So readers would have known about my deep affection for all forms of table top cooking. Among these, Yakiniku holds a substantial portion of my heart. I'd like to say that I've gone to almost all of the yakiniku places in Brisbane. One that remains outstanding on my list is Ikkaku Yakiniku, which had opened last year on the bottom level of the new building at Market Square. I notice it every time I walk past but reviews have been mixed and recently a friend of mine had been and mentioned that it was expensive and he barely left full. Anyway, that is why I saved it for a special occasion to justify the expense. With a recent work achievement, we finally had reason to go last week.
We made a mid week reservation just in case, but this turned out to be unnecessary as it was only about half full the whole night. The setting was considerably more refined than the sunnybank average and it was dark, moody and romantic. The menu and ordering was available via an ipad. There was a selection of set menus and a la carte. I didn't particularly like the options provided on the set menu so we ordered individually.
Starting off with beers, these were delightfully cold and accompanied our meat heavy meals very well.
Our order was served fairly quickly. Of the non meat dishes, we had a serve of potato salad and cabbage salad. Both portions were small for the price paid. The potato salad was arguably three mouthfuls worth and there wasn't too much by way of other vegetables outside of potato and a small number of carrots. So essentially it was three bites of buttery mashed potato. I could easily make better potato salad at home. The cabbage salad was a lot more tasty, with a generous dash of sesame dressing, tomato and alfalfa. Again, we wished there could have been more, especially given how easy it is to bulk up a dish of shredded cabbage.
Meat was of course our main focus and we definitely ordered the wagyu platter to share, opting for the thin slice version. We enjoyed the chuck flap and oyster blade however the brisket was definitely overly fatty, even for wagyu and around a third of each slice was just pure fat, detracting from our enjoyment of the meat. Otherwise if you don't count the brisket, I would say the meat quality is generally of a high standard, on par with Maru or Yido, however prices were substantially higher.
Other individual dishes we ordered included a serve of oyster blade and pork jowl. Both were presented beautifully, however I did note that when I ordered on the menu, there was no indication of how many grams each serve would be, and I found that to be annoying. Both dishes were delicious and again the meat was of a high quality, I particularly liked that the jowl wasn't overly fatty but had its signature crunchy texture.
At this point I have to make special mention of the grill, unlike KBBQs they have gas stoves that ventilate at the edge of the grill so that our view doesn't need to be obstructed by any ventilation exhausts and we didn't leave smelling like grilled meats.
Rounding off our initial order was the foil wrapped enoki mushrooms. This was a decent portion and grilled with butter. I would have liked a bit more by way of salt and pepper but it was fine. Dr L liked it but it was priced at a premium for a very standard rendition of the dish that I could easily whip up at home.
I had expected to be full after our first order, however this was not the case so I added on two more portions of meat being the ox tongue platter and some chicken thigh. The ox tongue was fairly delicious and I liked how it was served in both thick and thin variations as well as the additional spring onions to garnish the meat while cooking. The chicken thigh was marinated with sweet soy and this was fairly standard compared to other BBQ restaurants, but it ensured that we were full.
Overall, our meal came to more than $220 (when factoring in the CC surcharge) and we left not hungry. Given we didn't order any carbs to fill us up, I expected that the salads would have done more on that front. Whilst I appreciate being finally able to satisfy my curiosity about Ikkaku, Whilst the meat quality was good, I have serious doubts about ever coming back, given there are far better places at that price point.
Taste: 8/10
Value: 3/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
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