My favorite Japanese food at Menya Noodle & Bento Bar, Greenhills

Japanese cuisine has two main draws for me: ramen and katsu bento. Whenever I’m dining at a Japanese restaurant, I order either of those two staples.

Imagine my delight when I discovered a new Japanese place that specializes in my two favorite dishes.

Menya Noodle & Bento Bar is a newly opened Japanese eatery in the Promenade Foodcourt in Greenhills Shopping Center.

While the resto’s name which translates to “noodle house” (men for “noodle” and ya for “house”) proclaims its specialty in noodles, the owners also recognize the Pinoy preference for rice meals, hence the development of the noodle and bento bar concept.

Its bar area has a direct view to the open kitchen so that diners can watch the resto’s ramen and bento masters at work. Its interiors have an Asian minimalist aesthetic with both light and dark wood serving as design and architectural elements. While its actual seating area is limited, diners can just order their preferred dishes and have them served at the food court area.

During a Zomato Foodie Meet-up recently held here, my fellow foodies and I were able to sample the appetizing dishes that Menya has to offer. These include:

Ramen

Menya Tonkotsu Ramen (Php290)

My favorite among all ramen variants, it has a very flavorful 10-hour pork bone broth (developed with the help of a team of Japanese chefs), Menya’s signature noodles and thick yet tender slices of pork chashu.

Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen (Php290)

The Menya Tonkotsu Ramen made even more flavorful and garlicky with the addition of black garlic oil and garlic chips.

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen (Php290)

The Menya Tonkotsu Ramen modified to appeal to the more gastronomically adventurous having a red spicy broth and red chili paste.

Abura Soba (Php320)

The name translates to “oil noodles.” Since this noodle dish is soupless, much of the flavor resides in Menya’s signature noodles, accompanied by chashu pork belly slices in a premium sesame oil sauce.

Tsukumen (Php310)

A new experience in ramen wherein Menya’s signature noodles are not served within the10-hour pork bone broth but are to be dipped into it. It comes with a tender chashu pork belly slice on the side.

Bento Meals (Php290 each)

All of Menya’s bento meals include fresh salad and Japanese rice which is stickier and more suited in taste and texture to Japanese dishes.

Pork Tonkatsu Bento

Chicken Teriyaki Bento

Chicken Karaage Bento

Sides

It’s hard to fathom how you can still be unsated with your ramen or bento meal but, just in case, you can also order side dishes. They add a change in flavor or texture to the meal or serve as an addtional viand.

Gyoza (Php130)

Chicken Nan Ban (Php170)

Chicken Karaage (Php150)

Chashu Bun (Php130)

The dishes served were all flavorful and the portions were sizeable, well worth their price tags.

I can see myself dropping by this Menya store to treat myself to a bowl or Tonkotsu Ramen or a Tonkatsu Bento after a bout of shopping or right before a movie date.

Menya Noodle and Bento Bar is located at the Food Court, Ground Floor, Promenade, Greenhills Shopping Center, Greenhills, San Juan. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 2 55 1288. It is open daily from 10am to 9pm.

Menya delivers!

If you’re craving for some noodles or bento meals but don’t have the time to drop by the store in Greenhills, here’s some good news. You can opt to have your Menya orders delivered via Honestbee.

Care is taken to preserve the freshness and texture of the ramen, in particular. The soup is placed in a microwaveable container so you can reheat it as soon as it arrives at your home or office. The noodles and toppings are placed in a special cornstarch-based packaging (which is good for the environment). You can just drop these on your heated ramen broth and your ramen is ready to eat!

Download the HonestBee app through this link and get Php500 off purchases of Php2,500 or more.

Disclosure: Together with other Zomato foodies, I was invited to attend a foodie meet-up held in this restaurant. All the food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Check out my reviews of other Japanese restaurants: