A date with the girls at New Eritrea on Irving for a celebration for the end of the week.
Our first platter was delicious… And not enough food. The fish was succulent, beef cubes tender & raw beef with cheese on point.
Our second platter accidentally came in to-go containers but that didn’t intimidate us; we put three boxes of takeout on a fresh platter & had at it. Nothing like seven hungry girls eating with their hands.
For a special surprise, we discovered an AYCE Japanese restaurant in Half Moon Bay. That’s been our jam these past weekends.
Monster Chef has made to order Japanese cuisine, over 100 items. A little overwhelming at first, our table of 3 plus baby tackles the feat with 4 rounds of (what I consider) impressive ordering.
I knew the boys would take care of the sashimi & nigiri ordering so I made sure to try their rolls, apps & sides.
A slow start to warm the tummy. Visitors from the sea: drunken clams & grilled squid.
The discovery of salmon carpaccio delighted us. The scallops & salmon: fresh & divine. Rolls? I expected smaller portions (per the menu) but we were gifted with full sized orders. I immediately regretted the other 3 rolls I ordered…
Toro & uni is a little extra but worth it. How does fish manage to be buttery? It perplexes and amazes me. Hamachi & sake, thinly & masterfully cut.
Here are the intimidating 3 rolls: scallop-y, lobster salad, & rainbow. We finished this!
Pork belly in an irresistible sauce. The lobster dip with taro chips makes for a good meal intermission.
Tamago simply plated & gorgeous. Delicious too. More salmon carpaccio because yum.
Last call (closes for lunch at 2:30pm) results in a flurry of orders. Unagi don, fried oysters, seaweed, mushrooms & takoyaki. I love all of these things & I love them here.
I appreciate the artful plating of the takoyaki. Best in the bay I’ve had but not better than Japan or Hawaii. I’ll take it!
Finally some hamachi nigiri, eggplant, enoki, & asparagus to round up the meal. The veggies were supposed to be sushi but ordered sans rice to ensure no waste.
Our proud conquests at Monster Chef. We probably ate 3-4 times the value of this meal. I don’t know how they stay in business. That’s okay; it’s not my job to figure out their business plan.
After such a huge meal, we needed to walk. Checking out the trails & the beach nearby, we walked some of the food off so we could lay around the rest of the day (we didn’t plan the last part, it just happened).
Luckily, our lovely friends in SSF took us in & we holed up there with new & old movies until we resorted to a Wingstop feast at 9pm.
Parmesan wings: fave. The new rolls are good & buttery.
Baby tolerated the adults spending the day eating.
Mostly he was chill, lookin’ like a little pilot. What a good life.
