Nanbankan

Beef, veggies, quail eggs

The last time I came here was 11 years ago. But, as a birthday present, one of my friends took me here for some good yakitori and sake. Man, it was so good. It was like falling in love all over again.

So, I’m sure everyone knows what yakitori is. It’s the Japanese take on skewers. It’s a little pricier than what you would expect for skewers (especially outside of Japan), but the quality of ingredients is excellent.

Being Japanese, she naturally knew all about sake. To celebrate, she ordered a bottle of Hakkaisan sake, which cost $40 at the restaurant. It was the perfect amount of sake for 2. Wow, that sake was so amazing. It was smooth, and had character, and even gave off a different type of buzz. Like a clean buzz. Whereas most alcohol will just make you feel muddled, this allowed me to retain clarity. Absolutely, the sake was not cheap. But when you think about it, a glass of wine will run you $9-15. And this was $40 for a whole bottle.

Hakkaisan Sake

Anyways, onto food. For the skewers, the stand-outs included the pork belly and bacon-wrapped okura. Of course, at yakitori you always have to get chicken hearts and chicken meatballs. And Nanbankan has really great renditions of those. They also do several non-yakitori dishes really well. The line scallops, cooked on the shell, were great. The soup on the shell was so clean and flavorful. Knowing it was unclassy, we took the shell up to our faces and finished the soup down to the last drop. It really was that good. Their black cod is really nice…not overly sweet like a lot of other places. Their quail? Succulent as hell. And then their Wagyu slider was an excellent, hearty ending.

So, this is a good place to celebrate a special occasion. It’s not cheap, but I think it’s actually got good value. For an equally fulfilling experience at a Western restaurant, you would have to pay more, I believe. It’s a place to sit down, eat slowly and drink slowly, and enjoy the good things in life.