Korea may be the birthplace of grilled meat, but Japanese yakiniku is a different animal from Korean bulgogi or galbi. The seasoning is a bit sweeter, and instead of the meat coming out in whole pieces that get cooked on the grill and then cut with scissors, as in Korea, it arrives already sliced into small, bite-sized pieces. You could say it was reinvented to suit Japanese tastes. Unless you’re after premium wagyu, I don’t think Koreans have much reason to go out of their way to a yakiniku restaurant, but Japanese-style grilled meat is worth experiencing at least once.
Yesterday a friend treated me at his favorite yakiniku place to celebrate my move up to Tokyo. He’s a regular, so they took good care of us. It seems to be run by Koreans, and the ladies working there were all Korean too. Maybe that’s why it came closer to the real thing than any other yakiniku place I’ve tried in Japan.
The dipping sauce (tare)
Pretty, isn’t it? It tasted good too.
Yukhoe (beef tartare)
The real Korean taste. For Japan, this is very well done.
Tofu salad
The tangy dressing was nice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a salad this good come out at a Korean barbecue place.
Beef tongue
Known here as gyutan. Chewy and clean-tasting. In Japan it’s a premium cut and a little pricey. Ordinary yakiniku places serve it sliced thinner, but here it comes thick-cut. Good stuff. People often start a yakiniku meal with gyutan, because if you put marinated galbi on first, it inevitably sticks to the grill.
Galbi (short rib)
Really good quality meat. Not bad for the price, either.
Wasabi.
It’s for putting on well-grilled galbi. It was my first time trying it, and the two go really well together.
Liver sashimi (reba sashi)
As expected, the freshness is to die for…
Daechang (large intestine)
Chewy and tasty, but overall I got the impression that the offal dishes clearly fall short of the Korean versions. I suppose comparing them with a place like Yangmiok is asking too much.
Dakgalbi.
Pretty good for something eaten in Japan. With dakgalbi you only feel you’ve eaten properly when you finish with fried rice in the same pan, but you can’t expect that much in Japan.
Today’s drink: makgeolli
Considering drink prices in Korea, it’s painfully expensive. But the Japanese loved it. We also ordered Baekseju, but it wasn’t a taste Japanese people would like. I wished they had Sansachun, but that’s probably asking too much.
Kimchi
Adjusted to Japanese tastes, but pretty close to the Korean original. Maybe it came from Korea.
Gopchang (small intestine).
It comes cut into easy single bites… The price is a little scary if you think of Korea, but maybe because it’s so fresh, it tastes great.
Pork galbi.
Not bad. This place generally seasons things on the spicy side for Japan. There’s really no need to make even the pork galbi spicy. It seems the sauce at yakiniku places that bill themselves as Korean-style is mostly like this.
Rounding things off with gopchang jeongol (offal hot pot).
Delicious. The broth seemed cleaner and sweeter than in Korea. As you can tell from the color, it was spicy enough to be a bit much for Japanese people. But these days the Japanese have gotten quite used to spicy food, so they managed to eat it.
When it’s finished, in goes a portion of udon.
This udon was so chewy that even the Japanese praised it. The noodles were translucent yet springy.
Shirokanedai is an affluent neighborhood to begin with, so apparently quite a few celebrities drop by. The food is good and not that expensive for what you get (around 6,000-7,000 yen per person if you eat heartily), so it’s no wonder it’s popular. Since it bills itself as a Korean restaurant, there’s probably no need for travelers from Korea to seek it out, but if you’re curious what Japanese yakiniku tastes like, give it a try.