Christopher Atkinson
Google
This is closest experience you'll get to what it's like to eat at a little corner joint in Japan. In Orlando anyway. The King opened this place up recently, a little eight-ish-top counter restaurant in the middle of one of the busiest food halls in town. I'm hoping it's a roaring success, because I loved every minute of my time here.
The counter is lovely. Plenty of space for the cooktops and your tray of food, as well as all the seasonings and sauces they keep on hand. Everything behind the counter is pretty simple. Those little curtains cover the doors and windows, like in Japan. Your host is with you chit chatting with you pretty much the whole time. It's a nice experience.
The service was exceptional. You get a little tutorial on how to cook the meat, with a wide range of cooking times. Anywhere between 10 seconds and one minute, they said. I'll tell you right now, if you cook these little cutlets for a minute, it's gonna be jerky. But, it was nice to have the tutorial.
The food itself was phenomenal. The way they do things in Japan is provide you smaller portions of higher quality stuff. If you use chopsticks, it makes you eat everything more slowly, allowing you to really enjoy the ingredients. The menu is pretty simple. You get a Wagyu beef set meal, or a tuna set meal. That's it.
I ordered the Wagyu Single Cutlet set meal, which included Hokkaido Barley Rice, Suimono Soup, Cabbage Salad, Potato Salad, House Pickles, Onion Sauce, Yakiniku Sauce, and Fresh Wasabi.
A ton of little components. No wrong way to eat it. A little of this, a little of that, dipped in this, dipped in that, add a little finishing salt, maybe a little green sauce. Just dig in. You're gonna have to fine tune the time you cook your beef. You want it to me long enough to have the fat loosen up a bit, but not too long to where it gets tough and chewy. All part of the fun.
Everything was delicious. Amazing, melt-in-your-mouth Wagyu, the rice was simply delicious, with hints of that barley, yummy soup, a refreshing cabbage salad, nice, acidic pickles, and two sauces that really pack a punch. Solid all around.
After our lovely meal, we ordered the Matcha Ice Cream Brulee, and surprise, it was also delicious. Sweet ice cream, with the bitter brulee, and the texture of the crisp sugar post-brulee. Just lovely.
Overall, yes, this was lovely. You gotta come experience this.