Ramen for 100 pesos or less at Erra's Vest Ramen in Malate, Manila

25 June 2016

Today, we received a treat from my cousin Joyce who asked me to take the kids somewhere nice for the day.  Patrick and I decided to go to Erra's Vest Ramen in Malate, Manila as they're known for authentic Japanese ramen for P100 or less.  Since we all love ramen and the price is a great come-on, we all trooped to Erra's Vest Ramen to explore their offerings.










Erra's Vest Ramen is located at the corner of J. Nakpil and M. Adriatico Streets in Malate, Manila.  It is a hole in the wall type of establishment, set along M. Adriatico street facing an Upstage Gold bar/nightclub.  The place is also attached to a bar and grill restaurant so you can order both ramen and grilled/sizzling dishes at the same time.  It's not air-conditioned.  It's open air because of the bar and grill.  Seating is first come, first served although the restaurant is open 24 hours.  There is no distinction between smoking and non-smoking areas.

Here is a sample of the main menu.  They offer 4 types of Ramen soup bases:  Shoyu (Soy Sauce), Shio (Salt), Miso (Fermented bean paste) and Tantanmen (Shoyu, Sesame and Chili).  Patrick ordered the Tantanmen. Dana ordered the Miso and Dylan and I shared the Shoyu.

Tantanmen Ramen = P100

Miso Ramen = P90

Shoyu Ramen = P70

As we sat down at our table, we saw there was a huge board menu near the bar.  We ordered our ramen dishes from that.  Later, we asked for a menu to see if they had anything else to offer.  That's when we found out they also served gyoza. When we tried to order the gyoza, we were advised that it would take a long time to prepare such that by the time they were ready to serve it we might have already finished with our ramen.  So, instead we ordered 2 servings of siomai as our appetizers.  They served spicy and non-spicy sauces.  The siomai was juicy but bite-sized.  The spicy sauce was delicious! It was really hot! :)

Siomai = P25 for 5 pieces

 Our ramen orders took around 10-15 minutes to be served.  I guess it's because they prepare them only as soon as they're ordered and also because there were a number of people in the restaurant despite it being off-peak dining hours (we were there around 4PM).  To pass the time, Dana and I were trying to figure out which country the flags belonged to (see the flags in the background of the first photo below).  Oh and we ordered a 1.5L of Coke (P120!).

We loved dining here primarily because the ramen was delicious and the price is extremely affordable.  However, parking may be a problem for those who bring their cars.  What we did was park in Robinsons Manila and walked the 2 blocks to get to Erra's.

Word of caution though.  This is not a fine dining establishment.  This is street-level dining ambience.  Expect smoke (from food and cigarettes), heat (no A/C but plenty of electric fans), and noise (from music and customer chatter). There are no male toilets - only urinals and the female toilets are spartan at best.

We'll come back again and try their gyoza next time! :)