it’s been a while, but we have a good one for you: haru

Camille found this place first. and one of the things she loved about it was that “it smelled like sushi!” at first i wasn’t sure what she meant, but once i entered, i got it. the restaurant smells very fresh – no “fried” smells!

this post, we’ll start with sushi – seeing as this is the restaurant’s specialty. they had a soft opening menu, but when they were in full operations and released their final menu, it was the sushi section that was obviously beefed up.

first off, the popular tuna sashimi (P220)

 

we’ve had this many times over since and each time it makes me happy. they use a really good cut of tuna. no ligaments. very very fresh. and they’ve been very consistent with this – best tuna sashimi experience.

another favorite is salmon maki (P200). the photo doesn’t show the full order, by the way

 

also remarkable in its freshness. i’m generally not a huge fan of salmon sushi/sashimi but haru manages to retain the sweet of the fish without any of the fishiness.

and because this was a favorite of the makioka sisters, we tried tai sashimi. maya maya (P290)

 

in the novel, the sisters would look down on people from tokyo because they enjoyed eating tuna sashimi. we had an idea why they felt that way – tai is richer, creamier than tuna. but, i suppose since our palates are more used to tuna that will remain to be our staple sashimi.

haru is now in full operation and there is much more to explore in their menu. the restaurant has become our favorite japanese place because of the really nice interior, decent prices especially given what we feel to be great quality. two chopsticks up and then some.

we’ll be posting about the cooked dishes soon.

kabila. the other side of what, we wonder

each time i’m faced with filipino food gone upscale, i tend to problematize and ovethink. take this lumpia from kabila (p275), the alternate menu at the m cafe. the egg wrapper the subject of much care. was it delicious? yes. the ubod perfectly seasoned and the side of ground peanuts and sugar the perfect condiment. maybe the garlic on the side could have been more generous (but more on that later). but all in all, it was very good.

but was it worth P275? i suppose that’s really up for debate. but if you take in the overall dining quality and given that this is a museum restaurant and a number of the clientele are foreign, then there’s a lot to justify this concept of fancifying filipino food a bit. and the idea worked great with their kabila pancit (P375)

this is a loaded pancit – see that chunk of bagnet up there – that seems to take its inspiration from quezon’s pancit habhab. very tasty. a most satisfying dish although i’m not 100% sure there isn’t any msg in there to, um, help it along the way. sadly though, the bagnet was disappointing. it was tough and chewy rather than crisp. fix that and this becomes an excellent dish.

the side of vinegar though could be a little more generous. like the garlic. but it’s not like kabila is being stingy. if you ask for more, they’ll give it. it’s just that the initial portion should be bigger so you don’t have to feel like you have to scrimp. and diners might be shy to ask. it’s vinegar and garlic, surely the restaurant can be generous with that.

the least satisfying dish was the “mpanada” – a version of the popular and utterly delicious ilocos empanada (P195).

one look and it’s easy to see where this dish doesn’t quite make it. that crust. it says “i’m a chicken pie” more than ilocos empanada. it’s heavy and thick and clunky whereas one of the beauties of the original is that crust is light and thin and crisp. right now i can’t think of anything to justify this decision. the filling was a little too modest for our taste. modest meaning little. we know that portion sizes tend to get smaller the higher you get in the fine dining scale, but that shouldn’t be at the expense of texture or flavor. with this one, we lost the gooey egg, the crunch of the papaya. that chili rock salt on the side though was nice (but you know what we have to say about that tiny vessel of vinegar).

oh, they had a kamias and calamansi shake that was terrific!

sweet and tart, the perfect accompaniment to fatty food.

so overall, kabila is worth another visit. on the whole i think they’re on to something conceptually and there are other dishes on the menu that are worth a look. we’re cheering kabila on. given that the traditional western global culinary world is finally giving us a look, a restaurant like this can do much to champion our cuisine.

cue. waiting for a chance to return

 

i’m a sucker for restaurants that serve free things as soon as you sit down. and i’m a sucker for popcorn. so when i saw people munching on popcorn while waiting for their orders at cue restaurant in bonifacio high street central, i was instantly happy. even if our popcorn was taken from another table that didn’t eat it. ok, yeah, i should be a bit upset at that. but at that time it was no biggie. the restaurant was very busy and, hey, it was free popcorn.

but what made us really REALLY happy was the steak and bone marrow taco (P485). read all those words: steak, bone marrow, taco. beautiful, yes?

 

the dish is actually under the appetizer section and consists of a slice of steak cubed up and served with a nice hunk of bone with marrow in it, tiny flour tortillas, chimichurri and corn. very very nice. the meat is very tender and tasty and the condiments are a perfect match. and bone marrow. no need to say anything more, really.

now for me grilled meat is a food group unto itself so it was with great anticipation that we waited for the main dish of the night: baby back ribs, dry-rubbed and grilled (P650 half slab).

 

it was good. nice, bold flavors. the balance was also good. but the meat could use a little more tenderness. and maybe just a tad more flavor in the inner parts. i wouldn’t call it underwhelming, but it didn’t elicit gasps of delight. so we’re not 100% sure if we’ll be having this again especially given a lot of other interesting items on the menu.

but that steak and marrow taco? absolutely worth going back for.