One of my favorite Japanese dishes is Chirashizushi. Roughly translated to scattered sushi, it’s basically a bowl of sushi rice that’s topped with an assortment of sashimi. As with a lot of my favorites, it’s my goal to find the restaurant that makes it best and so far, the one I wax poetic the most about is the Kaisen Gozen from Seryna.

A quaint little restaurant nestled in the Little Tokyo compound in Makati, Seryna is frequented by a lot of Japanese expats—a sure sign that you’re getting a good thing. They’re open for lunch and dinner, but are closed in between. I haven’t been there for dinner but I’ve been over for a couple of lunches. Like most Japanese restaurants in the area, they offer affordably-priced lunch sets that have a salad, miso soup, a pickle dish, the main dish, and some fruit. While I’d like to talk about their other dishes, unfortunately, the only thing I’ve ever ordered there is the Kaisen Gozen lunch set (Php 320), their chirashizushi dish. I love it thaaaat much.

Roughly translating to a freshly prepared dish made especially for you (thanks YUE!), Seryna’s kaisen gozen is a delightful melange of fresh seafood on flavorfully seasoned sushi rice. Unlike other chirashizushi that are served donburi-style (rice in a bowl with toppings), Seryna’s chirashi is made of two layers. The bottom layer has the sushi rice, topped with a variety of seasoned vegetables, like takuan (pickled daikon) and renkon (lotus root).

The other layer is filled with whatever makes heaven up. Resting on a bed of shredded daikon is an assortment of fresh cuts of fish, the type of which, depends on what’s available that day. Tuna, salmon, ikura, ebi, ika — it all depends on your luck. The day this photo was taken, I even got some seared tuna. Nicely browned on the outside; sweet and fresh on the inside. And the uni! Each time I’ve eaten here, the uni is brimming with freshness. It’s mouthwateringly sweet, melting in your mouth with a fresh flavor. There’s nothing fishy-tasting about it. Just pure velvety uni.

Aside from the kaisen gozen, there are other available set lunches, like this Tempura Bento. It was a good tempura dish, according to mom and I’ll take her word on it. I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m not much help regarding the other stuff—but can you blame me for falling in love with the chirashizushi?

Seryna Japanese Restaurant
2277 Chino Roces., Ave. Makati City
T: 894-3855 F: 894-3853

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 11:35 pm and is filed under restos & eateries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.