Japanese restaurants in BGC, from omakase to ₱190 yakitori

Omakase and counters

Omakase means "I leave it up to you": the chef decides what you eat, usually at a counter. For the full city list with prices, see our guide to Omakase in Manila.

Iai is chef Bruce Ricketts' sushi kappo restaurant on the ground floor of The Montane, across from the Grand Hyatt. The sushi omakase is served at a ten-seat acacia counter: four or five seasonal small plates, six or seven pieces of nigiri, a meat course and dessert. A shorter kappo menu of seven courses without sushi is served at two tables and in a private room for four to nine. It is MICHELIN Selected for 2026, and the room is quiet enough that guests are asked not to wear perfume. G/F The Montane, 8th Avenue corner 35th Street, BGC. ₱₱₱₱. Wednesday to Sunday, 6pm to 10pm, with sushi seatings at 6pm and 8:30pm. Sushi omakase ₱8,900 and kappo omakase ₱5,800, VAT included, plus 10% service (iaimanila.com, October 2026). Good to know: book only through the website, with a 50% down payment per seat, and cancel at least 48 hours ahead. There is limited pay parking at The Montane, or park at the Grand Hyatt.

Kei is a 24-seat hand roll counter from the Wildflour group at Verve Residences, run by chef Kei Takahashi. He toasts the nori over a clay charcoal grill, fills it to order and hands it across, to be eaten whole, not cut. There is no set omakase, so you order as you go, and a counter lunch here costs far less than the rooms around it. It is MICHELIN Selected for 2026. GF Verve Residences Tower 1, 26th Street corner 7th Avenue, BGC. ₱₱. Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm; Sunday 11am to 3pm and 4pm to 9pm; closed Monday. Tip: call 0917 158 3614 for a seat at the bar, and come at weekday lunch when it is easier to get one.

Sakagura is the Nikkei Group's sake bar and izakaya on the second floor of One Bonifacio High Street. A long counter runs under more than 50 premium sakes, and the kitchen works through sushi, sashimi, hand rolls and robatayaki with fish flown in from Japan. Order the chef's choice nigiri, six pieces for ₱1,495, and let the staff pick a sake. It is the Japanese answer if you are on High Street. 2nd Floor, One Bonifacio High Street Mall, 28th Street corner 5th Avenue, BGC. ₱₱₱. Monday to Thursday 12pm to 10pm; Friday and Saturday 11am to 11pm; Sunday 11am to 10pm. Good to know: book on 0956 029 4791, and ask about the omakase and the sake of the month, which change in price.

Until 14 November 2026 there is also a short sushi run at the Grand Hyatt: Tokyo-trained chef Yuki Anzai has a twelve-seat Edomae counter at the Round Bar of The Lounge, Wednesday to Saturday at 6pm and 8:30pm, with a seven-course menu at ₱5,800 nett (Metro.Style, September 2026).

Makanai, the one people are asking about

Makanai is chef Jorge Mendez's Japanese restaurant on the ground floor of West Gallery Place, opened in September 2025 with the Cibo Group of the Forés family. Mendez planned it with his late mentor Margarita Forés, and the name is the Japanese word for the staff meal a kitchen cooks for itself. The food is Japanese with an Italian streak and meant for sharing. Start with the watermelon sunomono or the gyoza tartare, then a wagyu bolognese maze-soba, and finish with a donabe, a clay pot of rice brought to the table on a cart and mixed in front of you. The unagi fish and chips donabe is ₱1,250 small or ₱1,850 medium, and the spicy beef and tendon XO is ₱950 or ₱1,500 (Philippine Primer, May 2026); a small pot feeds one, a medium two to three. The room, by Studio Ong, is cream and calm, with handwoven panels from Cebu overhead and a green malachite bar. Tatler gave it a Best 2026 spotlight. Unit 1B, West Gallery Place, 9th Avenue corner 28th Street, BGC. ₱₱₱. Daily, 11am to 11pm. Good to know: lunch is walk-in; dinner needs a booking by text or call on 0968 125 3808, and runs in three seatings a night, so you may be asked to leave at the end of yours. Park at Gallery Parkade, the car park right behind West Gallery Place.

Private rooms, for families and business

Ogawa Traditional Japanese Restaurant is one of Manila's long-standing Japanese restaurants, and it reopened in April 2026 at The Shoppes at Park McKinley West on Lawton Avenue, with the original team and the old bridge and antique door. Head chef Kazu Yonemoto runs a sushi counter, teppanyaki and a new charcoal robatayaki grill, with seafood flown in from Toyosu Market in Tokyo. The private rooms are named after Tokyo districts, Ginza, Roppongi, Akasaka, Aoyama and Shinbashi, and the largest joins a ten-seat room to take up to 30, with its own teppan counter. On the soft opening menu the Tokusen 7 sashimi was ₱1,950, the chirashi ₱1,900 and the Teppan Gozen set ₱1,300 (Our Awesome Planet, May 2026); plan on about ₱2,000 a head. Upper Ground Floor, The Shoppes at Park McKinley West, Lawton Avenue, Taguig. ₱₱₱. Good to know: call 0917 856 4292 or (02) 7001 8314 to book a room; we could not find published hours, so call ahead.

Uma Nota under Shangri-La The Fort cooks the food of São Paulo's Japanese community, Brazilian and Japanese together, and it is MICHELIN Selected for 2026. It has private rooms, a weekday set lunch, and a late bar with a DJ from Wednesday to Saturday, which is why it also appears under late night below. Shangri-La The Fort, 30th Street corner 5th Avenue, BGC. ₱₱₱. Lunch daily 11:30am to 2:30pm; dinner from 6pm. Good to know: bookings need a ₱1,000 deposit per person.

Iai's private room for four to nine, above, is the choice for a small omakase dinner. For more rooms across both business districts, see Where to Take Clients to Dinner in Makati and BGC.

Everyday and affordable

OOTOYA BGC is a Tokyo family restaurant founded in 1958, and its first Philippine branch opened in February 2026 at Grand Hyatt Manila Residences South Tower. It serves teishoku, the Japanese set meal of rice, miso soup, a main and small sides, cooked from scratch. The chicken kurozu in black vinegar sauce is ₱620 as a set, the charcoal-grilled atka mackerel ₱890 and the beef sukiyaki hotpot ₱695 (Philippine Primer, May 2026). Private function rooms upstairs suit a family lunch, and the second floor connects straight to the car park, which helps with older guests. Grand Hyatt Manila Residences South Tower, 35th Street, BGC. ₱₱. Daily, 11am to 10pm. Tip: call (02) 8724 5847 to book a room.

Hikiniku To Come BGC is the Tokyo shop credited with starting the hamburg steak served on rice, and it opened its first Philippine branch at Uptown Mall in October 2025. Beef is ground in the shop each morning, grilled over charcoal in front of you one patty at a time and set straight onto rice. The set is three 90g hamburg steaks with rice, miso soup, ponzu, grated daikon, pickles and a raw egg. It is all counter seating, so it is best for one or two. Ground Floor, Uptown Mall, 9th Avenue, BGC. ₱₱. Monday to Thursday 11am to 11pm; Friday to Sunday 10am to 11pm. Good to know: there are queues at peak times, so come mid afternoon; phone 0968 161 6089.

Ramen Ibuki Uptown BGC opened at Uptown Parade in early 2026, the first Philippine shop from Japanese ramen producer Takafumi Shimada. It is the bowl for anyone who finds pork broth heavy: a clear seafood and chicken dashi, or a foamy chicken paitan, with noodles made in house. The Dashi Ramen is ₱490 and the Tori Foam Ramen ₱560 (Philippine Primer, May 2026). Ground Floor, Uptown Parade, 9th Avenue, BGC. ₱₱. Monday to Thursday 11am to 4pm and 5pm to 11pm; Friday and Saturday 10am to 2am; Sunday 11am to 11pm. Tip: book on OpenTable through the Vikings Ramen Ibuki page, or walk in for the counter. For the rest of the city's bowls, see The best ramen in Manila, by area.

Mitsukoshi BGC

Mitsukoshi, the Japanese department store mall on 8th Avenue corner 36th Street, has the most Japanese food under one roof in BGC.

Ipponyari Mitsukoshi BGC is the affordable all-rounder: sushi, ramen, tempura, katsu curry and donburi in a light two-level room of about 200 seats. Chashumen was ₱492.80 and unadon ₱856.80 when it opened (Our Awesome Planet, December 2025). Upstairs there is a 60-seat private area and a 20-seat private room, which makes it the budget answer for a team dinner. Ground Floor, Mitsukoshi BGC, 8th Avenue corner 36th Street. ₱₱. Monday to Thursday 10am to 11pm; Friday to Sunday 10am to 1am (December 2025). Tip: ask for the private room ahead for a group.

Also in the mall: Gyudonya, a small counter for gyudon, Japanese beef bowls, from the Senshin Hospitality Group, new in August 2026, with seats for only 18 to 20.

Late night

Torikizoku Serendra is the big Osaka yakitori chain, and its first Philippine restaurant opened at The Shops at Serendra on 12 October 2026. Every food item costs ₱190, so a table can order a run of skewers without doing sums. Start with the kizokuyaki, chicken and leek skewers, in sauce or salt. Ground Floor, The Shops at Serendra, McKinley Parkway, BGC. ₱₱. Daily, 10am to 2am. Tip: it takes bookings online at torikizoku-ph.com, and it is a natural second stop after dinner.

Uma Nota, above, serves until midnight from Sunday to Tuesday, 3am on Wednesday and Thursday and 4am on Friday and Saturday. Ramen Ibuki runs to 2am on Friday and Saturday, and Ipponyari to 1am from Friday to Sunday. For a Japanese whisky after dinner, LIT at Serendra is in our guide to the best bars in BGC, and for food after midnight anywhere in the city, see Late-Night Food in Manila.

For more places nearby, see the BGC neighbourhood page, our eat and drink hub and Every MICHELIN Star and Bib Gourmand in Manila.

Before you go

• Booking. Iai books only online, with a 50% down payment. Makanai takes walk-ins at lunch but needs a booking for dinner, by text or call on 0968 125 3808. Kei, Sakagura, Ogawa and OOTOYA take bookings by phone. Ramen Ibuki uses OpenTable.
• Getting around. BGC is spread out. Iai, OOTOYA, Mitsukoshi, Uptown Mall and Uptown Parade sit close together in the north, around 8th and 9th Avenue and 35th to 36th Street. Makanai, Kei and Sakagura are in the middle, near High Street. Ogawa is southwest of BGC proper, at McKinley West on Lawton Avenue, so take a car.
• Parking. Makanai is next to Gallery Parkade. Iai has limited pay parking at The Montane, with the Grand Hyatt next door. OOTOYA's second floor connects to its car park, and the malls (Mitsukoshi, Uptown, Serendra, McKinley West) have their own.
• When to go. Weekday lunch is the easy time for Kei, Makanai and the ramen counters. Book Iai and Makanai dinners well ahead for Friday and Saturday.
• The bill. Most prices here include VAT and add 10% service. Uma Nota asks for a ₱1,000 deposit per person when you book.

Questions people ask

What is the best Japanese restaurant in BGC?

For sushi, Iai, where Bruce Ricketts serves a ₱8,900 omakase at a ten-seat counter. For a less formal meal from a chef, Kei for hand rolls or Makanai for shared plates and donabe. Iai, Kei and Uma Nota are the BGC Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian rooms in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide.

How do I book Makanai, and where do I park?

Makanai is at Unit 1B, West Gallery Place, 9th Avenue corner 28th Street, open daily from 11am to 11pm. Walk in at lunch. For dinner, text or call 0968 125 3808; there are three seatings a night and they fill up. The closest parking is Gallery Parkade, the car park directly behind West Gallery Place.

How much is Makanai?

In May 2026 the unagi fish and chips donabe was ₱1,250 small and ₱1,850 medium, and the spicy beef and tendon XO ₱950 small and ₱1,500 medium (Philippine Primer). When it opened in September 2025, the wagyu bolognese maze-soba was ₱1,400 and the wagyu short rib donabe ₱1,750 small or ₱2,000 medium (SPOT.ph), so ask for the current menu.

What is a good affordable Japanese restaurant in BGC?

OOTOYA for set meals from ₱620, Ipponyari at Mitsukoshi for the all-round menu, Hikiniku To Come at Uptown Mall for hamburg steak on rice, and Torikizoku at Serendra, where every food item is ₱190. For ramen, Ramen Ibuki's dashi ramen is ₱490.

Which Japanese restaurants in BGC have a private room?

Ogawa has several, named after Tokyo districts, and its largest joins a second room to seat up to 30. Iai has one for four to nine. OOTOYA has function rooms upstairs, Ipponyari has a 20-seat room at Mitsukoshi, and Uma Nota has private rooms under Shangri-La The Fort. We did not find a 24-hour Japanese restaurant in BGC we would send you to; Uma Nota is the latest, to 4am on Friday and Saturday.