Food Review: Haiku

Sushi Maki Plate

Teriyaki Donburi

Total repletion

Not exactly the best haiku ever written, but if there's any restaurant as poetic as a 17-syllabled poem, it would be, er, Haiku, located in Greenbelt 3.

Specifics

Location: Greenbelt 3 below cinema level
Cuisine: Fusion Japanese (as listed in clickthecity)
Type of Service: Casual
Target Market: Mostly Japanese due to near authenticity of the dish
Budget: 450 pesos / head, roughly around $7 a meal, $9 if you order appetizers / drinks.

Customer Experience
I read that an average New Yorker meal costs around $7. This is my measuring stick when choosing a restaurant. That is, if the price of a meal in that restaurant is above $7, then I file it under "expensive" and avoid it until there is an actual occasion for it (think birthdays or proposals, no?). Thankfully, Haiku managed to enter the $7/meal bracket, and come to think of it, Italianni's is actually more expensive.

So a casual eat-out and try-this-old-resto-sitting-there-forever-but-we-don't-really-wanna-try-it-out thing has to be had and I invited a friend to tag along to try out more stuff.

One thing I can say about the service is that they're friendly and prompt. The thing with Haiku is that you never need any reservations to eat here. Just walk in and eat.

We've had traditional Japanese dishes mainly as as my friend has it, "if they can cook the basic stuff, well, then they can cook the experimental / fusion ones better." So yep, that means we ordered Katsudon (Har har) and Japanese chicken curry. We also had a platter of their All Maki Platter, which sets you off at an incredibly low price of 299. 16 pieces of Maki, man such deal! 

And what can I say about the food? Delightful.

(I just have to take a mental note that for the last few days I've been eating out with friends, I always end up finishing my rice and they don't. It makes me feel fat and maybe I should watch out my own rice intake, really. Mental note down.)

The Katsudon is just perfect, the meat tender and the rice that they paired it with is the perfect Japanese kind of sticky. The curry was a bit on the spicy side, which I like but my system tends to disagree with as almost as short as 3 minutes into the curry, sweat beaded up on my forehead. The Maki platter has 16 pieces of maki, 4 Spicy Tuna, 4 Tempura, 4 California, 2 Salmon, and 2 Tuna makis, this is something 4 people can split. You couldn't go wrong with it, although at the end of it, I kind of wish we did some more experimenting and not stick with the basic Japanese. Maybe some other time.

Ambiance
Haiku is not particularly noisy at the time we were in and the air-conditioning is just proper. The lighting is a bit dim, suggesting that it be for more formal or romantic gatherings. My main gripe with Haiku is how unfinished their ceiling is, which is counter-intuitive to their beautiful furnishing. Also, the CR. Why is there no CR in there? The nearest CR is outside Haiku, near the escalators to the cinema level. This is inconvenient, especially with dates, as ladies often want to freshen up after dining.

Verdict
I would like to be cheeky and hand out a verdict in 17 syllables, but the exercise above already told me that I suck at writing haikus. Good thing, eating one is not that hard.

Service - 4
Product - 4
Ambiance - 3

3.7 out of 5