7.229

21 (Sun) August 2016

Karai Tekka Maki

1.5

at Ogetsu Hime

-SM Aura, Taguig-

with the family

Still looking for a go-to Japanese restaurant (see most recently 7.213 Grilled Wagyu Roll), primarily to satisfy DJ’s sushi cravings.

The food was mostly miss, sparsely hit.

Curiously, the surface of the nude Karai (spicy) Tekka* Maki (roll) had been rolled in Korean gochugaru (ground dried red chili).  While gochugaru is one of the essential ingredients in Koream cuisine — indeed, it’s what makes kimchi kimchi** — Koreans never eat gochugaru on its own, as is, which can be gritty in texture and bitter in flavor.  Here, it made the roll gritty and bitter.  Whatever.

In any case, the food is way way way overpriced, even after the so-called discount.

This is why the family remains convinced that restaurants in Malate are better than those here, even though I try to explain that I suffered through 7 Japanese sushi joints (see generally 6.124 Special Nigiri Sushi Mori + Eta), before settling on just 1 that I liked; indeed, I suffered through 203 establishments in all  (see most recently 7.140 Manila Pizza), leaving maybe 8 that I can tolerate, maybe only 4 that I actually enjoy.

* Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese term “tekka” does not mean “tuna.”  Rather, it’s a metaphor to describe the appearance of the tuna roll — black cylinder with a red core — as a red-hot iron poker, as denotated by the kanji “鉄 (iron) 火 (fire).”  MK informs me that she’s never heard “tekka” used in the  context of anything but sushi.

** On the “Korean BBQ” episode of the way-long-defunct cooking program Food 911, chef/host Tyler Florence explains “kim” = “cabbage” and “chi” = “sauce.”  No, it doesn’t (I’ll provide a proper etymology in a future post featuring kimchi).  The recipes from the episode are interesting.