Out with the old, in with the new (restaurant)

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SHINGENDORI Chicken Ibushiyaki with Homemade Yuzu Kosho.

ONCE hailed as one of the best restaurants in Manila, the defunct Inagiku in the Makati Shangri-La has been missed since the hotel’s reopening in 2023, after a two-year pandemic break. In its place is a new venture, Shido — meaning “starting in motion” in Japanese.

During a tasting on June 24, we were taken around the restaurant’s different stations, all surrounding a main dining hall. There’s the Robatayaki station offering char-grilled meats and treats; the bar, with over 30 sakes; a sushi bar; and a teppanyaki station.

The Robatayaki station offered a Tsukune Chicken Ball with Shredded Cheese, then a Shingendori Chicken Ibushiyaki (char-grilled chicken, essentially) with homemade Yuzu Kosho (a citrusy sauce). Both showed excellent smoky flavors with added tang. The sushi bar offered up Bluefin Tuna Toro Temari Sushi. We watched each roll rolled by hand into a ball, the fatty fish later melting in our mouth. They also gave us some hamachi (yellowtail) which had a stronger flavor, but managed to keep its delicacy. The Teppanyaki station gave us grilled Tamago Tofu with tomato salsa; gentler than any of the other offerings that evening.

At the main dining room, we were served a Chilean Seabass Saikyo Yaki (a dish which marinates meat or fish in a mild-tasting white miso paste): the fish’s flesh was sweet, and the sauce even more so (in a good way). Oumi A5 Beef was served tempura-style accompanied by a beef bone sauce, and, despite the thin crispy shell, it showed the prized beef in all its tender, indulgent glory (we didn’t think it would work). The savories ended with a delicate Abalone porridge, with a silky texture and an excellent contrasting bite of abalone: the dish was very elegant, refined, and restrained.

Jonathan Reynolds, general manager of the Makati Shangri-La, talked about the switch from old to new; from Inagiku to Shido in an interview. “I think it terrifically boring if we just reopened the doors. That shows a lack of attention and creativity.” Planning this change took almost a year: seen in an artwork with 329 matcha whisks mounted on a sea of green, one whisk for every day that they were planning before opening just about a month ago.

“First and foremost, we wanted to make sure that we still had relevance,” he said, estimating that there are about 1,000 Japanese restaurants in Manila. “For us, we needed to make sure that we could find our place,” he said.

He told us that the menu can change depending on when we visit (he told us to come back in six weeks’ time). That isn’t human caprice: it’s respect for Japan’s seasons, from where they source a large chunk of their ingredients. “We’re led by what’s good on that day, what’s good on this week.” Of course, just in case, that something good can come from somewhere closer (he says they source some vegetables from Baguio, or use local fish — depending on their quality).

That’s due to the Japanese relationship with ingredients. While some cuisines can make up for deficiencies with heavy spices and thick sauces and such, the delicate nature of Japanese cuisine prevents that. Mr. Reynolds pointed out, “The ingredients are absolutely essential. Their interaction with them is far less aggressive.”

Shido is at the second level of the Makati Shangri-La, and open daily for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) and dinner (6 to 10:30 p.m.). — Joseph L. Garcia