Yummy Date Night

Date # 47: Red Kimono

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Red Kimono is a popular restaurant chain that serves modern Japanese cuisine. That means only one thing: fusion food. I know, I know, we all have our qualms when it comes to Japanese fusion, but I think Red Kimono is a pretty good contender in the business.

Customary for almost all modern-themed restaurants, the design is clean and simple. I like the black and red motif.

I like ordering mocktails because I think they’re interesting. Plus, I don’t drink alcohol so this is the next best option. I got a Cranberry Cooler (P100), pictured above. I think the flavor of the berries in this drink meshed nicely. However, the ice was not crushed as fine as I had hoped—it was hard to slurp it up the straw.

The Red Rush (P165) had a far more interesting combination—strawberry, banana and pineapple. I personally found the combination a bit strange, but Douglas seemed to like it.

We couldn’t decide which rolls to get, so we ended up with a Maki Sampler (P595) instead. When it comes to commercialized restaurants, it’s always better to order from the fusion rolls menu rather than the traditional nigiri sushi menu. The quality of the nigiri won’t be tops anyway, so I guess it’s better to just try the restaurant’s innovative fusion creations.

The Maki Sampler was a good choice, since I think their best rolls are in the sampler. It contained four pieces of Crunchy Tuna Maki, Crunchy Ebi Maki, Red Scorpion Maki, Red Monster Maki and Salmon and Cream Cheese Maki.

My favorite was the Salmon and Cream Cheese, maybe I’ll get a separate order of that next time.

Red Kimono has a very unique take on Tonkatsu (P220). Instead of being served as rice toppings, the Tonkatsu was served with garlic butter mashed potato on the side. The sauce was also separate, served in a dipping dish. Needless to say, this is a very deconstructed version of the dish.

How did it fare? Well, for one thing, the serving of the tonkatsu was generous. However, the consistency of the sauce was a bit thick—I don’t know if you’ll like it that way. Personally I found it interesting, but I wouldn’t like it over the traditional tonkatsu. Taste-wise, it was alright—nothing special.

We ordered some Curry Sauce (I forgot the price) for the tonkatsu. This was a good call because it tasted better than the tonkatsu’s default sauce. The curry sauce was chunky, with bits of carrots and potatoes.

We ordered a Banana Katsu (P135) for dessert. Note: this is far more worth it than tempura ice cream because their tempura ice cream has only one scoop of ice cream priced at P125—and it’s only battered ice cream!

Banana Katsu is served with thick chocolate sauce and one scoop vanilla ice cream. It was a bit hard to dip because the banana kept on disintegrating under my fork. It was delicious, though. This is big since I’m not a chocolate lover.

The Verdict: I have to admit that I’m a regular at Red Kimono, probably because this restaurant is my family’s favorite. Biases aside, I think that when compared with its competitors, it puts up a fair fight. I wouldn’t say it’s the best, though. It’s just alright.

Red Kimono has various branches all over the country, this one in particular is in AyalaLand Technohub, Commonwealth.

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With and For Love,

Rina Caparras and Douglas Chong

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