Kitchen MIshaps and Victories, Restaurant Rants and Raves and a whole lotta wanderlust!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Restaurant review: Robot

First of all, I'm 2 steps ahead of you...yes I know my photos are terrible this time around. The lighting at Robot before 9 pm was actually perfect (see first photo) but then they dimmed the millions of little light bulbs and all my food shots turned to crap.I hate using flash for food photos but this one time, I shoulda just done it!

Ze boyfriend (not so) patiently waiting for our food. We found this P888 6 course tasting menu deal on Cash Cash Pinoy. Originally set at almost P2,000, this wasn't a bad deal.

This wasn't part of the Tasting Menu. Sarah and I were so hungry we ended up ordering a few rolls and starters before our food even came out. Soft shell crab rolls are always hit or miss for me, but this was pretty good.

This was actually the second course-Amaebi (Japanese sweet shrimp) set on green tea soba with uni tosazu (soy, bonito, and vinegar) froth garnished with strawberry faux caviar. This was my least favorite. The prawn didn't taste as fresh as it could have and the noodles were a bit hard.

This was the first course- Smoked Toro Prosciutto. I love, love, love Toro. If I could eat only THAT part part of tuna whenever I eat sushi I'd be a happy woman.

Lamboyaki- We got this as another extra order, coz like I said, we were starving to death. These were basically little balls filled with lamb and foie gras. If you have ever been to Robot's head chef Nino Laus' restaurant Ninyo, this might seem familiar, because over there they have the same ones but filled with duck and foie gras.

Hamachi new style sashimi with mixed green (fresh hamachi drizzled with searing butter and yuzu, garnished with jalapeno, mango faux caviar, and cherry tomato served with mixed green in yamamomo dressing)--I liked the presentation of this. The salad was basically wrapped around a bread stick. The dressing was also really good and I love Hamachi so this was one of my favorites.

Our menu said Calamansi Sorbet as a palate cleanser, but this was actually buko lychee.

USDA Prime beef tenderloin crusted with desiccated coconut and Vietnamese coffee on a bed of tarragon mashed potato, wasabi coconut sauce, garnished with dehydrated vegetables and fruit spheres---I wish this steak was bigger because it was soooo good. Done medium rare, just the way I like it.

Mango yuzu cheesecake - cheesecake with a hint of yuzu garnished with fresh mangoes on a green tea sesame meringue crust-- Not a fan of cheesecake, any cheesecake- at all. I ate half of this though, mostly the mango part hehe.

Next time I go to Robot, I think I wanna try the ala carte stuff. It was good, the restaurant itself is very trippy (Check out the unisex bathroom that makes you feel like you're inside a huge shiny disco ball)I was wondering why on a Saturday night it wasn't full though. Maybe not many people know about it yet?

Head Chef Nino Laus is also the owner of Ninyo, a fine dining restaurant in Loyola Heights, QC that my family and I always eat at. I must say, if you want a real taste of his cooking, I would still suggest going to Ninyo instead. I will come back though to try other things on the menu!

ROBOT Japanese Cuisine 7912 Makati Ave, corner Sto Tomas St, Somerset Bldg., in between Atrium & Manila Peninsula HotelMakati, Philippines. For reservations, call 8128800 or 0917-51-ROBOT

1 comment:

  1. Don't worry the photos still made me hungry Erica! =D

    ReplyDelete