Foodie Friday: Ishoni Yakiniku – Bellevue, WA

Whenever husband and I have a reason to go to the eastside, we eat in the area because we rarely venture over the bridge. Ishoni recently opened in Bellevue, and we were excited to eat yakiniku, which is Japanese BBQ.

We ordered the wagyu lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and topped with sesame seeds. The server taught us the technique is to watch for the juices to rise on top of the meat, then flip over only once. The more times you flip, the more you lose the juices that drip down. The wagyu was so flavorful and tender!

These are cubes of salt and pepper beef. The technique is similar, except now with more sides. Though the beef cubes were thicker, they were still so juicy.

Unpictured: we also ordered spicy pork shoulder, which came with the perfect amount of fat on each slice. I love yakiniku because the meat is high quality and the servers are attentive to detail. If the meat became charred, our server would trim off the affected area so it would not make the meat bitter.

The server helped us grill our chicken. On top of the grill, you can see a small bed made of aluminum foil that holds butter and garlic. He dipped all the chicken pieces in that mixture before serving us, and the chicken tasted divine.

We also ordered a combo of vegetables, and it came with Japanese yams (once grilled, they tasted like chips!), mushrooms, and corn. The grill gave the corn a delicious sweet yet smokey flavor.

The restaurant was trying to fill up a wall with instant photos so they asked us to smooch for five seconds to get a free entree. Sure! Good thing we’re married folk so this was no problem at all. 😉