Going to a Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ) place is always fun. You get to have fresh food that you cook to your preference with friends and family. Here at Gyu-Kaku, you get to have some fun with loved ones while grilling your own meats and veggies at your table. They have few locations, and we went to the one in Midtown. It is located on the second floor, with entrance on the 50th Street.
They have scaffolding around the building, so the entrance does not have a clear view, but it certainly is noticeable with lots of Japanese-y decorations, such as red paper lanterns, wood structure design, and cherry blossoms.
After the first glass door, they have another, rather impressive wooden door, that leads to a staircase. They have their logo that says Gyu-Kaku in Japanese at the top of the stairs, letting you know you have arrived at the BBQ party!
There is a host/hostess section right at the top, and since we had a reservation, we were taken to our table quickly. The area near the entrance was rather narrow, with table seating. Once you pass that area, it opens up to a large space with booth seating. It was shortly after they opened for the day, so it was mainly empty. It did get busy while we were there.
They have a personal grill, which is a smokeless roaster, installed at every table. Each booth has a kind of separation from other tables, creating a bit of privacy, but more so, providing a cozy, warm pod of dining space that makes it extra homey. You get to have your own little BBQ paradise!
We were their on a weekend for lunch, and we found out their they have a Happy Hour everyday from 11:30AM to 6PM, including weekends! We were very happy with this discovery. From the course menu, we picked Fuji for Two People ($65 for two people during Happy Hour). It includes miso soup, choices of four appetizers, choices of six BBQ items, and dessert. For the appetizer, we chose Gyu-Kaku Salad, Tuna Poké, Spicy Tuna Volcano, and Sukiyaki Bibimbap.
The Gyu-Kaku salad is their house salad with fresh veggies and a boiled egg. Tuna Poké comes with seaweed salad. The Gyu-Kaku salad is delivered to the table just as pictured on the menu, then quickly separated onto two smaller plates by the waitress. It was so quick that I couldn’t take a photo before she separated it.
She did do a great job separating the salad into two, and they were indeed very fresh. I liked the boiled egg with the salad. It was a nice and refreshing salad, and a good start to the barbecue lunch.
Tuna Poké was much smaller in portion, as you can see in the photo above with salad. But, it did have very fresh, tasty tuna on a bed of seaweed salad which was also very fresh and tasty, It was pretty good, much more so than I expected from a chain BBQ restaurant.
Spicy Tuna Volcano is made with spicy tuna tartar topped on deep fried rice. They had three on a plate to share among the two people, which is kind of hard to “share” three pieces among two people… I wish if they will give four pieces…
Anyways, they had a nice amount of tuna tartar on the top, but I would not say it was “spicy” at all. I wish if it was more spicy. The fried rice was really, super crunchy and hard on the outside, so it was not easy to handle it with chopsticks. It was easier to eat it with hands than anything else. The rice in the inside was soft and had some flavor to it. It was a good appetizer, not great, but good.
Sukiyaki Bibimbap seemed like one of their popular appetizer item, and I can see why. It is made with fried rice with a hint of Sukiyaki flavor, served in hot stone pot. It was brought in a big stone pot, and the waitress quickly mixed the bowl and separated into two small bowls. It had some beef and I believe it also had egg. It was very flavorful and tasty. I wish if we could had more of it…!
When you think about “grill” you might imagine smoke while cooking the food, but these charcoal grills have special mechanism that allows all the smoke to escape from the bottom. So, no smoke, and no smokey smell sticking on your hair or clothes. Nice! They have ponzu, sweet soy, and spicy dipping sauce if you choose to use them for your barbecued items. It is always good to try a little taste before you dip the meat or veggie to make sure you like the taste.
For the BBQ items, we chose Pork belly, Premium sirloin, Shrimp garlic, Yaki-Shabu beef, Harami miso skirt steak, and Assorted vegetables. It is a pretty good amount to be barbecued, we were excited to get our grill going!
Pork belly and Premium sirloin were nice and fresh, and had good amount of thickness without being too thick. One strip of the sirloin was kind of thick, so that took a while to cook, but most of them cooked within a few minutes, well, depends on how “well” do you want them to cook. They were juicy and flavorful, especially the sirloin that were covered in garlic. You don’t really need the dipping sauce, as they were already flavorful.
The shrimp took a while to cook, but that was balanced with the thinly sliced Yaki-Shabu beef that cooked the fastest. It had a good amount of marinate on it, with spicy gochuchang and sweet soy “tare.” Since the spiciness and the sweetness was mixed in the marinate, the spicy flavor did not survive much. The shrimp that was covered in garlic was nice and plump, and a good size too.
Harami miso skirt steak seems like one of their popular item, and I can see the reason why. It was marinated with miso and white soy, and had great miso flavor. It is made with aged Angus skirt steak, and had nice texture. Assorted vegetables were fun, it had corns, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and zucchini. Always nice to have a little grilled veggies to go with the meat.
We had a fun time grilling, anticipating, and eating. And yes, no smoke! They tend to get a hot spot and not-so-hot spot on the grill, so it is important to find where that is when you start grilling. The meat was juicy and tender, and the amount we received, combined with appetizers, were really great portion. We were completely full!
But then, we had a dessert to finish! There was no “choice” of dessert, this course came with pre-selected dessert of S’Mores. Since I love S’Mores, there is no complains there. They brought out two pieces of graham crackers, a piece of chocolate, and a marshmallow. It was fun to roast marshmallows over the grill, but since there is no real open fire, it took a while…
After practicing patience with marshmallows, I was ready to eat! It was quite nice, but I wish if the marshmallow was a bit more toasted, which is really hard to do over the grill. But, regardless, it was great. Perfect ending to a nice lunch.
One think I love about Japanese restaurant that serves food that has lots of garlic or other strong flavor is that they give kind consideration for it inside the restroom. Not all restaurants offer this, but some old-fashion ones do. They have toothpicks and mouthwash with little cups for you to clean your teeth and freshen your breath. I have seen a restaurant that even have disposable toothbrush with toothpaste. Great, right? Their bathroom is located near the host/hostess station at the entrance. Make sure you use the bathroom and freshen up your breath, your family and loved one will thank you!
It was a fun lunch, I would like to go back again to do some more grilling in a future, as they have many varieties of barbecue items to choose from. It is a fun little dining activities while you get so spend quality time with your family and friends.
Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ – 805 3rd Ave., New York, NY 10022