#FoodStarsAtLittleTokyo: Izakaya Kikufuji, Makati City, Philippines

Our first foray to one of Little Tokyo's hidden gems was truly a memorable experience; we discovered the yummiest wagyu cubes in Makati. Well, I'm happy to say that Little Tokyo is batting 2-0 with our recent visit to Izakaya Kikufuji.

With Kimono-clad waitresses and the no-shoes-policy strictly implemented when seated at their group tables, Izakaya Kikufuji does try to make it as authentically Japanese as possible.

Their menu gets kinda intimidating but don't worry, just ask for their simplified one.

Lunch time at Izakaya Kikufuji is no small feat.  Due to their popular lunch time promo (wherein their main dishes comes with free salad, appetizer, soup & rice), it's no surprise that it's always a full house come 12nn. 

Lunch Freebies

Before moving on to our dishes, I would just like to give special attention to their yummy appetizer. The spicy tuna with crunchy bits on top alone makes this lunch a winner in my book. It's just that darn tasty.

Now, let's move on to our main dishes...

Sashimi Large with Freebies

Sashimi Large (Php 560)

Craving for fresh sashimi, we ordered this from their menu. You get to customize the plate to your liking by choosing 5 kinds of sashimi from their selection. We got 2 orders of Salmon, Uni, Unagi & since the Hamachi was out of stock, we went for Mackerel instead. Food-Stars Verdict? Loved everything on this plate except for the Mackerel. Both the Salmon & the Uni was as fresh as can be; they literally just melts in your mouth. As for the Unagi...

Shobe's Birthday Treat 2015 at Hong Kong Master Cook, Dampa Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City Philippines

Ever heard of the term "Dampa Eating"? Well, it's a style of eating wherein you have the option of personally buying your meats/seafood/veggies from the numerous available stalls (aka palengke). A stone's throw away are your choice of restaurants who will cook them for you (aka paluto). 

For tonight, Shobe was treating everyone for her birthday and her chosen restaurant was Hong Kong Master Cook in Dampa Macapagal Boulevard.

This wasn't our first Dampa experience but this was our first time to try this particular "Paluto" restaurant.

Arrived at around 7:30pm and the place was packed! Good thing they made reservations.

After the palengke & the paluto (which took around an hour), here's what we had for dinner....

To start us off, we had Clam Soup (Halaan). Fresh clams in ginger & onion stock mixed with spinach. Sounds so simple yet oh so yum. This got wiped out in no time :p