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2010-04-13
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Came here for dinner with a friend. Food: We each ordered the $88 special which included a Kirin beer and 1 of each of the following skewers: Ox Tongue, Soft chicken bone, and Chicken wings (2 on the skewer). This was a rather good deal since it included a beer and I always feel beer goes well with yakitori. Anyways, the ox tongue was the best by far, very well seasoned and grilled to perfection while preserving the unique texture of the ox tongue. Other skewers I tried include: Mushroom,
Food: We each ordered the $88 special which included a Kirin beer and 1 of each of the following skewers: Ox Tongue, Soft chicken bone, and Chicken wings (2 on the skewer). This was a rather good deal since it included a beer and I always feel beer goes well with yakitori. Anyways, the ox tongue was the best by far, very well seasoned and grilled to perfection while preserving the unique texture of the ox tongue.
Other skewers I tried include: Mushroom, Bean curd, Goose liver, Green asparagus wrapped w/ bacon, Pork neck meat, and sweet corn. All the prices for the skewers were for a pair (2 skewers) except for the exceptionally expensive items. The skewers that stood out: green asparagus wrapped w/ bacon which had generous juicy baby asparagus lined up with grilled bacon wrapped on each one; the goose liver was also done well - like grilled foie gras, however bit pricey since it was $90 for 1 skewer; the corn was also grilled oiled up with butter (yum! )
Also ordered a cold udon - the one where you dip with the udon sauce. Udon came sprinkled with dry seaweed and sesame seeds. Nice serving of carbs to pair with yakitori. However, I really wanted those stir fry udon - but they don't have it until late night...why not? They should really change that to give customers more menu range!
Service: the usual. they charged $20 for the "fresh vegetable salad" (the appetizer cabbage, some cucumber, carrot, radish) they give you in the start..... what cheapos - other yakitori places i've been to don't charge for that.....
Decor: Limited seating, so definitely make a reservation or else you'll waste your trip all the way out to Happy Valley (cabfare!). Tables and seats are small - so its very tight and not that comfortable. Also, they need to turn up the air conditioning - I was uncomfortably hot/sweating during most of the meal. They should realise since its yakitori - they are doing the grilling out where people are dining - so that creates more heat!
Sizing it up: I ended spending $600 for 2 people - which is pretty expensive for yakitori. I must admit this joint's food quality is very good, but not so outstandingly unique to other places that it justifies the $300 per person! Plus, it wasn't great decor or a comfortable place to sit and chat longer. Its more of a place to grab a snack with a beer like the yakitori special $88 since going for dinner is overpriced. I'd suggest going late night and get the 50% off skewers which make it really good value!
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