The best Brown Sugar Milk Tea I've ever tasted was Xing Fu Tang in Taipei, Taiwan . It's even called Taiwan's No.1 Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea... And for good reason! The branch that I visited was hidden in a corner walking distance away from Ximen Station. A line of people gathered around the store. Usually, their service is fast so there's not that long of a wait. My family and I ordered a variety of different drinks from Xing Fu Tang... Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea, Brown Sugar Boba Milk, and Taro Milk Tea on two different occasions. I've got to say, I love them all... But the Iced Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea holds a special place in my heart. Their cream is so rich and thick, it's almost like melted ice cream... Actually, scrap that. It's like you're drinking chilled heavy cream. It's good. Their boba is tender and chewy... Surprisingly, despite being fried in sugar it's not overwhelmingly sw...
Looking for a fancy Japanese fusion restaurant? Look no further than Ikomai & Tochi!
Located in Salcedo village Makati, Ikomai & Tochi is known for its Japanese food and tasty desserts. The restaurant is run by Filipino Chef James Antolin and Japanese Chef Hide Saeki.
I’ve been to the restaurant around 4 times and this is what my family and I loved from their menu:
Starters:
Wafu Tuna Salad (P360)
If you’re looking for a light starter, you should get the Wafu Tuna salad.
It has crisp, crunchy veggies, cherry tomatoes with pan seared tuna. Brought together with a classic Japanese vinaigrette. It’s garnished with butterfly pea flowers, nuts and sesame seeds.
The dish leaves a refreshing taste in the mouth because of their Wafu dressing as well as their ingredient combination.
Another salad I’d recommend is their Wasabi Salad (P370). It has prawns and watermelons and a slight spicy kick. Personally, however, we preferred the flavor and ingredient combination of the Wafu tuna salad.
Salmon Poke (P360)
If you love eating salmon, you’ll love eating this.
The salmon is covered in chili oil, garlic, and topped with a large amount of seaweed. Yummy!
The salmon is covered in chili oil, garlic, and topped with a large amount of seaweed. Yummy!
Soup:
Prawn Bisque (P150)
This soup is absolutely amazing! It’s rich, creamy, and brings out the richness flavor of the prawn perfectly! We ordered this consistently every time we dined here. The tiny skewer on the top is a wonderful bonus to the soup. I just wish that their portion sizes were a little bit larger though since I loved this dish so much.
Main Course:
7 kinds of sashimi (P1, 390)
Their sashimi platter is of a really high quality and we’d order this every time we dined in the restaurant. The uni is consistently sweet, the salmon, hamachi, and tuna were always fresh with a perfect texture. The mackerel is your classic Japanese fish marinated in vinegar. The squid and octopus were perfectly tender and weren’t tough or chewy but perfectly tender with a delightful bite.
If it’s available, I highly recommend you try the 8 kinds of sashimi. The eighth sushi item is sweet shrimp imported from Russia. It was a unique item and was sweeter than even a freshly killed shrimp. You can even suck on the heads of the shrimp once you finish with the shrimp meat.
Harami Steak (P800)
If you’re looking for a meat dish to whet your appetite, go for the Harami steak. It’s cooked to your desired rareness and served on a sizzling plate. It is flavorful and is a little bit on the sweet side depending on the sauce you pick. The meat pieces are moist and juicy with a nice char on the outside and a soft tenderness on the inside. Goes perfectly with plain Japanese rice!
Kushikatsu Moriawase (P480)
The kushikatsu is this restaurant’s claim to fame. Kushikatsu in essence is deep fried skewers. The kushikatsu moriawase features shrimp, pork, chicken, okra, and onion battered and deep fried. This dish perfect if you want to try different flavors of kushikatsu especially if you have a large family. Each element brings a unique taste to the table BUT THE STAR OF THE SHOW IS DEFINITELY THE CHICKEN KUSHIKATSU! SO DELICIOUS! We were told that the chicken skewers were marinated for around 48 hours to get the flavor just right. You can taste the depth of flavor and the layered notes that the marinade gave the chicken. You can order just the kushikatsu chicken for (P100) per stick. A little bit pricy but it’s worth it. The depth of flavor was just so good! You save more on the Kushikatsu Moriawase if you’re in a large group and want a taste of everything. But if you just want one item, just get the kushikatsu chicken.
Yuzukosho with Duck Chahan (P220)
The yuzukosho with duck is a rice dish that you can order to go along with your main dishes.
The duck was perfectly crisp, tender, and flavorful. The char on the duck was just right and went well with the rice. However, once the duck was finished, the rice on its own was personally not my favorite. It’s perfect if you are not fond of fatty flavors but I felt that with the other dishes that we ordered it was just cutting through the flavor of the Harami Steak and the Kushikatsu unnecessarily. It’s a great dish to eat if you just want to try their duck or if you like the taste of yuzu but if you’re looking for rice, just get their plain Japanese rice so that you can enjoy the fullness of the other flavors that you order.
Dessert:
Chocolate Symphony (P180)
It’s a well balanced chocolate cake. It’s not too sweet. If you like desserts that are not sweet, the chocolate symphony is what you should order.
Salted Macadamia Cookies (P75 per piece and P350 per can)
Chocolate and macadamia cookies! This is the STAR of the dessert table! It’s just SOOOO good. SOOO GOOD. I’ve bought this every time I went. It’s my guilty pleasure. For me, it’s perfect when it’s taken home and chilled for a bit. But if you like it soft and moist, then eat it as is. Get it per can as it comes out cheaper….But even with that many cookies, it usually doesn’t last more than a day in my house.
That’s what I’d recommend for their restaurant for their regular menu but if you can try to get one of their lunch deals. Their lunch menu is different from their main menu.
So over all these are my recommendations:
1. Wafu Tuna Salad (P360)
2. Salmon Poke (P360)
3. Prawn Bisque (P150)
4. 7 kinds of sashimi (P1, 390)
5. Harami Steak (P800)
6. Kushikatsu Moriawase (P480)
7. Yuzukosho with Duck Chahan (P220)
8. Chocolate Symphony (P180)
9. Salted Macadamia Cookies (P75 per piece and P350 per can)
So these are my ratings for the restaurant:
Quality & Consistency: 4.5/5
They’ve been consistent with the quality of the food. However, I took away half a point because there was a time that the Prawn Bisque didn’t taste or feel the same BUT they immediately made us a fresh batch that was up to the same quality and consistency that we had eaten before.
Which is why…
Service: 5/5
I’m giving them full points on service. They always asked how we were enjoying the food, they immediately replaced the Prawn Bisque (no questions asked), and for always giving us water. The chef would also go to our table personally and explain the food on the menu which is something I appreciated as a foodie.
Value for Money: 4/5
Their portions are quite small. It’s definitely a quality over quantity kind of place. It’s the kind of restaurant that you should be willing to pay more for the quality of food that they serve.
Cleanliness: 5 / 5
Based on the times that I’ve visited this restaurant, I have not encountered any cleanliness issues. Their water tastes clean as well.
Also, the perfect score is for the cleanliness of the bathroom. They have a nice modern bathroom with a working Japanese toilet.
Ambiance: 5/5
The ambiance of the restaurant seems to be perfect for those who want to sit and chat.
They have an open kitchen and a nice garden out back.
OVER ALL RATING: 4.7 / 5
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you can one day visit Ikomai & Tochi. It’s definitely worth a try.
Note: These are my personal opinions and experiences.
All images, videos, and photos (c) Z the Wolf Dog
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