yaokui: Valentine's Day @ Zenkichi

We ate at Zenkichi in November and for some reasons, they have my email address and sent me an email about a month ago regarding their Valentine's Day specials. It was not an "easy" process to get the reservation, they made me fill in a form and told me they'll call me back to let me know if I got the reservation. (Of course, I did get the reservation). It also turned out that my other friends Wan Yin and Chee Ping were also interested in the Valentine's Day special but Gan and I didn't want to double date, so they got a different reservation/time for Zenkichi, with another couple, Oi Yen and Nick. Their dinner was at 5.30pm, while ours was at 7.45pm, but we ended up visiting each others' booth and chatted during the dinner. It was supposed to be romantic, so I'm sure the other couples in the restaurant must be cursing us out since we were pretty loud.

Normally, Zenkichi's tasting menu is around $48 per person for about 7 courses, but for the Valentine's Day specials, they raised the price quite abit. But it's probably still cheaper than most places in New York City. The kumamoto oysters and nigiri sushi (toro especially) was to die for. I was not surprised at all when the waitress told me the chef used to work as a sushi chef. We also ordered a bottle of Dassai Nigori (unfiltered sake) and I got in trouble drinking just half a bottle. According to Gan, I was pretty obnoxious by the end of the dinner (Thanks Gan). After Zenkichi, we went to Fette Sau and ate more. It was definitely a fun Valentine's Day night! Happy Valentine's Day (or belated) everyone!