Ogie: Make mine Ramen (but Regine will take Gyoza anytime)

We were having dinner at the newly-opened Ryu Ramen & Curry (on #220 Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City, right across from Alfredo’s) one rainy Sunday two weeks ago. While slurping our serving of Ramen (that’s the Chinese [and right] way of enjoying soups or noodles…yes, with a slurp!), I nonchalantly popped a “pick-up” question to Ogie Alcasid, one of the owners who invited us to Ryu, the same way his co-stars on the hit GMA gag show Bubble Gang do, “Ramen ka ba?” That caught Ogie, a.k.a. Boy Pick-Up, unprepared. “Huh?” he asked puzzled, tongue-tied. So I repeated the question and he got the joke, “Ramen ka ba?” Smiling widely, Ogie asked, “Bakit?” Eh, kasi, ang sarap mong higupin!

Especially on a cold, rainy day like that Sunday when I and colleagues Isah Red, Nitz Miralles, Mario Bautista, Remy Umerez and Jun Lalin shared more than just Ramen and other Ryu tummy-fillers (Katsu Curry, Chicken Gyoza, etc.), downed with Japanese tea and capped with a dessert of the latest morsels from the showbiz grapevine.

Ramen happens to be Ogie’s favorite among the various items on the Ryu menu.

“I eat it all the time,” he said.

But his wife Regine Velasquez would rather have Chicken Gyoza and that night, she reminded Ogie not to forget (or else!) to take home a few servings of it as pasalubong.

“Actually,” said Ogie when asked if they deliver to Japanese-food eaters around the area, “we don’t, we’d rather not, because the Ryu food is better taken piping hot, especially Ramen.” But then, utos ni misis, so…

Ogie Alcasid (rightmost) with his partners in the Ryu Ramen & Curry Japanese restaurant (from left) DJ Vergel de Dios, Neil Castillo and Edwin Dazo. They are good friends and poker partners.

Opened only a few weeks ago, Ryu has been attracting crowds daily. The night we were there, the place was packed full with hungry batches. On our way in, we bumped into Joem Bascon on his way out (did I hear a mild burp as he waved goodbye to us?).

Ryu is Japanese for dragon. Ogie and friends chose that name not because they are Dragons but because, according to Ogie in jest, “I’m a fan of Ramon Zamora” (the late Pinoy martial-arts actor who called his character Dragon in one of his potboiler starrers).

Ogie’s partners are his friends Edwin Dazo, Neil Castillo and DJ Vergel de Dios who were present at our “food-tasting” visit. (The fifth partner, Quezon City Councilor Joseph Juico, was not around.)

“Ryu was born over a game of poker,” said Ogie. “Our group often meets for poker.”

Asked why they put up a Japanese restaurant (and not, ehem, a poker joint), Ogie said, “We all love Japanese food; we all have a passion for Ramen.”

It was Ogie’s wife Michelle van Eimeren who introduced him to Ramen.

“Michelle studied in Japan for many years,” related Ogie. (A former Miss Australia who represented her country in the 1994 Miss Universe pageant held here, Michelle was a scholar in Tokyo’s Sophia University.) “While here, she learned that there was a Ramen restaurant in Makati and we went there. Funny nga because there were Japanese around talking about us in Japanese. They didn’t know that Michelle, since she was puti, understood Japanese and she kind of confronted the group. That was the circumstances under which I was introduced to Ramen,” added Ogie with a laugh.

Ogie’s “passion” for Ramen became even more intense when Jacky Woo treated him and some Bubble Gang guys (Michael V. a.k.a. Bitoy, Boy2 Quizon and Antonio Aquitania) to a Ramen meal in Tokyo.

“Ayos!” said Ogie.

Perhaps thanks to Ramen Jacky Woo is now a semi-regular on Bubble Gang.

Ryu, which occupies part of the ground floor of the building, is not Ogie’s first venture into the food business. Years ago, he and friends put up a joint called Bubble Gang Toppings along Katipunan (near Ateneo). The place was doing well but the owners were too preoccupied with showbiz to give it hands-on attention, so…  

This time, it’s an entirely different story. He and his partners are giving Ryu full attention, with the same concentration that they give their cards while playing poker.

Incidentally, on Aug. 27, Ogie is turning 45 and he’s celebrating the milestone with a family trip to Singapore, together with his mom who’s turning 80 (“It’s a double celebration,” said Ogie), wife Regine and their son Nate. Joining them from Australia are Michelle and husband Mark Murrow with her and Ogie’s daughters Leila and Sarah. Yes, the exes have remained the best of friends. What a big, happy family!

“We’ll be in Singapore in time for Formula 1,” volunteered Ogie (whose riotous portrayal as a gay in the GMA sitcom My Darling Daddy is good for two more weeks; he’s also in the cast of Tony Gloria’s I Do Bidoo Bidoo with, among others, Eugene Domingo as his love interest and Zsa Zsa Padilla).

Meanwhile, let’s leave Ogie alone while he “slurps” his second (or third?) serving of Ramen.

“Nice when eaten piping hot, at kailangan may ingay ang pag higop, ” he said, “and you follow it up with a glass of ice-cold Kirin Beer.”

Did I forget to describe how Ryu’s Ramen and Chicken Gyoza and Katsu Curry (and other goodies) tasted?

I’ll let you find out for yourselves.

At Ryu. On a cold rainy day like what we are having these days.

What’s up?

Congratulations to Marvin Ong (photo), featured in yesterday’s Funfare, whose latest album Sigaw Ng Puso Ko (released by Viva Records) is selling well. Ayoko Na, one of Marvin’s three compositions on it, was last week’s Most Wanted Song (MWS) in Barangay LS FM 37.1. Marvin, 22 (not 32 as erroneously mentioned yesterday), idolizes his fellow Chinese singer-songwriter Jose Mari Chan.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare. or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)