John and Yoko

Sarita is back in circulation. She was home in Coron for a while and when she got back to Manila she had a friend from high school to entertain who happens to be on holiday. I, on the other hand, celebrated my birthday just yesterday. So Sarita decided to call another friend ( Fides) and organized a lunch at Greenbelt 5. The restaurant had not been named until Mama June and I arrived in the area.

Sarita 

Then Fides arrived a few minutes later. Fides and I celebrate our birthdays exactly a month apart. Then Jojo arrived from his office. Jojo was available to join us for lunch. His office was set to re-launch operations after  a lengthy renovation. The launch was to be in the afternoon. And then  as we were partaking of the feast in comes Leslie. So the party of five was complete. Fides, June, Sarita, myself, Jojo and Leslie (in that order on the photo below)

John and Yoko is the  higher end restaurant that's owned and operated by Marvin Agustin who is more associated with his other chain of restos called Sumo Sam. But John and Yoko is a bit more glitzy... retro with a touch of 80's disco. The interiors a warmly lit but punctuated by purple neon. The seats have reproductions of period characters

Now, the food is the usual Japanese food fare but given some ooomph with different flavors that pop. For starters we had the Star Kani Salad. Crispy greens with a tangy vinaigrette complete with crab meat and mango balls. The interesting ingredient was the caramelized almond crumbs.

The Soba salad was quite delicate. Served cold as soba should be served the panco crumbs and slivers of silken tofu. The dressing was laced with Japanese shoyu (soy sauce). Buckwheat noodles were quite tasty with the shards of nori (seaweed) thrown in to the mix.

The Tuna and Salmon Sashimi were nicely and sliced a bit generously. Both were fresh and firm and when dipped in wasabi and soy. The slices have a substantial thickness to it unlike thinly sliced sashimi from other restaurants.

The Agedashi Tofu was tasty and salty as I like it to be. It needed a lot more pieces per serving though. The silken tofu was light and soft. I with the crust had been a  little thicker and crustier though.

Now the sushi came in three variants: California Maki, Dynamite sushi and Tuna Maki. The California Maki was pretty standard and I would have wanted a little more dusting of igarashi (fish roe). The dynamite roll was the one I liked best. The balance of spicy chilli was just right with the dipping sauce I made of wasabi and shoyu. The Kani sushi had delicate strips of crab on it and crisp lettuce as well.

The tempura was great. At least there was a lot of shrimp under the breading. I just was used to crispy panco on the outside so when I dip it in the ginger sauce it would still retain its  crispness a bit. The main surprise was the Bacon Dory. Slivers of cream dory were wrapped in bacon and drizzled with something almost like a tonkatsu sauce. That was a treat! Thanks, Sarita!!! Jojo's birthday is up next... let's see what's comin' up...