Dining | A Surprising Japanese Dining Experience with Kisoya
Located in Robinsons Galleria, we happened to chance on this new restaurant while on our way to an event within the mall. With food displays upfront so inviting, we had to take chances and try out this Korean Japanese Restaurant called Kisoya.
The word Kisoya is a combination of "kiso" of Japan's Gifu prefecture and "ya". Noodles are made of buckwheat and wheat thus the Udon and Soba being served here have a deep taste and possess lots of flavours.
When we ate here, we were told they just opened days earlier so they have yet been operating for a week. They were still in their soft opening stage thus they were trying some things out. Some of the items in the menu was not yet available and they still have yet to serve bingsu. But Ramen and some bento were already available for us.
For our visit, we decided to try out the Tonkatsu Set for Php550. Seeing that the servings were huge, we decided to share on the same set. My daughter isn't a big eater so we knew this set is good for the both of us.
Service staff were polite and cheerful. I was glad they were attentive to us from the moment we looked at the window displays. We were guided to our table and everything was nice.
Menu was organized and neat for a newly opened store. Although we were confused at first with the Korean Japanese fusion. We saw a lot of Japanese cuisine yet they are a Korean brand. The person who assisted us cleared this thing with us so we proceeded to order the Tonkatsu Set.
Waiting time was 20 minutes and we were informed beforehand so it was fine. True enough it came within the mentioned time. The Tonkatsu was crisp, the Udon was hot, rice was steaming, and the salad was crunchy. What a great way to welcome us to a hearty meal.
Now tastewise. Immediately I dove in the Udon. This writer is a ramen lover and I wanted to find out how the broth tastes like. The broth didn't disappoint. It was tasty and it felt like it was Shio (salt based) broth was used in our set. Although I saw tonkotsu and miso as their broth in menu, I may have overlooked some items in their menu but I can't complain about the great broth I had in my set.
The tonkatsu was crisp and it wasn't over cooked. Glad it was such and it tasted nice. It went well with the steaming bowl of rice in our set. The side salad was also nice and complimented the tonkatsu very well.
Now serving size. Usually meal sets offer dishes in small sizes to keep the prices low. In our Php550 meal set, the serving size is adequately big. It was able to feed two people, but of course my daughter is not equal to my appetite still we evened out the whole set.
So the price of Php550 for two people (or one for a person with a bigger appetite) is fine with us. Spending this amount is a bit daunting at first for a budget conscious person, but when you consider the quality of the ingredients used and the service given, its well worth the cost. I'd rather splurge on the Php550 that gives me great dining pleasure (Php275 each if taken into our consideration) rather than having a Php130 ramen that tastes less than my expectation.
Kudos to Kisoya for providing us the great dining experience, and hope to see you in the near future.
For more on Kisoya, you may visit their facebook presence here.
