Konbini Store's Hidden Sushi Bar Serves Quality Maguro, Oysters

(SPOT.ph) The Konbini store in Connecticut Street, Greenhills has been around for 17 years and is veritably an institution in the neighborhood. Way before Pinoys made Divisoria of Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka, turning many of us into experts when it comes to Japanese grocery staples, its been supplying San Juan locals with snacks, drinks, fresh seafood and kitchen ingredients imported from Japan.

Being here should feel like a treat for Japanophiles. There’s even an eatery at the back that serves comfort Japanese fare—from ramen bowls to tempura, chahan and karaage. Kris Aquino reportedly used to say when she’s in Konbini, “This is really my stress reliever.”

We get what Kris meant. Being here feels like an escape from the noisy outside world, even if you’re just browsing the racks for a good sake, Sapporo beer, or a sweet treat on a stick. It feels like that even more these days because Konbini has made space for a tiny, quiet sushi and oyster bar just to the left of the grocery, hiding behind a two-paneled Japanese curtain with a swimming koi as print.

What Konbini's sushi bar looks like 

There’s a sense of newness to the space, which we were told is a former stockroom and one time milk tea shop. There’s no signage anywhere. It’s a starkly simple 15-seater bar with white walls and light-colored wood. Nothing to take your attention away from what you’re really here for: top quality sushi and oysters from Japan.

The bar is most proud of their Sakoshi Bay oysters and bluefin tuna. We have the oysters two ways: fresh and fried. The former was easily transportive and deeply satisfying, sweet and briny, like a taste of the clear blue ocean in your mouth. The latter is crunchy, lightly breaded, soft and savory inside and would make you want to get a can of Sapporo beer from one of the coolers in the grocery (but you can ask the waitstaff to fetch it for you, really).

We had the Hon Maguro, or bluefin tuna, next—from the Akami (lean, reddish meat from the upper back and inside of the fish, P899 for a single order) to the O Toro (distinguished by a heavenly fat marbling, almost melts in your mouth, P1699), and the Chu Toro (the great middle ground between the lean Akami and the indulgent, sophisticated O Toro, P1699). Everything was fresh and delectable, making good on their claim that they serve the same high caliber fish as those in Makati’s highend restaurants but without the Makati prices.

Frozen is the new fresh

They’re all from the same source, assures Bryan Tiu, who is in the importing business and who checks the color of meat on our maguro even before our chopsticks could land on a slice. The hamachi bloodline should be reddish, he says, “and the firmness is important.” Those who’ve ordered from his Maguro Prime delivery service would know the guy delivers on his promise. His tuna goes thru -50 degree freezing to preserve its texture, moisture, blood and overall quality. “Frozen is the new fresh,” he likes to say.

“Same quality, same source,” adds Tiu’s buddy and business partner Dom Hernandez. “Makati can understandably command higher prices because of the rent, and they have an audience accustomed to those prices.” Bryan and Dom are veterans in the food business—between the two of them, they’ve founded several successful brands like Teriyaki Boy, Peri-Peri Chicken and Potato Corner. They’re self-admitted serial entrepreneurs—always working on the next business idea. Although they say they’re trying to slow down a bit.

Which is likely why this new venture—still on soft opening as we speak— this nondescript sushi bar behind a Greenhills convenience store has yet to get a name, much more a snazzy concept. They’re in no rush to find one, and are even considering the possibility of maybe just staying nameless. Maybe this is more interesting, and keeps the pressure away from making anything official. They’re still fine-tuning things, after all. “We want to take our time,” says Bryan. “We want our neighbors muna to discover us,” adds Dom.

What they can assure diners this early is the quality of the food they serve. Dom says he and his buddy may be oldtimers in the game and may not have the marketing and social media savvy of the young—but they’ve put in the hours and done the homework. “The advantage of old players is that we get to the source, and get them fresh and the best,” he says. “It’s a concept na hindi madaling gayahin. At the end of the day, it all boils down to the quality of the product.”

So go ahead and relieve some of your stress by way of some fine maguro and oysters at this neighborhood convenience store. They have a ton of other stuff in their menu, too. The grilled hamachi is fabulous, and you can order the karaage and chahan for a fuller meal—we can confidently say they happen to be some of the best we’ve tasted in Manila.

Konbini is at 57 Connecticut Street, Northeast Greenhills, San Juan. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.