There are restaurants which one need not try the food before declaring them delicious, and that’s because their chefs are reliable and you know they’ll always serve good fare.

Other chefs, meanwhile, are better at talking than cooking. I know them but would rather keep silent, baka ipakulam pa ako.

In the case of pastry chefs, the reliable ones I can identify are Sunshine Puey and Mara de la Rama.

But I have always thought that a pastry chef wouldn’t try the savory dish department. I’ve been proven wrong, however.

The minute I walked into Ikomai Tochi restaurant and saw the packed crowd, I knew I had a new discovery.

We started with a tuna poké: a round platter with avocado, cucumber and crispy fried onions. Sarap.

Then came the salad of greens, cherry tomatoes, radish, chunks of watermelon, some bluish flowers and crispy shrimp tempura. It had a Japanese dressing. This healthy and delicious dish worked well with the various textures. Yummy.

Then came Torikawa, crispy chicken skin topped with chopped spring onions, lemon and grated radish. Now, how could chicken fat not be good?

I love chicken wings, and Ikomai Tochi had a very delicious version—dark, crispy and lightly seasoned. I had to order Japanese fried rice, a simple but superb combination.

I also had ground chicken on a stick with teriyaki sauce, chopped spring onions and egg yolk. OMG, what a delicious surprise!

Then came a Yakitori platter of crispy fried chicken, shrimp tempura and okra topped with thin fish flakes and tofu. Another unbeatable flavor.

The super tender and simmered-for-hours dark pork belly melted in the mouth. Dipped in spicy Japanese mustard, it went a level higher.

Then there was a taco made of Japanese nori, rice, a variety of fillings and mayonnaise. What a flavorful creation!

Dessert bomb

We ended with a dessert of round egg white (browned with a torch), with cream poured all around.

This was the bomb—hot and cold. I loved the play of temperatures. Not surprisingly, the creation was by top pastry chef James Antolin.

He asked if I still wanted to try his chocolate chip cookies. I felt stuffed, but when a pastry chef of his caliber makes an offer like this, you don’t say no.

I was very happy to have accepted it. The cookies were deep dark and creamy, and I was sure it’s extremely fattening. But I loved every bite.

Antolin told me he works with a Japanese chef in creating these dishes. I learned that he’s good not only in making pastry but also cooking savory dishes.

Ikomai Tochi, 332 H. V. de la Costa, Makati; tel. 88164588

Japan food tour: Kyushu, Feb. 16-21 and May 17-22; Hokkaido, April 22-27; email [email protected]