Rocky, my friend who is even more difficult to please than I am, wanted to try out Little Tokyo. Having dined at several restaurants there I told him to lower his expectations. Then, he did a little research and that’s how we ended up in Izakaya Kikufuji a place I haven’t heard of.Initially he ordered the 12-kind sushi platter, grilled meat on skewers, 3 sticks of bacon-wrapped asparagus and 3 sticks of bacon wrapped enoki mushrooms.
Then he ordered the 12-kind sashimi platter because he said we should try most if not all while we were there (not that he convinced me). On top of that, he got 4 more additional meat skewers. That I did not regret because we got to try it without the seasoning (Phil and I developed a taste for less salty helpings). Just to clarify I did enjoy every bit of what the resto offered us and my only regret was that we were already full when the second batch of food arrived.
There are so many Japanese restaurants in Manila but this is something which made me fall in love with Japanese food again like it’s something new. I have this fail-safe list of items to order but Izakaya Kikufuji makes me want to try more than that. Everything was fresh and even the seaweed that came with the sashimi platter seemed fresher than ones I buy from Farmer’s Market. How did they do that?
I keep away from shimps and prawns because they often are bland and dry but the ones they served were milky sweet. I completely get why people were raving about the melt in your mouth meat in skewers. Whether or not it is seasoned, it is perfect. I’m curious what their ebi tempura tastes like especially that most of the time, others smother it with breadcrumbs and the only thing you can taste is the dipping sauce. Phil on the other hand is curious of their ramen because usually ones we’ve tried taste synthetic and salty.
I seriously want to try out everything on the menu and you should too. Just don’t forget to make reservations.
P.S. I was told the lunch menu is cheaper!
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