Like Butter!

Last night Jojo, Atsi, Mark and I, had dinner at a place that is sure to make it to our all-time favorites list. We went to Sansui-Tei which is a smallish Japanese grilling place located in the Rolling Hills Plaza complex, next to Nijiya Market.

We were excited to try the food since we had read that Sansui-Tei serves WASHUGYU Beef which is a crossbreed of Japanese Wagyu and American Black Angus. We browsed the menu and made our selections - we had to pass on some of the more exotic stuff like beef heart, tongue, liver, intestines, etc. and we settled for more taditional fare. While waiting for our food, our server turned on our table-side grill. We whetted our appetites with kimchi and hot green tea. We noticed that all the other tables were filled with Japanese customers. We took that as a good sign. Our meat orders arrived soon after. The raw meat was served on little plates and was just lightly salted and not marinated (like in Korean bbq). The marbling on the beef was gorgeous ... but made us feel slightly guilty about what it would do to our cholesterol levels ... we decided though that this meal would be worth an extra few minutes at the gym!

We started grilling. The chicken was nothing great. The pork sausages were tasty but bordering on the salty side. The real star of the evening was the beef. IT WAS DIVINE. You know how some people say that perfectly grilled beef is just like butter? I never quite got that - how could meat be like butter? But last night, I totally understood. It was indeed like butter! The meat was so succulent, juicy and tender - it really felt like it melted in my mouth. It was so good that we were kind of speechless for a while and were all just concentrating on eating. We had three kinds of beef - the ribeye, the short ribs and the flat-iron skirt steak - I can't decide which one was best.

We also ordered some veggies for grilling. I figured they would be sweet peppers, onions, asparagus, and zucchini, etc. but was surprised when we also got mushrooms, squash and cabbage. I've never had those grilled before - surprisingly the squash was good - there was a caramelized texture and taste once it was grilled. The mushrooms were also slightly sweet but with a more woodsy taste. I didn't particularly enjoy the grilled cabbage though.

After dinner, we all agreed the Washugyu was awesome and even if the service was a bit slow (there were only 3 servers and it was a full house), we would definitely recommend this place to others. Our bill came to $80.00++, with tax and tip included. Not bad for a really good dinner =)