My boyfriend’s 25th birthday is April 4th and since we couldn’t spend it together because of work, we decided to do something on the saturday before his birthday. We went to the city and I took him to his favorite comic book and manga store. He had wanted to eat at Ippudo, a Japanese Ramen Noodle shop in the East Village but when we got there at 6:30, there was already a two hour wait, so we decided to walk around to find another place to eat at. There were a lot of Japanese restaurants and we finally found Sharaku. My boyfriend was still a little bummed out because he likes noodle soup and really wanted to try Ippudo but I convinced him that Sharaku’s menu looked promising, and plus, I was tired from walking around. The restaurant was small and had that NYU village feel to it.

 

For our appetizer, we shared the avocado  shrimp salad. There were only 2 shrimp split  in halves but the avocado was firm and the sweet and sour miso sauce was light. There was this shredded white vegetable that added a little crunch to the salad. This salad was light and refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

For my appetizer I ordered the hamachi kama and it came with a bowl of brown rice and Japanese vegetable soup. The soup was warm and had tons of rooty vegetables. The hamachi yellow tail collar was broiled and cooked perfectly, seasoned lightly with Japanese salt. The hamachi came with pureed daikon, steamed broccoli and carrots, and pureed sweet potato. The daikon was a little cold but the vegetables were really good. I was a little confused by the sweet potato puree because I didn’t know what to eat it with, so I left it for the end because it was sweet.

 

My boyfriend got the yakiniku don over rice. This came with thinly sliced beef and onion with sharaku sauce. I don’t know what sharaku sauce but I think it tasted like a mix of soy sauce and hoison sauce. This dish reminded me of the steak and onions my mom would make (my boyfriend loves when she makes it). He finished this pretty fast, so I’m assuming he really liked it.

 

Although we didn’t get to go to the Ramen shop, we had a great dinner nonetheless. Also helps that it wasn’t that expensive (it came out to $34 after tip).

 

Sharaku Japanese Restaurant

14 Stuyvesant Street (9th St & 3rd Ave)

New York, NY 10003