Wakuriya is located in a pretty nondescript strip mall next to CVS and a dry cleaners:
When you get there, you’ll see this sign – I wasn’t kidding about it being booked out every night!
I recently had the request in this post to include some more food in the blog – which I am trying to do – but the few things that are hindering me are that a) I’m a bad food photographer, and b) half the time I’ve already eaten the food that I was supposed to photograph. That’s why I only have about 50% of the courses we ate fuzzily photographed, but they were some of my favorite highlights of the night:
When you arrive, you’re given a menu and a little “welcome” glass of fruity delicious sake that’s brimming full (I already had taken a sip here):
The sake at Wakuriya is soo good. We both got the “fruity sampler” and they were all delicious but I loved the Yuzu Omoi and thus had seconds…and thirds.
This was delicious – black cod with turnip, mushroom, snow pea, thickened dashi broth and yuzu.
Oven grilled lobster, king-oh mushrooms, brussel sprouts and a miso sauce. So yummy and rich.
Barbequed eel donburi, this was really good but my husband and I were so stuffed that we took some home and then had a royal battle the next day over who got to eat the leftovers.
Dessert! Black sugar creme brulee, chocolate mochi rice cake and fresh raspberry. A great end to the meal and very sweet and scrumptious yet not too heavy.
The whole meal was nine courses (you can see the menu here) and we were stuffed by the end. Overall I would really recommend Wakuriya and if you are in the area, I’d definitely try to get reservations and check it out. As a bonus, the whole restaurant is more or less run by a very charming husband and wife team – Katsuhiro the chef and Mayumi the floor manager – and your whole experience is characterized with a lot of personal attention to detail and grace, not to mention amazing food. If you do go, please tell me how you like it! Enjoy!
Drooling over your purse and jacket!
Oh wait, the food looks pretty scrumptious too!
I'll take your "boring" Chanel jacket over my IM version any day
I'm dying for Korean and Japanese food. There's the disadvantage of living in a small English town. No good Asian food! The courses just look incredible (drooling so badly over my keyboard).
I'll take your "boring" Chanel jacket over my IM version any day
I'm dying for Korean and Japanese food. There's the disadvantage of living in a small English town. No good Asian food! The courses just look incredible (drooling so badly over my keyboard).
Thank you for sharing this! We're always on the hunt for good Japanese restaurant everywhere we go. This looks absolutely incredible! We sure will try this next time we're in SF area.
Hi Katherine, as I mentioned to you before, we love this place! One of our favorites for the reasons you mentioned. Before they got their Michelin star, they were a best kept secret in the Bay Area; now everyone's clamoring for a reservation. I hope they don't change. Glad you enjoyed your meal! (I agree about taking photos there, very difficult.)
oh god !! I'm drooling !! Over the purse, the jacket and the food too !!
Lamia
http://ginger-chocolateandhoney.blogspot.com/
I ADORE Japanese food…this looks totally delicious…hope it was worth the wait!
Have a lovely weekend xoxo
http://www.intotheblonde.com/
Everything looks great- good job with the photos and with holding yourself back from digging in before the photo taking!
Ohh man, everything looks SO delicious. I haven't had any special Japanese food in awhile, only your average sushi. Must get on that. Haha I remember you tweeting that you were drunk after Japanese food, must have been this night lol.
oh that looks SO good… i may have to check it out one weekend when we have the car!
Japanese food is so artful it's ALMOST a shame to consume it. Looks like you had a great time.
The food looks delicious! I love seeing food pictures! I'm a huge food lover.
And your outfit is not at all boring. Loved the jacket, and the bag!!!
Great combo, yum for the food!^^ xoxo
The restaurant is in San Mateo Crystal Springs Shopping Center over 10 miles away from Menlo Park. Why do women have such a hard time with geography.
LOL! This made me laugh, sorry about that – it's been fixed – and I'm glad there are men reading my blog who can correct my geography!
KAtherine! I found it pretty funny that a guy is reading your blog too which is wonderful!
Love this restaurant. We went there over two years ago and on a weeknight so I guess that's why we were able to dine on the same day we called in for reservations. We had this AMAZING dessert: tofu made from sesame seeds. It was silky and smelled like peanut. O.O Really, it was out of this world.
Could it be Mr. Feather? Lol.
i either get too embarrassed of people staring at me while i take pics of my food, or like you, i eat it and then realize it way too late lol.
The food looks so delicious!! Thanks for documenting your experience with us!
This food looks so good! I love japanese food especially when its authentic
katattack2000.wordpress.com
you look stunning
Love your outfit, and the food looks AMAZING! Thanks for sharing your dinner date!
keepcalmandcarrylipstick.blogspot.com
The food looks so delicious!! I love to try out the new foods and based on the soups that you had posted I did go ahead and have a few and love them!! Thanks and you look lovely!
Gorgeous food porn lol
Also loving your classic outfit. The Chanel is a beauty!
This food look incredible, wish I could have had those leftovers
Love your stripes and blazer, so classic.
<3 Cambria
jupefashion.blogspot.com
Love Japanese food! Everything looks delicious
yummy!
I'm not sure what is more awesome – your purse or that sake sampler! Yum!
Love your classic Chanel jacket! Looks fabulous!
Looks delicious!! I love your jacket
http://Www.coffeecreamandthecaffeine.blogspot.com
Lovely, Kat! Loving the whole look. Saw it on TPF earlier
http://mrsjackofalltradesdaily.blogspot.com/
Oh that dessert sounds divine!
Thank you! I'd love to hear some of your other faves as well, you have such great taste!
You know this time it was not him…although he has made very similar complaints about my geography, lol
This restaurant looks fantastic! I will definitely try it out the next time I'm in the area (which in reality could be years from now haha). You are not bad at taking the food pics, especially if I'm drooling right now! I'm quite surprised at the strict reservation system they have though – is their menu relatively expensive since they are so popular?
I have never seen a restaurant with a different menu each month. That is very creative. The dishes are so mouth watering!
Helen
It all looks delicious and I don't think your food photography is bad at all!
Oh wow this was not a good post to read on an empty stomach! I know exactly what you mean about the food photography, so hard to resist gobbling everything down on first sight haha. This place looks great and I'm glad the long wait was worth it!
I'm definitely into the food posts, too! I like your classic and chic look. Covet Chanel.
XO
The Fashionable ESQ
http://www.thefashionableesq.blogspot.com/
The food post looks so delish!!! Thanks for sharing! Love your blog posts. Your outfit is so classy chic and very put together! – xo
Looks well worth the effort and planning to dine there. A month in advance means they must be doing something right! Love your chic jacket!
That looks fantastic! I loooove Japanese food; thankfully NYC is pretty well stocked in that department.
Oh gosh, I'm on foreign exchange in Europe right now and seeing all that unobtainable Japanese food is just torture!
Really lovely!
Everything looks YUMMY! I LOVE SAKE!
OOhhhh myyy.. I'm def. drooling over those food photos.
and I think your "boring uniforms of jacket + tee + jeans + heels" looks gorgeous and classic!!! <3 I'd love to go out with that usual outfit too.. it's really comfortable to move around. so yeah
I love the BDG jeans, and the sake sounds divine. I'm hungry now and all i'm eating for dinner is pizza. *ugh*
ohhh my word this looks AHMAZING. I'm starving and this is just making it worse! Lol. Thanks for including these photos.. I don't think you're a bad food photographer in the least!