The Chefs Behind
Manila's Omakase Counters

Chef Nakamura Mitsuru grew up in Sapporo watching his father fish the cold waters of Hokkaido — an origin that defines his obsessive focus on cold-water species and seasonal peaks. After graduating from the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, he spent four years at the counter of Saito in Nishi-Azabu, one of Tokyo's most demanding omakase kitchens, before a further three years at the venerable Kyubey in Ginza.

His arrival in Manila eight years ago was, by his own account, an accident. "A friend dragged me here for two weeks," he recalls. "I saw how serious the Japanese restaurant community was becoming, and I never left." The opening of Mitsuru Omakase in BGC established what many critics regard as the city's most technically uncompromising counter.

Nakamura's approach is pure Edomae — no fusion, no Philippine ingredients inserted for novelty. Every piece reflects the disciplines he absorbed in Tokyo: correct seasoning, the precise moment to serve, the silent conversation between a piece of fish and the diner.