Restaurant Review: Thousand Cranes

A get-together two-year in the making finally materialized last Friday. I don’t remember why we kept on postponing and I can’t remember what triggered the meet-up from happening at last. Aside from Erlie and Aubrey, Yen is another close girl pal from college. We became closer when worked with the same company after college. We instantly clicked though we don’t have anything in common. She sings; I quack. She is a graceful dancer; I either slip on the stairs or in the bathroom floor. She left; I stayed behind.

Anyway, I was so surprised when she asked me if it’s okay to have dinner at Thousand Cranes. I haven’t tried shabu-shabu because I don’t like the idea of cooking while eating and the smoke would stick to my clothes. But since it was going to be her treat, I went on to give it a try.

Just so you know, she is the founder of the “Je-get-married-soon” movement. I was lucky though that this was never brought up during our dinner date. There was a lot of catching up to do and her endless juicy stories that we managed to squeeze in between.

The first few minutes were so hilarious. I don’t have the slightest idea of what to order and the cooking paraphernalia got me all confused. Yen wasn’t also very familiar with things so we opted to ask for the waiter’s help. Yen took charge of the shabu-shabu while I mastered the grilling.



I think Yen got the Seafood and Pork shabu-shabu and pork belly. The waiter poured the hot soup from the pot and helped us make the dips. Based from my observation, I’ve seen all tables with corn, noodles, meatballs, crabsticks and vegetables on a plate. So I guess this is standard on all shabu-shabu. We were then served with a plate of thinly-sliced pork and another plate of seafood which all went to the boiling pot.



I was struck when I saw all the fat from the pork belly. Oh well, my palate yearns for the unhealthy stuff.


It would be so insensitive of me to just eat while Yen does the cooking so I started grilling the pork belly when it arrived on our table. Yen and I agreed that the pork belly was a knockout especially when dipped into the sweet and salty sauce.


I enjoyed my dining experience at Thousand Cranes so I am definitely trying out other shabu-shabu restaurants.

Thousand Cranes
Level 2 Greenbelt 3
Makati City