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Sohyung K.
Location: New York
Blog Posts: 1
Member Since: 12/19/2007
Favorite Cuisine:
Korean, Japanese, Italian, Cantonese
Recent Eats
Dec 19th
Dec 15th
Dec 15th
Sake Bar Hagi
I only wish I had my camera on me to take pictures, but here goes my first post of fatness...
Sake Bar Hagi is a traditional izakaya (Japanese pub), the kind of place you want to go with a small group of friends to eat and drink beer. A beer runs you $3.50 and a pitcher of Kirin on tap is $10; bargain prices for New York City.
When I showed up yesterday, a line of impatient people was standing outside in the hallway waiting to get inside the cramped, small basement in which the restaurant was located. And for good reason. This place hits the 2 cardinal jackpots of ethnic food in NYC: cheap and good.
Here's what we ordered:
Tofu salad - Not exactly my #1 choice on the menu, but my cohorts insisted that we get some vegetables into our system before gorging on potentially fatty, salty foods. It served more as a palate cleanser.
Japanese pancake (okonomiyaki) - you can order this with pork, chicken, or mixed seafood, and we chose the latter. Came grilled to gooey excellence with plenty of kewpie mayo, bonito shavings, shrimp, and octopus. I'd definitely get this again.
Spaghetti with spicy cod roe sauce - Three ingredients go into this one; cod roe, mayo, and spaghetti noodles. It looks and tastes like something you'd slap together in a drunken stupor late at night, but surprisingly tastes very good. "Spicy" is an overstatement, however.
Sauteed chicken gizzards with garlic sprouts - A HUGE plate of gizzards for just $7; seemed the least "Japanese" of all the foods we ordered. Decent stuff, but nothing to write home about.
Chicken meatball yakitori - A single skewer of grilled and lightly seasoned chicken meatballs in teriyaki sauce. Thought this one was better than Yakitori Taisho and Yakitori Totto's versions.
Bacon-wrapped enoki mushroom yakitori - Didn't try this myself, but I'm sure it was tasty. Anything wrapped in juicy strips of bacon can't be bad.
Grilled whole mackerel - My favorite dish of the night. Tender and buttery, perfectly cooked. Comes with shaved daikon to offset the saltiness of the fish.
Grilled sausages - Not much to say here. Probably wouldn't order this again, unless I have a hankering for sausage.
Octopus balls (takoyaki) - This isn't as perverted as it sounds, so some of you (you know who you are) need to get your mind outta the gutter. Chopped up pieces of octopus molded into a ball, deep fried in an egg batter, served with a brown sweet vinegary sauce and kewpie mayo. I prefer my takoyaki with a softer crust, but these were still pretty good.
Sake Bar Hagi
152 West 49th Street (7th Ave)
New York, 10019
Tel: (212) 764-8549
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i wasn't even thinking of octopus balls that way until you made the connection - who's the perv now?? jk! i love octopus balls! esp with that brown sauce.