But his beloved omakase Mecha Uma will close by year’s end
Mecha Uma takes its final curtain call this month.
An offshoot of his BF Homes omakase restaurant Sensei, chef Bruce Ricketts’s BGC joint has been acting as his rightful stage for nine long years. It is the place where, night after night, he gets to show off his culinary chops through Japanese-inspired plates that may look rudimentary but taste nothing short of pure indulgence.
“It was always meant to be a chef’s counter where I can do freestyle cooking with Japanese inflections and modern techniques,” the humble chef says. “Our service and operations are also free and spontaneous, with constantly changing omakase, a la carte menus, blackboard specials and even off-menu requests from regular customers. Our menus really jump through so many different ideas and there are no set rules.”
It has been impressive from the day it opened back in 2014—and to think that Ricketts hadn’t even been to Japan when it started. “We chase adrenaline. A lot of my ideas stem from fantasizing about how ingredients could be cooked and the potential of where we can take them.”
Evidently, his genius is the type that needs no travel to make an impact with food. Though it can help (he has spent a long enough time in Japan the past few years), the lengths and depths of his creativity and thirst for knowledge are enough to drive him to produce haunting dishes such as miso-cured foie gras with guava and coconut tuile, tamago tart, eggplant and Hokkaido uni miso and aged and smoked toro nigiri. Some of these have been constantly revisited and slightly adjusted through the years, while others have been influenced by recent travels with his wife Jae.
Across borders
The ingredients and their seasonality have always been the focus of his style. “I challenge myself to evolve not through trends but by understanding and cooking hyperseasonal ingredients with techniques I’ve learned and adapted through time,” he says. “We have a variety of ingredients in our fridges that go across borders, like live ingredients from the northern hemisphere, Japanese fish that we age ourselves, live shellfish sourced locally every other day and even my favorite game birds from France in the right seasons.”
It’s this thorough understanding of the produce he works with that has enabled him to bring out the best in them. Once, he wanted to cook eel and so he watched online tutorials, worked closely with a Japanese supplier based in the country and butchered hundreds of live wild fish, an animal not many chefs are willing and able to deal with, to finally be able to include a double grilled and steamed eel number in his menu.
This dedication is not lost on his customers. “My kids and I love Mecha Uma because they always surprise us with new and innovative dishes,” says Berna Romulo Puyat, foodie and deputy governor of Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas. “Each visit is memorable for me since I’ve never had the same meal twice. Plus, everything chef Bruce makes is really delicious. He plans according to the ingredients he has on hand.” It is one of only a few restaurants she and her kids convene at and celebrate in whenever they are home from their universities abroad.
Jin Perez, a respected food influencer, couldn’t agree more. “It is one of our favorite restaurants in Manila and one that’s very memorable for us. It was where my now husband Jerome brought me for our first Valentine’s together. We love sitting at the counter watching the soft-spoken, talented Bruce prepare our dinner. Every experience was a delightful gastronomic surprise. We have been back for date nights, dinners with friends and with the whole family for Father’s Day.”
The Tatler Dining Awards as well as international award-giving bodies recognize what the restaurant brings to the table. Among some of its accolades are the World’s 50 Best Discovery by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, and Opinionated About Dining’s top Asian restaurants.
Lifetime home
Mecha Uma will close its doors by year’s end. When they announced this last month, people started scrambling for seats since it may be some time before they get to indulge in another Bruce Ricketts omakase, maybe six months at least.
“My wife Jae played a big role in my work,” confesses Ricketts, who credits her for helping him meet masters who contributed to his education and showed him different ways of thinking. He adds, “Opening restaurants together gave me room to focus on other things I was deeply obsessed about. It also sharpened my focus at Mecha Uma to what I felt I needed to understand further, which is the long play of craftsmanship.”
Their upcoming restaurant, Iai, will take all that into consideration and more. “It will be my lifetime home where I plan to exercise that commitment every day as I serve customers from across the counter with the responsiveness and instinct I’ve honed through the years.”
Similar to Mecha Uma, Iai will have a chef’s counter where Bruce will serve sushi omakase every night, and a shorter, dynamic kappo menu will be available for the tables. They also have an extended specials menu and a formidable wine list available to those who want to indulge more.
“Iai will be similar to Mecha Uma in the best ways, and different in its focus and expression as we move with our biggest lessons while keeping the same fearlessness and chaotic commitment to keeping everything delicious,” he describes.
Aside from this new Japanese joint, which is slated to open mid-2024, Bruce and Jae will be opening the third branch of La Chinesca in BGC, as well. INQFollow the author @fooddudeph on Instagram.
Angelo Comsti writes the Inquirer Lifestyle column Tall Order. He was editor of F&B Report magazine.
