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Gyu-Kai Batwan Ramen. Jeeves de Veyra

Jeeves De Veyra

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1778495975472raul and jorge 2.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Chefs Raul Fores and Jorge Mendez. Jeeves de Veyra</div>Chef Raul Fores reaches into his “big body of ideas” for a limitless ramen collabration with Chef Jorge Mendez.For Fores, this is a continuing sneak slurp of b.boi, an acronym for “big body of ideas,” and the first concept that he can fully call his own after years of sharing the kitchen with his celebrated culinary clan. For now, this collaboration is part of what he calls a “friends tour” having done b.boi collabs with Toka Wine Bar and Taqueria Franco in the recent past.Playing host is Mendez’s Mugen Ramenya over in Teacher’s Village in Quezon City. There’s always a line at this chef’s shrine to Hakata and Osaka ramen. If anything, the limited menu items are guaranteed to make wait times even longer.This isn’t one of those four hands where one chef’s dish alternates with the other’s. The chefs, and their respective restaurants, contributed elements to making the whole much greater, and tastier, than the sum of their ingredients.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177849669768401 - ramen 2.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Gyu-Kai Batwan Ramen. Jeeves de Veyra</div>Take the Gyu Kai Batwan Ramen. I did ask why it wasn’t called a kansi ramen. With one slurp, I tasted why. Flavor-wise, this is ramen first with that rich tonkotsu fish dipping broth used in Mugen’s tsukemen, and kansi a distant second. The batwan is just a bright note at the end. What is not that obvious is that rich tallow and fat from b.boi’s inspired kansi broth complete with those oily orange and yellow hues from atsuete. To Mugen’s credit, the noodles remain springy even after some time angling the bowl for a photo. The rich thick composite broth of gyu kai and kansi, the slabs of A4 wagyu, tempered with jackfruit prepared like bamboo shoots, make this a really indulgent bowl.I thought that this could work as a tsukemen since the broth was thick and unctuous enough as a dipping broth, perhaps followed up with a half cup of rice to slop off the remaining broth.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177849667552402 - RICE -_.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Kuro Chahan with Crab and Ikura. Jeeves de Veyra</div>If anything, the Chahan deserves equal billing in this menu. What makes this dish go above and beyond just a simple rice dish is what’s hidden inside the bowl. Sure, there was crab meat and those freshly brined ikura on top, but inside the squid ink rice are blobs of what the pair called shoyu nori, a children’s jammy snack back in Japan. I did get explosions of umami from the bits of shoyu nori, briny bits from the ikura, and the meaty notes from the crab meat. But the best flavor is when everything is compressed into just one bite.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1778496635604DESSERT - Sorbet and Chocolate Mochi 2.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Mango Sorbet with Chocolate Mochi. Jeeves de Veyra</div>Fores and Mendez do love hiding surprises underneath. I’d say wait a bit for the mango yuzu sorbet to soften and melt a bit. This is best when you’ve got that sorbet mixed in with mango bites and the chocolate mochi underneath for a complete bright spoonful.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1778496548620drinks.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>The Raul Mendez and Cinco De Mayo. Jeeves de Veyra</div>Even the Arnold Palmer lemonade-iced tea inspired “Raul Mendez” was a mix of the two chef’s drinks -- Mugen’s iced tea plus Fores&#x27;s squizz drinks. They did have an off-menu fizzy raspberry lambanog-based drink for Cinco De Mayo that would have been a nice option for those looking for that boozy side note.The two chefs are keeping busy. B.boi (@bboiph on instagram) currently exists as a pop-up menu at the Uptown branch of Mamou until Fores formally opens the restaurant in BGC later this year. Meanwhile, Mendez opened a branch of his Michelin Bib Gourmand recognized Some Thai at the Podium with Japanese concept Makanai opening soon.<div>The limited edition Mugen Ramenya x b.boi dishes will be available until May 31. Mugen Ramenya is located at 108-B Maginhawa Street in Teacher’s Village and is open every day from 3 p.m.  to 11 p.m.</div>

At Mugen Ramenya, chefs Raul Fores and Jorge Mendez turn ramen into a playground of unexpected flavor mashups in a limited-run collaboration that feels both wildly indulgent and deeply personal.

At Mugen Ramenya, chefs Raul Fores and Jorge Mendez turn ramen into a playground of unexpected flavor mashups in a limited-run collaboration that feels both wildly indulgent and deeply personal.

QC eats: New collab blurs the line between kansi and ramen

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QC eats: New collab blurs the line between kansi and ramen

Jeeves De Veyra

Published May 12, 2026 09:25 AM PHT

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Updated May 12, 2026 11:49 AM PHT

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Mugen Ramenya

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