KAIZEN Davao: Japanese Street Dining

Over the past few months, a lot of smaller restos have been popping up all over the metro. I have tried a few of them and some are truly promising when it comes to taste. So on my 27th birthday, I headed over unexpectedly to Davao’s talk of the town Japanese food house, Kaizen Davao: Japanese Street Dining.

Japan is famed for its elaborate fine dining however; there are already cities in Japan where street food culture is flourishing. And since Davao is a diverse city, it has opened its doors to this kind of food paradise.

Kaizen Davao: Japanese Street Dining takes you to a Japanese vibe dining experience, a street side resto that is spacious enough to cater 20 to 30 seats at a time and still have space for an entire kitchen. But far from feeling cramped, the space has a fresh, modern ambience that is highlighted with Japanese lanterns and high strung bulbs. They offer dishes like maki rolls, ramen, salad and the famous Japanese street barbecues.

Surprisingly, nothing on the menu is more than P200. So apart from getting good food, the price is truly affordable. In fact, I spent P696 for food enough to feed more than two persons. I didn’t get to order their best sellers, though because they have large servings and I thought we might end up not consuming the whole thing so we settled on ordering what we only felt like eating that night.

I have been eating Japanese street barbecues lately, so I was thrilled to try Kaizen’s Yakitori: the Batubara which is a pork belly barbecue for P29, the Toriniku which is chicken white meat also costs P29, and Asuparabekon which is asparagus wrapped in bacon is only P35. There’s really nothing special with their skewers as it tasted just like the others, nevertheless, buying a stick or two won’t surely break your bank so just go ahead and try it.

So for our Ramen, I ordered the large size of Shoyu for P199 only with pork chasu, vegetables, seaweeds and spices in special broth. This ramen is absolutely delicious and the noodles is very satisfying. The large order is actually good for 2 to 3 persons.

We’re supposed to order Kaizen’s best seller Japanese rolls, but since my partner doesn’t eat crabs, we instead ordered the Godzilla Maki Rolls that is made up of tuna for P189 only. I liked it and I loved how the taste of the tuna lingered in my mouth and how it playfully complemented the cream cheese.

Also tried one of their Donburi rice meals, the Gyudon Beef for P155 only. I was so judgmental at first thinking that it must taste bland. But boy, was I wrong, the beef was tender and juicy. The spices perfectly matched to make it delish.

Overall, I had a blast at Kaizen Davao: Japanese Street Dining and am definitely coming back to try the rest of the dishes on their menu. Come and give them a visit at Pryce Road (beside Davao Wisdom Academy) corner F. Torres Street and be delighted with their lovely staff’s sweet greeting in Japanese – “Irasshaimase, which means “Welcome”.