Valentine's Day 2013

I know this is way late, but I promised to blog once a week. That's about 4 posts per month which is really not a lot to read.
February is almost over!

So here's some pics of my Valentine's Day dinner at Gyu-Kaku!
Gyu Kaku is a Japanese Korean fusion BBQ place. You cook your own food.
This was the special for the weekend!
I'm not a food critic so please excuse my many uses of "it's tasty" or "good." I also took the pictures with my phone so sorry for the LQ.

This was my third time at Gyu Kaku! I've only been here for special occasions.
The portions are small for heavy eaters, but I always get super full afterwards. It's way too expensive to go to all the time with my salary.
This was the worst experience I had with the service there out of  the 3 occassions. We  made reservations but were a few minutes late. They still gave us our seats but we had to leave by 7. It was 5:30 by the time we were seated near the front of the restaurant. It felt really rushed this time especially with the waiter lurking behind us frequently. I understand it's a commercial holiday, but you can't force us to eat so fast. We didn't even get the grill oiled or changed again after the first time. I prefer sitting in the back because there's a really pretty waitress there! She's also super nice and leaves cooking time instructions at least!

We initially wanted the Happy Hour Kobe Style course, but two waiters suggested this to us. This was different from the usual because they normally never have lobster or seabass (not in the NYC ones at least). There was some miscommunication where the waiter said the drink I wanted would be covered under this meal. I'm not sure what happened but I ended up with 3 drinks!

Moving on!

I wanted a drink from the menu. I picked out this drink called "Tsunami."

It's a mix of hypnotic, blue curacao, vodka, and..... I can't remember. It was very pleasant. I like fruity sweet drinks. It didn't taste very alcoholic, more like a fruit punch. We had 2 other drinks that came with the course. One was the Hana Sake Peach and the other was Wycliff champagne. The Hana sake tasted thick. It was almost like drinking perfume-y syrup. The champagne was good. It was light. Not too bitter and not too sweet! (No pics sorry)

Moving on to food....I love food.

The first thing to arrive was the Gyu-Kaku salad.
I really love their salad. It's mixed greens with peppers, egg, tomatoes and something crunchy. I'm not sure what that last veggie is. What makes it super tasty and refreshing is the dressing. It is just so good! It has a citrus-y, gingery but kinda aquatic flavor (it was fishy but not in a bad way). I don't have pictures of the salad, but I could eat it every day.

Next up for starters we chose the Tuna Volcano Crunch and the Japanese Style Crab Cake!

Tuna volcano on top. Crab cake on bottom.

The crab cake was a salty on it's own. The sauce only made it extra salty!  The tuna volcano was okay. You have tuna tar tar mix on top of what is a crunchy deep fried rice ball? I read a good review about it on Yelp, so I had to try for myself. I like the spicy tuna on top. They could have given more though. My only bad comment is that it was a bit too crunchy at the rice bottom. 

Chicken Garlic Noodles

I read a good review about this too on Yelp. It was super flavorful. I liked it a lot. I don't think you can mess up garlic noodles. This was probably a good filler food in case the meats were not enough.

MEAT AND LOBSTER!

Kobe Style Bistro Harami

Pieces of raw lobster underneath the tail.

Most savory beef I have eaten! The lobster was fresh. I have to admit I ate some bits of raw lobster. They waiters didn't give us instructions on cooking time.

More meat!

I won't lie I don't know which meat is which. I think the one of the right is the Prime Ribeye Cap. Meat is meat! I have no complaints. Also by this time I was probably tipsy from all the drinks.

Last but not least! DESSERT!

Lady M Green Tea Mille Crepe

Every time I'm here I get this. I love mille crepe. Best I had. I want more! MORE! It's not too sweet and the green tea is not overwhelming. I love this soooo much.

After dinner I got super dizzy. I fell asleep on the train and felt better afterwards. Really just went home after dinner since it was a work night.

Overall I love Gyu Kaku. I just don't want to sit in the front. It's so cramped and impersonal. You can almost lean onto the people next to you. It wasn't very private unlike the booth seats. I also really miss that pretty waitress. She's not like a bombshell babe. She's like a half-y Yuu Aoi type. Tall and thin. *^*

I'm also rushing to meet the Monday deadline. 6 mins till Tuesday AHH!