Disclosure: Before I begin with this blog post, let me state the fact that this is a sponsored post which means we got the dishes for free.
Genji-M - an Emerging Asian Fusion Eat-All-You-Can Place
A Brief Background about the Restaurant
Genji-M, wherein the letter M stands for either Manila or Makati, is a
Japanese-Korean fusion restaurant that opened in October 2013. Initially, the restaurant targeted Koreans, Japanese and Chinese foodies; however, Genji-M envisioned to expand further, and so it is now widening its horizon by tapping Filipino foodies.
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| The pleasant and inviting interior of Genji-M in Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City |
A Big Revamp to cater to the Filipino foodies
Genji-M just introduced fresh new menus including the Eat-All-You-Can packages (which you will learn more about later) to meet Filipino customers' taste and expectations.
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| Dining the Japanese or Korean way in Genji-M restaurant |
Business with a humble Ambition
Mr. Sam Lee, the owner of Genji-M and also a Corporate Social Responsibility consultant in China, has a humble dream of making the business venture expand, so that he can open up a next branch wherein handicapped people (i.e. Wheel-Chaired Handicap) will be the one making the sushi, rolls and sashimis! This means dining here makes that dream a step closer to becoming reality.
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| Bright and Japanese-inspired interior of Genji-M |
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| The busy chefs preparing the sushi, rolls and sashimis |
The photo below shows Mr. Park, the sushi master in Genji-M, getting ready to make our sushi and rolls! He has been in the restaurant business for more than fifteen (15) years already and has introduced variety of new menus such as fusion makis, rolls, and sushi!
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| Mr. Park, Sushi Master of Genji-M in Makati |
Now that you already gained sufficient information about Genji-M, let's start exploring the food!
Eat-All-You-Can/Buffet Prices (updated as of 5/27/14):
- Unlimited Sushi and Rolls || P499 - indulge yourself with the 20 different varieties of sushis and more than 10 varieties of rolls!
Some of the highlights for the sushi and rolls include: Fatty salmon, octopus, squid, samgyupsal, bulgogi, baked tofu and a whole lot more!
- Unlimited Sashimi, Sushi and Rolls || P799 - this includes the one listed above plus some fresh sashimi such as tuna, salmon, tuna belly, octopus, cuttlefish and lapu-lapu!
- Unlimited Premium Sashimi || P1499 - includes the Unlimited Sashimi, Sushi and Rolls plus Tuna Seafood Shabu-shabu
To prepare your tummy with the feast you will indulge in, Genji-M offers free sides such as this salad in sesame dressing!
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| Fresh salad sides with sesame dressing |
The salad is just light on the taste buds, so it is really a good appetizer! The dressing has an almost similar taste with that of the dressing in a famous katsu place, which I found really appealing.
Now, here's something amazing - the
Korean Kimchi!
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| The free kimchi that comes along with the buffet - tasted pretty much Korean! |
Normally, I avoid eating kimchi because of the strange overpowering taste. However, this one is an ultimate exception with its sweet and spicy flavor that really energized my taste buds!
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| The amazing persons behind the maki and rolls of Genji-M |
As mentioned, there are a lot of varieties to choose from, and I will share some of the ones we had during our feasty dining experience. I will make the photos do the talking.
Actually, I am just using that as an excuse, since I honestly find it too difficult to differentiate the taste of sushi, sashimi and rolls across restaurants, but the good thing is my reliable taste buds know when it is great or not.
California Big Maki and Egg Maki
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| California Maki and Egg Maki - delightfully good! |
Kimchi Maki
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| More maki plus the Genji-M innovation - Kimchi Maki |
Amazing Tuna Rolls
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| Quite a supply of Tuna Rolls in Genji-M Restaurant |
Sashimi Platter of Genji-M
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| The incredible sashimi platter - tuna, salmon, squid, octopus and lapu-lapu |
I found the sashimi platter fascinating not only because of the photogenic plating but also because of the variety of sashimi on it namely the tuna, tuna belly, salmon, squid, octopus meat and lapu-lapu!
Samgyupsal Sushi, Egg Rolls, Baked Tofu Sushi, Salmon Rolls, Tuna Rolls and more!
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| Assorted sushi and rolls platter of Genji-M |
Ooh, I found two of these sushi and rolls amazing, and these are the Samgyupsal Sushi and Baked Tofu Sushi! I really recommend these two because they are considerably unique. What I love about the Samgyupsal Sushi is that it has my two favorites - samgyupsal pork and sushi!
As for the Baked Tofu, it was really good! It had a sweet savory taste that I really found quite enjoyable.
Korean Soju and Chum Churum
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| Korean Soju and Chum Churum in Genji-M |
Wow! It was my first time to try a Korean Soju here in this restaurant, and it was really "
something". I just had a sip because I have low alcohol tolerance, but I really enjoyed having it! My sister told me that this drink is a 'traitor', since it may seem at first that it's not hitting you, until it hits you.
Get it?
Also, I didn't know that soju came from fermented sweet potatoes!
Now, that's amazing!
Fatty Salmon Sushi
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| Fatty Salmon Sushi - get it with the Unlimited Sushi and Rolls |
Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between a fatty salmon and a regular salmon, but anyway since this one is prepared differently, there is a distinction when it comes to the taste. As seen in the photo, the salmon is lightly torched and garnished with a dab of Japanese mayo on top - this produced a smokey flavor that is really tricky on the buds, in a good way.
Salmon Sushi
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| Eat-All-You-Want Salmon Sushi - yum! |
Crab Stick Sushi
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| Crab Stick Sushi - simple yet unlimited pleasures |
Hmmmm, just your regular crab stick sushi! Nothing really caught my attention with this one.
Bulgogi Sushi 
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| The sweet Bulgogi Sushi with a tang from the wasabi paste |
I went really crazy with the Bulgogi Sushi of Genji-M, since it was my first time to try something like this. It had this sweet taste with a dash of spiciness from the wasabi that blends well together. I'm sure this will appeal to the Filipino taste!
Want something familiar yet somehow new? Well, check out the Spam Sushi in the restaurant!
The adorable Spam Sushi in Genji-M Restaurant
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| The interesting Spam Sushi - only here in Genji-M |
The torching of the Spam gives the meat a smokey flavor that creates a variation from that familiar taste of Spam. I couldn't believe how well it paired up with the nori, wasabi and rice!
Genji-M in a Nutshell
Trying to be objective despite getting all of these free, I think Genji-M is really a highly recommended place because of the great variety and innovations here! Admittedly, some of the sushi and rolls were just above satisfactory, but a lot were really interesting and new, which makes this really a good place to explore exciting Japanese-Korean sashimi, sushi and rolls!
Your rating:
Genji-M Restaurant *CLOSED*
Location: Kalayaan & Makati Ave. Next to St. Giles Hotel (in front of Metrobank)
Contact No.: (02) 804-2883
Operating Hours:
Monday to Friday 11:00 AM – 10 PM
Saturday and Sunday 11:30 AM – 10 PM
Service Charge: 10%
UNLIMITED SUSHI!!!
ReplyDeleteDont you think its expensive? 699 for sashimi and sushi when yakimix and others alike offers more variety?
ReplyDeleteYes! I actually agree with you! I don't think the unli sashimi is worth it, but the sushi buffet is just fine, in my opinion. Thanks for the insights! :)
ReplyDeleteYup yup! So awesome!
ReplyDeletewalking distance, unli-sushi. see you this weekend:)) thanks for the tip:))
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely welcome Bernard! Let mw know what you think of the place. :)
ReplyDeleteひどいです！
ReplyDeleteCURSE YOU NOT-SO-POPULAR KID
CURSE YOU!
*grumbling stomach*
I want to save... but this is tempting me to death!
8/10 for the review. I have to go there first to make sure this review is 10/10
But the atmosphere you can get, when inside the place, is definitely like not extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteExpensive? Yes
But the place? Nice and awesome.
I bet Renz would definitely agree.
I just hope when there is a Chinese/Japanese/Korean event the would make the place foreign like.
Example: Tanabata. In which they would let customers put "Paper Strips" on bamboo(fake or not).
That Paper Strips idea is definitely brilliant! Thanks for the comment croosboy!
ReplyDeleteHahahaha! It was a first for me to see a lot of sushi variety! Thanks for the comment my friend! And what does the Japanese Symbols mean? :)
ReplyDeleteJust make sure its Tanabata.
ReplyDeleteI'll be spreading this page across the world for this site so be prepared for traffic.
ReplyDeleteMahal ang "ambiance". Sino nag order ng "ambiance" na yan? :D
ReplyDeleteHaha! Oo nga eh, kaya lang mandatory raw na kasama sa order. Haha! :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow! That will really be awesome! Thank you very much Croosboy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the informative article, will try out this resto if I do get the chance.
ReplyDeleteone thing though. You might want to fix the White Balance of your photos, tend to go in the more yellow tones, a fix on the AutoColor function of PS would do the trick :)
More power sir!
You're welcome Roland! Thanks for the suggestion! Although I like my photos to be warm, they do seem to be pretty warm here. Will be keeping this in mind for my future photos. Thanks again! :)
ReplyDeleteI tried getting a table at around 8pm earlier tonight (Saturday). Saw a group of about 4-5 people enter ahead of me... The guard who greeted me at the parking asked if I had a reservation, and when I said "No" he directed me to the front table. I walked in, and the restaurant hardly looks and feels like a busy place. Turns out the person who is in charge of reservations is ALSO the cashier, which meant a wait-time after she processed payments. The group of 4-5 pax in front of me looked disappointed, and after less than 5 minutes of waiting, they all walked out.
ReplyDeleteWhen the cashier was done, the first thing she asked me was "Ma'm, ano po ba o-orderin ninyo?" Huh? I had JUST stepped in the restaurant, and she expects me to already know my order? I felt pressured to blurt out something, so I replied, "Buffet sana, depende kung anong gusto ng mga kasama ko." And she says that they've already ran out of salmon sashimi, in case I wanted the sashimi buffet. I asked, "Wala bang ibang sashimi aside from salmon?" She hesitatingly replies, "Ah... meron pong tuna...pero..." Ok, the LOOK on her face made me feel like she was hesitant to even allow our group to dine in. Take note, it was only 8PM!! I just waved her away and said, "Never mind, thank you nalang..." and walked out.
This resto invites bloggers to write about their offering. It turns out the service upon arrival is already a MAJOR LET DOWN. UTTERLY DISAPPOINTING.
Oh shucks! I'm very sorry to hear that. I wasn't expecting something like this to happen because service seemed nice when we were there, but it was probably because we (i.e. the invited bloggers) were the ones mostly in the restaurant.
ReplyDeleteClearly, they weren't able to anticipate the demand, so the supply must have run out. Thank you Rezza for sharing this experience because it will add a fully non-partial view regarding the resto.I guess this is something to consider before they check out the place. Thanks again!
It's actually very cheap. In the more authentic joints in the metro e.g. Little Tokyo in Makati, a single dish of sashimi alone racks up 280-300, so I assume that this restaurant isn't aiming to cater to foodies who are looking for authetic Japanese/Korean cuisine.
ReplyDeletethere are so many bad reviews about this place, posted on their FB page. would the food be worth risking the kunsumi i might encounter?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/GenjiM
Hello there Joyski! The owner of Genji M emailed us bloggers to let customers know that they are still adapting to the sudden influx of people. Hence, they can't keep up with the demand as of now. I suggest that you wait 2 weeks before trying this place out. :)
ReplyDeletehow is the parking situation?
ReplyDeleteThere are about 4-5 parking slots in Genji-M, but I don't hear people complaining about it. Do update us if you would encounter any problems. :)
ReplyDelete