Dining | Yakitori Fever at Tori Ichi - Festival Mall Alabang
The last time this writer had a bite of Yakitori was three years ago when we were in a business trip in Bangkok Thailand. We went to the night market called Chatuchak, we went around the stalls and found a great restaurant in the middle of all the shops there. I forgot the name of that restaurant yet the taste and smell of the Yakitori still rings bells in my mind.
For this food trip, we didn't travel to Thailand but we found a Yakitori shop in Festival Mall Alabang. Its called Tori Ichi. Better I write it down here before I forget their name like the previous. LOL. Anyway, this shop is located at the new wing of Festival Mall and it leads to the Landmark Department Store side. Now the restaurant has also other dishes aside from Yakitori and we sampled some of them during this review.
These are what we ordered. (We forgot to take a picture of the tonkatsu and we took it home as we ordered more than what we can eat).
We were greeted nicely so we guessed we will be having a nice dining experience herein.
Now lets do this taste wise... Like in all other japanese restaurants we went to, it tasted like japanesey. Our miso soup was just right, I think. I'm not sure since I haven't been to Japan to taste the real thing. But for me, this soup was. Now it was followed with our assorted sushi. All tasted normal, for me it didn't jump off my plate. The salmon and tuna tasted funny. I've tasted a lot of sushi and I can say it tasted such this time. The Dilis or Muyashi was the thing that really connected us with Tori Ichi. It was just the right blend of sweetness and saltiness which I liked. It bridged the miso soup to the yakitori. The latter was great. As the staff pointed out, they used coals from Japan to grill the same. I thought coals were the same but I was proven wrong. These coals were from a tree there and sent here just for grilling. One point in taste for Tori Ichi on their Yakitori. The Matcha ice cream tasted like locally made though. It tasted like the one I had during IFEX recently. If they are importing this ice cream from Japan, the I should commend the locally made one.
Now serving wise. The soup was the normal size like most are. Then the assorted sushi was the same. Muyashi was a bit small and it left me wanting more, or that's what they are aiming for. Yakitori were just 4 skewers. Just 4, well you can guess what I felt. Then the ice cream was just right. It wasn't small, nor was too many. Simply put, just right. In retrospect, I liked the Muyashi from all things served and it was the one that I felt was a few of.
Their service was fast and nice. Staff smiles a lot and were attentive when called upon. They were knowledgeable of the dishes so if you feel foreign with the menu, don't be afraid to asked. They know the answer so you will feel good choosing your meal.
Now price wise. We had a pricey meal. Our total bill was Php1,683 for two persons. That maybe so, we didn't touch our Tonkatsu order as we later found out, having the assorted sushi plus the yakitori set was already good for us.
Still the price was a bit off for me as I can't place the taste and serving size with our bill. I was expecting a bit more for that price and the meal did not quite make the grade. I had a satisfactory meal experience with them but not enough to appease to my wallet. Good thing the staff and the service was nice or else I would not have a great date with my missus.
For more about Tori Ichi visit their facebook page here
