A mixed bag: great meat and cocktails make up for low notes  

UMA NOTA MANILA displays multicultural glamor and lots of visual appeal, occupying a very interesting space at the lower ground floor of Shangri-La at the Fort (the entrance is at street level; we had to go downstairs, very exciting).

Still, we found the appetizers mushy. When we sat down to dinner and drinks during  a tasting on Feb. 16, the Coxinhas de Frango (chicken and okra croquettes with chili sauce) and the Dadinhos de Tapioca (Brazilian tapioca and cheese dice with sweet chili sauce) left us feeling a bit old as we chewed and chewed, unfortunate in the surrounding South American mid-century glamor-infused interiors designed by Asmaa Said, founder of The Odd Duck Studio in Dubai.

Never mind, we had other courses to consume: we really liked the Tataki de Carne de Sol, lightly cured beef tenderloin with smoked ponzu sauce, black garlic mayonnaise, and crispy shallots. That was a lovely balancing act between lacy, delicate textures and bold flavors. That’s not something we could say for the forgettable asparagus and avocado roll, nor for the Salmon Roll with cucumber, wasabi cream cheese, avocado, sweet soy, and salmon roe (which if we’re being perfectly honest, tasted like it came from the American Midwest).

Beef, however, is definitely a draw here, and we look back with delight at the A4 Kumo-Oh Japanese Wagyu Striploin. Perfectly tender and perfectly juicy, all 180 grams of it was consumed with a smile (especially when we realized that it cost P8,500, according to the menu outside).

The dessert with roasted pineapple and coconut ice cream made us think how well the roasted pineapple would have matched with a savory dish.

In keeping with the visual spectacle that comes with the real estate, the Matcha Layer Cake with Hokkaido Milk ice cream was stunning, veiled as it was in a thick cloud of cotton candy, which the server torches away. We stared long and hard at the tiny cake, thinking about the size of the cloud that had earlier enveloped it. We think about the origins of the word “glamor,” which we use profusely in this article: it had originated as the word for a witch’s disguise of beauty, until it had become associated with the spurious beauty itself.

As for the cocktails: well, that’s definitely a bright spot. We had the Red Flag, with Arette tequila, Mancino Rosso Amaranto, Mezcal Durango, and raspberry chili syrup; the glass rimmed in spicy togarashi. This drink tasted devilishly delicious, and if you drink too much of it, you’ll probably turn into a red flag yourself.

Uma Nota Manila is the third in the chain, with its two other locations in Paris and Hong Kong (we told you it was glamorous). Co-founder Alexis Offe, who had grown up in Hong Kong, told us that he started the concept in 2017 after a trip to Brazil (which their executive chef Gustavo Vargas calls home). Uma Nota is supposed to serve Japanese-Brazilian cuisine, a cuisine born from the huge Japanese migrant population there.

There are a lot of chance encounters in this story: their Managing Partner in the Philippines, Michael Needham, said that he came across the restaurant after dining at a highly recommended Mediterranean place also owned by Mr. Offe, only for Mr. Offe’s father, a former chef who happened to be in his son’s restaurant, told him to check out his son’s other place. As a multicultural individual himself (of mixed parentage and a life spread across four countries), the concept appealed to Mr. Needham: “I was always fascinated, and I just loved this idea that it’s not fusion… it’s subculture cuisine.”

As for opening in the Philippines, Mr. Offe said, “The more time passed, the more I wanted to approach emerging cities and markets, more than the bigger cities. There are a lot more opportunities, it’s a very exciting city in a very exciting region.

“There’s a big interest in Japanese cuisine; there’s a big interest and similarity in terms of what Filipinos love to eat, and what Brazilians like to eat.”

Uma Nota Manila is in Shangri-La at the Fort in Bonifacio Global City, and is open from Sunday to Tuesday at 6 p.m. to midnight for dinner, while the bar hops from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. from Sunday to Tuesday, and from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Wednesday to Saturday. — Joseph L. Garcia