Kai Sarap Kumain (How I Love To Eat!)
We’ve been scouting for a new restaurant at Greenbelt 5 but this is the newest we could find…Kai Neo Japanese Restaurant in a new location. The place was not fully booked (actually, there was only one table which was occupied) so I was not worried in case AD would be in his active state. We also brought JX that rainy night because we were celebrating my MIL’s birthday. So, for us, we are full house.
Roasted Grapes and Tomato Salad with Sesame Dressing (P280+). Interesting but what was more intrigued us when we tasted the mushroom toppings. It looked like the mushroom was the one roasted instead of the grapes. The dried and thinly sliced mushroom tasted cashew nuts! It was yummy! I had to stop myself from getting all the mushroom toppings and leaving all the greens for the family to eat. By the way, the salad and everything else were also good when eaten altogether. It’s just that I loved the mushroom toppings the best that’s why I just can’t stop raving about it!
Portobello Mushroom Confit Salad with Maple Ponzu Vinaigrette (P280+). Another intriguing piece of salad. The Portobello mushroom was just sooo tasty! We didn’t know what or how it was prepared so we asked the server. He said that it was cooked with grapeseed oil then cooked on top of a salamander. Hmmm, I don’t know about that but it taste damn good! The portobello mushroom was so soft. If only, I could order just the portobello mushroom…The salad combination was simple yet very surprising once tasted. Love those mushrooms!
Age Dashi Tofu (P140+). Eating healthy with soft tofu squares. I loved the very tasty and crunchy seaweeds on top! Perfect partner for the bland taste of a tofu. I now remember when I was still a kid, I’d love to eat those seaweeds. I would finish off so many packs in one seating…I could just imagine AD being addicted as I was with the seaweeds. Would he eat as many as I did? Or maybe JX would eat the most!
Dragon Roll (P240). Unagi skin was crunchy! Yes, it was also spicy..but that was all I remembered…I was just too hungry to dissect the sushi roll.
10 hours Buta Kakuni “Braised Pork Belly” (P350+). I was hooked when I read the 10 hours cooking time of this pork belly so we ordered it. I was excited to try but when I saw it, I was kinda disappointed with the looks of it. That was it? Yes, it was. Good thing, they’re rice was plump and on the moist side so we got 2 cups of plain rice more to enjoy our order of pork belly. The white plain rice was a separate order, fyi. The rice that it came with the pork belly was not proportionate with the pork belly as obviosuly seen.
Dessert: Banana Nutella Harumaki (P180+) rolled in sesame fillo topped with caramel, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream. “Kai’s interpretation of banana split”.
I loved the design! I’m not sure I was able to taste nutella there though because I popped the whole ice cream and squeezing the banana sesame fillo into my mouth. Talk about gluttony!
Verdict: It’s good that we tried Kai once again. The first was when they were still at Greenbelt 2 (during their first few months of operation) and I know we were also celebrating a family member’s birthday. I just can’t remember who. I also remember that I loved one of their appetizer with portobello mushroom (again!) which is not in their menu now. Actually, HB doesn’t even remember that we’ve eaten there.
KAI Neo Japanese Cuisine
Unit 1-112 Greenbelt 5
Ayala Center, Makati City
Telephone: +632 75705209 to 10
Email: kairestaurant@yahoo.com