A Taste of Sub-Par Charcoal-Grilled Meats: Mitasu Charcoal Yakiniku
Glowing articles on how Mitasu Charcoal Yakiniku provides a fresh and lighter alternative to the ubiquitous Korean barbecue joints made me excited to try it. The restaurant had a wide selection of prime cuts of meats to choose from; so the thought of this yakiniku feast was definitely thrilling.
Upon entering the restaurant though, we were greeted by two contrasting concepts: a hotpot concept where you sit on tatami mats on the left; and a barbecue grill set-up on the right. Technically, these two concepts can work harmoniously together (Go Kizip, anyone?); but the restaurant seemed to take the extra effort in making sure that the distinction between the two concepts would be crystal clear.
Taking a cue from its name, we figured that its barbecue grill should be its main attraction; and proceeded to the assigned seating area. They had an eat-all-you-can version that we opted out of as we believed we’d get quality over quantity by choosing from its ala carte menu. Fortunately, the restaurant had suggested set meals already to make food selection more convenient for its diners.
My family of 5 opted for The Beef Chief (P2700) set which came with four servings of miso soup, four glasses of lemon iced tea, 100g each of Japanese Wagyu A5, Australian Striploin, Australian Cube Roll, US Boneless Short Ribs, Top Blade, Hanging Tenderloin, and 5 pcs of Enoki Beef Roll. It also comes with four side dishes of your choice which were limited to Radish Kimchi, Cabbage Kimchi, Scallion Salad, Cucumber Salad, Sanchu Wrap, or two servings of Japanese rice. This wasn’t our first choice, but due to stock unavailability and lack of familiarity of the servers in handling ala carte orders (assuming that most of its diners simply opted for the buffet choice), we simply settled for this. Overall, the set sounded promising. It offered a selection of meat, coupled with sides to give that extra value-for-money.
As evidenced by the photos, all the charcoal grilled meats were horrifyingly overcooked. To be fair, as my family had somewhere to go to after our meal, we opted out of cooking the meats ourselves and requested their staff to cook it for us. It was hard to get mad at our assigned staff as he was the lone server who was helpful, warm, and friendly throughout the dining service. I tried to overlook the fact that the meats were miserably dry but the quality of the meats themselves is difficult to discern. The flavor of the marinade is desperately in want. It didn’t help either that their kimchi was too watery, and the Japanese rice grains were more similar to the local variety compared to what they’re advertised to be. Sadly, it seemed that we merely blew our money on this set meal.
FRIED GYOZA (P120)
Fortunately, there were two gems in our meal. We ordered a side order of their Fried Gyoza, with each piece plump and juicy that you’d easily forgive them for the thick wrapper they used.
UNAGI (P490)
Their Unagi was a steal at P490, especially considering its serving size. Thick fillets of juicy unagi, glazed in signature sweet Unagi sauce served as the highlight of our supposedly grilled-centric meal. Overall though, the strength of this dish isn’t enough reason for me to come back.
Mitasu Charcoal Yakiniku
780 Banawe St., Quezon City
Date of Visit: February 24, 2019 with Wilson Chua, Lily Chua, Jared Chua, and Jem Chua
