Flip & Sizzle
Amazing beef may be the main star at Yakiniku Toraji but its supporting cast help to make this establishment a rousing culinary parade, according to Tien Chew
Opened in 1995 in a small backstreet of Ebisu in Shinjuku—one of Tokyo’s most famous wards— Yakiniku Toraji has now made its way to KL at Isetan The Japan Store. While the restaurant features an extensive selection of quality beef cuts, a primary focus of the menu, a wide selection of seafood, soups, noodles, rice bowls and the like also grace its pages. Diners are invited to cook their own meats on the yakitori grill at their own table, but first-timers can enlist the aid of the restaurant’s staff to get it cooked to its optimum doneness. To get my appetite into gear, I am served an assortment of kimchi, one which is the traditional spicy cabbage and the other being pickled cucumber. The cabbage kimchi tasted tart and a little sweet with minor zest and a spice factor that is much milder than its Korean counterpart. The cucumber on the other hand, is light, refreshing and with an added chewiness from spring onions. Once the acidity from the kimchi settled on my palate and got my taste buds ready for the aroma of grilled beef (and relish each gratifying taste that comes with it,) on comes the kalbi boneless rib. Cut into six slices, the boneless ribs are Wagyu grade seven and cooked medium well. Taking a bite of the ribs revealed an extremely soft and fatty meat, allowing for bursts of flavour to accompany each bite thanks to its natural fats. Incredibly gratifying on its own, diners can choose to dip their cuts of meat in either the restaurant’s ‘magic’ or lemon sauce. Dipping the boneless ribs in the sauce added a very slight saltypeppery twist to the beef, enhancing the inherent qualities of the meat even further. The lemon sauce on the other hand, gives the meat a slightly fresh tang and somewhat zesty bite. The other cut of beef that I tried was the 150 grams of prime fillet, a thicker, meatier selection that produced a different experience than the ribs. Cooked a minute and a half on each side, it is cut and served with yet another special sauce meant to accompany fillets at the restaurant. Taking a slice and sampling it sauce-free, my first piece of the prime fillet