I had a looong day today and I needed Japanese food to "reward" myself. Carlo, my fiancée, suggested we try a very new Japanese restaurant at the Fort. He heard about Genki from his mom (who found about this place because of a flyer). So, he called and asked for their exact location + what time was their last order. They said they were by the McDonald's stopover and that they would close by 10PM. It was 920PM when we called. We had enough time...or so we thought! *tun tun tun*
We parked across the McDonald's stopover and headed to the 2nd floor. Lo and behold, no Genki. Maybe they are at the 3rd floor? Nope. *Time check: 936PM* Carlo calls again. The receptionist tells us they are across St. Luke's BGC, 2nd floor, near a McDonald's, Family Mart & CBTL...whuuut?! So, we decide to walk further until we see the Jollibee stopover. Boom! We saw the Family Mart and CBTL! *Time check: 948PM* Carlo and I literally start running to the building! We even ran up the escalator. We see Genki! As we reach the restaurant... We were greeted with the "closed" sign. *Time check: 1002PM* (;__;) My heart sank. I was ready to just go to CBTL and have my usual salad. But, Carlo didn't give up! He talked to the manager about the receptionist not giving the right directions and that we just really just made it in time. Surprisingly... They let us in! Yaaasss ~~~ Happiness! :D
TIME TO EAT! Since this was our very first time here, the waitress explained to us that we had to order all our food using the menu tablet and that our orders would "arrive by train" 3 orders at a time (by train? This was unexpected). Also, she explained that the faucet to our right was our "unlimited" hot green tea. All you need to do was put 2 teaspoons of matcha in your cup and turn on the faucet. Nice!
The menu was pretty simple to use. You have Sushi, Sashimi, Appetizers, Grilled food, Rice bowls, Beverages. Then, they are each divided into subsets. Our first order was Tuna Sashimi, Seared Salmon with Black pepper + Salmon Belly nigiri. We placed the order and, in 5 mins, the little train came out!!! IT WAS SO CUUUTE :) (Please check my photos for reference) The tuna sashimi was fresh and were thick cuts. No wasabi but I was happy to just squeeze a bit of lemon on each piece. The winner though was the Seared Salmon! Sooo good! Melt in your mouth delicious! I would have order that again but, I wanted to try other nigiris. So, I tried the Inari Sushi, Spicy Tuna Sushi and the Unagi Sushi (Sorry, no photos :( I just ate it all!). The unagi sushi was a very generous serving! Seasoned just right with the perfect size serving of rice. Perfection! *Time check: 1021PM*
Overall, the whole food experience was WORTH it! I loved the fast and efficient service; I also appreciated that they accommodated us even though it was closing time :) I can imagine that this would be the perfect lunch spot for people working in the BGC area. It's not high-end Japanese food BUT the quality fits the price! Our total bill was only Php675. That's a very fair price for all the food we ate. I would definitely come back here! Next time, I plan to eat their Chirashi Don and I want to try their rice bowls! :) read more