It’s not quite sushi, but it sure looks like it

Wooshi opens in Manila

ON THE HEELS of its first restaurants Hey Bo and SaladStop, the SaladStop! Group has opened a third brand, Wooshi.

The first branch opened at Central Square in BGC, sharing space with the SaladStop! Branch there. Rooted in maki rolls and rice bowls, Wooshi presents a modern approach to Japanese-inspired comfort food.

“The tagline is ‘Sushi set free’,” said Adrien Desbaillets, SaladStop! Group chief executive officer. “Hopefully nobody thinks of it as traditional sushi. It’s not, at all. If we were to present this to a Japanese chef, it would probably be quite insulting,” he said with self-deprecation during a group interview at the April 7 opening.

Not bring traditional doesn’t automatically mean a decrease in taste: he’s particularly proud of their Philippine-exclusive Pork N’ Rolls which presents the classic adobo with a twist of flavors of mango strips, white radish pickles, and cilantro mayo topped with chicharon (pork crackling).

We tried other rolls: the Tuna Turner with yuzu shoyu chili crab sauce, and nuts; the vegan Big Bang Tofu with tempura enoki, and toasted almonds; and the Cali Crush, modeled after the California Maki, with crab sticks, avocado, roe and wasabi mayo.

Some of the options use heirloom rice (Mr. Desbaillets says that they work with Filipino farmers).

We will say that the dishes have that clean flavor characteristic of health food options (the very backbone of SaladStop!). We will also say that we dislike the sachet format in which they serve their condiments of soy sauce and wasabi (but then, that might have been a first day thing) due to the potential mess.

“It’s the last piece of the puzzle,” he said about opening Wooshi in the Philippines after their other two concepts. He says that it can be built next to one of the existing concepts: “It’s a little bit more versatile.

“It’s a little bit more of a to-go brand,” he said about this place offering rice rolls and bowls. “I think with Hey Bo and SaladStop!, sometimes you need to sit down.

“I think being rice-based as well, I think, can go a bit further in terms of local adaptation,” he added.

MIDDLE EAST EXPANSION ON HOLD
He did go into the current conflict in the Middle East and how it is affecting their plans as a Singapore-based group. “We were actually going to expand heavily into the Middle East. So that’s on pause,” saying that they were supposed to open a SaladStop! in Dubai this month.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing it impact our food cost. That’s now going to be (affected by) transportation within each market. What is it going to do to consumer confidence as well?,” he said.

“We are still in a price point that most people will still be okay with” — prices for the rolls start at about P250 and up — “but still.”

But in the Philippines, they’re planning to fully launch their catering arm. “Once you have the three brands, it’s naturally quite easy for us to host an event.”

On another note, Joan Aquino, GoodEats by SSI General Manager (who brought the brand here) says that they’re expanding their SaladStop! Group franchises within Luzon, particularly in Pampanga and Santa Rosa, Laguna, especially with the opening of the SM mall in Nuvali by the end of the year. They also plan to open the Philippine franchise of UK-based bakery Bread Ahead (with an adjoining baking school) by the year’s third quarter. — Joseph L. Garcia