Per usual, DLS wanted Pellegrino. I opted for a strawberry lemonade, but when I’d reached the halfway mark, I added Pellegrino for a bit of sparkle. I love sparkling drinks, that’s just me.

After a lot of debate – not knowing what to get, and just wanting a large sampler of everything, we finally settled on one of the set menus for two – the Hanabi menu for $100. We also had 15% off since they were newly opened, so that was cool.

Our first dish to arrive: hot oil seared salmon, which was very fresh and tasty, though it reminded me distinctly of a Chinese fish dish my mother makes – whole steamed fish that she then pours boiling oil over the top… with soy sauce. It’s very good, but not what I expected here.

Yuzu carpaccio was by far my preferred dish of the first two: slices of raw fish wrapped around assorted vegetables, served in a light yuzu dressing, I really enjoyed this greatly. I think DLS noticed because he kindly gave up the last piece for me to eat, thanks!

Our server came over and showed us the platter of Gyu Kaku salad, then asked if we’d like her to serve it for us. When we agreed, she left to scoop it into two separate bowls but still made it super pretty, which I appreciated. I should take a moment to note that our service was fantastic – I don’t remember her name, but our server made sure to explain everything to us, and she was extremely helpful when we were laboring over the menu and trying to figure everything out. She even asked at the end what we liked best and told us what her favorites were – really sweet.  And the salad was the perfect blend of crunchy bites, lightly sweet dressing, and just very tasty (though my friends will tell you that you don’t win friends with salad).

Then our meats began arriving: kobe chuck kalbi, which was super tender and very tasty. As each plate of meat landed on our table, the runner bearing it would tell us how long to cook it on each side, which was much appreciated.

Chateaubriand, again very tasty.

This horribly blurry picture is of the bistro harami hanger steak, one of my favorites of the night.

The cooking times/instructions were especially appreciated as it turned out that DLS was quite adept at following those instructions, using his watch to time each side. I let him cook everything; what is with guys and cooking meat over an open flame? Haha.

Our set menu also came with sukiyaki bibimbap, which… I can’t even explain how awesome this was. A server came by and showed to us how he stirred everything together in a hot stone bowl – asking us how spicy we wanted it – and then let it sit there while the smell tantalized us – to create a super crisp crust. Then, he came back eventually and served it into two separate bowls, so though the crust had formed, the rice was able to cool down (which is one of my issues when I eat dolsot bibimbap at Korean restaurants) a bit and I could enjoy the intensely crisp rice crust along with the well-flavored rice itself. At this point, I was giddy with delight over the food.

Miso cod came in a foil packet to steam on the grill. DLS asked if his miso halibut was better, and I had to say it actually was – the miso here was too overwhelming for the subtle fish and totally overtook it. I would not order this again.

Basil marinated chicken didn’t fare better – the flavor was fine, but I didn’t think it was anything special.

Garlic shrimp; I’m not a huge fan of shrimp and these were just eaten because they were there.

Asparagus, which both of us like, but this was in way too much butter. I’d have preferred they be grilled instead of soaked in butter… next time, I’ll pick grilling vegetables from the a la carte menu.

Well, here’s where I once again display my need for indulgences… One of the reasons the Hanabi menu was chosen instead of the Matsuri menu (another set menu for 2, this one only $80) was because of the desserts. Black sesame gelato, which obviously spoke to me on many levels, but DLS didn’t seem to mind when my eyes went wide and I whispered “black sesame gelato?!” – regardless, this was unlike any black sesame ice cream I’ve ever had. Denser, richer, more black sesame flavor, I literally danced in my seat with joy as I licked each spoonful clean. So freaking good.

The set menus came with two desserts, and the more fun one was obviously making your own s’mores over the grill. It was a lot of fun toasting the marshmallows carefully – though I almost lost mine! – and then pressing them carefully between the graham crackers to melt the chocolate. I didn’t think I’d be able to eat my entire s’more, but I did, and it was good.

Mmm.

Yvo says: I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Gyu Kaku, and I know for sure DLS did as well. He even signed up for the frequent diner card (which costs $1 but is good forever), which is also a good deal. While I definitely preferred the red meat items over the other items, I enjoyed the menu for the ability to try a lot of different things and quickly realize what I liked and didn’t like as much… and next time, I’ll be able to order from the regular menu with ease and happiness. Yum! The one negative was the lack of exhaust hoods – normally, my experience at Japanese BBQ has been that they have exhausts close to the grill so you don’t go home smelling of food, but this place didn’t have that. Oh well – it won’t stop me from returning. I really liked the food.
recommended

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Post tags: bibimbap, carpaccio, DLS

The menu is pretty simple, covering just one side of the page.

We started off with the kara age or fried chicken pieces – I’d been disappointed with the kara age at Tabata, our current favorite ramen place (I’ve eaten there at least 5-6x now, not bothering to review the followups, but have tried other things there), so I was eager to have it elsewhere. This did not disappoint – fried perfectly crisp on the outside, juicy meat on the inside, and seasoned very nicely. The slaw on the side was just nice to munch on but nothing special. I was really happy that we were off to such a good start.

DLS chose the miso ramen, the only one served with curly noodles.  I know for sure he enjoyed his bowl very much, and I tried his noodles and really liked them as well. The perfect texture – a bit of bounce, good chew, and just perfectly cooked… it was good. He did note that it was spicier than he expected, but nothing unbearable.

I chose the shio ramen, as that’s generally my first order at any ramen place for comparison’s sake. It’s my preferred type of broth… usually. I had a lot of issues with my bowl. First, to get the good stuff out of the way: the pork slices were perfectly tender and fragrant, melting in my mouth nicely. Yeah, that’s all the good I can say about my bowl, really: the broth was well-made, but I found it agitating and annoying that someone decided they should add a ton of yuzu pepper/seven spice. When I order shio ramen, I expect the broth to be light, salty, ‘sweet’ – if I wanted to add spices, I could use the bottle of pepper on the table to pump the spice level. It wasn’t unbearably spicy, it was just enough to tickle my tongue and annoy me, as that’s not what I wanted when I ordered that. That’s not to say that you won’t enjoy this: maybe everyone in the world likes things this way, and I’m odd. Regardless, I found that a negative… and one that I could and would overlook, had I enjoyed my noodles.

Oh, my noodles: gummy, floury, tasting mushy and yet uncooked at the same time – they were just not good. I had a hard time eating a lot of them because they just tasted so bad – seriously, all I tasted was uncooked flour and mushy noodles. I was pretty upset by this – given that I’d looked forward to this so much and honestly, I’d read so many good things about the noodles. Why did my noodles suck so bad?!

Now, I know many people who have gone since then, and before me as well, and not a single person has reported the same issue I had. I’m inclined to believe that I got the one bad batch (and DLS tried some of my noodles and agreed with my assessment, so I’m not crazy), but given the location being super far from just about everything and anything that I personally do, and my bad noodles plus not enjoying the broth that much… I seriously doubt I will give this another try.

To rinse the uncooked flour taste out of my mouth, we decided to share a green tea ice cream – served with red bean paste, toasted buckwheat, barley molasses and soybean powder for $3.  I was surprised to see so much of the ice cream melted before it got to us, but I liked the toppings and thought the serving was the perfect size (and price) for a quick sweet bite to end our meal. It was definitely more interesting than just a scoop of ice cream – and you know how I love texture in food, so the contrasting crunch was much appreciated.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend nor not-recommend this place. My noodles were unforgivably un-tasty, and I just didn’t like the broth. I do recognize that enough people have gone and liked the noodles that my batch must have been just a bad one… but as I mentioned, given its location and my personal experience, it is highly unlikely I will be returning (unless one of my friends insists that I give it a re-do, which has happened with several of my recent negative reviews already). Service was extremely friendly and pleasant, and the space is nice and comfortable as well. Oh, be warned- it is kid friendly, which may be a negative for those of you who don’t have kids. (I had the absolute pleasure of sitting next to a kid whose parents spoiled the crap out of him. I don’t care if I was there for only 10 minutes of their rearing him, if you don’t wake up until we’re about to leave, we’re leaving anyway and you can eat at home. You don’t get to tell me that we’re staying just because you don’t feel like going home. That’s how my parents raised me.)

If you do decide to check Jin out, do let me know about your experience. I’m really curious about my noodles and if it’s possible I got the single lone horrible batch…

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, fried chicken, Ice cream, Ramen

Lenny ordered the warm chocolate cake with miso mochi. I know he liked it a lot because I took this pic and then it was gone.

DLS ordered the trio of sorbets – apple, pomegranate and grapefruit. (This is what happens when I let him pick his own orders… I guess he’s kind of boring, hehe.) I know he liked them; I tried them and thought they were okay.

Yet another dessert designed for me: black sesame sweet tofu panna cotta, hoji cha syrup and white sesame tuile. I adore panna cotta, and have been on a black sesame kick lately… but this fell short of being panna cotta. Being made of tofu, it was actually jiggly and super soft, which annoyed me, and was slightly too sweet for my tastes. However, adding the hoji-cha syrup on top – which was slightly bitter from the tea – really cut through the sweetness and balanced it back to a palatable level of sugar for me. I really enjoyed that, though that brought the dessert more to a ‘dofufa’ (soft tofu) dessert for me, like what you get at dim sum (hot tofu-flower as it’s called, with ginger syrup).  Ah well – it’s about expectations…

Yvo says: I enjoyed the experience and really love their mini hoji-cha financier cookies (which I’ve been back a few times to get some to go). I will definitely be back since I’m in the area frequently and really enjoy some of their baked items… more stuff to try when they change the seasonal menu again as well! Yum!
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dessert, DLS, molten chocolate cake, panna cotta

We started with the Maryland roll – avocado, lump crab, tuna and caviar. I wasn’t too thrilled with the roe being on the side like that, but took to dipping my pieces in it… this was OK. I was hoping for something more interesting based on the description, but it was just… okay.

Tommy ordered a spicy ramen. He liked it.

There was a sign on the wall that explained ramen and the process of making it, which encouraged me to order the ramen. I ordered the shiromaru hakata classic, and though I didn’t like that the ginger was mixed in and gave a bit of an unpleasant strong taste to my broth (I don’t like ginger generally), I found myself really enjoying my bowl, broth and noodles. I slurped most of my broth away and chomped happily on the very chewy noodles before I decided I wanted more noodles, an option offered at Zutto. Tommy and I split the second order of noodles (just noodles); these were slightly more cooked and almost gummy, though a swim in my remaining broth and they were fine. I was surprised I enjoyed the ramen as much as I did – perfectly cooked the first time around, with a very fragrant broth that pleased my salty-tooth greatly, I wouldn’t hesitate to return if someone requested it – though the location in TriBeCa makes it unlikely I will request it anytime soon.

Yvo says: The ramen really surprised me here, though the empty restaurant and the non-A rating may scare some people away. If you are intent on trying all the ramen in the city, I would definitely say you should check out Zutto – you may be surprised as I was.

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Post tags: Ramen

Unfortunately, the online menu does not have prices listed so I can’t tell you how much each dish cost. I can say that while it was cheaper than any Manhattan sushi shop, it was the kind of restaurant the university students ask their parents to take them to.

We started with the standard order of edamame for the table.

CT’s Mom started with the appetizer sized order of tempura. There was a nice variety of shrimp, onions, carrots and more. CT and I shared a shrimp and both enjoyed it. The batter was light enough to allow some of the sweet shrimp flavor to remain.

We also shared some gyoza. We didn’t expect a green wrapper, but it was quite pretty, unique and most importantly thin. The filling was mostly vegetables, but we expected that. As you can see the bottoms had a nice crisp shell from the pan-frying.

CT and I decided to share the sashimi platter for two. It was definitely less than $60, so not a bad deal especially when this HUGE platter was placed in between us. There were the usual suspects of tuna, salmon, octopus, clam and a bunch of other fish that I had no idea about. All I can say was that everything was super fresh and delicious. Definitely worth getting if you like sashimi as much as we do.

CT’s Mom also got the daily special roll, which I believe was crab and mango. The ten slices were pretty large, so she “forced” the rest of the table to eat a couple. I liked the combination of the creamy avocado and sweet mango & crab. She also got an order of uni.

CT’s Dad also got an order of uni along with some eel and I believe shrimp. I believe he liked each of them a lot.

There was a little miscommunication with the waitress so the fish katsu he originally ordered never came. Since he was still hungry after his sushi, he placed a late order for it. After inquiring to the type of fish, it turned out to be tilapia. It was quite a nice presentation and looked like traditional chicken katsu at first. I had a taste and it was cooked perfectly. The fish was juicy with the breading nice and crunchy with very little grease.

When everyone was adding on an order of uni to their meals, our waitress asked if we would like to try “live” uni. She explained that they have live uni that the extract from their spiny shells as opposed to the usual “box” of uni that comes from Santa Barbara. She then told us it was $25 per order. WHOA. I think regular uni was only $9 or $10. However, CT’s Parents insisted we try the live uni. Since they were treating us, we went for it. It was quite the presentation with the shell and all. The pieces of uni were on top of sushi rice wrapped in avocado like the “regular” uni CT’s parents got. CT wisely just ate the uni, while I just put the whole thing in my mouth. It was quite sweet and delicious, but wasn’t worth the premium price. I also lost a lot of the delicate flavor due to the rice and avocado. It was nice to try something special but I wouldn’t get it again. Regular old uni from the box is fine by me.

Before we got the check, our waitress presented us with this.

It was the uni shell with the spines removed and boiled. It actually had some crazy natural designs in it that make for a great lamp cover. They actually used some of these to with their bathroom lights. What a great souvenir!

All in all, Mo C Mo C was some of the best sushi I have ever had. Maybe even better than our local joint, Iron Sushi. Thanks again to CT’s Parents for treating us to a lovely meal and continuing to prove that the Princeton culinary scene ain’t too shabby!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Princeton, uni