One great thing about having an account with Open Rice is that you can get pretty updated information about the types of food you like. Thankfully, because of another gourmet's comment (thanks "garycwm"!), my attention was drawn to this interesting shop.We arrived at about 7:00 p.m. and got in without queuing. On the other hand, there was a pretty long queue at Buta O, which was just across the street. We were very very lucky that we could get a seat right at the very end of the restaurant in a
One great thing about having an account with Open Rice is that you can get pretty updated information about the types of food you like. Thankfully, because of another gourmet's comment (thanks "garycwm"!), my attention was drawn to this interesting shop.
We arrived at about 7:00 p.m. and got in without queuing. On the other hand, there was a pretty long queue at Buta O, which was just across the street. We were very very lucky that we could get a seat right at the very end of the restaurant in a corner. It could be regarded as relatively spacious. Otherwise, the seats were more crowded that Chaa Chaan Teng. The tables in the middle were already smaller than usual, plus there was Zero distance with your neighbor!
So not for romantic dinners in my humble opinion. Having said that, some so-called experts said that crowded spaces will actually creates more intimacy between couples, especially when facing each other at a 45 degrees angle - which maybe true...(?) but those experts seemed to be single. On the other hand, I've also read somewhere, "Never listen to marital advice from those who are still single." So listen to your "gut" feeling.
In fact, I will NOT consider entering the restaurant if I had to sit in the middle.
The menu was a pretty humorous introduction of the origins of "Horumon", which means basically, in Osaka dialect, a "completely rubbish" part of an animal which could be thrown away without a second thought. Some chefs discovered that it could be really tasty when grilled - and the rest was history and Osaka Horumon .
The menu was pretty mind-blowing, jaw-dropping and stomach churning ( no pun intended.) The anatomically accurate yet slightly disturbing descriptions of large intestines, small intestines, uterus, diaphragms and rectums, plus many more, made me felt like I'm in the Temple of Doom or Dr. Hannibal Lecter's kitchen.
Well, it's really all in the linguistics, isn't it? I don't mind having "Cow Marbles (the Chinese name)" but I might be a bit more hesitant if I've having "Cow Testicles". By the way, you'll have already consumed intestines if you've ever tried sausages, foie gras, and fish balls, so don't think you're, gastronomically, on any moral high ground!
Anyway, it's time to order:
After browsing through the menu, the first two things which we both agreed upon was "Buta P Toro", i.e. Pork Neck Meat. Needless to say, this was one of the less exciting options. Upon further reflections, we figured, why order "normal" yakinikui in a shop which specialized unorthodox stuff? So we became more adventurous.
Then we've ordered "Buta Guts" (Pork Stomach), "Harami" and "Sagari" (both Pork Diaphragm- Sagari is apparently even a rarer part), and...ahem...Teppo (Rectum).
One of the waitresses lit the stove, or at least made an attempt to, in front of us.
What she did was to switch on the gas to maximum, waited for a few seconds too long, kept trying to ignite it until finally a fireball exploded before our very eyes. Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）
I personally think the stove was pretty dangerous, with the super hot bronze gas tap protruding very near me throughout the dinner. The good thing about the stove was that it's quite easy to control the flame and that the gas won't run out as it seemed to be connected to a central gas pipe. Not recommended if you have to bring young children. Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）
Upon seeing this, another waitress, tall, thin, short wavy dyed hair without glasses, literally saved the day, (fortunately, my gel wasn't highly inflammable and we lived to tell the tale.) She lit the stove in one smooth go. Needless to say, we stuck with her the whole night. (Thanks!) She was very attentive and kind. Whenever we've asked the same waitress to change the grilling plate, she did it immediately and she did it with a smile. She spoke Japanese as well as English. Definitely made our dining experience a very positive one.
First came the complimentary garlic served in a metallic dish. Your supposed to place the whole dish on the stove. Don't worry, It won't be overcooked that easily as it's in a dish of Japanese "Salada oil", i.e. a type of canola oil further processed in Japan but healthier and practically tasteless (- if you every wondered what the missing ingredient was in your home-made Japanese fried food, it's probably this oil). Basically, it's ready to serve when it's boiling. It's a nice appetizer to prepare you for the stronger stuff to come.
Then there was a small basket of vegetables which consisted of 3-4 pieces of lettuce and shredded spring onions. These were quite good for wrapping the grilled meat in.
From top to bottom:
"Hasami" - Pork Diaphram; "Buta P Toro" - Pork Belly; and "Guts" - Stomach.
Shortly afterwards, the Sagami (lower left) and the Teppo (lower right) also arrived.
Basically, they were all pretty fresh, crispy and chewy. I guess the very important difference between the yakiniku here and other yakiniku shops, especially when compared with Korean grilled meat shops, was that the meat here did not appear to have been marinated with anything other than, a bit of flour and a little bit of sake to keep the juice and to tenderize the intestines. You've been provided with quite a number of condiments to dip the meat in.
Each table had also been provided with a pair of scissors to cut whatever you're grilling. You'll definitely need it! It's better to cut the intestines into slightly smaller pieces so it's easier to grill.
There was two pieces of Buta P Toro for HK$28. I remembered that tasted a bit like buta bara (pork belly) but a lot meatier and chewier. Although there were only two pieces, it was delicious and quite filling!
The Hasami and Sagami were rather similar to each other. Both the texture and taste of the two dishes tasted just like beef. But the Sagami was a bit softer than the Hasami. If you are interested in trying pork which tasted exactly like beef, then you might find it interesting. Then again, why don't you just order beef? I'm not too interested in ordering pork that tasted like beef, or beef that tasted like pork. Probably more for novelty value than anything else. Having said that, the texture of both the Hasami and Sagami were nice. They were quite soft and easy to consume.
The Pork Guts, i.e. stomach, was quite substantial for the price. Those were fresh too. These were much more chewier than any other stomach I've had before. But on its own it didn't really had that much taste.
So the different types of sauce which were provided by the restaurant, including chopped garlic, strong soy sauce and yuzu sauce (I think), was very important. The sauce was delicious and good with everything we've ordered.
Now we're almost at the very end, i.e. the rectum. There were about 4 pieces of rectum. Each piece was about 5 cm x 3 cm long. Despite the very attractive name, it wasn't wildly different from normal large intestines, which was in a way, quite a relief. We cut the rectum into half before grilling it. It was very chewy and tasted like normal large intestine. No complaints.
Nevertheless, I prefer the intestine of Morihachi 盛八 more as those at Morihachi were marinated and thus more tasty. It's also more easy to make it crispy.
And this was completely new to me and my wife - basically, intestines were divided into "red meat" and "white meat". Our Sagari and Hasami were red meat while the rest were white meat.
According to the restaurant, a technique to know when the meat is ready is this:
"For the red meat, you could flip to the other side once you noticed that the side was slightly burnt.
For the white meat, you could flip to the other side once you noticed bubbles appearing in the middle of the meat."
We followed the tip closely and it really worked!
Every single piece of meat was grilled at the right timing. Wonderful! We've never had such a great success in grilling meat (my wife did most of the grilling this time so that's probably the main reason )
At this point, it's getting rather hot and smokey. Perhaps because there was quite a lot of customers that day, it was quite smokey. The ventilation was not particularly bad but not too good either. So expect to smell like grilled meat after the dinner. We ordered a Korean sweet rice wine, "Makkori" as well as a "miso and cucumber" to cool down a bit.
Quite good value for a rather big bottle of Makkori. Don't worry, the alcohol content was pretty low and it's very easy to drink. It's just like the sweet sake Japanese drink during New Year. It apparently had a lot of soluble fiber and at least not too bad for your health. The fiber bit is quite important if you're having a lot of grilled meat. Definitely a good Korean wisdom.
The miso and cucumber was good too. The miso was coarsely grounded so there were some yellow beans inside, which gives it quite a unique "earthy" taste. Less sweet than most yellow miso. The cucumbers were very crunchy and fresh.
We also ordered a bowl of cold soba. It was very good too. As you could see from the photo, the noodles were the Korean style cold soba, which was a bit similar to glass noodle. The egg was slightly fluid and marinated in soy sauce. The kimchi was just normal. The kimchi was normal in the sense that it wasn't too sour or too sweet. It was quite crisp. Basically, a pretty nice dish after all the grilled meat. Actually, it wasn't wildly different from the expensive "Kaya" which I've tried quite a few years ago.
Conclusion:
Service was very good. The waitress which we've referred to was very professional. Everyone else was fine too.
The seats were pretty close to each other. I will be very hesitant if I had to sit at the middle part of the restaurant. I suggest the restaurant take away at least 1 table in the middle to give everyone more space.
It's not super smokey but don't expect to leave the place without smelling like a piece of grilled meat yourself!
I think the stove was good in flame control but may be a bit dangerous for young kids! Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）
The Buta P Toro was quite nice. The standard for the other intestines were pretty consistent as well. Other than the Sagami and Hasami which tasted like beef, the other stuff didn't have strong taste themselves.
It came down to less than HK$250 per head for all the food and drinks (those in the photo plus grapfruit chu-hi and a bottled beer, possibly Sapporo).
All in all, it was a very reasonably priced, fun-filled and exciting dining experience! Worth a try! 總評:
題外話/補充資料：
A declaration of my "intestinal fortitude" (bravery):
I like Motsu -Japanese pig's intestine, Black pudding -pig's blood, Sausages -everything in a mammal, Duck's blood - Taiwanese (great for hot pot), Duck's tongue, Cohonas - Spanish bull testicles (haven't tried it before), Chaan chya - Korean fish intestines, Goose liver - French, Frogs - Chinese and French, Ngo Cheung - goose intestines, Haggis - Scottish mixed lamb intestines, Fish balls - everything in a fish, Shark's fin - I'm not an environmentalist yet, Snake Soup - Great for men's health BTW, Crocodile meat - from the Great Outback in Australia... etc.
But this...was in a rather different league. I have to say that this had been a pretty fun and unique dining experience!
Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）
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