Torisho Taka by Aoki

I've never eaten at the supposedly pricey Aoki at Shaw Centre before, as I think they specialize more in kaiseki, but I did want to come to their yakitori offshoot at the Gallery Hotel (#02-01, 6732-3343). We finally got in tonight after being faced with a full restaurant last time.

The menu was surprisingly limited without some of my usual non-kushiyaki items like daikon sarada and yaki onigiri. Of course that didn't stop us from ordering away on the menu with the rest of my favorites, ranging from negima to shironegi. These all turned out fine, but it still seemed just half a notch down from where I wanted them to be, as evidenced by the shiitake that was too moist for my taste, or perhaps the torikawa that could have been done just a tad longer on the grill. They did have nikujyaga on the non-skewered menu, but it didn't come across as anything spectacular. By no means was any of this bad though.

The more exciting things came more from other areas, such as the spicy raw wagyu, which was a special for the day and looked like a mini steak tartare with what I believe was a raw quail egg on top, but Japanese and spicy at the same time. A smile appeared on my face after eating this, even if it were sweeter than I would have wanted. I liked it so much that I even ate the shiso leaf that it sat on (normally I'm not a huge fan of shiso). Another highlight was the gyu loin, made from none other than...yes, wagyu again! This was a different experience; there was so much fat marbled into the meat that it nearly exploded with (fat) fluids in your mouth when biting into it. And yes, it tasted like butter. Mmm...

Now, if all the wagyu sounds expensive, it was. Our meal added up pretty quickly. Fortunately there were some cheaper items that easily worked for us too, such as the butabara pork or even the Japanese shishito peppers. Actually, one very simple and unique thing was the Japanese eggplant (not to be confused with the normal eggplant on the menu...this was on their separate list of specials for the day). I don't know if it was actually dipped in butter before grilling or not, but it sure tasted rich (not to mention had a very tender texture - almost like a scallop), and was a nice break from the usual ginger garnish.

Well, while this wasn't bad, my preference is still for places like Kazu or Kushigin, especially given the more limited menu here. This place is open pretty darned late though, with last orders at 12:30 AM on weekdays and 1:30 AM on weekends (closed Sundays), so I suppose that one could come here if it were late. Just make sure that you bring a very big fat wallet, especially if you've got a weakness for the wagyu like I do.