I had dinner at Izakaya Yuzuki last night. It’s my third attempt at booking a table and making plans… and this time it happened! Overall, the meal was light and the dishes were interesting, but I felt like the menu wasn’t large enough and the food was unique but generally underwhelming. I ordered all the things I was interested in, but it wasn’t quite enough food, so we had to order some other dishes.

Disposable chopsticks ftw. Also, they have valet parking if you ask. It’s a secret.

I’m not sure I really understand this “koji” thing…

Housemade tofu. Best with a pinch of salt.

Seasonal veggies. From the left, yam with sesame sauce, asparagus and a slightly spicy burdock root.

Firefly squid over pickled cucumber and seaweed. A little fishy, but one of my favorites of the night.

Beef and tendons. Fatty and underseasoned.

Chicken meatball skewers. Not bad, nothing special.

Yuba and uni chawan mushi. I love chawan mushi. :3

Fried seasonal veggies. Not bad, but somehow I think it’s slightly underfried. Not as crisp as I’d expect?

Karaage. I’d read about this dish and was disappointed. I’ve found better karaage without too much difficulty.

Abalone sashimi. From the right, the frilly bits deep fried, liver mixed with soy and the muscle, thin sliced raw. The thin slices dipped in the liver mixture were great — the crisp raw shellfish and the rich salty sauce.

Seasonal rice — clams and tobiko. I’m not sure what they did to this rice to make it special, but it was pretty good. I could see eating a bowl of this as a rice heavy meal.

Ginger sorbet. One of the most memorable parts of the meal — a ginger sorbet that seems barely sweetened and has the throat-attacking spice of raw ginger. Pretty awesome.

Things I would order again:
Firefly squid
Abalone Sashimi
Ginger sorbet
Maybe the chawan mushi and rice