We don't usually hurry to try new places just because they're hyped online. My girlfriend and I love Ginza Gyu, and when we heard about Gyudonya, another concept restaurant by the same people, people were raving that this is better than Ginza Gyu?!?! So we knew we just had to try it.
We queued for a bit, but we were happy to wait. We eventually got seated at the bar, where you can watch them make the food.
We usually love that kind of vibe.
I like taking photos while food is being made, and I especially love watching a kitchen when everything seems to work like a machine. Like in Mendokoro, right? You can see how well their process works. Everyone knows what they're doing, everything is moving smoothly, people are in sync, and somehow it all looks effortless. Dont even get me started on watching japanese chefs run an omakase..
I love that.
But that wasn't really the vibe I got from the Gyudonya kitchen.
And I think that actually influenced how I felt about the food.
Because when you're sitting there watching everything, you notice everything.
At one point, I heard:
“Pagkasyahin mo na lang yan sa 5.”
And then:
“Anong gagawin ko dito? Ano 'yan? Mga pinagputulan? Basura na 'yan.”
😂
I don't even know if those moments would have bothered me if I were sitting at a normal table and couldn't hear or see what was happening.
But because we were right there, I started noticing how narrow the kitchen was. It looked really hot and not particularly well ventilated. The staff were sweating, which, honestly, I completely understand because they were working in a tiny space and constantly moving.
They also arrange the gyu in the bowls by hand, so I understand why their gloves can get messy.
But I noticed there were bits of food on their gloves from another dish that weren't supposed to be on the gyu bowl, and once you see that, it's kind of hard to unsee it.
And then there was the beef.
It was ridiculously thin.
I don't think I necessarily would have minded the meat being that thin if I hadn't watched the whole process.
But seeing them struggle with it, and seeing how much effort went into getting the beef sliced that thin, somehow made it feel a little... off.
You would also hear them panicky sometimes? like when they ran out of stuff, or somethings not right. Which made me realize that maybe the open kitchen was actually part of the problem for me.
Because normally, you just get your bowl of food.
You see the finished product, you eat it, and you judge it based on what's in front of you.
But sitting at the bar, I was watching the entire process. I was watching the kitchen, the staff, the heat, the gloves, the cutting, the little moments of confusion, the things being thrown around, and suddenly all of those things became part of the meal.
And maybe that's not necessarily fair.
The food
We were actually so excited to try the nori butter noodles.
But I think content creators have been inventing descriptions about this one because... this literally tastes like nori + butter + salt.
That's it. 😂
I'm not sure where people are getting all the "umami" from because, to me, the umami from the nori is actually quite subtle.
That said, the noodles themselves had a really good chew, which I loved. The texture was probably my favorite part of the dish.
We also got the brown butter gyudon, which I have to say was really good.
It was a little too oily at the bottom of the bowl, but honestly, it's okay. The actual combination of the beef and brown butter worked really well for me.
I just wish they had more things on the menu to balance everything out. Maybe a bright or sour side dish.
I think that's probably another reason why the meal felt a little one-note to me. There are a lot of rich, fatty, salty flavors happening, and I would've liked something that cut through all of that a little bit.
So...
I think I just really like seeing kitchens that are good at being kitchens. There's something so satisfying about watching a well-oiled operation where everyone knows exactly what they're doing.
Gyudonya just didn't give me that feeling.
I'm not sure if we just hyped ourselves up too much. Maybe we went too close to closing. Maybe it was just an off day. Maybe I was expecting too much because we already love Ginza Gyu.
Or maybe...
they just shouldn't have an open kitchen. 😂
Because honestly, I think I would've enjoyed the food a lot more if I hadn't seen all of that happening behind it.
Still, I'm glad we tried it. Maybe they're still new, so we would come back once they've settled in more.
But Ginza Gyu is still winning for us.