Yakiyan was one of those fine dining Japanese bbq places I’ve bookmarked for years and forgot about for a while. Well, thanks for a pharmaceutical rep dinner, I was able to try it for the first time! At Yakiyan, you only get to dine through the Chef’s prix-fix style where the chefs only serve high grade cuts of beef from US and Japan. The meats are grilled right at the table by knowledgeable waiters to ensure that you eat the beef perfectly cooked and how it’s meant to be eaten. 🙂
The ambiance of the restaurant is very nice, with a high-end ambiance inside and out. You can choose to sit on very comfortable lounge chairs outside in a balcony setting or dine inside with a pretty nice-looking bar.
There are two restrooms: one for unisex and one for female only. I think that it’s so cute how they have these little mannequin figurines to signify sexes.
For female only 🙂
Here is our plating! The knife is thin and placed between the prongs of the fork. The napkin holder was taken away before the meal started.
Chopstick holders!
We had a couple of options on drinks. I decided to be a little ballsy and try their sake just to try. Of course I didn’t even drink half of it. Must maintain composure at these dinners! 😀
Our first little starter was an amuse bouche that are steamed turnips. These were grind up and has the consistency of grind up daikon. If you look it up, turnips have a lot of nutrition and health benefits. Other than that, it’s kind of bland. 🙁
USDA prime rib eye tartare with Granny Smith apple foam and sea salt chip yuzu juice pairing. This is the cutest tartare I have ever seen! I love the splash of colors coming from each element. The presentation is remarkable. The black rocks add a nice touch. The foam gives it a cute look. The purple chip makes it exquisite.
Pair that with the yuzu juice. The waiter told us we have to eat the chip first and wash it down with the yuzu juice. The chip was very crunchy with a light salty taste. The tartare was cool in temperature and not chewy at all. The yuzu juice was really sweet!! That surprised everyone.
USDA prime rib eye tataki with ponzu and Japanese cherry blossom smoke. This smelled so heavenly. I’ve had smoked meat before, but I’ve never had cherry blossom smoked meat. It was such a light and flowery smell that gave such a delicate essence to the rib eye.
Presentation is beautiful.
A closer look at the rib eye. All of the meats I’ve eaten today are very tender and soft. Not too obviously fatty, but really tender.
A5 Japanese wagyu, NY striploin, poached egg, Mallon barley broth. This was my favorite dish until an even better dish came later on so now this is my second favorite. There are no words to describe how delicate and smooth the poached egg was. The texture was just soooo smooth. I think the broth helped with the texture but also enhanced the taste tenfold with the smell. The wagyu and striploin were tender.
Veggie sticks in miso paste. This was a cute little intermission snack. The miso paste was thick and savory. The veggie sticks were hydrating haha. The white sticks are daikon.
Black angus beef tongue lemon scallion sauce kosho. THIS WAS SO GOOD. We each got two pieces and it was a tease. The most thinly sliced and tender tongue I’ve eaten.
Look at those grill marks!
Add some sauce on top to give all that savory, mouth watering meat with some tart to contrast.
USDA prime rib eye. These are more thickly cut. Little fat marks. Super lean. Very tender.
Marinated tomatoes. The tomato is skinned perfectly and marinated with black and white sesame seeds and oil. It was very refreshing and light. The one and only time I ate tomato by itself.
Eat it with the next piece of meat coming up..
USDA Prime rib eye cap. Cap means the cap part of the meat. That’s what I was told and the extent to what I understood.
Snake river farms American wagyu braised short ribs with pickled onions, fresh daikon, kizami wasabi sesame leaf over butter lettuce. This was a process to eat… let’s watch it get grilled first!
The aromas come out and tease your nostrils, inviting you in to smell more of it while it’s grilled.
Is the process is that you are supposed to put your wagyu into the butter lettuce..
And add some pickled onions and daikon to it.. wrap it and eat it like a wrap! It was very good, incredibly juicy. The lettuce wrap kept it light. The pickled stuff contrasted well with the savory tender meat. Added a bit of texture too!
Elderflower jelly with cucumber juice. This was a palate cleanser. Very refreshing to drink. There are little jellies in there that’s like little jello pieces, slightly chewy.
And the bottom had a cute surprise! The fishes are 3D and look like they are swimming in green water, which is also their natural habitat FYI.
USDA prime filet mignon gyudon, caramelized onions, bone marrow and roasted nori. The waiters were prepping the bone marrow with the onions and nori on the side for us while the mignon was grilling.
They served the rice and topped the meat on top. THIS WAS MY FAVORITE. The rice was incredibly soft and chewy with bits of fatty bone marrow bits in the rice, which made the rice even more flavorful and became a juicy carbs!!! I love the smell of nori in the rice too. And the mignon was just a fatty meat plus. This was so good. So, so good. Best bowl of rice I’ve ever eaten.
After you finish the bowl of rice, they prepared some dashi soup that it meant to be poured into the same bowl of rice because the broth is enhanced by the leftover flavors from the rice.
Oxtail soup (dashi soup). Very flavorful and comforting to drink. I love oxtail.
Black sesame gelato. Strong refreshing flavors of black sesame in decadent gelato. This was a perfect way to end the evening. I wasn’t even too full nor felt bloated. The little cuts of meats were perfect.
Dinner took about 3 hours total. In the moment that didn’t feel too long for me. I actually felt like it was decently spaced out to give me time to enjoy the ambiance, conversation, food, drink and digest.
I would totally come back here. Worth the money for the amount of food and service!
