_I asked Cat where she wanted to have our anniversary dinner and she said she'd been craving Japanese.  And when it comes to Japanese food, Hanakazu will always be among the first restaurants I'll think of.

This traditional Japanese restaurant along Aguirre (near the Elizalde stoplight) -- now entering its seventh year of business -- is helmed by none other than the former chef of the posh Tsukiji restaurant in Makati, Hiroaki Otsuka.  If you're a fan of Japanese food you'll already know what that means; if not, then let us quote you what they've put at the front page of their menu:  "Fresh Sushi.  Delectable sashimi.  Crispy tempura.  Tender Beef Sukiyaki.  Mouth-watering Ebi Ten Maki."  The descriptions do not exaggerate.  From a small restaurant, Hanakazu has expanded its space to accommodate its growing clientele, a testament to Chef Otsuka's labor of love.

We ordered a perennial favorite, the Ebi Ten Maki, a sushi roll tenderly cradling crisp ebi tempura slices in its center; Miso Soup; a refreshing Kani Salad; Yakiniku (grilled beef); and Yakimeshi (fried rice). 

All the dishes were made to the high standard that this popular restaurant has come to be known for -- all the ingredients are top-grade and fresh, the flavors light and ethereal, very well balanced -- you can see the chef's expertise in the way every roll of sushi here is rolled just so, the sashimi cut so neatly you'd swear fish grow in neat rectangles and lozenges.

_As I said, we nearly always order the Ebi Ten Maki when we eat here; Hiroaki's wife Lorna says she's not sure whether this roll is Hiroaki's own invention or not, but she does get comments from foodies telling her Hanakazu's version is the best they've had.  I agree.  We also received tiny bowls of Maguro Tatsutaage, breaded tuna slices fried crisp, as a complementary appetizer. 

A new revelation for us was the Kani Salad, a beautiful light salad of lettuce and assorted greens, carrots, and kani strips, tossed in a light semi-sweet mayo dressing and topped with strips of dried seaweed.  The serving of this salad was surprisingly large, easily good for sharing among three or four.  On its own, it can make a pretty filling meal for a health-conscious diner.  We also loved our Yakiniku, the beef so tender we could tear apart the strips easily with our chopsticks, with a light soy-pepper-slightly-sweet flavor.  The beef went perfectly with our sticky Yakimeshi. 

_Chef Hiroaki was too busy to interrupt, but we were able to get Lorna Otsuka to drop by our tatami room and tell us more about Hanakazu.  The restaurant's name is taken from their daughters, Hana and Kazuko.  They and their two sons, Yoshi and Sachi (after whom the two tatami rooms are named), are the reason Chef Hiroaki is happy in BF Homes rather than taking up offers to open a Hanakazu branch in commercial districts like Makati.  "We were tempted by an offer when Serendra was new, but when we found that we'd have to be open all week, my husband said no," reveals Lorna.  "He wants his Mondays off, because that's his day to be with his children.  That's the day he'll make them lunch himself as a treat." 

The rest of the week, though, is spent keeping up the quality that Hanakazu's become known for.  Though the restaurant opens at 11:30 a.m., Hiroaki arrives early to begin making the ramen broth, which he insists on making fresh every day.  He also does the marketing for ingredients himself every three days, and they regularly receive shipments of locally hard-to-find items from Japan. 

That passionate attention to detail  is evident in every bite here at Hanakazu, which is why we've been regular customers since 2005.  The staff even remembers my friends and I as "that noisy gang that always makes such a ruckus in the tatami room but orders a lot!", said with a smile, of course.  Lorna said that their loyal customers now have "Hanakazu babies" -- you could say that we could count ourselves among them as well.

We've just discovered a new Japanese street food place along President's Avenue.  It's called Kushiten, which in my fractured understanding of Japanese boils down to 'heaven for everything on a stick.'  If you've a hankering for yakitori, this is the place to find it -- about a dozen varieties of it, and all of them made with an authentic, light Japanese touch.

Kushiten's secret weapon is owner/chef Kath Kaneko and her culinary blue blood - her father is a Japanese chef and their family used to own the Keiyu Japanese restaurant in Phase 3.  Kushiten's menu is a reflection of what Kath herself loves most in Japan, its variety of skewered street foods.  The menu was inspired by a street stall that she always visits when she goes to Tokyo.  Banking on the Filipino's love for grilled and fried dishes, Kath designed Kushiten to showcase the streets of Tokyo's best in a casual, relaxing atmosphere that welcomes Japanese expats and Filipino barkadas and families alike.

When I order yakitori, I usually know what to expect: tender bits of sweet-salty chicken on sticks.  That's it.  In Kushiten, though, there's a lot more to it than that.  Cathy and I sampled Momo (chicken dark meat), Tebasaki (chicken wings), Tsukune (balls of ground chicken), Negima (chicken with leeks), and Buta Aspara (thin strips of pork rolled around fresh asparagus tips).  I have to say Kath has a very light hand with her marinades, so you can savor every nuance of the ingredients' flavor without them being overwhelmed in sweetness or the saltiness of soy sauce.  I can see why the Japanese expats eat here.
The yakitoris went very well with a bowl of Chahan, Japanese fried rice.

After the yakitoris we tried a variety of kushiages, namely the Gyu (beef), Ika (squid), Sakana (fish), Ebi (shrimp,) and a surprise, the Uzura Tamago (quail eggs).  By default these are served with a sweet kushiage sauce, but Kath also urged us to try them with tartare sauce and her own Kushiten sauce.  One of the draws here, she explained, is that you can order kushiage with the sauce of your choice, including chili mayo and wasabi mayo if you want a hot kick.  Cat and I found that each kushiage tends to go best with a different sauce -- the tartar was great with the fish and squid; I found the Kushiten sauce was fantastic with the quail eggsl and the sweet kushiage sauce went very well with the beef.   If you're going to bring kids here, the kushiages are guaranteed to be a hit with them! Trust me - I'm very in
touch with my inner kid.

We also had a plate of fried Gyoza, an all-meat dumpling, again with Kath's own gyoza sauce.  Cathy's a gyoza connoisseur, almost never failing to order it when we eat Japanese; so when she says she likes a gyoza, I know we're going there again.  As for me, I liked that the gyoza sauce here has more ginger and is less sweet than usual; I find that it brings out the taste of the gyoza filling better.  We then had our vegetables in the form of an Okonomiyaki, a sort of savory pancake made with shredded cabbage and topped with a light, sweet sauce, Japanese mayo, seaweed flakes and dried bonito flakes.  This dish is surprisingly hefty, and can make a filling snack on its own or be a good side dish to go with the light yakitoris and kushiages.

As there's inevitably one big eater in every group, Kushiten is coming out with a line of donburis, or rice topping bowls, by next week.  We got a sneak preview of the Katsudon, a breaded pork cutlet on rice.  Kushiten's katsudon comes in a rather large serving, and is drenched in a special sauce that adds juiciness to the fried pork and makes the rice really savory.  I guess this is the Japanese version of comfort food, so comforting I didn't want to get up from my chair anymore after I finished it!  This friendly place with its delicious, authentic and surprisingly budget-friendly Japanese food is going to be among my top recommendations from now on.