Turning Japanese and red

Once in the heady world of dining, there came two reds. One has mesmerized the palate for years and the other has just burst onto the scene with new flavors unsung by any chef. Today, in Westgate, Alabang, they stand side by side, their dining spaces flowing into each other serendipitously and their cuisines creating various flavors that make dining worth your while. If the dining scene has turned red, it’s because of Red Kimono and its newest sister, Painted Red.

Red Kimono has been around for years, having become a favorite Japanese restaurant by anyone and everyone who has tried their modern Japanese food. The menu features an array of Japanese classics and modern Japanese creations, all made with the freshest ingredients every time.

Today, Red Kimono opens its newest branch in Westgate, Alabang, a two-storey place surrounded by glass doors. Joined by Painted Red, the two occupy the same dining space, designed to be retro, modern, and Asian at the same time. The restaurant also features a mezzanine level for private functions where incidentally, a crack in its sculpted wall opens up to a diner’s glimpse of the two restaurants’ busy kitchen. Here is where they create both Red Kimono and Painted Red’s food repertoire.

At Red Kimono, what one should never miss is its plate of oyster tempura, worthy of pleasurable devour and greed. The oysters are coated in tempura batter, deep fried, topped with a mayo-soy sauce dressing, and served on oyster shells resting on salt. You bite into the crunchy tempura only to have fresh oyster juice spilling into your mouth. Every morsel is a mix of crunch, freshness, and juice. There’s no oyster experience like this anywhere else.

The restaurant’s sushi bar also has its own crunchy surprise, a crunchy maki with prawns rolled inside and topped with tuna and spring onions. The outer side of the maki has also been rolled into crunchy tempura bits. At the same time, the sushi masters here also roll out a fabulous Red Dragon Maki which features mango, avocado, and salmon rolled inside Japanese rice and topped with kani.

Meanwhile, the other half of this red dining scene, Painted Red, dishes out American favorites like no one has other had it before. Take its spiced buffalo wings for starters. These chicken wings are given a nice spice rub before they are gloriously deep-fried and sauced. They are served with a creamy, cool bleu cheese dressing for good flavorful contrast.

From the buffalo wings, try some of Painted Red’s pizzas. The all-meat pizza comes with hunky chunks of ground meat, sausage, chorizo, and bacon bits, also layered with mozzarella cheese and topped with slices of red onions. The crust is not too thin, but just thin enough to make it flavorful and chewy. And after the pizza, move on to the chicken alfredo pasta with creamy pasta tossed with broccoli and diced red tomatoes, while topped with grilled chicken.

Onto dessert, Red Kimono features a very earthy, restaurant-made green tea ice cream that makes for a lovely light frozen treat. Make it a green tea halo-halo for an added delight. You can also have this green tea concoction in your deep-fried ice cream or choose to have it with vanilla. On the other hand, Painted Red serves a daily assortment of pastries, from cheesecakes to pecan pie to mango madness to a decadent cappuccino mousse cake.

Truly, red is delicious.

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Red Kimono & Painted Red is located in Westgate, Alabang.