Watami (and The Bistro Group) jazz things up

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PORK CUTLET with refilable cabbage, rice and miso soup.

SALMON TACO ABURI

WHEN WE visited Watami at S Maison for a tasting on Feb. 27, there wasn’t anything that we haven’t tried before — we already liked the ramen, and the non-traditional sushi (California rolls and dragon rolls are on the menu), and the tonkatsu. What they were introducing was a new way of presenting things.

“We have not changed our core classics. What we did with some of these dishes — because they’re also bestsellers — is we just elevated the way we present it,” said Lisa Ronquillo-Along, The Bistro Group’s chief marketing officer, of the dishes at the Japanese-Casual franchise from Japan. Watami has over 700 branches in the Asia-Pacific region, while in the Philippines, according to Ms. Ronquillo-Along’s count, they have over 20 branches nationwide.

“That’s how they experience food. It’s not just the taste, but the look,” she said.

This is in keeping with a new policy to polish their dining spaces (we heard the same explanation at two other Bistro Group offerings). That ties up with the younger millennial and Gen Z predilection for documenting their dining experiences and posting it on social media.

“There’s been a dilution of the segment. We see the younger age group, they are very strong in the dining segment scene.” She pointed at a change in this segment’s behavior: they no longer scrimp on dining out. “Now, the food experience is important to them,” she said. “We don’t want us to be not relevant to this market.”

Still, Watami’s Japanese chef Masaaki Ishikawa said that they’re still concentrating on taste. While there weren’t too many new things to try (save perhaps for seeing sushi served on a miniature staircase), they’re planning to execute seasonal and quarterly items to match with Japan’s four seasons.

He’s also proud of one particular item: “Please check the ramen broth. Our broth is very good,” he said. The broth, according to him, had to be simmered for 20 hours (equivalent to two working days). That imparts a lot of bone-derived gelatin and collagen into the soup: “Very creamy.”

NEW DIGS
Ms. Ronquillo-Along talked about The Bistro Group’s expansion plans, saying “We’ve been aggressive since 2022.” They’re laying out bigger plans to expand outside Metro Manila, with locations in Iloilo, La Union, and Bacolod. They’re prioritizing their older brands first (TGI Friday’s for example, which has been here since the 1990s). In total, they’re targeting to open a minimum of 30 restaurants nationwide this year (with a possible maximum of 50, should conditions turn well).

Moreover, they’re exploring new directions in opening standalone restaurants, not within malls. “We’re going outside our comfort zone, the mall,” she said. Though “’yun pa rin naman ang strength (that’s still our strength).”

“People now are not limited to impulse dining,” she said, meaning people no longer eat at whatever happens to be there; but make a conscious decision on where to eat. “It’s easier for them to go,” she added, meaning bypassing mall parking and all other inconveniences. “You’re not confined with high mall rents also.

“We shouldn’t close our doors on that opportunity,” she said. — Joseph L. Garcia