My daily office lunch breaks have been boring for quite some time now. The usual canteen menu isn’t bad but routinely having it for lunch can really dull your taste buds so I opted to “hunt” for food somewhere else and it was difficult because Madrigal Business Park doesn’t cater a lot of choices.

Yet, lo and behold, across the park lies a hidden authentic Japanese restaurant!

INTERIORS & AMBIANCE:

It wasn’t fast food type and it wasn’t Class A restaurant as well. It was a cozy restaurant standing along the line of canteens but upon entering we knew that there was something that the place boasts of hence the amount of customers.

There was a mini-Japanese fountain with bamboo similar to those you see on anime (Japanese cartoons). It wasn’t working but I guess the objective was more of a tableu depicting Japanese scenery more than a fully-functional fountain. There were also “mangas” and Japanese magazines and broadsheets you could read on stack while waiting for food to be served, that is if you can read Kanji.

If you’re dining with a large group or having a meeting, there were three private rooms you could choose from. It has one big table with sitting futons as chairs as to sit seiza-style. I was guessing that they cater mostly for Japanese business men, but then I thought, it was a great opportunity to try it without going to pricey restaus in the metro or travelling to Japan.

Everything in the place was Japanese! The bamboo walls, the esque shoji screen doors (Japanese door) and the sushi bar. Not authentic materials though but for ambiance, it has achieved its intended purpose.

SERVICE:

When we sat, a Filipina waitress on a “sushi chef” outfit greeted us with the menu, sanitized towelette and an appetizer containing bamboo shoots and carrot strips. We placed our orders and waited for, give and take, 20 minutes. Rather slow for us since we were really hungry and has to compress time for lunch break.

FOOD:

At last the food arrived. We ordered from their lunch bento meal which included iced tea, soup and dessert. I had tonkatsu (pork) as the main dish which has a complementary cabbage strips, cucumbers and tomato. The three remaining portions of my bento box were Japanese Rice , ala Tokyo Tokyo bean sprouts and mixed veggie (only ChikuRin’s are fresher and cooked better ) and chilled tofu with raw tuna.

My partner had chicken teriyaki with Japanese Rice, fried mixed veggie and coated crab meat.

VERDICT:

If you have been eating at a Japanese fast food chain, you’ll find ChikuRin Tei refreshing. It was as authentic as it can get. Main difference will probably be the freshness of every cuisine. I’m not the best in testing freshness but comparing constructively the taste, the appearance and the overall effect of the dish, I’m confident that it is.

Another good thing about the ChikuRin was the appetizer that was served randomly. It can be bamboo shoots today and okra strips the next. So was the dessert. Even if you visit on two consecutive days, you’ll still be surprised on what you’ll be having.

Since Japanese Rice was usually served in Japanese restaurants, I expected to know the consistency and taste already yet I found it interestingly tastier. You can taste the sake without trying yet it wasn’t strong enough to topple the other tastes of your order.

You will also distinguish the great difference of the bean sprouts. It was not your usual soggy, oily mixed vegetables. It was fresh and a little saucy with a unique saltiness and basic vegetable taste. Even if you’re not a big fan of vegetables, you’ll like it.

I would also need to commend the Tonkatsu because pork is pork end-of-story usually but not for ChikuRin. For them, Tonkatsu was crispiness on the outside and tender lean meat on the inside. For them, it was fried in an amazingly perfect timing. There was no taste of oil or greasiness whatsoever. It was like cooked in low fire letting the heat sip into the pork without overcooking the bread crumbs.

The restaurant was a healthy place without trying. You could eat a lot and get full without the guilty feeling. Every serving was balanced and complemented by a dish --- pork countered by cucumber, cabbage strips and tomato.

For the price of PHP245/head without the mandatory service charge, it was worth checking out. It might not be a usual trip to ChikuRIn Tei for my lunch break but I’ll absolutely come back.

BUDGET:
250 for budget meals
350 for rice topping servings (ala carte) beverage

ChikuRIn Tei
G/F Alamara Bldg. Buencamino St., Alabang, Muntinlupa City
842-5657