Nancy and I showed up at 6:20pm on a Friday night and it was already an hour wait! Sheesh. They only take reservations of groups of 4 or more, so if you're less than 4 people, get ready to wait. This place was always packed but ever since it was featured on Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover" it has just exploded. Luckily the wait was more like 45 minutes and we weren't starving, so I wasn't a hungry grumpy mess when I sat down. They immediately start you with a few small plates like they do in a Korean restaurant: kimchi, bean sprouts with sesame oil, and fresh cabbage with a ginger dressing. Now I am not a huge fan of raw cabbage but I really loved the crunch and combination of it with the dressing. The kimchi was incredibly spicy but in a good way and the sprouts were also super refreshing and tasty. Our waiter told us that we should order 1 appetizer and about 2-3 mains and then a vegetable. Instead, we opted for 2 appetizers and 3 meats: the Foie Gras Stuffed Mini Kobe Burger with Chocolate BBQ Sauce ($20), the Niku-Uni (chuck flap topped with sea urchin and fresh wasabi - $24), US prime short rib ($22), and ox tail ($13). As adventurous I am, I just couldn't bring myself to order the heart, aorta, stomach cuts, or tounge. But next time I'm there I would be interested in trying the cheek, skirt and shoulder.
The Niku-Uni came out first and it was just beautiful to look at. We were instructed to put a dab of wasabi on top of it, roll it up and dip it in the soy sauce and then eat it in one bite. So I did just that, and it was AMAZING. There was tons of delicious soft uni and the raw chuck melted in your mouth. Everything about it was perfect and totally worth $24. Next came the meatball and for $20 you'd think there would be more than 1, but I guess when it's stuffed with foie gras you only get 1. The one meatball was a good size and when they serve it, they pour the chocolate BBQ sauce on the meatball tableside. The waiter kept pouring the sauce and you almost want to tell him to stop pouring so much sauce but they obviously know what they are doing. Who would have thought that chocolate, meat and foie gras would be a winning combination? Certainly not me but it was a perfect combination of sweetness and saltiness. The sauce was a bit overpowering to the point that I couldn't even tell that there was foie gras in it but now I kind of want to pour chocolate sauce on all my burgers! For the meats, they turn up the grill at your seat (note, don't plan on wearing nice clothes to this place because they WILL stink when you walk out) and then you grill your meats at your table. I've had oxtail many times before but for some reason I was caught off caught at how thin the oxtail pieces were. They tasted great but it was really difficult to eat because you have to literally gnaw around the cartilage and bone which can be messy and difficult. Then came the short rib and it was so tender and I almost wanted to just eat it raw. After finishing the short rib, Nancy and I were still hungry, so we asked our waiter what we should order next. Without hesitation, our waiter literally screamed out "You HAVE to get the beef belly!!" ($18). And he was not wrong at all. It's not as fatty as pork belly but still has that delicate soft taste to it. Despite all of this food, we still decided to get dessert on top of it. They only have 1 dessert: soft serve vanilla ice cream ($5) but then you can add a bunch of toppings for $2/each, so we decided to get rice-flour dumplings and black sesame and soybean flour. We got the dumplings because we didn't know what it was, but it turns out it was just like mochi. The dessert was a nice refreshing finish to all the meat we just ate but there was nothing that was truly outstanding about it that warranted paying $9 for it.
At the end of the meal, I honestly could have ordered more food but didn't want to spend more money. The prices are definitely a bit on the expensive side, but I would definitely say that it was worth every penny because the meat was like un-other I've had before. Total bill $73/pp with tax and tip.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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