I visited this Japanese restaurant with friends during Christmas time and I like it a lot.

It is a 3-in-1 restaurant owned by a japanese family and they offer sushi bar, shabu-shabu and teppanyaki together.

On that night I tried the shabu shabu and it was very good for the money paid. I have tried both the seafood version and the beef version.

Beef Shabu Shabu

The seafood shabu shabu contains a selection of seafood including scallop, king crab, a kind of white fish, mussels and some fish balls. The waiter included some miso soup on the pot for me to boil the seafood, together with a basket of fresh vegetables and udon on the side. It taste good all together and they also have a range of condiments that can be added to the pot to enhance the flavors of the shabushabu. For sauces they have a mildly sour vinger sauce(I suspect it is the ponzu sauce), and a seasame peanut butter sauce for dips. For condiments for the soup they have scallions, giner grates, S&B 7 flavour power, hot chili peppers and some grated white carrots. The food taste pretty fresh.

As for the beef shabu shabu, they give you what you paid for. Thank you for my neighbouring friend (Wilbur) would gave me a portion of his beef because of my insatiable appetite. Meat is freshly prepared and is done properly.

Special appetizer that they have: jalapeño poppers. jalepeno stuffed with diced white tuna, deep fried. Wow, not too spicy but it taste rather nice!

Jalapeno Poppers with Tuna Filling

Good: I love the shabu shabu- and the appetizer a lot.
Bad: Please don’t try their ice-cream! It is surprisingly horrendous.

Will come back again.

Shima
13700 Roswell Ave, Chino, CA
(909) 590-1233

Yamato Restaurant

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Phone: 734.998.3484
Address:
403 N. Fifth Ave – 1st Floor
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://yamatoinc.blogspot.com/

I think this is a relatively old restaurant in Kerrytown Ann Arbor. It has been around for at least 10 years and is operated by a Japanese couple. When you go into the entrance, you will see a lot of old photos with a lot of customers’ comments. The chef has been working as a chef for a long time and some Japanese friends told me the family moved to USA about 2 decades ago to start this Japanese restaurant.

Usually food tends to be better at a Japanese restaurant if the chef is Jap. It turns out pretty true. The food served is not too much influenced by Western elements and most of their dishes do still emphasize on a tradition Japanese feel. Like the duck udon that I have, they are still using a long Japanese green onion instead of the cheaper green onions that can be found in Chinese grocery stores. And for that it makes the duck udon taste better. I appreciate the chef has a good selection of raw materials.

Too bad I cannot find any photos about their sushi bento, but I do recommend them nonetheless. it is a bit expensive for a dinner bento ($25), but you get what you paid for. Sashimis are cut fresh and nicely, with a daily entree to go with the sushi in a 3-slot bento box.

However, beware the food are coming in pretty slowly because they do not have a lot of staffs as the restaurant is family owned.

Recommended items: Fried oyster bento set, duck udon, uni(ask if it is fresh enough), sashimi bento.

Rumours say that they are trying to sell their business because they want to retire.

Good: Authentic Japanese food, the sushi fish are relatively fresh in the area and the bento has a really good presentation and taste. Will recommend sushi items. Lunch sets are quite a good deal.
Bad: Really slow service because there is only 1 chef(the husband) and 1 waitress(the wife). Dinner is a bit too expensive($20-25)

Conclusion: You should prepare to wait for your food, or else you will be starving to death.But then the food is worth the wait, sometimes and for someone.

It’s a fairly priced Grilled Eel specialty store where they pride themselves in their own rendition of grilled eel Nagoya style. Price is about 1000-3000 yen per person($12-36USD)

It was the first time that I learned that there are simple but savory ways of eating an una don (Grilled Eel bowl). Three Ways.

1. Serve Grilled Eel Don from Wooden Bucket

Eel Eaten 3 Ways： 1. Eaten from a Wooden Bucket

2. Adding fresh wasabi rind and chopped Negi (Japan green union)

Eel Three Ways: 2. Add in Wasabi rind and green onion, together with some Yuzi salt

3. Adding Dashi made of bonito & konbu(seaweed kelps)

Eel Eaten 3 Ways： 3. Add in Fish Broth(Dashi) made of Bonito and kelp

So good.  Also tried their skewer – they have eel liver, eel head, eel lungs kushi.  Yum.  Eel everything is in the house.

浅草うな鐵
Japan 東京都台東区浅草1-43-7‎03-3841-1360‎
http://www.hitsumabushi.com/

A very nice parody on how to eat sushi or sashimi. I would say 60% of them are true, yet most of them are highly exagerrated.

A recollection on one of the iron chef restaurants that I’ve been to (twice). Seriously I’ve tried out their whole dinner entree menu and their whole desert menu (except for the very expensive omakase menus which they might give out special treats.)   The restaurant is a fusion restaurant (Sometimes fusion food ends up pretty confusing) and I think they serve Pan asian food.

Decor has its own hype.  The restaurant is decorated with LED lights that changes its colour once in a while.   Wonderful interior design it is.

Entree is satifying and is acceptable at the price.  I was not too inspired or surprised at their menu though.  I was a little bit disappointed about their sushi quality and I guess it’s not a place for sushi afterall.  Some of the entrees that I do still remember – ANGRY chicken, Kobe Beef Bim bim bop, halibut, some sushi platter,sea bass, steak, surf and turf.

Dessert – it’s very disappointing.  I just don’t get the (con)fusion of their desserts,  I remembered their coffee jelly with coconut milk tastes really bad, same goes for the flourless chocolate cake.  I wonder if that’s why they don’t put their dessert menu on the website.

I guess that’s because chef Morimoto is not the chef in house.  Too bad, but it managed to get me visiting twice, all with a big group of people.

Photos below – taken a  hurry.

Morimoto

Neighborhood: Market East
723 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 413-9070 http://www.morimotorestaurant.com/