Kokoro: An In-Depth, Honest Encounter

    I'll be honest. I have never heard of this restaurant until this day. On November 11th, a few of my friends invited me to grab dinner and they suggested Kokoro; a Japanese-based eatery with their famous signature dish of mazesoba. This instance was indeed my first ever encounter to the mazesoba cuisine. Since I have heard good things, I anticipated this experience. 

    Upon my arrival, I was greeted with an unpleasant introduction because I took a glimpse at the menu and felt shocked at how expensive the items were. I figured that mazesoba came at a similar price point with ramen, yet I found that compared to the latter, the former was around 4-5 dollars more. To make matters worse, their bubble tea was approximately a dollar more. Initially, this increase in price did not sound too detrimental to me, and I expected higher quality dishes as a result of higher costs. 

Here is a photo of the niku (meat) mazesoba; a bowl filled with noodles at the bottom, green onions, dried seaweed, pork belly, minced garlic, and an egg to top it off. At first glance, this dish looks quite exquisite, especially its plating. The mazesoba is meant to be mixed up, and once I mixed up every ingredient together, I began to notice various weaknesses within the meal. 

Firstly, the portion of noodles is relatively small to my liking. Yes, portion sizes are subjective, as different people have their own personal preference to how much they eat. However, for me, the dish looks like there's a lot of noodles, but I think it only appears that way since the bowl is so large. 

    Secondly, I personally thought that the flavour was flawed. I ended up adding a plentiful amount of vinegar to enhance the taste. All I could sense in my palette was pork. Hence, this particular order had a rather monotonous taste, and lacked diversity. A nice addition of soy sauce, miso sauce, or spicy sauce could have improved the flavour of this dish. Nevertheless, it is nice to see that Kokoro is quite generous when it comes to adding pork, as they gave a pretty great quantity.

*A photograph showing some of the drink options

    In terms of the drinks, I feel the same way. Again, they lacked quantity; I ended up finishing these within a matter of around 3 minutes. They were also sold in aesthetic little bags. Funnily enough, I reckon that it is why they may cost more than regular bubble tea. On the positive side, I appreciate the addition of variety within the drink options. On the left is their blue lemonade, and on the right is their classic milk tea. 

    In short, I do think Kokoro is a little overrated. The restaurant's food is definitely good, I would even say it is above average. Yet, for what you get, I believe it is overpriced. Do not let this review stop yourself from going here however, because it is just my personal opinion. If you want to enter the world of mazesoba and bagged boba, Kokoro is your best bet!