First Bite: Kenshin Japanese Restaurant

I love pretending to be a master chef like Gordon Ramsey. Though I may lack the skills to do all those French culinary terms, I appreciate that there are several restaurants now that let us experience cooking our own meals. We have grill your own Korean barbecue, create your own pancake, mix your own hotpot and make your own takoyaki. Yes, I'm talking about those famous Japanese street food treats. 

Hello, Kenshin Japanese Restaurant.

This Japanese restaurant along Yakal Street is a gem in the city. 

We were greeted by very Japanese interiors and murals that would make you feel like you're in the Land of the Rising Sun. 

Kenshin offers a lot of dishes, from sushi and sashimi to tempura and katsudon. For this visit, we zeroed in on what Kenshin is known for--DIY Takoyaki (PHP299). 

As total newbies to takoyaki making, one of the friendly servers patiently guided us on how we could make edible takoyaki balls. 

I wasn't able to take photos of the steps as we were being shot by the Unang Hirit team as part of their DIY restaurants segment. However, here are the steps: (1) Put oil on the takoyaki plate using the short brush provided. (2) Pour batter on the holes till overflowing (3) Put the other ingredients (e.g. octopus, red ginger, scallion, shrimp bits) on top of the overflowing batter. 

(4) Roll or flip the mixture to give your masterpiece a round shape. 

(5) Put Japanese mayo, takoyaki sauce, aonori and katsuobushis on top for garnish.

We did all correctly except for one thing, some of the takoyaki balls only had red ginger while others only had octopus and the like. I guess we should have mixed the ingredients more before dumping it on the batter. 

Taste-wise, it was pretty good. Despite the lack of variety of taste per ball, I think we did a decent job in making it round and it having the right texture. And it was a fun experience too!

I'd definitely drop by again if I'm around the area.

Kenshin is located at Ground Floor, The Linear Makati, Yakal Street corner Mayapis Street, San Antonio, Makati City.