Have at you!

One of my recent favorites for Japanese cuisine is located in Makati. My brother has been telling me about Nihonbashi Tei for the longest time, and he was finally able to bring me to the place last weekend after we visited a bridal fair. He was right when he said that the food was relatively cheap compared to other Japanese restaurants out there; the servings were huge and the sashimi was definitely sweet and fresh!

Salmon Sashimi. These thick slices of fresh salmon meat were simply delicious! I could finish the entire serving by myself if I wanted to.

Shiitake Mushroom Tempura. This was new to me since I was used to having ebi, fish or vegetable tempura, but let me tell you something: this was sooooo good! Definitely one of the simplest dishes but a favorite. I’m even thinking of replicating this for our family dinners! 🙂 There was also parsley tempura served with this and it was equally delish! I seriously think tempura batter can make anything turn from blah to divine; just like how gravy does! 😛

These were the appetizers that came along with our food: Pickled vegetables and (pork) meatballs in a sweet sauce. We had cold tea to accompany our meal.

Chirashi don. Pointyman ordered this and let me taste the uni (sea urchin). It was fresh and doesn’t have any of those funky aftertaste. It’s wasn’t as sweet as the ones I had during my trip to Camiguin last November, but yummy nonetheless! (The Camiguin experience: we were walking along the beach when we bumped into a vendor selling live sea urchin. He cracked the shell open, scooped the meat, splashed it with a bit of vinegar and dumped it in our hands. How fresh can you get?)

Ebi tempura. The Boyfriend ordered this set and we had to agree that this restaurant was a winner. They used meaty prawns and didn’t overdo it with the batter.

Grilled Saba (Mackarel). This was what Christine ordered and it was grilled to perfection! I’m sure the photo above doesn’t look like much, but this was a pretty big chunk of grilled mackarel and it’s good for sharing.

Tonkatsu. I have to admit: I ended up ordering this dish because I was a little pressured to order something (anything) because our server was standing by our table for quite some time and my brother and his girlfriend have already given their orders. I didn’t get to look at the rest of the menu. 😛 I’m glad this dish didn’t disappoint at all since it didn’t taste oily and the meat was very tender. 🙂

The four of us all ordered the set meals and each set came with appetizers, a bowl of miso soup, and dessert (your choice of iced/hot coffee or nata de coco). I ended my meal with the hot coffee simply because I’m in love with coffee and have a great aversion for nata de coco, unless they’re finely sliced, thus I won’t notice them anymore.

For such a filling meal, our total bill was just around Php1,400. Pretty cheap for a group of four. Pointyman and I decided that we will bring Mom and Mons to Nihonbashi Tei soon so that they can enjoy the food too. I’m hoping that happens sooner than later; I’m craving for high quality sashimi. 🙂

***Nihonbashi Tei is located along Arnaiz Avenue, Pasay Road, Makati City. It’s really easy to miss the place, but just take note that they’re near the ramp leading to the Skyway and Makati Cinema Square.

***All photos were taken using the Nikon D40 and with natural lighting.