There’s very little opportunity for me to do any cooking, so I enjoy ‘interactive food’ whenever I can — think shabu shabu or cha nuong (Vietnamese rice-paper rolls). Or better yet, Wagyu yakiniku!
At Tsuru Japanese Restaurant’s branch in Damosa Gateway, they have several tables that are installed with iron grillers, perfect for yakiniku — Wagyu, Australian short rib, and ox tongue. Even scallops! I’m no connoisseur of Wagyu (和牛, lit.: Japanese beef), but I could tell that what Tsuru serves is high-grade beef that melts in your mouth and leaves you in a heavenly state of being.
I’m watching my diet, though, so what I appreciated more was actually the US Angus Short Ribs yakiniku. It’s meatier and has a more down-to-earth flavor that agrees with me. Both types of yakiniku are priced the same at Tsuru: ₱448/100g.
The marinated beef slices are served bite-sized and ready to cook. I recommend simply searing the meat on both sides, to leave the inside fresh and tasty — overcooking it will ruin the experience, trust me. And don’t overdo the dips either. Prime-cut beef has subtle flavors that you’ll lose if you put too much sauce.
I had lunch today at Tsuru in Damosa Gateway with my long-time friend, Christian (who took these photos for me), and his fiancée, Bhambee. (The main restaurant doesn’t have yakiniku grillers, but they do have two misono tables over there.) Besides the yakiniku, we also had sushi, sashimi and tenpura. Tsuru has always been known for excellent tenpura, by the way — my Japanese friends once told me it’s the closest to Japan-made tenpura that they’ve had.
- Appetizer
- Special Sashimi
- Onigiri Umeboshi
- Uni Sushi
- Karai Maguro Sushi
- Meno Age Tenpura
- US Short Ribs
- Ox Tongue Yakiniku
- Wagyu Yakiniku
- Wagyu Yakiniku
- Yakiniku
- Green Tea Ice Cream
- Scallops Yakiniku
- Banana Bonsai
- Maru a.k.a. Blogie
To round off the meal, each of us had ice cream! Christian and I sampled their green tea ice cream, which is homemade, and Bhambee had the Banana Bonsai. The latter is a concoction of chocolate ice cream with churros and banana tenpura.

























This looks great Blogs!! take us there!!
@xtian – dude the DOF is too shallow hehehe
Yes boss, we’ll dine there when you and the wife are back in town.
hehehe… kamo gyud mga photogs, mga himantayon!
Othef ingana lang jud na kashallow kay close up adapter gi gamit sa 35mm
DULOM pud kaayo didto haha Iso2500 na ko naka palo ghapon ug 1/15 ang shutter hehehe
At that point, wa na ko sa mood mag pic kay gipang gutom na hahaha hastang lamia jud!
This is f*ck*ng Bullshit! Why wasn’t I invited?@#$ nomnomnoming on my hand right now…….
Oops sorry… hehehe
So, ive been there 6-7 weeks ago,a dn tried to email them, but the email at there website didnt work. So im trying my luck here
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I ate at your restaurant about 6-7 weeks ago, and was very dissapointed.
I was there with 3 other friends, and i order sushi, and some noodle-soup for around 1000 peso total.The Noodle-soup was good, but, the sushi was horrible,
The fish-meat looked old, and tasted old. It was like it had been laying done for hours, waiting for customers to come. It wasnt fresh at all. (We came at around 8pm, on a saturday). Ive had excellent Sushi at Abreeza, and at Marco Polo Hotel before here in Davao City.
How can you serve that kind of sushi? On your images on your website, the sushi looks flawless, but in reality its really poor.
Hello Toby. I’ll pass your message along to the owners. Merry Christmas!