Ours is among the slew of new Japanese restaurants opening in the Lucky Street area in reaction to the new Japanese embassy nearby. The restaurant serves various convivial grilled foods, with a second story dedicated solely to hotpots and their winter glory. Like twins that dress completely differently, the upstairs is wrapped in bright whites and reds while the grungy first floor is wood-heavy, with dark brick. The restaurant is actually a Japanese take on Korean barbecue food, from a grand drink list that will make any shochu lover drool to the Korean favourites available.
Skip the heavily dressed salads and try something like the ‘cow peas’ (20RMB), a neat bundle of bright-green beans stacked like logs in a rich sesame dressing. A server is likely to push the shochu, and if that’s your poison, you’ll find it hard to resist a dramatically illuminated wall of Ichiko bottles.
The menu is typographically Japanese with two diagrams, one devoted to meaty cuts of beef, the other those ever-popular innards. Prices go upwards of 480RMB for the more precious cuts, with choices of tongue boxed below. The obvious attraction is the grill – a hooded exhaust pulls down over a pot of smouldering coals but they don’t vent very well; be prepared to leave smelling like jerky.
The menu’s numerous typos can have serious repercussions: if you go for the pork rib option (78RMB), you’ll find it’s actually a mistranslated sliced pork belly. Fatty pork (78RMB) couldn’t be further from the truth – it’s neck, the first choice for some, as it’s delicious. A la carte options come in a trio of flavours: original, spicy or with a sweet soy marinade. For the record, the latter is pretty great. First-timers can choose between three sets of mixed cuts, including one with three of the four tongue options. Set B (118RMB) has a nice mix of marbled beef rib, chicken thighs, and some sliced tongue (they like giving tongue here). You can grill for yourself or have it done for you by attentive staff that will ask how you like it. And they do it right – remember, in Chinese there are seven degrees of doneness, so forget about medium-rare: that’s si cheng here.
Try embellishing things with tiny side plates of sweetcorn wedges (15RMB) that sizzle in a pool of butter or slices of tender eggplant (10RMB), glazed with a light sweet sauce. Since a set isn’t likely to fill you up, try sides like the stone-bowl bibimbap (70RMB). Not only is it excellent, but there’s a play on steak tartar, with fine shreds of raw beef and a runny yolk served over warm rice with seasoned vegetables in a hot sizzling bowl. Elsewhere, someone has a sense of humour – or has done time – with the ‘prison rice’ (15RMB), a regular bowl of seasoned rice jacked up with thin-sliced leeks and another raw yolk.
Ours is a good place to make yours for many reasons. And it might become your favourite if you’re in the mood for a little meaty tongue. Lillian Chou