Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

I'm loving all these Asian restaurants, dessert shops, and bakeries popping up all over DFW. To think, just last year, we didn't have any Japanese BBQ places and now we have TWO! Two really great ones too, each with their own large selection of food items.

I was invited to check out Gyu-Kaku in Addison recently. I've only been there once, in NYC, and I only had their amazing Matcha Mille Crepe cake. So I had to make sure they had them for the media dinner that night! I was so psyched! :D

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ
5290 Belt Line Rd. #115
Dallas, TX 75254
(469) 567-3237
www.gyu-kaku.com/dallas
Price: $$$

It was a small group of food bloggers that night (and our +1's) so it was a more intimate event. We had a lot of fun including some sake bombs! (Well, they did, since I don't drink. hehe). Japanese BBQ is a great thing to do with a group of people. You an grill, and chat, and eat, and drink. There's no time limit (I don't think), like at Korean AYCE BBQ places, and you don't smell afterwards because all the grills have these vents on the side that sucks out the smoke. So feel free to take a date there too!

We had a set menu for the night but were told we could order anything else we wanted. I love that they customized each blogger's menu according to the IG account they represented! I'm representing @bestfooddallas! Woot!

Some of the girls got Sake. And you get your own individual ice bucket for the sake bottle. How cool!

Starters: These are all the actual portion size for each order.
Gyu-Kaku Salad $6~ Loved the dressing. And the thin slices of daikon radish on top.

Spicy Tuna Volcano $7~ Crispy, and slightly sticky rice, topped with spicy tuna. They're good! And quite filling.

Miso Chili Wings $7~ I freaking loved these wings. So much flavor!! I can just eat a couple plates of these and be happy. But I only had one that night because I knew how much more food we were getting.

Mains:
Beef Sukiyaki Bibimbap $7~ 

That stone bowl was seriously sizzling when it was served. It smelled so good! The waitress mixed it all up tableside, and then you let it sit in the bowl to crisp up on the bottom. I love normal Korean Bibimbaps, but the flavor profile for this one is totally different, since they needed to make it Japanese. It was delicious. The thin slices of beef with the caramelized onions perfumed the dish. The rice was plump and had great texture. This is a must!

Garlic Noodles $8~ 

On the menu it said it included chicken. I didn't see any chicken in ours, so maybe they did it differently for us. It was very garlicky which I liked. Probably not the best thing when you're on a date though. hehe. And the noodles were quite overcooked since they were in a stone bowl, so I didn't eat too much of it. I'm a texture person, so I'm pretty picky when it comes to noodles... they need to be al dente!

Mushroom Medley $4~

Garlic Spinach $4~

These veggies come in a foil pack. You put them on the grill and it basically steams them inside. We were told 3-5 minutes each side I think? But the first time we opened them it was still raw veggies. So just keep it on a grill and chat with your friends. hehe. It won't melt or anything.

Prime Kalbi Short Rib $9~ Love me some kalbi. The color on these were so vibrant. The meat was really great. Didn't even need to dip in any of their sauces. Highly recommend.

Toro Beef $5~ This was my favorite meat of the night. Toro beef is beef belly, which basically equals beef bacon. And who doesn't love bacon!! Just look at that fat to meat ratio. It had so much flavor. And it's one of the cheaper cuts of meat, win for me! :P

Harami Miso Skirt Steak $9~
Bistro Hanger Steak $8~

These 2 meats were served together so I forget which is which. They were both good, but one particularly was super tender. I want to say it's the skirt steak? Both had a marinade on it so had lots of flavor. Can't go wrong with either.

So... this was a lot of food so most of us didn't request anything else. But then I asked if they had beef tongue. If it's good, it's really tasty. And it has a unique texture.
Extra: Beef Tongue $9~ (+$1 for Scallion Sauce). 

Most of the girls on my side of the table had never had beef tongue, so I was happy to share this experience with them. And I think they all liked it! The tongue was sliced super thin and it only needs a few seconds on each side. It was really good. Some even had a 2nd piece!

And a tip... everything here is good with BEER! :P

Oh man... we were so stuffed! But it's not over yet cuz we still need to have cake!!

Dessert:
Lady M's Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake (usually served with ice cream) $10~ 

They gave us smaller portions, I think about a third of the normal slice. While my mouth wanted a whole piece, I appreciated them controlling my portions. haha. I freaking love this cake. I'm so happy we have it in Dallas now. It's limited quantity since they need to fly it in, so you just have to take your chances that they have it when you go.

S'mores (2 portions) $2.50~ This was a fun way to end the dinner. We had a blast cooking and eating with everyone!

It was one of the most fun media dinners I've been too. I like the interactive-ness and it was nice that it was a smaller group so we can talk to almost everyone. They have several package specials for 2 people. You can find the menu on their website here. It's a great deal considering all the different dishes you're getting! AND they have Early Happy Hour every day from 11AM-6PM, and Late HH from 9PM-10PM Sun-Thu or 10PM-11PM on Fri and Sat.

Thanks to Gyu-Kaku for having me. They took really great care of us. The wait staff was very attentive... water glasses always refilled! I will definitely be back. I need to bring my husband next time!! :D

CURRENT PROMOTION:
Their "Summer BBGYU Festival" just kicked off and goes until 9/4/17. With food and beer discounts, a new kids' menu, and a sweepstakes to win a trip for 2! See their website for more details. 

*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own.*

Quality of Food: 

Service: 

Ambiance: 

Value: (comped)

Overall Experience: 

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Shiawase

We were running around town one day and decided to swing by Shiawase in Allen. We rarely make it to that part of town since it's quite far. But I've heard nothing but good things about this place.

Shiawase
2540 N. Watters Rd. #100
Allen, TX 75013
(214) 383-4462
http://shiawaserestaurant.com/
Price: $$-$$$

Apparently the original owners of Densetsu in Plano, which is one of our favorite sushi spots, so we had high hopes. We got there pretty late (after 1pm) and the place was pretty empty. It's way bigger than Densetsu.

We were seated immediately but took a while for someone to come and take our drink orders... Keeping in mind that they have gigantic sushi rolls like Densetsu, we tried to keep the order small. hehe.

Hiyayako (organic Japanese tofu served with green onion, seaweed, fish flake, and ponzu sauce) $6.25~ Pretty good. The tofu was silky and soft. Nothing super amazing though. I do still prefer the fried Agedashi tofu in general. hehe.

House Green Salad (spring mix salad with tomato, cucumber, carrot; served with house dressing) $4.50~ I always like to have some veggies with every meal. I liked their dressing a lot.

Shooting Star (ahi tuna, salmon, yellowtail, crab meat, avocado inside; topped with smelt egg; served with Japanese mustard sauce) $14.95~ 

These rolls were ginormous!! Definitely a 3-4 biter. Wow... and LOADED with sashimi. Everything was fresh, they definitely didn't skimp on the seafood. Deeelicious. I liked the added flavor of the mustard sauce as well.

Fashion Show (California roll topped with ahi tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore, shrimp, smelt egg, spicy tuna, spicy scallop; served with yuzu and sweet eel sauce) $15.95~ 

This is probably one of the prettiest rolls I've ever seen in my life. Each of the rolls is topped with a different kind of fish (or seafood). It's just so beautiful! And it's about 2 whole pieces of sashimi on top of EACH roll. OMG! Soooo worth the money. Goodbye Rainbow Roll, this is now my favorite. haha.

It was a great lunch. Shiawase definitely delivered on the food. And I don't believe Densetsu has some of these rolls so we'll definitely have to come back. And we were stuffed! NOMS!

Quality of Food:

Service:

Ambiance:

Value:

Overall Experience:

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Sushiism

This past Friday I went to Sushiism with a few of my friends. I had bought a groupon when they first opened a few months ago and it's time to use it! Looking at the menu, they have a pretty extensive list of options. Especially their specialty rolls...some of them sounded quite interesting!

Sushiism Restaurant & Social Lounge
1628 W Hebron Pkwy. Ste 120
Carrollton, TX 75010
(972) 395-7800
http://www.sushiism.com
Price: $$

The main downside to this place is that it's out in the middle of nowhere. It's really not that far from Plano if you map it out, but just seems like it's farther away. It's a big place with pretty good decor, very family friendly. As we walked in, we were immediately greeted by the hostess and another waitress. The place was pretty empty at 6:45PM on a Friday night. We opted to sit in the bar area because it was brighter and they happily accommodated.

We wanted to get there before 7PM so we could do happy hour, but unfortunately, if you have the groupon, the food specials do not apply. However, you can still take part in the happy hour drink specials.

We were pretty hungry so we got started!!

Seaweed Salad $3.99~ Pretty standard.

Broiled Cod Fish with Miso $8.99~

This was even smaller than I expected. :( But it was delicious. Cooked perfectly and so buttery it melted in my mouth. I would need like 6 of these to even fill me up though...

We ordered a bunch of Specialty Rolls:

Sushiism (tuna, scallop, shrimp tempura, cucumber, soy sheet, eel sauce, spicy mayo) $13.99~

I liked the large pieces of fish in here and they were pretty fresh. My friend thought it was a bit bland. But that's where the soy sauce and wasabi comes in! haha. I liked the concept of the soy paper, it changes things up a bit, but it was overall too soft. The roll as a whole needed a bit more texture. Not bad though.

Jade (yellowtail, avocado, wasabi flying fish roe, green onion outside) $11.99~

This was my favorite of the night. The fish was fresh and all the elements complimented each other. The avocado provided the right amount of creaminess and the roe added that "pop" of texture and a hint of wasabi flavor. If you like wasabi, try this roll. I would definitely order this again.

Spicy Tuna Tempura (spicy tuna, spicy mayo, deep fry whole roll, green onion, eel sauce, spicy mayo) $10.99~

My friend ordered this since he only eats fried spicy tuna rolls. haha. The presentation was nice with all the contrasting colors. The flavor was good but pretty normal as far as deep fried rolls go. It had a nice tempura crunch but the batter was a bit too thick. Good but not memorable.

Fire Snapper (shrimp tempura, wrapped with sliced snapper, baked with garlic olive oil, eel sauce, ponzu, spicy sauce, scallion) $11.99~

I ordered this by accident. I actually meant to order the Firecracker (see next item). And it was a mistake to order this. First of all, I think they forgot the snapper on top, which I didn't realize until I went back and looked at the pictures. It had a lot of different flavors and sauces on it and all got muddled. Plus the shrimp was small and too much batter. There was one piece that was all batter and no shrimp. :( Boooo.

Firecracker (salmon, cucumber, wrapped with sliced tuna, tempura crunch, spicy mayo, chili powder, eel sauce) $13.99~

Since we ordered the wrong thing, I decided to order this again. I really liked it. Again, it was very pretty to look at with all the colors. The tempura crunch on top definitely made it. The crunch was almost buttery tasting and added a textural contrast. Yum!

Caterpillar (spicy tuna, cucumber, wrapped with avocado, spicy mayo, sriracha sauce) $10.99~

The presentation was super cute. The eyes were made of cream cheese so unless you like to eat a scoop of cream cheese, you can set that aside. It's just for decoration. haha. It's not your usual caterpilla roll since normally they are made with eel. They seem to really like their spicy tuna here. It's in the majority of the specialty rolls. It was a good roll. The avocado was fresh and creamy and paired with the spicy tuna well.

This place is owned by a couple. The wife was out in the dining area while the husband is the chef. She came to talk to us several times. Very nice lady and gave us some interesting background on them and the restaurant. Her husband is Japanese and comes up with all the different ideas on interesting menu items. She told us that their ramen broth is made from scratch and takes over 8 hours to make so they get all the flavors developed. Sounds yum, I'll have to go back and try it!

I wanted some dessert (of course) and saw that they make their own ice cream in the restaurant and had some super exotic flavors!

Homemade Ice Cream $3.99~ each:
I got the Wasabi and Squid Ink ice cream. I've always wanted to try wasabi ice cream, but squid ink??? I've never even heard of that as an ice cream flavor.

The squid ink ice cream was uber black. A little scary yet I'm so excited to try it. I totally loved it! It was sweet and creamy but had an undertone of the sea. That's the best way I could put it without making people scared to try it. haha. There IS a hint of fishiness so none of my friends liked it. But I really enjoyed the sweet and savory nature of the ice cream. The term "umami" is often used in Japanese cuisine and it represents the "fifth taste" which is a combination of all the other 4 tastes together. It's something extra and not always achieved in foods. I experienced umami with this ice cream. I would totally have it again. And I urge all the adventurous foodies out there to try it as well. (Just FYI, it turns your entire mouth black, so keep in mind if you decide to take a date there! haha)

The wasabi ice cream was good as well.

The owner told us that you don't really taste much of the wasabi at first, but as you eat more, it'll definitely clear up your sinuses. It won't be like actual wasabi and bring tears to your eyes because the sweetness kind of cuts that. But it gets pretty close. It even had tiny bits of grated fresh wasabi in it. I liked it a lot too but I couldn't eat the whole thing. About 1/4th into the ice cream the wasabi impact was pretty strong! Worth trying out too just for the experience.

I liked the meal overall. The majority of the rolls were fresh and good and the ice creams were an experience. The rolls do get a little pricey though. Even with my groupon we still paid quite a bit. They gave us the ice cream on the house though! :) The service was good and the owner (wife) was really friendly. I hope their business picks up, they seem like good people. hehe. So next time you want sushi or something out of the ordinary, go check them out. I'll be back for their ramen and the squid ink ice cream again!!

Quality of Food:

Service:

Ambiance:

Value:

Overall Experience:

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~