Isogi Japanese Restaurant at San Antonio Arcade

People have been raving about Isogi, the new Japanese Restaurant at San Antonio Church Plaza in Mc Kinley Road.  San Antonio Church in Makati is an extremely popular wedding church because of its location and because it was one of the first to have air conditioning.  And across it is a recently rennovated structure housing quite a few establishments capitalizing on the high traffic of that area comprised of the nearby villages and the large population of Colegio San Agustin that passes by there everyday.  Now back to Isogi.

What drew me to Isogi was that when people would rave about it I would hear two things, good and reasonable.  Now reasonable is a difficult word to argue with so I was intrigued.  Furthermore I would hear about their Wagyu burger while it may seem odd to go to a Japanese restaurant for a burger heck I go to fine dining restaurants for a burger - and they better have them.  Heck, I dare say that all restaurants should have and be judged for their burger - after all when all else fails and you have stared at a menu long enough I bet you almost always say "I will have the burger", right?

Tuna Tartare - very good and tasty.  A good side dish

Tuna Maki-  good, nothing stupendous but good

The Wagyu Burder - Extremely soft, unremarkable at first but take a few bites and it reveals itself through a medley of teriyaki and other sauces.  Comes with shoestring potatos and camote fries

Praw and Scallops Dynamite in CHEESE - So cheesy you should eat it wth a spoon.  There are fish eggs, seasoning and a reasonable amount of scallops.  Not that fresh that day, kinda fishy.

Tuna Sashimi comes with large pieces!  It is fresh and is so large that you can cut each piece to get the size other restaurants regularly serve

Chicken Yakitori at 150 php, what we added when we figured we were still hungy

The food may look like a lot but it really wasn't, the servings were not large but neither were they too small or "bitin". Isogi is a bit cramped and fills up easily so come at an odd hour.  The staff is quite pleasant and happy, its something to see what looks like three front staff whisking around managing to serve everyone.

Isogi is not bad at its price point but my heart still belongs to Little Tokyo for authentic Japanese food.

But that is not what Isogi is, Isogi is modern Japanese food with a twist at a reasonable price point considering its quality and the high rent it must be paying.  Think of it as something to think about vs the Sumo Sams and Red Kimonos.  Its Japanese food modernized and altered to Filipino taste.