Christmas and chopsticks for special Japanese holiday feasts. These two restaurants offering authentic cuisine from the Land of the Rising Sun invite holiday revelers to partake.
Yamazato
Okura Hotels and Resorts’ signature traditional fine dining restaurant Yamazato serves special Japanese Christmas bento on Christmas Day.
The festive Christmas Bento includes a delectable variety of seasonal appetizers, three kinds of sashimi, chawanmushi (steamed Japanese egg custard), Chef Mouri’s signature yaki goma dofu kani (homemade sesame tofu with crab meat), grilled salted mackerel, rice set, and dessert. The Christmas Bento special lunch set is P3,800+++.
On New Year’s Eve, it will serve an authentic Japanese Irodori Dinner Set. Highlights include assorted seasonal appetizers, two kinds of sashimi, grilled black cod with miso, simmered shrimp with small ball-shaped gluten cake, deep-fried sardines with shiso leaves, red and green sweet chili pepper and lemon, ozoni (traditional Japanese New Year soup), chawanmushi, rice set, and dessert.
The Irodori Dinner set is priced at P3,800+++ or with special sake pairing at P4,800+++.
Yamazato is open Tuesdays to Sundays. Call (02) 5318-2888.
Kitsho
Three featured bento box options at Kitsho Japanese Restaurant are discounted on all days of December.
Diners enjoy 25 percent off (from the regular price of P1,025) when they order Kitsho Special that’s filled with tuna sashimi, crispy tuna maki, tuna nigiri, yakisoba, miso soup, and shrimp tempura. Also discounted is the Mediterranean Bento Box, loaded with ika nigiri, pork shogayaki salad, salmon sashimi, beef fried rice, miso soup, and grilled kingfish (sawara).
The Norwegian Bento Box, on the other hand, is every salmon lover’s dream what with its salmon nigiri, spicy salmon roll, salmon sashimi, grilled salmon with garlic butter sauce, miso soup, and salmon salad.
On Dec. 24, lunch buffet is priced at P888 (VAT inclusive). The Yuletide buffet spread features Japanese delicacies.
Kitsho is on the ground floor of Hotel Jen Manila along Roxas Boulevard. Call (02) 8994-3623.