Spices: Osaka Ohsho

Earlier this year when we visited the newly constructed fashion hall of SM Megamall, there were only a few restaurants that were open and one of them was Osaka Ohsho. Seeing their signage that they serve the World's Number 1 Gyoza, we decided to give it a try on their soft opening.

While ordering, the server insisted we tried out the Fresh Mango Yakult drink, it's supposed to be the house specialty. The drink didn't taste of fresh mangoes but tasted like a mango puree variety that was mixed with ice and water. The juice tasted too sweet plus the drink didn't taste of Yakult.

Fresh Mango Yajult - Php125

Just like with other Japanese restos that have been opening, they offer set meals to the diners. Sets includes a main dish, fruit plate, miso soup, 3 pieces gyoza and unlimited Koshihikari rice. The first set that we got to try was the Salmon Teriyaki. The slice of salmon that was doused with teriyaki sauce was glistening, it looked really appetizing. Too bad that the salmon was overcooked cause the sauce was rich and really tasty.

Salmon Teriyaki Set - Php550

The next set we tried was the Beef Sukiyaki. The only notable thing about the dish are the tender beef slices. The broth was too sweet for our taste and it  needed more of the umami flavor.

Beef Sukiyaki Set - Php375

The last set that was served was the Chicken Karaage. I expected the fried chicken bites to be crunchy but it wasn't, the breading was actually more  mushy than crispy. It was drowned with too much sauce/broth plus the whole egg that was cooked on top added to the soggy texture of the chicken. The broth was also too salty, the whole dish seems to be in dire need of a tune up.

Chicken Karaage Toji Set - Php375

Now for the main reason why we dined here, we each had three pieces of gyoza in our respective sets. Right off the bat, one thing was noticeable, the doneness of the bottom of the gyoza looked different from one another. The one with the darkest hue had the crunch that we expected, the medium hue had a little crunch while the one with the lightest hue didn't have any crunch at all. There seem to be a problem with the consistency of cooking the dumplings. Moreover, I found the filling too dry. We initially wanted to try out and order more types of gyoza the resto offers but after trying out a few pieces we were glad that we didn't.

Surprisingly the one thing that I enjoyed was the Koshihikari Rice. I'm not much of a rice eater but the Koshihikari was very aromatic and it had a sweet, nutty and grassy flavor to it.

Koshihikari Rice

After a couple of months of dining here, I started to hear and read people saying how good the Gyoza is. The ones we tried weren't, I had better tasting Gyoza in other Japanese restaurants which was really not their main selling point. It made me wonder if should cut them some slack since we dined here during their soft opening. I guess there's no way to find out until I dine here again but as of the moment I strongly disagree with their claim with serving the world's number one Gyoza.

Osaka Ohsho
Address: 3rd Floor, Fashion Hall, SM Megamall
Cell. No: 0917 - 8285011 
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/OsakaOhshoPH/