MANILA – This new Japanese restaurant in Salcedo Village, Makati is anything but traditional.

Koku, located at Two Central Building (it’s right beside a spinning studio), has bright interiors, contemporary music and a menu that screams fusion.

Case in point: the Sushi Pizza, or crispy sushi rice patties topped with anything from cream cheese to spicy tuna. It was inspired by a dish that owners Michelle and Bambi Meer encountered during a family trip to San Francisco.

And yes, it is cut into four slices. It’s best to eat this crunchy and tasty creation with your bare hands, but you can make things harder for yourself and pick up those chopsticks.

A photo posted by @karenmflores on Jun 29, 2016 at 5:13am PDT

“We saw it in one of our travels with the kids and when we got back to Manila, they were so excited about it. So it was something that we developed and we said, ‘hey, this might be something that people would enjoy,’” Michelle told ABS-CBN News.

“We fry the sushi rice so it becomes a crispy patty. And then the fillings of the sushi, we put them on top as the garnish of the pizza,” she added.

The Meers are not new to the restaurant scene – they are behind well-loved concepts such as Fireside and Kettle in Manila, and Meat Plus and Chef Samurai in Subic.

In fact, Koku is the new and improved version of Chef Samurai as they strive to cater to the more discerning Manila crowd.

“We knew in Manila, we have to step it up a bit. That’s why we decided to tweak our interiors and menu. There are things that we offer here that are also offered in our Subic restaurant. But pretty much, it has the same philosophy. We really want to be part of the community. We want to keep our prices friendly, and at the same time we want people to enjoy and offer them the Japanese food that we enjoy ourselves,” Michelle explained.

“We are not traditional. This is our take on Japanese food, the way we like to eat and enjoy Japanese food as a family.”

Koku, indeed, is a product of family effort. If the Sushi Pizza was suggested by their kids, the Japanese Carbonara was a creation by Bambi and his mother.

The latter is as playful as it gets, with the combination of shiitake, fried wakame, crispy salmon and cream sauce working surprisingly well.

“A lot of the food is relatable, but we cook it and present it in a way that would make it more interesting,” Michelle said.

The rest are inputs from Chef Edo-San, known to many as the man behind Sakura restaurant at Balesin island in Quezon province. Chef Bruce Ricketts (Sensei Sushi and Ooma) created the Chef Samurai favorites that were added to Koku’s menu.

An example is Edo-San’s best-selling Oyster Papaya, or two Japanese oysters cooked with semi-ripe papaya and a sweet sauce. The seemingly odd combination is a delight to the taste buds, with the sweetness of the sauce and the fruit complementing the large, briny oysters.

Other noticeable modern twists include spaghetti with crab stick and crab fat, salmon belly skewers with ponzu sauce, and maki topped with eel, cream cheese, cucumber and shrimp tempura.

For those who are not too adventurous, Koku still has a selection of familiar Japanese fare such as tempura, ramen and katsu curry. Either way, the dishes come in generous portions, staying true to the restaurant’s name.

“Koku is a unit of measure of rice. It’s enough for one person for one year, like 150 kilos of rice. For me, it means abundance, so our serving sizes are pretty generous,” Michelle said. “We want them to come here more often.”

KOKU
G/F Two Central Building
109 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City