the takoyaki quest has ended

i've been one of those people who have been exposed (and addicted) to takoyaki balls ever since i was kid i fondly remember going to SM Makati usually after mass to do some grocery shopping. while waiting for mom to pay, dad and i would head over to the samurai stall and order ourselves takoyaki balls. either to share or one order each.

all the while i thought this was the authentic one. then discovered this stall when our office was located in robinsons galleria. but i wasn't the same as the one in samurai. it was more of a veggie takoyaki ball.

then, a good friend (hi shar!) revealed a secret. somewhere tucked in makati a jeepney ride away from our house, authentic takoyaki balls are made. i must find this i say and try it out.

and try it out we did!

upon entering the area, we were greeted with a japanese man manning the glorious balls. oh yes my babies i shall taste you soon, i thought. we entered the restaurant, and greeted with more japanese men. a golf game in japanese was showing on the tv.

we proceeded to order. (sorry no photos to share here. :( totally forgot to do so, being excited and all) first off, we ordered the cubic steak which was one of the specials that day, chicken cordon bleu and of course, those lovely takoyaki balls. hubby ordered grape shake while i ordered mango shake.

can i just say that the cubic steak was good! as in really good. they are of course in cubes (duh, cubic steak haha) and the meat was actually soft and melt in your mouth. the steak were resting on potatoes ala hash brown thatwere really good too. for sure hubby and i will order this again when we come back. the chicken cordon bleu on the other hand, was a bit so-so. i couldn't taste the cheese and the ham. and i just foun it odd that it was topped with tomato sauce.

now, do i really have to do a review of the takoyaki balls?

it was the best! among all the others i have tasted, this was indeed the best there is. and as mentioned, all ingredients were authentic - stuff you'd find when you do order one in japan. even hubby who had the shock of his life when he found out that it was made up of octopus bits and not squid. but he actually had more pieces than i did. and yes, he said these balls were much better tasting than the ones he tasted before (galle takoyaki balls).

total bill for this late night dinner cost us around P800.00 which is ok considering we were really satisfied with our food. and for sure we're going to go back and attack those balls and try out the other restos as well.

(hubby got quite disappointed when he found out that they don't serve sashimi or even california maki)

we're definitely going back to hana in little tokyo. :)

want to know more about Hana? check out Kitchen Cow's review HERE