January 3rd 2020: Gantetsu-Ya and Shiki, Brookline

For dinner today, we decided to go check out Gantetsu-Ya, a small Japanese restaurant serving okonomiyaki in Brookline. This place is located within the Coolidge Corner Arcade,

right across from Ganko Ittetsu Ramen, which we visited some time back, and apparently it is affiliated with the store as well.

We got the Traditional Takoyaki (tako, scallions, pickled ginger, topped with soya sauce based sweet tako yaki sauce, mayonnaise, ao-nori powder, shaved bonito flakes)

and the Seafood Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki (sliced pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, pan seared noodle, egg, topped with teppan grilled yari-ika, shrimp, Otafuku sauce, scallions, ao-nori, sesame seeds).

Really nothing special though, after having tried the same in Japan. Don't think I want to come back again.

Because the meal was unsatisfactory, we decided to look elsewhere for more, settling on Shiki, another Japanese restaurant nearby. Nice decor in the basement.

Pretty authentic and unique Japanese food on the menu as well, of which we got the Crazy Maki (Egg, cucumber, flying fish row, shrimp tempura and kaiware radish),

the Chawanmushi (egg custard dish with chicken, scallop, shrimp and vegetable)

and the Shiki Shinko Maki (cucumber, mackerel, plum, sesame, shiso basil and shrimp wrapped with pickled daikon radish).

 The sushi was way too spicy, and the radish made the other roll taste weird. The egg was really smooth though, and I would say that was the real measure of the restaurant. Hence, I would give this place another chance because of the interesting stuff on the menu. A so-so day of having Japanese food in Brookline though.