Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ)

Tonight after a stroll through the charming Edo district, we hopped on a train for the excitement of Akihabara’s Electric Town. World famous for all things anime, Akihabara’s Electric Town also boasts a pretty great restaurant scene… those amped up gamers need to eat sometimes, too! We went searching for Yakiniku, do-it-yourself Japanese BBQ. After a few dead ends and a brief scavenger hunt leading to a small elevator and a narrow, 8th floor hallway with chairs for waiting, we found Gyu-Kaku.

For approximately $25 per person, Gyu-Kaku offers diners a table for two hours and a wide selection of “all you care to grill” meats and sides. An English menu was available; I never expect this while traveling, but it was nice to know exactly what we were selecting! Glazed bacon and pork tongue are shown below.

Beef Liver (not my favorite)

Pork Tongue

Japanese sweet potatoes in a little tray of honey butter were sooo good. I don’t care if it’s uncool to love the vegetable sides at a meat-centric restaurant… those little potato bites were some kind of wonderful! Also delicious were the marinated grilled cabbage and corn.

Sampling some of the wide variety of tableside condiments was part of the fun. “Is this little bottle soy sauce? Fish sauce? Plum sauce? Who knows!” My favorite tableside seasoning was a little pot of minced garlic in salt. A little goes a long way!

At the end of the meal, lest anyone take their dining experience too seriously, guests are offered something resembling a frozen twinkie:
 It was admittedly silly. It was also delicious.  😉

Between dinner for two, drinks (two beer and two sake), and Tokyo restaurant tax, our bill was approximately $90 USD. It wasn’t exactly a “cheap eat,” but at the same time not unreasonable for a night out in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

The world is small… have big fun!