Takashi Japanese Restaurant Food Review
Situated along Sta. Ana St., Tres de Mayo, Takashi is the first Japanese restaurant in Digos City.
Offering a broad selection of affordable Japanese and Filipino dishes, Takashi is a popular dining spot in the city.
What I tried:
Tempura Udon (Php160)
California Roll (Php 250)
Okonomiyaki
Kakiage Udon (Php 130)
Gyoza
Genmaicha (Php 30)
Ice Cream (Php 60)
Tempura udon is a classic Japanese dish of thick wheat noodles "udon" in a savory hot broth garnished with crisp pieces of tempura vegetables and shrimp.
Takashi’s tempura udon did not disappoint. I was served two huge and really juicy shrimp tempuras with thin slices of squash, eggplant, and asparagus tempuras on top of chewy udon. The hot broth was light brown and a little on the salty side. It reminded me of 7-11’s Hot Pot. It was a very satisfying and comforting noodle soup.
Tempura Udon Part I
However, on my second order (a month later), the shrimp tempuras doubled in number but reduced in size. There were no vegetable tempuras and they used flat noodles instead of udon.
Tempura Udon Part II
According to Wikipedia, a California roll is a makizushi, a kind of sushi roll, usually made inside-out, containing cucumber, crab meat or imitation crab, and avocado. In some countries it is made with mango or banana instead of avocado. Sometimes crab salad is substituted for the crab stick, and often the outer layer of rice in an inside-out roll (ura-maki) is sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds, tobiko or masago.
California Roll
Takashi’s California roll consisted of cucumber, imitation crab, egg, lettuce, tuna (if I'm not mistaken), and mango. It was drizzled with the popular Japanese mayo, Kewpie. Dipped in pickled ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi, each roll was crunchy, tasty, and fresh. I first ate two pieces and I felt full already but that wasn’t enough to stop me from finishing the remaining six rolls. I ordered California roll again on my second visit and thank heavens they tasted exactly the same as the first one.
My mom said okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake; the waitress said it is a Japanese pizza. Whichever definition sounded good to me. Besides, the word "okono" actually means “what you like”. Okonomiyaki tastes like a takoyaki which is not a surprise because both dishes are comprised of the same elements: flour, egg, cabbage, carrots, and other choice ingredients. The result is a savory pizza inside a crusty pancake.
Okonomiyaki
Taksahi’s okonomiyaki was a bit too thick in my mother's opinion, but I was glad to see the “dancing” bonito flakes and the drizzle of okonomiyaki sauce and Kewpie mayo on top. There was too much pickled ginger inside the okonomiyaki and its taste prompted some getting used to, otherwise it was a fantastic pizza-pancake. I could say that it is the stuff of cravings, because I was salivating for it a month after I tasted it.
Kakiage Udon
A kakiage is a tempura made of julienned carrots and white onion. Therefore a kakiage udon is simply a noodle soup with vegetable tempura. The kakiage was really good and crusty but they used flat noodles that grew thicker as it absorbed the very salty broth. I did not finish eating the noodle soup because I couldn’t bear its saltiness. For an additional Php 30 (for good quality takeout containers), I took the leftovers home for re-purposing.
I ordered gyoza and was expecting to savor that wonderful combination of garlicky meat, celery, and Asian chives in one bite. But in reality, I sampled an oil-flavored deep fried dumpling that reminded me of the oil-fest disaster non-gyoza of Yoshinoya. I was disappointed enough that I forgot to take a photo of the gyoza. It was later when I found out that what I ate was the deep fried version "age-gyoza", one of the several methods of preparing a gyoza. The pan-fried and then steamed version "yaki-gyoza" was what I intended to eat.
Now, how do you help your body digest those oils from the tempuras and the gyoza? Drink tea of course! We ordered a teapot of genmaicha. It was a very refreshing infusion of green tea leaves and roasted brown rice.
Tempura Udon, California Roll and a teapot of Genmaicha
As for desert, we tried the ice cream on the menu. A pretty scoop of vanilla ice cream striped with chocolate syrup on top of mango slices is a little piece of heaven. That’s all that I can say for this frozen delight because I’m not an ice cream person.
Ice Cream
If you’re looking for the authentic taste of Japan but are on a budget, Takashi’s Japanese Restaurant is the place to be. The head chef is Japanese and the Japanese proprietor personally buys the fishes used in the shisamo and the sake, saba, iwashi, and hokke shioyakis from Japan. The restaurant is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 AM - 2 PM and 5 PM - 10 PM.
