Prologue

It is likely that the restaurant’s popularity partly stems from the fact that Japanese food ingredients are used in its dishes. “Of the dishes cooked with Japanese food ingredients, scallop risotto, green tea bread and pancake, and freshly baked cakes and breads using fruits produced in Japan such as Orin Apples are especially popular among our clienteles. Upon request, we also make special Japanese dishes using hamachi (yellowtail), tako (octopus), kaki (oysters), ikura (salmon roe) or uni (sea urchin) caught in Japan and offer wagyu steaks using high-quality beef produced within Japan,” Meno says. “Beside these dishes, we have some offerings that use Japanese ingredients. For example, we have a dish called Farmer’s Salad that uses a plenty of vegetables and some white miso in its dressing. For other dishes, I put some Japanese seasonings such as soy cause, mirin (sweet rice wine), or Japanese Worcestershire sauce as secret ingredients to make them more flavorful and catered to local tastes.” What they do at this restaurant is undoubtedly an exemplary attempt to use food ingredients and seasonings produced in Japan and fuse them to create dishes that suit to local tastes.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic that has gone on for some two years now, Prologue has been achieving steady growth. Reasons of its success include the fact that the restaurant started an online food delivery service of pasta dishes and other takeaway meals before its competitors did, which enabled them not only to keep its existing customers but also to win new ones, as well as its strength in procuring high-quality food ingredients through its ties with Dough & Grocer, Prologue’s affiliated company running an online grocery store specialized high-end food ingredients. Ariana, the owner, and Meno said, “For us, Dough & Grocer is like a huge refrigerator we can always rely on. By utilizing our ties with them, we will continue to procure Japan’s seasonal ingredients as well as high-quality foodstuff produced in other countries and offer delicious meals at reasonable prices.” By collaborating with Dough & Grocer, Prologue has plans to start establishing multiple restaurants starting with the one in Greenhills Mall, one of the huge shopping malls in Metro Manila. They intend to develop a different menu for each restaurant by reflecting the area’s atmosphere and tastes of the residents living in its vicinity. Under this strategy, their use of Japanese food ingredients will likely expand continuously.