The Philippine Department of Tourism and Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo/Tony Roma Roppongi (5-4-20 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo) have teamed up to launch the “MEET PHILIPPINES” campaign, offering a special menu featuring local Philippine food until June 30. The campaign will run until June 30.
The campaign, designed to encourage people to enjoy “pseudo-travel” through food, offers a variety of meat dishes and sweets that are designed to suit the Japanese palate, and in honor of “Philippine Independence Day” on June 12, the campaign offers a taste of the Philippines’ unique food culture, which has developed uniquely with influences from both the East and the West. The campaign is designed to give visitors a taste of the local culinary culture of the Philippines, which has developed uniquely through the influence of both the East and the West, in honor of the “Philippine Independence Day” on June 12.
Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo offers three limited-edition menu items, the first of which is grilled pork liempo (2,000 yen), a national dish of the Philippines. Liempo is grilled pork belly. Marinated with soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, and spices, it is grilled vigorously to create a mouthwatering dish that is infused with sweet and spicy flavors.
The second item is the “Inasal Chicken” (1,400 yen), available only during lunch hours (11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Inasal means “roasted” in Tagalog. The juicy chicken is slow-roasted over charcoal and flavored with spices and herbs, and is served in an affordable one-plate dish with butter pilaf stir-fried with Thai rice and a salad.
The third item is “Halo-Halo” (980 yen), a sweet that originated in the Philippines. As the name suggests, the shaved ice is made with a ramune-flavored shaved ice base and topped with passion fruit, banana, and ube (purple potato) ice cream. It is a perfect cold summer treat.
Tony Roma’s Roppongi branch, located on the first floor of Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo, offers “ube brownie” (980 yen). Ube (purple sweet potato), a popular ingredient in the Philippines, is arranged into the restaurant’s popular “brownie,” allowing customers to enjoy the rich taste and gentle sweetness of the ube.
Meanwhile, a “Philippine Department of Tourism Media Night” was held on June 6, which also served as a tasting event for these Philippine delicacies.
This event was held to promote tourism to the Japanese media in anticipation of a recovery in demand for overseas travel. Mr. Yasuhiko Yokoyama of the Tokyo Office of the Philippine Department of Tourism explained the latest information on the Philippines, including measures against the new Corona virus and trends in the tourism industry, and announced a special campaign in cooperation with S.T.World, a travel agency.
Since the Philippine government resumed accepting international visitors on February 10, 11,823 Japanese have visited the country, and with approximately 680,000 Japanese also expected to enter the country in 2019, Japan remains a strong market in the Philippine inbound market even after the pandemic.
© Source travel watch