While trends and restaurants du jour may roll out playful, inventive and fusion dishes, keeping things clean and classic will undoubtedly never go out of style. Hatsune Authentic Japanese Restaurant is Alabang's answer to authentic Japanese cuisine, a new hotel restaurant with a Japanese, Chef Kawamoto, at its helm.
Hatsune: Now open at The Bellevue Manila
Hatsune gets its name from combining two words, hatsu which means 'first', and ne for 'sound'; Bellevue wants diners to experience the 'first sound you hear in the spring' through the restaurant's food and ambiance — when the chilly Japanese winter subsides, revealing a fresher view when cherry blossoms bloom. The Japanese restaurant announced its soft opening in January 2015 and has slowly become a new favorite of southerners when they want a refined dining experience with authentic food. At Hatsune, it's hush-hush and not harried, elegantly lit, with private rooms (including a Teppanyaki private room) that make the establishment a great choice for celebrations and dates.
Sushi bar
Teppanyaki private room
A great way to get your gathering of people at Hatsune excited for lunch and dinner is the Funamori (P3,300), a wooden boat occupied by a mouthwatering lineup of the freshest and raw seafood that makes my heart flutter. The sashimi boat also carried nine different kinds of sushi, and the main highlight for me was devouring uni (sea urchin), which I highly revere as my foie gras of the sea. And to honor the flavors of the fresh fish onboard like tuna, salmon, hamachi, and mackerel, restraint is required in dipping it in soy sauce, and just dabbing the littlest of portions of wasabi. This appetizer is showstopping enough to be one's entree — to share, of course.
Funamori (Assorted Sushi and Sashimi on a Boat) with our amuse-bouche of seafood and pickled vegetables
Another refreshing starter is Kani Mango Salad (P280). While I am personally not the biggest fan of the stripey orange and white sticks of mock-crab, the classic pairing of the kani strips and thin slices of mango is flavorful, each forkful a burst of fresh, juicy and crisp with tomatoes, cucumbers, and greens.
Kani Mango Salad
Moving on from fresh flavors, delightfully crisp and fried is Hatsune's Tempura Moriawase (P450), an assortment of tempura: prawn, fish fillet, and vegetables. Again, another classic, and as far as freshly fried ebi coated with crispy golden batter is concerned, it is done right.
Tempura Moriawase
The restaurant also has a solid lineup of yakimono: seafood and meat grilled or sauteed lightly, brushed with sauce. While a most popular choice of sauce is the teriyaki, the sweet-savory dark liquid we're most familiar with, let it first take a step back and have the seductive Gindara Shioyaki (P780). It's a simpler sauce option, sure — it's salt — but with a seafood like codfish and that delicate Japanese touch, the flavors are simple, but they sing. Succulent, silky, and fatty, a bite into its soft meat just has that amazing mouth-feel. A little squeeze of the lemon and a nibble of pickled ginger was good to cut the fat. I was sharing the gindara and wish I was not and wanted more than my share, but I remember that too much of this oily fish may lead to quite an interesting bathroom adventure. So be kind to your stomach and your companion and share this one.
Gindara Shioyaki
We end our quiet and lingering evening feast with some subtle sweetness from our Green Tea Ice Cream (P180). Way before matcha became the new red velvet and salted caramel of Manila, we often could only order the green tea dessert in ice cream form, mostly from Japanese restaurants. It was a soothing choice to cleanse our palate with a cold and creamy classic dessert with subdued saccharine — a pleasant way to conclude an authentic Japanese experience in the south.
Green Tea Ice Cream
—
Hatsune Authentic Japanese Restaurant is located at the second floor of the Tower Wing of The Bellevue Manila hotel, North Bridgeway, Filinvest City, Alabang. The restaurant is open for lunch (11am-2pm) and dinner (6-10pm) from Wednesday to Monday (closed on Tuesdays). Reservations highly recommended, call 771-8181 local 2300. Visit thebellevue.com, like The Bellevue Manila in Facebook (/thebellevuemanila), and follow on Instagram and Twitter (@bellevuemanila).
