A Little Taste of Japan in Cebu at Kushiyaki Chikuzenya Japanese Restaurant

Butabara. That is one word/Japanese dish that one should get acquainted with. There are many Japanese restaurants all over the metro and each are good and all have an array of the usual dishes to choose from. These dishes are the ones we’re all familiar with: a selection of sushi, maki and shasimi, teriyaki, shrimp tempura, ramen, fried rice and etc. Kushiyaki Chikuzenya Japanese Restaurant offers a lot of those familiar dishes but the one thing they’re known for and is also their specialty is the Butabara.

Buta in Japanese means pork or pig. This dish is basically a delicious pork belly soup. They pile the belly artfully on top of some vegetables and some soup then put on the heat and slowly start to cook it. The result is a delicious and surprisingly mild concoction. We love that the pork doesn’t have the too pungent “porky” taste and smell. We also love that the soup isn’t as rich as some ramen broths we’ve tried and that the cuts of pork does not have a lot of fat. Even if the broth is mild and not too rich, it is still very tasty and we couldn’t help getting second and even third helpings. It’s the perfect bowl of hot soup with lots of good protein and vegetables.

This hotpot is good to share – there were five of us in the table and we couldn’t even finish everything in the bowl. It’s absolutely affordable for something so tasty at 695 pesos for the whole pot. You should definitely schedule your next dinner out with friends or family here! You can also add in some more dishes to compliment the soup. They have lovely sushi boats that have salmon, tuna, snapper, shrimp, hamachi sashimi and sushi. Also a classic California roll and a more adventurous one with salmon, mayonnaise and green onion. They also have some Yakitori that featured grilled meats like chicken, bacon wrapped around asparagus and quail egg and even gizzard. All these dishes plus a bowl of yummy hot soup all make for the perfect little taste of Japan and comfort food all rolled into one.