By Magnolia Silvestre
THE (raw) fish, in all its variegated preparations as sashimi, sushi and tiradito, is so fresh it’s crisp. You’d be hard-pressed to get this type of next-level quality anywhere else, so it’s only natural that you make an immediate beeline for the sushi/sashimi counter if you find yourself at the often talked-about Nobu Sunday Brunch Buffet. The sushi bar, as you would gleefully suspect, is the largest section, and you don’t need to make decisions, you just put it all in your plate.
What makes it a uniquely Nobu sushi bar are the flavored sashimi and the tiradito, a form of Peruvian crudo or ceviche. Philippine cuisine is pretty used to kinilaw, a raw-fish dish already populated with chilis and ginger and onions, that embracing the tiradito is second nature. If you eat nothing else at the sushi bar, you must have the yellowtail with jalapeño or, in this case, the Philippine finger chili. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa himself has listed his hamachi with jalapeño as one of the dishes that made his career. You can imagine how, at the time, this was a no-no in traditional Japanese cuisine, because they already have wasabi. The Tuna Tataki in Cilantro Sauce is another signature creation. I greatly enjoyed the salads, especially the kelp, and I’m sure the Crispy Salmon Skin Salad will be to everyone’s liking because of the crunch.
Nobu’s signature is marrying traditional Japanese dishes with nontraditional ingredients, especially since he found himself in Peru, so when they sold the concept of a Nobu restaurant to the United States, he came to be known for “Southwest” flavors. The name Nobu conjures all sorts of expectations about quality, and they fulfill this.
When it comes to handling fresh fish, everything is about timing, and the pacing to which they consistently parse out the fish dishes already marinating in a host of flavors is something they’ve already mastered. This is Nobu, after all, and they have a reputation to maintain. Everything has to be prepared à la minute, and this is where all their dishes shine. Nothing is left to congeal, so to speak.
I’ve waxed rhapsodic about the quality of the raw-fish dishes, but the cooked dishes are no slouch either, and they occupy three stations: One features the Baked Tasmanian Ocean Trout paired with XO fried rice (cooked in a Teppan). This is a large fish that stands up well to the seasoning, and the combo is a delight. The other is the Yakitori station, where you can choose all manner of green onion, shiitake, squid, chicken skin and beef, etc.
The main cooked-food section features another Nobu signature, the Seabass Jalapeño, a delicate fish not often paired with chili, but this was perfectly done. Other notable dishes in that section are the Okinawan Shoyu Pork, Okonomiyaki, Short Ribs with Gochujang and the fried chicken, which I did not really have the space for, but was informed by another diner that its crispness is probably due to a rice-flour coating.
In this world of indiscriminate buffet piles, I (and an increasing number of diners) prefer well-curated buffets, and you will not see a more well-chosen group than the Nobu Breakfast Brunch. (My mind keeps shortening it to the “Nobuffet,” which is ironic, because there’s lot to be had, and they are all excellent.) You can’t find this much variety of fish anywhere else, all perfectly cooked.
It must be said that good-quality fish dishes are harder to come by than steaks, although if you want steak, the brunch has got your number with good-caliber Wagyu.
“Nobu doesn’t really do buffets, but we do events,” says Kenny Hernandez, Nobu restaurant manager. “So this breakfast brunch should be along those lines, it follows the protocol of a buffet.” Hernandez knows the brand inside out, since he has been with Nobu since he began as a busboy 16 years ago. The Philippines is his first assignment outside the US, and his most important question, “Does it ever get cold here?” to much laughter.
Brunch is never complete without your requisite Mimosa, and they go one further with Möet et Chandon Champagne (You can opt for the brunch buffet minus the champagne, and still get a host of other drink options for P2,880+, which is practically half the cost of the one with champagne), along with wine and cocktails. The dessert buffet features their in-house ice-cream traditional Japanese flavors of matcha and adzuki (red bean), and a selection of cakes and pastries. The most intriguing one is this marble-sized frozen chocolate sphere, which bursts as soon as your tongue hits it.
Nobu’s Sunday Brunch buffet is where you’ll go for the fish, but stay for the rest.
Nobu is at at the Nobu Hotel, City of Dreams Manila, Entertainment City.