April 9, 2014

Do it Yourself Kushiage in Yokosuka: Easy on the Pocketbook but Hard on the Waistline!

We just checked out a newish restaurant that serves kushiage in a new way. Kushiage is a popular dish that hails from Osaka (those crazy cats that brought you Takoyaki (Octopus Balls) and Okonomiyaki (commonly referred to as the Japanese Pancake.) 


Hi! I'm the dorky author of this blog. 


Okay, so first you check in at the front and tell them how many guests you have in your party. It's all-you-can-eat for 90 minutes and 2000Yen. Do you want the all-you-can-drink soft drink option? That'll cost you another 200Yen. If you want to get your buzz on, it's all you can drink draft beer (one hour) for 1,000Yen. 

There are two sections of kushiage sticks--vegetarian and meat. Vegetarians will love this place unless they're extremists (your frying oil is shared with your dining mates.) Sweet potato really holds together well under the conditions and the batter came out perfectly. The meat options are endless: chicken thigh, meatballs and nankotsu (cartilage); shrimp, shrimp balls, salmon, octopus, wienies, beef, pork.... 

Anyway, let's dive in! As our oil heated up, we built our salads, stocked our dipping sauces and piled our plates high with skewers.  We grabbed ours batter and panko bread crumbs to turn our boring kabobs into kushiage. There's also a pickled bar, salad bar, curry and rice bar and miso soup--all of it at a diner's disposal for 90 minutes.


Pictured above is a delicious pressed fish tube called "chikuwa." YUM! This tongue-in-cheek offering is a healthy food that isn't normally skewered, battered and fried but as with anything battered and fried---it was pretty freaking awesome! Other notables included takoyaki, shumai and miniature egg rolls. You know that guy on Blue Street that turns the fish-shaped cakes filled with red beans? Those were even available skewered!


Yumi is going to town but don't judge--she's with hungry child!


Once you've fried and dried (rested) your kushiage, you  then dip it in one of the eight sauces of which you obtained at the sauce buffet.


Frying action from above.



 Yumi had quite a few of the Japanese wieners. Oh wow, that's a nice play on words there....

Anyway, this restaurant is not big and since it's new--it's packed. I recommend going during the week. I don't know if this place is good for toddlers as they might want to stick their digits in that frying oil. Kids will definitely enjoy the chocolate fountain and husbands will love the all-you-can slug beer dispenser.

I recommend this place! Go! Fry! Eat!

Location: 8th Floor Moore's City (Yokosuka Chuo Building)