Atypical Brunch Experience at Yuzuki Japanese Eatery in SF's Misison District

Forget typical brunch items like pancakes and omelettes the next time you go out to eat. Yuzuki Japanese Eatery - an izakaya in the trendy Mission District that specializes in shareable, small Japanese plates - has revolutionized the way we conceive brunch when it launched brunch service last summer. While Yuzuki's limited brunch menu focuses on items like udon and soba instead of grilled skewers and rice pot, you will still indulge in the same delicious and authentic Japanese cuisine made with fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients.

Wagyu Udon ($23)

Yuzuki's simple brunch menu is categorized into noodles (udon or soba) and sushi. You get a choice between udon or soba with all noodle entrees, which also come with a side of vegetables and topping choices that range from chicken and egg to lightly fried shrimp and vegetables. I would recommend the Wagyu Udon ($23). Served in a bowl of warm, flavorful broth are a generous portion of soft, chewy udon noodles and six tender pieces of wagyu beef topped with scallions. 

Kaisen Chirashi ($28)

The Kaisen Chrashi ($28) has eight different varieties of fresh sashimi and seafood, such as tuna, mackerel, lump Dungeness crab meat, and salmon roe. The salmon has an extremely rich, buttery taste that just melts in your mouth, while the scallop provides the perfectly chewy, juicy, and plump texture. The Kaisen Chirashi also comes with a side of clear soup with mushroom and seaweed.

Koito, an Authentic Japanese Restaurant in Upper East Side

I dined with my cousin at an authentic Japanese restaurant on the Upper East Side. I had about an hour to burn, so i decided to walk from my office on the 47th floor to 93rd...in heels. Not a good idea. Undeniably, I was quite tired and starved by the time I arrived at the restaurant! The restautant is a little hole in the wall that seats only about 10 people or so. Everything on the menu looked great and we decided to share the dinner special ($49).

The course began with two large bottles of Sapporo beer (you can also choose sake) and veggie appetizers. I could honestly eat this platter all day, every day! The plate had all of my favorite vegetables, including kobocha squash, eggplant, and lotus root.

Unfortunately, the vegetables looked better than they tasted. The slices of squash were not very sweet, the lotus roots were quite salty, and the eggplants were bland. The radish had very mushy texture, while the bamboos were flavorless.

Next on the table were sashimi appetizer. There were pieces of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and mackerel.

My stomach can't tolerate too much raw fish, so the sashimi sampler was the perfect amount. Sashimi were fresh, though I wished the tuna pieces were bigger. Mackerel is one fish I cannot eat raw no matter how hard I try because the fishy smell is too strong for my liking.

The meal also included 26 pieces of sushi. The fist plate had 16 pieces of nigiri. There were four of tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and mackerel.

Nothing too special...I was sort of disappointed by the lack of variety because I just ate the same type of fish as sashimi.

The fish on top of the nigiri were plump, fresh, and juicy enough.

The yellowtail seemed like it already had soy sauce on top. There was a dab of wasabi on top of the rice.

Salmon is probably my favorite. It tastes so much better raw than cooked!

The final plate had more variety in sushi with shrimp, clam, eel, egg, sea urchin, and fish roe.

I used to not be able to eat salmon roe because of its size and the way it pops in my mouth. I felt like such a murderer "killing" so many unmatched baby salmon! But now...I really like them but not this much!

Tomago and sea urchin. I never know whether to eat these in one bite or not...Koito was overall a pretty authentic restaurant, but I do wish I got to eat more than the traditional nigiri or sashimi.