Going out to eat needn't always be an extravagant affair. More often than not, you want something less wallet-denting than the whole escargot and white linen tablecloth experience, but a little classier than the soda-induced brain freeze and greasy ketchup fingers you get from the nearest fast food outlet. You want something simple, yet made with reasonably high quality; something casual and definitely cozy. You want the neighborhood haunt.

It's a bit tough to define what exactly constitutes this kind of place, especially in the context of our fair cities. Take Taguig City, for example: there are dozens of restaurants all around The Fort, and most of them either have this whole corporate vibe, or are pretty upscale, or are part of a chain. Fine, if that's what you're looking for–but in my humble opinion there aren't that many that seem to be "just right".

There are a few exceptions to this, of course, and one of them is a tiny Japanese gem called Keizo. Located in one of the hot new enclaves for food, Burgos Circle, Keizo is in an almost invisible little spot beside a Monterey meat shop in the corner of the circle and away from all the major establishments. It doesn't have that hip glow of its many neighbors, but what it lacks in that department it makes up for in its effort to please its customers.

I stumbled upon this place in a very 21st century way, really–I saw it on Facebook. And boy, do these guys know how to use it to their advantage. I became a "fan" and thought it would just be one of those stagnant pages that don't get updated, but no, I get regular posts from their administrator telling me of the goodies that their chef-owner found in the market or had flown in and is recommending for the day. How cool is that? For Manila, it's quite cool. In the restaurant world, that is how to use FB and Twitter to your advantage.

Walking in on a Saturday night, my party and I found the place filled with Japanese clientele. Of course, Keizo is an awfully small joint, and can only fit something like 20 people, so being "filled" doesn't have much weight here. The menu? Nothing you haven't seen before: tempura, grilled items, some basic varieties of sushi/sashimi, salads, teriyaki, noodles, and stuff like that. The cool stuff is what's on "today's specials" (a whiteboard with a list of the their freshest stuff–some pricey, and I suspect flown in from Tokyo) as well as the "chef's recommendations" list–a single white piece of bond paper taped to the wall, which that particular night was mostly beef items. I, of course, as the adventurous sort of eater, took it upon myself to order (apart from my grilled saba) some sushi specials and the "lamb chops with chef's special sauce" for a reasonable 500 clams. Everyone else ordered tempura, and stuff like that–with teishoku (set meals) including their ulam, some rice, pickles, soup and fruit at P400 and below. Not bad, right?

So our food shows up one by one: the sushi was indeed fresh. I had some white fish, salmon and tamago, followed by some grilled saba and rice. My companions had things like mixed tempura and beef usuyaki (rolled beef on top of spinach and mushrooms)–no surprises, but all delicious and quite solid. Simple food done well! Then the lamb chops I ordered showed up. I had never really ordered lamb chops in a Japanese restaurant, and at first glace it didn't look anything even remotely Asian. A very generous portion of around seven chops, topped with a flavorful bread crumb crust, and served alongside some "chef's special sauce," a sauce of that tasted of mustard, some aromatics, demiglace and probably a little wine. Yummers, actually! The chef walked over to us and said hi, telling us a bit about himself: that he had cooked in Tokyo, and that his specialty was actually French cuisine, of which he would roll out French-inspired dishes from time to time as specials. He was a happy, smiley, good times kinda guy, and that immediately endeared him to us. We were all happy campers: great grub, a nice chef and staff, little quirky details like the chef's French culinary background, no nonsense and pretentiousness. What more could you ask for?

Our bill arrives, and I just had to say it again: "Wow, this place is awesome! I'm in love with it already, especially those lamb chops at 500 bucks!" And of course, it had to happen–my friend puts on his glasses and glances at the chef's recommendations list and tells me, "It's not quite P500…more like P1,500!" Damn. Good thing I had enough cash, or I would've eaten all my words. Welcome to my world of comedic errors.

Give Keizo a go sometime soon and go with good friends. It's worth an investigation.

RATING: •••. 3.5 out of 5 Spots.