i love my mac: November 2009

At yakitori taisho Japanese restaurant

So yelp says that this place is pretty good.... It's at Astor place in the east village where there are lots and lots of jp food.. Let's see here..

so i ordered a huge meal.. i figured i had 4 hours to spare in manhattan before jumping on the bus back to philly, plus 20-30 dollars..

setting: it's in the east village, so there's more than plenty of places for japanese food. the setting is great.. like the down-to-earth raman eatery stalls you see all over japan. it's a nice wood finish. i came in at the opening at 6pm, but by the time i got my food (around 6:15) the place was packed and people were waiting for tables. actually this is the first time i passed by when i had the slightest chance of getting a seat

most of the seats are stalls by the chefs, though there are a few tables. the chef (shown) was really impressive.. you can tell that he's done this everyday, for years.. his hands would move in and out of the flames (literally) moving the skewers around.. they even roast rice cakes, which is something i should try sometime

for starters, the salmon sashimi, miso soup, green tea, and as always, sapporo beer

The salmon sashimi was great... first of all, it's not even called sashimi (i forgot the name).. it's really this 30% cooked salmon slices that are just right- just enough to feel the freshness of the fish, but crisp enough to have a mouth-feel to it.

the main dish was the "taisho don", which is skewers plus egg in rice... it's pretty good. the meat is tender and juicy, with just enough honey but not too sweet, though the sauce sort of settled to the bottom of the rice, making the end of the meal a bit too sweet for my tastes