The words “Rai-Rai Ken” have its origin from the country of Old China. In its original form, the word “Rai-Rai”, when translated in Chinese and Japanese languages means ‘welcome’ while ‘Ken’ means ‘restaurant’. However, it is the Japanese people which further developed this into an authentic fine food concept and experience. Rai-Rai in Japanese is originally pronounced as ‘Irashai’ while Ken is ‘Shokudo’. The idea of a Rai-Rai Ken comes to mind when a person (usually a Japanese) is contemplating of going to a nice and inviting restaurant where one usually expects to be pampered and satiated with delicious and appetizing food.
The concept and words of Rai Rai Ken has caught on and has become a well-known and familiar concept throughout the whole world. In the Philippines, Rai-Rai Ken Ramen House and Sushi Bar was established to deliver the exact customer satisfaction experience and rediscover the way that it is originally meant to be. Rai-Rai Ken Ramen House and Sushi Bar prepares and serves authentic and appetizing Japanese cuisine to simulate the old taste of festive treats true to the tastes of Old China and Japan perfectly synergized with modern atmosphere and ambiance that sums for a worthy new version of a rai rai ken.
History of Rairaiken in the Philippines
Named an Outstanding Casual Japanese Restaurant in 2005 by the Philippine Marketing Excellence Awards, RAI RAI KEN Ramen House and Sushi Bar has indeed come a long way from its humble beginnings as a small and modest tea house in Makati City.
Rairaiken now boasts of over 40 Outlets all over the Philippines and still growing. It takes pride on its tradition of serving authentic Japanese food especially ramen or Japanese noodles which is really their specialty.
What has become of RAI RAI KEN is the result of the hard work and dedication of the company’s President and CEO, Benjamin Garcia. Benjamin, fondly called Benjie, started as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant in Makati called RAMEN TEI. That was in 1985. Because of his diligence, Benjie eventually became the head cook and was even sent to Japan to train how to prepare authentic Japanese food. When he came back he was tasked to train other Japanese cooks. It was quite ironic because it took a Filipino to teach the Japanese how to prepare authentic Japanese dishes. Benjie cherished all these because it would later pave the way to a bright future.
It was in 1992, when Benjie decided to put up his own restaurant at Bautista St. in Makati City. He called it MASTER CHOW. It was not even a regular restaurant. It was more of a “karinderya”, the Filipino term for a small eatery. They would serve the favorite Filipino breakfast, TAPSILOG to office workers from the area. Later on its operation, they started to offer Ramen or Japanese noodles to their clientele. It became a big break for Benjie because people would flock to his humble eatery to have a taste of the delectable Ramen dishes. Even to this day, his old customers would show up in RAI RAI KEN outlets just to savor the taste of an authentic Japanese ramen dish. Not so many people know that Master Chow also became the supplier of ramen and other Japanese goods to some big Japanese restaurants around the Metro.
RAI RAI KEN eventually came into being in 1993 and MASTER CHOW would gracefully fade away to the nice memories of its first clients. The old tea house may only be just a memory now but the tradition of authentic Japanese food and personalized service lives on and continue to “wow” the customers of RAI RAI KEN.
The word RAI RAI comes from an old Chinese word which means “welcome” and KEN which means “restaurant”. It pertains to someone contemplating of going to a nice, inviting and appetizing restaurant. The word was actually pronounced LAI-LAI but the Japanese couldn’t pronounce the letter “L” the word eventually evolved to RAI-RAI. It literally means come-come to our house. Now we can say come come to Rai-Rai Ken and enjoy the best and authentic Japanese food in town!
