Wagyu Beef Curry Rice at Toki Japanese Fusion
Hats off to the chef of the Japanese restaurant Toki for his inventiveness! He took up the bits, pieces, and shreds of Wagyu beef left over from the preparation of the other beef dishes his eatery serves and used these to transform what is usually a humble Japanese dish into one with a high perceived value: a very tasty Wagyu Beef Curry Rice bento lunch set (PHP 470.00).
Like the Portuguese-inspired tempura, karē raisu is a dish that the Japanese adapted from foreigners as well, in this case from the British. Legend has it that during the Meiji period, the Japanese were deeply impressed at the sight of Royal Navy sailors eating stews mixed with curry and thought that these rations were the source of their strength. At length the budding Imperial Japanese Navy, which was then being modernized under British influence, adopted curry from the latter. I suppose from that time the practice of eating curry-flavored foods diffused itself into the wider Japanese cuisine and turned itself into the form that we are familiar with today.
The Wagyu Beef Curry Rice set was served at my table with the usual salad, pickled pearl onions and radish, and dessert, as well as a cup of soup – but it wasn’t the usual miso broth. It was a sour-tasting miso-based broth that had a piece of crab in it. I never did get its Japanese name but this tangy soup primed my palate for the meal to come.
If anything, Toki’s take on this Japanese staple tasted great. It wasn’t salty at all. Rather, it was full of that curry taste and the sauce blended very well with the rice it came with, although it felt like I was eating curried corned beef at times given the texture of the meat. I did encounter a whole chunk or two of beef. I highly recommend this dish to you, notwithstanding its expense, if you happen to be in the mood for some curry.
Let’s see, what else did I try?
Before I received my lunch set I had ordered a separate cup of soup. Mrs. Unlawyer knew I wasn’t interested in plain miso soup so she suggested a clear broth with clams, as you can see above. It was clean-tasting and quite good.
All right, here is a plate of shrimp tempura that my son didn’t want to eat. It was part of the noodle bento set he ordered.
Some chicken teriyaki.
Toki Japanese Fusion and Fine Dining is located on the second floor of the 32nd and 5th Building, 32nd Street corner 5th Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Phone (02) 856-7295. Open for lunch from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM and for dinner from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Closed Wednesdays. Major credit cards accepted.
