Spices: Tori Box

We were supposed to have lunch at another restaurant but the place was packed with people so we ended up dining in Tori Box. Aside from being a Cafe, the resto serves comfort Japanese dishes.

Tori Box

We started our meal with the Kara-Age Pop with Chips. The fried chicken popcorn came with gravy and a choice of seasoning, we chose the Nori. Though the texture and crunchiness of both the chicken and potato chips was spot on, it didn't really taste anything like Japanese. It tasted so bland, I felt that the chicken pops wasn't marinated long enough.

Kara-Age Pops and Chips - Php95

The Cheesy Mayo Gyoza was highly recommended by the server. It looked promising but it didn't taste anything like it. The Gyoza had too little filling and moreover it was over doused with mayonnaise.

Cheesy Mayo Gyoza - Php120

When we dined there, different kinds of Ramen were recently added on the menu. Karaage  pops with strips of Nori and a hardboiled egg in a Miso based soup made up the Ramen. All I remembered about the Ramen is that the broth is too salty.

Miso Ramen

The Tori Katsudon was pretty ordinary. Though the slice of pork was tender, I wish the panko crust was crunchier.

Tori Katsudon - Php185

I was really intrigued with the Mapo Katsu, I love Mapo Tofu and adding a slice of Chicken Katsu seems to make good sense. The dish again was really nothing special, The Mapo Tofu lacks the succulent flavor and spiciness of a typical Mapo Tofu dish and just like the Katsudon, the chicken Katsu lacks crunchiness.

Mapo Katsu Chicken - Php195

From all the dishes that we tried, the dish that I kinda liked is the Gyudon. There were generous slices of well seasoned tender beef topped with an egg and sesame seeds on a bed of Japanese fluffy white rice. As a suggestion, I do hope that they'll slice the sheets of beef into smaller pieces.

Gyudon - Php265

Tori Box is a really nice restaurant to lounge around, I love the simple and cozy interiors. The food wasn't really anything special, I do hope they would improve the flavors of their dishes. They already have a nice place and if they do tweak and improve the flavors, I'm pretty sure that this place will be flocked by a lot of people.

Tori Box Cafe
Address: 403 F. Calderon Street, San Juan
Tel No: 391 8676