恵比寿ライダー
I read a feature article in a magazine about a yakiniku restaurant that I just had to visit because of its visuals and the owner's dedication. It is a famous, long-established restaurant in Kobe that everyone there knows about. The restaurant's biggest dedication is its "secret sauce" and another dedication is to the quality of the meat. They source their meat from renowned Ohtaya, who owns their own ranch and provides Kobe beef and Tajima beef, ensuring top-notch quality. So, it's a combination of high-quality meat and a historic secret sauce. Meat × sauce = ?! I can't wait to see what kind of yakiniku it will be. The restaurant is located in Mishuku, with Ikejiri Ohashi Station being the closest station where there are many small, trendy shops. It's a bit of a walk, about 8 minutes, but this distance adds a special atmosphere. I took a taxi there this time, but I made sure to walk back. The owner of the restaurant originally came from a traditional Japanese cuisine background and has experience training overseas, leading to a unique and creative style that is now fully blossoming. I tried the 10,000 yen course, which includes thick-cut beef tongue. Here is the detailed menu:
- Today's assorted appetizers: Kimchi and Namul
- Seared and sashimi assortment: Seared yukhoe, golden liver, and thousand-layer sashimi
- Thick-cut tongue
- Today's simmered dish
- Famous Rokkoen meat assortment: Three types of salt, three types of sauce, sauce tongue, hormone mix
- Tail clay pot rice
- Dessert
Among them, I was particularly interested in the Rokkoen special simmered dish. Now, let's dig in and see what this dish is like. Starting with the appetizers, let me briefly introduce the whole spread, including the condiments on the table. (Appetizer)
- Thinly sliced cabbage, served in a wooden tea bowl with "free refills" of onion dressing or sesame dressing. I couldn't decide which was better and ended up getting seconds of both.
- Namul and Kimchi, Chinese cabbage and Kakuteki. The kimchi was incredibly delicious, and the attention to detail in removing the bean sprout roots was impressive.
- Sashimi of senmai, grilled liver with vinegar miso and sesame oil salt sauce. Both were refreshing and easy to eat, with a perfect pairing of senmai and vinegar miso.
- Seared yukhoe wrapped in Korean seaweed. This was a unique take on yukhoe, and the aburi (seared) aspect was unusual but delicious.
- Thick-cut tongue. Much thicker and tender than usual tongue, clearly using top-quality meat.
- Sagari, Harami, Kurimi. Now, the yakiniku is here. Each meat was tender, sweet, and had just the right amount of fat, making it easy to cook and eat.
- Kamenoko, Tomosankaku, Misji Rea. Cooked to perfection and enjoyed with Rokkoen's special yakiniku sauce. The sauce was slightly sweet, rich, and intense, different from the usual sauce. I'm from Gunma, so I prefer sauces that are slightly salty or sweet, making this sauce perfect for me.
- Various hormone cuts, sauce tongue, upper mino, liver, heart, crunchy, small intestine, black mino. Enjoyed with a refreshing sauce of vinegar and green chili. Personally, I'm not a fan of hormones, as I find the chewy and squishy texture off-putting. But when I was a child, I often ate hormones with my father.