July 24, 2010 - Shoya Japanese Restaurant

Shoya Japanese Restaurant
6035 Peachtree Road, Suite A-101
Doraville, Georgia 30360
770-457-5555
www.shoyaatlanta.com

Seven Supper Club members. Japanese izakaya (tapas), Sapporo beer and Otokoyama sake. Thanks to the Ninja for ordering up a terrific menu!

1st Period (Appetizers... ish)

Edamame - Lightly boiled young soy beans with sea salt
Beef Ponzu Salad - shredded rare grilled beef rib eye on baby greens
Sliced Pork Salad
Gyoza - Original pan fried pork & vegetable dumplings

As usual, the Gyoza did not dissapoint. The dumplings had that slight crunch and burned flavor from the pan fry. The ponzu dipping sauce added a nice citrus bite.

How can you go wrong with grilled beef rib eye? The pieces were sliced thick enough to give the texture of the meat, but thin enough so you weren't chewing for 20 minutes. Rare-to-Medium Rare perfection.

The Sliced Pork Salad (off the "special menu") was the star of this round. Thinly sliced pork, but the peanut-based sauce brought out the flavor of the vegetables (again, baby greens). This dish didn't last very long at the table.


2nd Period (Filling up)

Okonomi Yaki - Japanese pancake with pork, eggs and vegetables
Pork Yakisoba - pan-fried egg noodles with pork & vegetables on hot plate
Asari Butter Yaki - Sauteed manila clams with soy butter sauce
Salmon Carpaccio - Rolled fresh Scottie salmon & cucumber with soy olive vinaigrette

The Okonomi Yaki (complete with dancing fish flakes on the top) is not a typical IHOP pancake. With a thick, sweet sauce on top, it also had the savory pork to even it out. The alternating soft (pancake) and crunchy (vegetable) textures make for a wonderfully filling dish. I could eat this every day.

Pork Yakisoba - typical noodle dish. Ok as a filler dish (or for those less adverturous), but with so many other great choices, I didn't have much of this one.

The Asari Butter Yaki was probably my least favorite dish of the night. The clams were tender but didn't seem to have much flavor. The butter sauce was a bit muddy/gritty.

I did not have the Salmon Carpaccio.


3rd Period (Winding down)

Assorted Sausage - Grilled Assorted Japanese Sausage
Chicken Ball Kushiyaki with cheese
Asparagus & Bacon Kushiyaki
Pork Belly Kushiyaki
Crunchy Skin Kushiyaki

I did not have any of the Assorted Sausage or Chicken Ball Kushiyaki.

The Asparagus & Bacon Kushiyaki (skewer) was ok. The bacon was "medium rare" (perfect, for this type of dish), although with so many asparagus sticks, it was difficult to chew at times. Perhaps fewer pieces of asparagus per skewer would have been better.

The Pork Belly Kushiyaki. So simple, yet so good. A slice of pork belly, skewered, lightly salted and grilled. You can really taste the flavor and appreciated the textures of the different layers of the pork belly. My go-to dish whenever we come here.

The Crunchy Skin Kushiyaki was particularly good tonight. Crispy and brown, but not burned. Flavorful, yet light. As one of our table commented, this was the best chicken skin she had ever had in her life. I agree.

Considering how much food we ordered, I'm surprised we only had 4 skewers of food left. Two days later and I'm still overly full, but it was worth it.