So good, so sushi

Among the whiz kids in Manila who have created a name for themselves, Walden Chu tops my list. This thirtysomething former investment banker from New York and Hong Kong has grown (but never seems to grow old) since his foreign partners pulled out of a huge investment he had put together in Manila many years ago. Well, there was a military mutiny in Makati when the foreign principals were here, so who can blame them, right?

Walden could have cut his losses and gone back to his high-paying risk management job anywhere in the world. But instead he brokered a deal that has resulted in the very successful Red Box Karaoke chain — with four branches in Metro Manila and Cebu — fully owned by his company.

And he was only in his 20s.

But one thing not many people know about Walden the businessman is that he is also a foodie, which is why Red Box — which has elevated the art of karaoke into cool parties with great food and drinks — has been so successful even with people who can’t sing to save their own lives.

Pool party:Red Box Eastwood has big rooms with a pool table for guests who’d rather cue than sing.

At Red Box’s newest branch, in Eastwood City Mall right beside Richmonde Hotel, Walden recounts the time he spent in LA when he was acquiring the franchise for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, whose roots are in southern California.

“Sushi rolls were really in vogue back then and were an expensive proposition in cosmopolitan cities,” Walden Chu says. “And when I came back home, nobody offered the authentic California size rolls that I grew accustomed to in the States.”

What, exactly, is a California roll or California maki? Obviously it is born from fusion cuisine meant to make the traditional Japanese sushi more appealing to western palate. It began in southern California in the 1960s as Japanese chefs made their way across the Pacific. Maki is made inside out (rice is wrapped around the seaweed instead of the other way around) and contains cucumber, crab meat and avocado, and sprinkled with tobiko (roe).

Not just a box: Red Box at Eastwood City Mall has a hip, contemporary style in both its interiors and atmosphere, ideal for the young crowd at Eastwood. It can be accessed through the mall and through Richmonde Hotel. Photos by WALTER BOLLOZOS

And there lies the rub: the California maki, which has deconstructed the traditional Japanese sushi, has itself been deconstructed as “fusion” (a really popular movement in the ‘90s — from food to design to everything else that wasn’t pure ) became a dime a dozen all over the world. Avocado was substituted with mango, crabmeat was substituted with imitation crabstick and so on.

“Here in the Philippines, no one has truly recreated that authentic experience that people from California, NY, London are accustomed to. It was not only when I came home, but up to now, no one is really offering this type of size and taste. That’s because they substitute ingredients with local variants that are more affordable or in season all year long.”

Enter Sushi Samba, the new menu of Red Box featuring 12 sushi rolls named after or referencing popular songs.

King of the song: Red Box Karaoke president Walden Chu is flanked by operations manager Monica O. Escalona, and marketing and music management head Kim Ilagan at the open-mic room of Red Box-Eastwood City Mall. The room has an elevated stage and a bar where you can perform in front of strangers.

Walden worked with a chef for three months in developing the menu. “For us, it was important to have avocado, which is sorely missing in a lot of sushi variants here. That’s our major point of difference. We wanted to be more creative, more exciting, bigger because that’s how California rolls are. The Japanese fusion restaurants here have the variety but they don’t stack up to us in terms of size, quality of ingredients and flavor profile.”

Walden says they limited the sushi menu to 12 selections to make “every single roll distinct in terms of taste and look, something you get excited about when it’s put in front of you. That’s what we want to bring to the table. Hey, maybe you don’t sing, play Xbox or billiards, but come for the food. It’s like music and sushi. That’s what Sushi Samba is, it just makes a lot of sense.”

Scarlet: The restrooms continue the color motif and bold patterns of the common areas.

The menu’s rolls are Sushilicious, which has torched salmon, unagi, melted cheese, avocado and shrimp tempura; The Caterpillar, which is avocado, shrimp tempura, unagi and cucumber; Walking on Sunshine, which is shrimp tempura, tobiko and mango; La Isla Bonita, which has kani, salmon skin, itogaki flakes and tobiko; Firework, which is deep-fried shrimp tempura with kani; Let’s Do the Twist, kani with cucumber and tobiko; Kung Fu Fighter, torched salmon, ikura and shrimp tempura; Love Shack, salmon, kani, mango and tobiko; Paparazzi, which is scallop, kani, mango and tobiko;  Grenade, which is salmon and tobiko deep-fried; The Way You Make Me Eeel, unagi (eel), mango and kani; and I Love Rock and Roll, which is scallop with salmon, avocado, tobiko and chili.

At the sampling, we tried several of the sushis and I have to say my favorites are the ones with salmon and scallop. The textures are all different — especially unique is the fried sushi Grenade, and La Isla Bonita with itogaki flakes. Some don’t need soy sauce, thanks to the anago and aburi sauces, but truthfully, I do like wasabi and soy sauce on my sushi (and sashimi especially). 

The lobby of Red Box: If you sing right there, you may win a prize.

“We all love sushi; the Philippines has really acquired a palate for it. It’s really not about upholding traditional notions of what sushi is in the Japanese context. We feel that in the market here we have the most innovative rolls.”

Initially rolling out in Eastwood, Sushi Samba is food meant to be shared — a little of this, a little of that. And that’s what Red Box is all about, says Walden. “Red Box is all about songs to be shared and enjoyed together as a group. “

Red Box in Eastwood City Mall is connected to the new Richmonde Hotel (with access from the hotel and the mall). Soon, hotel guests in the mixed-use building will be able to charge their Red Box bill to their rooms.

Walden shows me around Red Box (with 26 rooms), which was designed by Singapore-based architect Lawrence Howell, in startling splashes of red and curves. The graphics also convey a hip and youthful atmosphere.

Like the Greenbelt branch, Red Box-Eastwood has rooms with pool tables. By the end of the month, it will have dedicated rooms with console gaming — for those who want to play Rock Band and Wii.

One big party: Eastwood has the exclusive three-room room, which has sliding mechanism that separates and combines the room in one. This has become the preferred room for parties mainly because it has three karaoke machines.

The Eastwood branch also distinguishes itself on two other matters: It’s the only one with three rooms that can be combined into one for big parties (up to 60 beer-swilling, mic-hogging guests), which means three sets of karaokes so people can sing simultaneously. The second is that it has a smoking bar with an elevated stage where you can sing in front of strangers. “It’s an interesting dynamic that we’ve never had in our other branches because we’ve never had this kind of a setup. The competitive spirit manifests here.”

Then there are the other kinds of celebrations.

 “Red Box is really a place where people come to celebrate and share happy moments. Last weekend, we had somebody propose here — successfully. He alerted the staff beforehand and they helped him out with whatever he needed. We were just happy that she said yes.”

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Red Box outlets are located at Greenbelt 3 (757-6188), Eastwood Mall (355-7921), Ayala Center Cebu (032-417-1675) and Red Box Star at TriNoma (901-8833).