Marufuku is a small but fancy-looking Japanese restaurant hidden away at the edges of the Ortigas Center (along San Miguel Ave.). It offers a quiet, peaceful ambiance; everything just looks so neat and clean. Very Japanese indeed. The appetizer was some deep fried little anchovies (okay, they're dilis). Crunchy with a sweet and nutty flavor, this is a nice preparation for your taste buds for the good stuff to come :).
We had some of the spicy salmon salad to start off our late lunch. We were expecting a modest serving but we were (pleasantly) surprised at the hefty plateful of food they brought out. Mixed in with the fried bits of tempura batter was the salmon itself, dressed in mayonnaise (Kewpie maybe?). All of this copious amount of protein/fried stuff was put on top of some sliced cabbage and nori. Good stuff, the dressing had the creamy sweetish taste of mayonnaise. It wasn't spicy enough to make you sweat, but enough to get your attention. Chesca found the nori addition a nice touch.
I usually order a curry dish whenever I eat at a Japanese restaurant for the first time, so I went ahead and got their tonkatsu curry. Besides the curry sauce, they also put in some tonkatsu sauce on the pork; not the usual serving style I'm accustomed to. I wish they would have served a bigger, more man-sized portion of pork - but maybe I just got spoiled by Yabu :). Taste was good; the tonkatsu sauce adds a bit of sweetness/sourness to each bite. Overall, par for the course.
The sushi in this place is well known among many people, and the totoya roll (basically ebi tempura sushi) is a good example of why. Big serving size, plenty of fillings, and a whole lot of shrimp tempura made this one a hit. Very filling and tasty, especially with the tempura batter and scrambled egg bits on top. It's pretty much a complete meal with every mouthful.
Here's a pic for scale :). Pretty big, no? And plenty of fresh salmon roe on it too. Mmm...
Marufuku is a great place to go to if you want some good Japanese food that doesn't come from a fastfood chain. It's a bit on the pricey side (around 1200Php I think), but the sushi is well worth it. And so is the ambiance. If you're looking for a katsu place, you're better off elsewhere though. Next time I'm here, I'll try out their barbecued offerings. Or maybe I'll just have some more sushi :).
Marufuku Japanese Restaurant
Ground Floor, The Crescent Building,
San Miguel Avenue Ortigas, Pasig City
