Cravings are usually a regular for me. Last night, my palate yearned for sushi. After spending the entire afternoon in Japantown to take part in the Cherry Blossom Festival, I can’t believe that my brother and I weren’t able to find a decent place to have a nice Japanese dinner. The area was just too full and there wasn’t any space for two wandering Filipinos such as ourselves. Tired and frustrated, we decided to head back home and to our delight, found a hole in the wall Japanese restaurant just 5 minutes away from our place.
Tani’s Kitchen is located in the Westlake complex in Daly City. It’s something you would miss while on a car or bus, but if you go by foot, you won’t miss the sign hanging above their door. However, most regulars opt to have their orders to go since the place only seats 14 people– six on the counter and two in each of the four mini tables. The place is definitely not for the claustrophobic. Tani’s isn’t what you’d call 5 star, but their food was excellent and reasonably priced. A $20 (~900php) Japanese dinner for two wasn’t bad at all.
Franco and I had a nice dinner seated on the counter and had the opportunity to watch the chef make the sushi we ordered. What’s nice about the place is that you know your food is fresh and you get it right at the moment it leaves the kitchen–which was literally two steps away from where we were seated. The service was okay and I could probably blame that on the language barrier (our server had trouble with English), but overall, it was quite the experience and I’m definitely coming back before I fly out to Manila.
