outside but also from the inside. The place is laden with ostentatious Japanese wooden furniture and chopsticks are already prepared on the table:

Ramen Sora feels cozy and warm despite the air conditioning (what with the whole place swimming in warm brown shades). The privacy ambiance is also palpable that I swear businessmen can talk over business without being conspicuous of their ventures.

There's so much hype on the Japanese food, ramen. After all, it's Naruto's favorite food. I've longed to taste one but never had the chance since I know it's very expensive. Besides, I have a staple for Korean foods. I'd rather eat lots of Korean foods from different establishments than bother with an expensive ramen. Boy, was I never wrong on this one.

I ordered group Spicy Ramen (single costs P305, group P425). Ramen Sora's shio or shoyu base ramen is topped with sautéed corned pork, tender pork slab, boiled egg, seaweed (my favorite!) and cabbage:

Ramen remained a hype to me. I'm convinced I'm not a fan and never will be. If there's anything in Japanese foods that I'll ever be a fan of, that would be wasabe. Yes, not even food, just condiment. Wasabe has a very unique taste, it's a taste all on its own. I hated it 10 years ago that I could never forget the taste. The next thing I knew, I'm craving for that unique wasabe taste. Hence, if I get to eat a Japanese food that I could top with wasabe, then I'd love that food. Ramen is on a different category of food unfortunately.

Our table:

No, I can't stereotype Japanese food with the accompaniment of wasabe. It's not because that I couldn't put wasabe on it that I don't like it but ramen just tastes too umami. I can't tolerate too much of the umami taste. I don't know if it's just Ramen Sora's but their ramen brimmed with so much Monosodium glutamate. I love how it has this unique sweet taste and a pinch of spice but the vetsin flavor is just overwhelming to me.

It's not Ramen Sora's fault. It's just that perhaps, ramen and I are never compatible together. How sad.

Still, ramen is tasteful. I could finish my bowl of it unlike that famous Chinese soup in Eng Bee Tin.

Ramen Sora's gyoza came with wasabe so by default, I love it! I love the crispiness of the seaweed and starch breading. It was fried perfectly. Or perhaps, that was only because it was newly cooked. Well, expensive restaurants always cook fresh.

For a drink, my buddy ordered her "dry" Asahi. You can buy it cheap at any SM Hypermarket btw.

Ramen is not my only first for this food trip, I also had my first taste of sake (酒) which didn't feel like a first. Sake is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice but is considered all over the world as a white wine. It definitely tastes like your usual white wine midway between Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.

Despite my dismay on ramen overall, I love my experience eating in Ramen Sora. The next time I'll be eating in this restaurant, I'll be ordering tons of their sushi because I love their gyoza.

Cheers to my buddy,