One of the most interesting places that has come up on Blackboard Eats, is Robataya. It is a Japanese restaurant in the East Village that specializes in Robatayaki. This is where customers sit around an open hearth on which chefs grill seafood and vegetables. The fresh ingredients are displayed for customers to point at whenever they want to order.
Upon entering, you see the huge counter area where about 20 people sit around all of the ingredients and in the center, two chefs with grills. The back of the restaurant has regular tables, but sitting there defeats the purpose of going to this place. My pictures don’t do it justice, but it is a pretty cool sight. The chefs kneel on pillows and cook on a small grill with skewers. It is quite theatrical with the waiters loudly calling out orders in Japanese and the chefs responding. The chefs serve you everything from long paddles that allow them to reach all of the customers sitting at the counter without having to get up. They even served me my large can of Sapporo on the paddle. It was quite impressive and requires a strong, steady hand. They must have some strong knees to be able to sit in that position for such long periods. One of the chefs did get up to reach over the grill to get some more ingredients that were on display, but other than that, they basically stayed in the same position the whole time. The chef were also quite serious and focused most of the time, but when he handed over a dish, he became quite friendly. That was a nice surprise.
You can kind of see the little grill where the magic happens.
CT did some investigating beforehand on what dishes were must-trys, so we ordered a couple things that didn’t pop out at me on the menu. I am glad we did!
After ordering, we were given an amuse of sliced radish and sweet vinegar. It was very light and refreshing, especially since the heat and humidity has been pretty brutal this summer here in NYC.
We started off with Uni Kobu Yaki; grilled sea urchin sprinkled with salted Konbu seaweed. This was salty deliciousness. The super delicate uni was grilled perfectly in a clam shell.
CT says: I never had uni grilled before. It didn’t have the soft, creamy texture that I’m used to getting at sushi-dinners, but the flavor was still delicious!
One the dishes CT read about was the Chawan Mushi; steamed Savoy Egg custard with chicken meatballs, shrimp, mochi, Shiitake mushroom, and Mitsuba leaf. The custard was very light and velvety. All of the different ingredients were like little surprises for each bite.
Now onto the dishes grilled by the chefs in front us.
Jagaimo, potato with salt and butter. It was nothing remarkable, just grilled potato. It could have been grilled a bit more, but I didn’t have a long paddle to hand it back to the chef.
Enoki mushroom with soy sauce. I am not a huge mushroom eater, but these were quite tasty. Nicely grilled, almost sprout like.
CT says: I read good things about this dish too and thought I would get it for myself, since TT isn’t big on mushrooms. However, I was shocked to see portions of it disappearing! It was grilled to a just soft texture, without being mushy. And seasoned very well so that it didn’t lose its delicate earthy taste.
One of their most unique items on the menu is El-Hire, dried Stingray fin. I saw the chef soak it in water before grilling. I guess this was to wash off some of the salt it was dried in? It was very tasty. It had good grill flavor and a nice chew. It also came with a mayo dipping sauce that gave it a nice tang. The pieces had ridges that made them almost chip-like. Instead of Ruffles, I would love a bag of grilled, dried, Stingray fin. If you like calamari or octopus, you will like this.
CT says: I loved these! I could eat a whole plate of these on my own. It sounds strange, but it’s a definite must-try. (Does anyone know if I can buy these?)
Next was another CT dish. The Kamameshi, rice cooked in an earthenware pot for 2 with Salmon & Salmon Roe. It takes 30 min to prepare, so it was one of the first things we ordered. This was one of the best rice dishes I have ever had. The salmon was perfectly cooked, not dry at all. The ton of roe that came with it gave it such a great, oceany taste to it. A big win on CT’s selection.
CT says: I agree – this dish was simple, yet fantastic. It may be time I keep some roe at home to make a version of this for myself.
New Zealand Lamb Chop with Salt. It was perfectly grilled, simply seasoned, very flavorful.
Long Island Duck with Salt. Just as good as the lamb. Very tasty and tender.
California Free Range Chicken Thigh with Soy Sauce. I am at a loss for words to describe it differently from the lamb and duck. See above for my thoughts.
CT says: All the meats were well-cooked and had some light seasoning, while retaining the flavors of the meats. They were really portioned for one (unlike the larger veggie-dishes), but it was more fun to get a few different ones and share two-bites of each. However, if I had to choose just one – the duck was my favorite.
Our last dish was one of the specials, squid. We saw the chef pull out a whole squid and break it down for the grill. Again it was very simply prepared and quite a large portion. It had great chew and flavor.
CT says: The squid was perfectly cooked and a great end to the meal. I also especially liked how they paced out the meal into several courses. We were able to focus on one dish at a time and appreciate the different preparations of each item. However, if you’re in a rush, it might be a good idea to let them know.
All in all, it was a great experience which was added upon by the discount we got from Blackboard. Everything was delicious and it was quite interesting to see the chefs work right in front on you. I would definitely recommend trying this place out, making sure to sit at the counter.
Also proof that no good deed goes unpunished: the waiter forgot to charge me for my beer so I pointed it out to him before we paid. They put the beer on the bill but forgot to take the BBE discount off. It wasn’t worth mentioning to the waiter again, but serves me right for trying to do the “right” thing.
CT says
If a customer annoys one of the chefs, do you think they would slap them with the paddle “by accident”?
TT says
i hope so cause that would be amazing.
Hungry says
Looks good but I heard it’s pricey.
TT says
the grilled dishes you get at the “bar” aren’t too bad. $3-$13.
apps are all $11 or less.
it is a fun experience, so i would go back even without BBE
T.C. says
Too bad for the non-BBE discounted beer.
Food does sound interesting. As long as everything is tasty!
Ack to some of the blurry pics that hurt my zombie food-porn viewing eyes. *passes out
Feisty Foodie says
I LOL’ed at the “I didn’t have a paddle to hand it back to the chef” 🙂
CT – I think the stingray can be bought at Asian stores but you have to ask someone who knows more than I do about that. Or I can ask my mom – I’ll probably see her this weekend so I’ll try to figure out how to say ‘stingray’ in Chinese or maybe she’ll know what that is.
BlindBakerNYC says
Can you tell me how this is different from hibachi cooking? I can’t help thinking this is like eating at Benihana, except the food is good.
TT says
Blindey-
Hibachi is a flattop grill with the focus being on the “show” rather than the food.
Robatayaki is similar to Yakitoki- using a charcoal grill to simply cook the food no knife skills show. I think at Robataya they use an infrared grill. You also get many more options than the usual chicken or steak at a hibachi place.
I definitely recommend going to Robataya at least once.
BlindBakerNYC says
Ohh, I see! Thanks for the explanation because I don’t like hibachi- it’s the worst food ever. It’s not as bad as Crapplebee’s but it’s pretty darned close. I’ll definitely check out Robataya sometime!