Reviews Hanakazu

Freshly made authentic Japanese cuisine! I consider it a treat every time I dine at Hanakazu - my palate, tummy and heart are always happily satisfied :) Kudos to the owners, Chef Hiroaki and Lorna, along with their staff for their great customer service! Must tries: Chawan Mushi, Daikon Salad, Toridon, Tempura, Sashimi

My deep craving for Tsukiji toro, hamachi and Hokkaido scallops is unfailingly fixed at Hanakazu. Quite pricey, but hey, you don't have to go to Japan anymore to quench your craving😉😉😉

They serve good quality food from Japan. Makes me remember home :(:( Overall the best resto pa

Wonderful ambiance and AMAZING food! Can't wait to eat there again soon :)

I've always been a fan of Hanakazu. Yes, there's Little Tokyo, and other fast-food like Japanese outlets aplenty, but Hanakazu has always been a cut above. It's easily my favourite Japanese restaurant in the South and in the entire Metro Manila. Why, you ask? "It's pricy," you might say, but there's something consistent and excellent about this restaurant. It's no longer just a restaurant to me—it's a place where I've taken my best of friends because I want to show them what thoughtfulness and quality tastes like.

Hanakazu has been open for 14 years. I've often touted the fact that the Japanese owner would often be seen in the bar area, staying on top of the staff, and I really appreciated that. I like a hands on owner. It shows pride, work ethic, and consistency. And that's what I like about the place. Unfortunately, I hear he passed away some two years ago due to liver cancer. This would explain why I haven't seen him... but his legacy lives on by his survived partner, and the staff whom he would hawk when he used to manage the pass.

Apparently, they've always had the lunch menu, which was devised sometime before the owner's passing. It's the best deal you can get. That's my response to critics of the price. I used to order solely a la carte, and yes, it is far more expensive than usual, but you do get what you pay for. Good quality ingredients, prepared properly, and served in a place of fairly good ambiance.

What are the clientele of Hanakazu? Well, in the dozen odd times I've visited, you tend to get businessmen, families, couples... they all picked the right place.

Ellaine, who has been with the restaurant since a month after the restaurant's inception, has always been a welcome sight behind the service counter. Like I said, there is an element of consistency. An element of conservation, of protecting the vision of this humble restaurant. You need only stop, smell, listen, and enjoy the food. Just try not to worry about the bill too much.

As for dishes that can be recommended, apart from the lunch menu, I recommend any of the sashimi, since it's of a good quality, but especially the hamachi when one can afford to splurge a little. I enjoy the Sanriku salad. My friend consistently gets the Saikoro steak. I used to go between the donburi. The ramen is quite good. I also recommend the karei engawa.

They sell Japanese ice creams but I'm not a huge fan of those. They do serve ice cream with those lunch meals, though, so I do recommend that above all. Had dalandan juice on this typically hot day.

Anyway, just try it for yourself.

My family and I love this place. Hanakazu is our go to place, no doubt. The servers (especially the pioneers) know their customers and menu very well. They are very accommodating. Worth your every penny! ❤️

4.5

Updating my review on this place, which was dated on 2015.

One thing has remained unchanged - the consistency of quality food and good service. If there is also one thing that the shop can boast of, it would be the fresh ingredients that they use in every dish. No wonder all these Japanese nationals crowding the parking are flocking here, keeping the business solidly carved in BF until now, despite the vicious competition in this area. And let’s face it, Hanakazu is no cheap place 🤭. Kudos to the Management 👏🏻👏🏻

Visiting Hanakazu every time always ensured a gastronomic delight 😋. I also noticed that we are creatures of habit because the photos glaringly told us we never deviated from the dishes we always ordered lol!

The shop closes every Monday and the rest of the week they open at around 6 PM.

Appetizers were great. Loved the Daikon Salad for the crisp taste. They also serve probably the most generous California Maki in terms of size. The ramen noodles were as authentic as they can get, although the base soup was a little too salty for my taste. To bad, it kinda drowned the ingredients, literally. The place is clean and orderly. Staff were polite and attentive.

Yup! It's as good as it looks! Oh, you'll definitely find a hundred other places with cheaper prices but quality makes or breaks sashimi. From the size of the cut, to the freshness to availability of their items, there's nothing to nitpick about. Hanakazu also serves this wonderfully unique fish called Icefish or Shirauo which is done tempura style. That one is definitely worth a try as well. Always a treat coming back here.

This Japanese restaurant is one of the BEST! Everything we ordered are fresh specially the UNI Japan and hamachi, so goooood! Wagyu Beef is the bomb! Make sure to order their top 1 wagyu because they have different levels of wagyu don't worry about the price coz it's really really good! My cold soba tastes very authentic too. They also have very nice servers their names are Miss Rexie and Miss Analyn they are mindful about what they serve and everything about the menu. We will definitely go back here!

I’ve been here many times and I like the consistency in quality and its adherence to Japanese flavours and food aesthetics.  The specials (i.e., mixed sashimi and chirashi) are pricey because ingredients are imported from Japan but if you have extra money to burn, it’s all worth it.  Otherwise the regular local version will satisfy. The mackerel in my chirashi was not as fresh as I wanted it to be but it will pass.  I was here today, a cloudy Sunday noon, with an 80% occupancy rate, to find  a surplus of waiters gawking and relaying every request and comment you tell your waiter to all the others. I have no complaints about the service though but  I wonder if it would make their food less expensive if they reduced the number of standbys and made each one more efficient instead.  All told, I’ll still keep coming back because the food reminds me of the Japan I’ve gotten to know not many years back.

The place gets full in the evening.
I see lots of Japanese eat here.
Must be authentic.

A bowl of Tempura Noodle Soup, small plate of Japanese Fried Rice, Chicken Yakitori Set and Sashimi will fetch you an astonishing bill of 1,600. So no need to order drinks with that.

It must be..authentic.

Had a dinner date here last night with my wife. Sashimi and sushi were excellent. Very fresh and flavorful. Tried their tongkatsudon it was just ok. Service was prompt. Parking was a bit tricky but manageable.

Everything tastes so good, it's just the serving that didn't suit my tummy lol 🙌 Special California Maki is a must try for the sushi, Maguro is the cheapest (I think) so far in sashimi selection but still worth it for the cut they served. Rice toppings and Ramen were also good, just need more serving I guess as for the Ebi Tendon, shrimps not as big as what I expected but for the taste, savory it's ALL GOOD! ;) Will drop by again! ☺️

I am a die hard fan of sushi and it was one of the best cali maki that I have tried so far! I can eat this all week long and never get tired of it. Double thumbs up for this!

Fresh sashimi, tasteful and tender meats! Everything we ordered won our tummies by their sheer quality and taste. We got beef yakiniku, Toro sashimi, special California maki, and chicken set.

Authentic Japanese food. Worth the money. Their sukiyaki is very expensive but you won't regret spending the money. This place has expanded a few times already to serve more people. I love seeing the head chef whenever we're there. I even proposed to my wife at hanakazu.

You can never go wrong with Salmon Sushi as your starter. It was silky and smooth. I especially liked how this was presented. The salmon slices were laid out in an orderly disorderly fashion with green accents to add color to the plating. 

Considered as one of their bestsellers, Special California Maki was one good maki. I liked how generous they were in the filling. You can really revel in all of its maki goodness as the rice doesn’t cloud everything. It also had this slight crunch as the kani was deep fried and enveloped in light bread coating. 

The Yakimeshi was one good rice that wasn’t that flavorful. Which is a good thing as it won’t overpower the other dishes, thus, pairing well with them.

This Tori Kushiyaki Set consists of different parts of the chicken. The other half were fried with some salt seasoning while the other half sauteed in sauce. I wasn’t able to taste everything but this one was okay. 

And their tempura was good! I liked how I can still taste the shrimp in every bite. 

This one was my fave among the bunch: Saikoro Steak. The beef was so tender yet somehow light. When I first bit into this, I felt this slight pop in my mouth. The moisture and juice was retained inside. I couldn’t stop after having 4 pieces of this. Indeed, this is a must for those heading here.

In terms of price, it is quite expensive but you can expect good quality dishes from this restaurant. Service was good too. This is perfect for family gatherings, corporate lunches and group dinners. So if by any chance you’re in the south and suddenly had this craving for authentic Japanese cuisine, turn around at this corner and have a good Hanakazu time.

Its not bad. Its known to be the most expensive Japanese restaurant in BF. The reason you would want to go here are for sushi and not the typical katsu if you want your moneys worth.

One of the better Jap resto down south

Hard to go wrong in whatever you order. But if your looking for ramen, this is not the place to be.

Pork sauté, sanrico salad and spaghetti salad are a must. Sushi and sashimi also are good.

I'll give this resto a 8.5/10

Kinda pricey, but they offer really good Japanese food. I will definitely come back to try their sashimis and maki. I recommend this resto to all Jap food lover to try.

Best Japanese in the south.

Hanakazu, which has a nice restaurant facade with a spacious area for parking occupying both the front and the side, beckons to you as you drive along Aguirre Ave. right before crossing Elizalde St. in BF. Even with a large parking area, cars can still be seen lining the street, emergency lights blinking as they wait for diners inside to go, so they can have a turn -- a testament to this Japanese restaurant's popularity. Walking through the door, the interiors are simple yet clean. Its large space houses several private or function rooms filled mostly with Japanese men and women. Behind the sushi counter is the owner and chef, former chef of Tsukiji. A very shy man, he usually avoids having his picture taken, but is still friendly enough to answer queries about his fare.

We were given Maguro Tatsutaage, which was fried breaded tuna slices, to start the meal. Nice and crisp, it only made me eager for the dishes to come.

This Japanese roll was beautiful, both in presentation and taste. When dining at Japanese restaurants, there are few things more irritating than eating sticky Japanese rice with slim to none ingredients. Here, the rice was in good proportion with the fillings; furthermore, the crunch of the tempura was distinct amid a special sauce.

What set this apart from the ordinary California Maki was the tamago and cooked kani included in the usual mango, cucumber and kani roll. Moreover, these additional elements were pretty much the culprit for its size. I could finish one whole order and call it a day if I weren't anticipating all the sashimi I've been dreaming of for weeks.

The best part of almost, if not all kinds of fish is the fatty belly, also known as toro. Succulent salmon with its gleaming orange color beguiles with that come-hither look, so enticing that I can't help but to sneak one into my mouth before my mom noticed that a piece of her prized dish had gone missing. Devoid of any fishy taste, just pure fresh raw salmon sapidity ensconced in a radiant glow, I uttered whispers of expletives before stealthily devouring another piece and glancing the other way when my mom started giving me the look.

A gorgeous plate of the freshest sashimi you will ever eat, how could you not fall in love? Ama Ebi (spot prawns), Ika (squid), Salmon, Tuna and Hamachi (yellowtail fish) comprise the dish for tonight. Yes, the Sashimi Mix (and even the Special Sashimi Mix) differs depending on what is currently available, and what the chef deems new and good ones to try. Each one even more lustrous and immaculate than the last, I sighed in pure satisfaction of their impeccable freshness.

I haven't thought about eating raw beef before, but when you get a taste of this, you'll be sorry for not having thought of it sooner. Imagine, beef---Wagyu beef---slices, literally melting in your mouth. It was so good, I wanted to cry. To which my brother retorted that I actually did 'coz he was sitting right in front of me---laughing at my dazed expression (!)---the whole time. A sauce plate with ginger and spring onions was placed on the side for you to pour over some Japanese soy sauce. As I hated ginger, I alternated between having some and having just the plain soy sauce with a little wasabi -- the freshly grated kind. In the end, my family let me have the remaining slices, but not before I politely (albeit insincerely) asked if anyone else wanted to have more.

Covered in crisp, thin batter---just how I like my tempuras---are 6 pieces of prawns. While good, this was unfortunately overshadowed by the other stellar dishes it accompanied.

This one I didn't get to try. It was my brother's girlfriend's order, and I had to rein myself from taking a bite after making her wait for a long time while I took pictures of everything. It did look good, though, with its strips of chicken brushed with a glimmering sweet sauce.

Served in a cauldron-like pot, the Sukiyaki's warm sweet savory broth perfumed the air. A single golden yolk sat right smack in the middle, and I was almost tempted to unleash its glory and let it run, only I knew my mom would whack my hand away the second she sees it nearing the egg. Thin slices of tender U.S. beef in a tangle of noodles and vegetables gave a pleasant heat to my stomach after devouring a large number of raw meat. I eagerly slurped the soup like there was no tomorrow, ladylike manners be damned.

My brother must have had the time of his life laughing at me all through dinner, for when I brought a forkful of this Unagi into my mouth, I couldn't help but close my eyes in sheer ecstasy. I was just starting to engrave the flavors into my mind when it all but melted away, leaving a trail of sweetness in its path. It was the softest and most delicate unagi I have ever had the pleasure of eating, and I wanted more. Never mind that we all had agreed to share everything. A veneer of its sauce glinted and flirted with no mercy, and I succumbed selfishly, powerless to refuse a few bites more.

All I can say is this was definitely a dinner to remember. If you want a taste of sashimi that's of outstanding caliber, you have to---no, must---try Hanakazu.

A must order is the chirashi. They have very fresh sushi! Yumm

We went here a long time ago and was not that pleased with either food nor service. But since we kept hearing from our relatives that they go here often, we decided to give it another try. And boy were we in for a pleasant surprise! The food is so good, the servings....just right, the ambience could be improved but it's clean and homey so that's okay, the wait-staff were accommodating, etc. They have unique salads that I have not tasted in other Japanese Restaurants and some have become my favourites. The owner gives us complimentary food once in a while so that's a plus factor! I love it that they also serve Japanese Ice Cream and Mochi which I have learned to love myself. Highly recommended!

The first thing I have to say is that they got good sushi and makimono. Well, I believe that should also be the first thing you'll be ordering and eating while waiting for the Japanese dishes coming up. The Special California Maki is the one of its kind that I have tried here, and surprisingly it is very good. It has the right amount of spice and rice that just goes very well with the maki. The rest of the Japanese choices of dishes I do not need to explain, for they are all good. Hanakazu will be one of those Japanese restaurants you and your family will be looking for from time to time.