After a long drive from Subic, hubby and I were contemplating where to have dinner. We decided to eat close to home instead of finding a restaurant somewhere in the North Luzon highway.
Our choice was at the Red Kimono Japanese Cuisine in Westgate Alabang. We've always been intrigued with the restaurant but never managed to eat there until last night. The place looks swanky and hubby dropped me off to check the menu before making a commitment. I liked the selection and I gave a thumbs up to hubby while he proceeded to park the car.
The interior was designed using red, black and white, very modern. The menu consisted of two types of cuisine. The first one is Japanese, called Red KImono (the name of the restaurant) and the second menu is American, called Painted Red. I like that, more choices. Hubby of course stuck with the Japanese menu.
It was rainy evening, hubby wanted some soup so he ordered the miso soup to start with. The miso soup is pretty typical, nothing fancy.
Red Kimono also offers Wasabi Oyster Tempura, and we ordered that immediately upon seeing it in the menu. Crispy fried oysters in a Japanese dipping sauce of mayo, Kikkoman and maybe a hint of sesamwe oil (?). The dipping sauce was a little bit sweet. I like this dish, hubby on the other hand, would like to have more wasabi in the batter. Well, the menu did say Wasabi Oyster Tempura but there was hardly any wasabi in the batter. I liked it anyway but I see hubby's point.
I also ordered from the Painted Red Menu (American). I had the Artichoke and Spinach Fondue although technically it's not a fondue since the dip is baked as opposed to being in a fondue pot. The Spinach and Cheese fondue was served with nachos and garlic bread. I liked this dish very much and would probably order it again. It smells funny because of the cheeses (sorry, I forgot to ask what kinds were used and Painted Red did not mention it in their menu).
I also had the Mediterranean Salad with feta cheese, tomatoes, walnuts, red cabbages, assorted salad greens, olives and dill with a white balsamic dressing. I've never heard of white balsamic but it tasted like white wine vinegar to me. I thought balsamic vinegars were dark and syrupy. Anyway, the salad wasn't a hit with hubby because of the fresh dill. I am more neutral. I don't hate it but it's not my favorite either.
Hubby also had his Prawn Tempura, which got a very negative review from hubby because the batter was tasteless according to him. I didn't have any because I already wiped out the cheese fondue and was very full.
For some novelty, hubby ordered the Green Tea Tempura Ice Cream. It's green tea ice cream, dipped in a tempura batter and quickly deep fried to have that outer crust. This also got a fail mark from hubby because of the bland taste of the batter and the ice cream.
I'm not actually crossing Red Kimono off my list yet because I did like their fondue (very much) and I would like to try their Maki dishes next time.
