Kodawari BGC Shows a Grown-Up Side to the Quirky Japanese Resto
It's a space that merges the swanky and the offbeat, and it's home to dishes not on the OG branch's menu.
Kodawari BGC Contact Details
7th Avenue. G/F, One Parkade Building, Bonifacio Global City
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kodawari.ph
Open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.., Monday to Sunday
(SPOT.ph) “Kodawari kudasai!,” goes Devin Halbal, the doll queen baddie of TikTok herself, in a reel where she graces the restaurant’s Salcedo branch with her coveted "doll check-in." Kodawari’s Toni Potenciano calls the moment a “dream come true,” brought on through the recommendations of friends from It’s Vintage where Halbal was shopping sometime last week. Halbal gives Kodawari a shoutout for serving the “best Filipino and Japanese fusion food ever”—a sentiment shared by the restaurant's fans, many of them young, savvy creatives with adventurous, if happily irreverent, palates.
As is the case with many pandemic-born delivery brands, Kodawari’s founding fathers admit they didn’t know what to expect when they first launched Kodawari, best known for their gyudon and other hip Japanese-style eats. It didn’t take long before they earned a solid following—no small thanks to their quirky branding, penchant for eye-catching design, and knack for bold flavors. As bold and vivid as their canary-jungle green color palate that followed them as they moved from the delivery-only space to the dine-in world via their first brick-and-mortar in Salcedo Village. Having established success in the inaugural dine-in outlet, Kodawari now brings their signature bowls plus other new dishes to their new branch which is in Bonifacio Global City.
Also read:
At Their New Dine-In Spot, Kodawari Proves There's More to Them Than Their Famous Gyudon
Take a look at the new Kodawari outpost in Bonifacio Global City:
Kodawari BGC goes for playful visuals consistent with the rest of the Kodawari branding, but it's gone grownup. This sophisticated look comes courtesy of KM Design, who also worked on the interiors of The Grid Food Market in Rockwell. “Coming from [the] Salcedo [branch, which is] really casual, [the new look] is elevated a bit,” says Potenciano. But it’s still very much Kodawari, evidenced by the display of paintings by local artists and various Japanese pop-culture emblems and knickknacks.
The Food + What We Recommend
Kodawari is largely “rooted in nostalgia” as Chef Jakey Aycardo puts it, and this extends to their food. “It’s just like, good stuff at good prices… [nothing] pretentious.” Japanese of course is the overarching theme but they’re not afraid to make some dishes their own and borrow from other parts of the globe.
Fan faves from Kodawari’s Salcedo branch have happily found their way into the BGC menu—from small plates like the deceptively simple Cauliflower (P280) that's fried then vivified by sesame, patis, and lime; to rice bowls like the unorthodox Kodawari Gyudon (P385) with seared slices of short plate beef and crispy talbos ng kamote. There's also the Shroomdon (P525), a textural wonderland with four kinds of mushrooms in the mix.
It’s the new and exclusive dishes on their menu, however, that are well worth looking into. “The overwhelming response we got when we opened [the Salcedo branch] was like, everybody loved the food,” Kodawari’s Ryan Serrano shares in an exchange with SPOT.ph. “So we thought, these people really like what we're doing. So we doubled down on that.”
Some dishes veer toward the snazzier end of the spectrum—think the kind of savvy plates that you can pass around or nibble on while sipping cocktails (coming to their menu soon, BTW!). There’s the Octopus (P485), its tentacles charred until they coil, vivified by a zippy herb sauce and pickled cherry tomatoes. There's the Sea Bass (P650), which is seared ‘til the skin is rendered paper-thin and crisp, then served over a sea of sake butter sauce with furikake and deep-fried cabbage.
Elsewhere, Kodawari weaves together comfort and creativity with updated takes on classics and crowdpleasers. Taking inspiration from the viral pandemic dish is the Sushi Bake (P350)—a more modest-sized version of its namesake, anyway, featuring cured tuna belly over seasoned rice, served in a bowl.
For those who like it hot, make room for the Mapo Tofu (P420) as your main. Kodawari’s take has extra nutty depth thanks to brown butter, while the Szechuan peppercorns deliver the mouth-numbing kick characteristic of the dish of Szechuan origin. The Mapo Tofu is served with rice, a cushion against the flickering heat of the sauce, but we reco getting the Cold Noodles (P355) on the side; this refreshing salad-esque dish of egg noodles, zucchini, pickled daikon, sakura floss, and soy wasabi is just the thing to cool your tongue post-tofu.
Kodawari also raises their dessert game at the BGC branch. One to try is the Coffee Jelly (P350), their remixed version of which delivers spoonfuls more robust-tasting than most. This one is comprised of a 64% dark-chocolate cremeaux base, potent cubes of coffee-soaked sponge, coffee jelly cubes that glisten against the light, and coffee-tinged chantilly cream.
Their vision for the brand today is largely the same, Aycardo tells us—but, having seen and gotten insights about what works and how their diners tend to act and eat, team Kodawari now takes things on with a more strategic eye.
Hey, Spotters! Check us out on Viber to join our Community and subscribe to our Chatbot.