Saturday night is listed as "Shogun Night". What does that mean? Well, I don't know...the other nights are: Mon/Tues is King Crab Night, Wed is Takoyaki Night, Friday is Robatayaki Night and Sunday is Okinawa Night....maybe they couldn't think of another name for that night... In their ads, they say that all buffets include prime rib of beef, crab legs, shrimp & vegetable tempura, butterfish misoyaki, sushi, sashimi, appetizers, salads & desserts. Hmmm...nothing featured on Saturday... (sad face here)
OK, when you approach a buffet, strategy is important. And, for some people, preparation is important too. You would be surprised at how people prep for their evening at a buffet..."Ummm, yeah...I didn't eat all day, just for this"....or "I made sure to exercise a couple extra minutes this morning" or "I did exercises to expand my stomach" (I actually heard this one on a show that featured marathon eating). I can always categorize the different people and their strategies by watching them select their items. First, there's the "gotta get the crab" people...they head directly to the crab and load up their plates with it, feeling that it's the premium item and they need to get their money's worth...then they go back again and again, filling up their plates with crab. If you're after these people, forget about getting a claw... Then, there's the guys who feel that salad is food for rabbits and go straight for the prime rib/meats/main dishes. Or you have the people who have no idea what they want or how much of it they want and take forever to move from dish to dish. Then there's the people who for some reason think that you've got to take everything...check out their plate...just overflowing...in the end, they only eat part of what they take. Then there's the people on their second or third run (or more)...they go straight to what they want (also gives you an indication of what's good). Me? I'm kind of in-between. I think of the first run as kind of like a "tasting course" where I pick up a little here & there of anything I might be interested in. If it turns out to be good, I might go back a second time and get a little more. I've learned not to indulge myself too much at buffets...takes a lot of self control but you thank yourself for it later(believe me, you do!). And, I usually try not to get everything but be selective and just eat what I really want to eat.
Anyway, here's the lowdown (sorry, I didn't get pics of everything...the little kids were already saying that I was strange...taking pics of food)...here's the entrance and here's a sign about the different nights...
...the line starts off with your basic salads, poke and sashimi, cold appetizers...
...soba, toppings & cold tofu...
some hot dishes...yakisoba, karaage, gyoza....
...crab legs! (snow crab)...
...sushi & tempura station...both made on the spot...
...desserts - zenzai, soft serve (toppings in the 2nd pic), pies & cakes, fresh fruits...
What I really like is that the selections were a little different from before...and they had sushi and tempura stations. Would you believe that way back, those items came from the kitchen and were very limited or dried out and not very good. Of course, if someone is making it fresh, I had to have sushi & tempura...(you can see the wok behind the tempura station where they are cooking it). Another thing I really liked is that the chef carving the prime rib (sorry, no pic) was very accomodating... How accomodating you ask? Well, a cousin (who's into weightlifting and can really eat...usually goes to the buffet line several times and always fills his plate), decided he would just show the chef how thick he wanted his slice by holding up his thumb and finger...and he got what he wanted...it's about 3" thick...see below...
...and this is his first salad plate...one of many plates to follow...
In comparison, here's my own puny first plate and salad...I asked for a small piece of prime rib and he cut it into fourths...got some rice there, shrimp & kabocha tempura, salmon, maguro & spicy tuna sushi, butterfish, karaage, oyster sauce choysum & a gyoza...on the salad plate I have mostly tossed greens(watercress on top) with a creamy sesame dressing, sashimi, tofu & this peppery cabbage salad w/cucumber & imitation crab...
I did go for a later run but no dessert (gotta watch those calories). Lots of people seemed to like the chocolate softserve the best and then indulging with the toppings. Interesting tidbit...party favors were flavored fortune cookies from Ohta Wafer company. These came two to a bag and were either strawberry, chocolate or green tea. Inside was a custom "fortune" that thanked the guests. Not pictured is a giant fortune cookie (orange flavored) that was given to special relatives (we got one as we helped with stuff)...unfortunately, I didn't get a pic before it was eaten.
So I guess I won't mind as much the next time someone tells me that we're heading to the Shogun...just got to remember...how thick do you want your prime rib? :)
Shogun Restaurant & Sushi Bar
Pacific Beach Hotel/Third Floor
Ilima Award Winner: "Favorite Japanese Restaurant"
1 comment:
Hi DWF - Wow, it's nice to know that this place is still around. I've got nice memories of eating very large quantities of food from Shogun. That poke looks pretty good.
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