I’ve been wanting to visit Shackfuyu for a while now.
It’s a 12 month “extended pop-up”, based in Soho and created by the team behind Bone Daddies and Flesh & Buns.
The food is a fantastic mix of East meets West, and looked amaaaazing in all the photos I’d seen. So when Vicky from Dalton-Banks and I were deciding where to go on our first blogger date last week, it seemed the obvious choice.
What better way to avoid the evening #TubeStrike hell than new friends, good food and a couple of cocktails, right?
We started the night off with cocktails: a classic iced margarita for Vicky, and the Ringo Starr for me.
Mine involved gin, sake and apple juice and came served in a cute little Alice-in-Wonderland-type bottle. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but actually it was surprisingly refreshing and really yummy!
We turned down the offer of edamame beans and went straight to the main event:
Korean fried wings.
Sweet, sticky, and with an afterburn that KILLED.
The chicken was super tender, and they were generously sprinkled with sesame seeds that gave a really nice crunch too.
These were absolutely amazing. Very much recommend!
Prawn toast masquerading as okonomiyaki.
OK so I had to Google okonomiyaki… (I also had to copy and paste the spelling. Sorrynotsorry.) It’s basically kind of like a Japanese pizza. Sort of.
The Shackfuyu version featured crunchy toast on the bottom, topped with delicious prawns and drizzled with some kind of tomato-based sauce and a creamy Japanese mayo and WHO CARES IT WAS DELICIOUS.
I’ve read really opposing reviews of this dish. I think it’s kinda like Marmite: you either love it or you hate it.
And we were 99% in the love it camp.
Our only criticism was the bonito flakes sprinkled on top (basically dried fermented tuna and yes, it tastes as horrid as it sounds.)
Take the weird fish flakes off and you have a FLAWLESS prawn toast dish!
Aubergine marinated in miso and topped with crispy seaweed and puffed rice crackers (arare, if you want to get technical).
This was another favourite. The aubergine was soft and paired beautifully with the crunchy seaweed, and the miso dressing was sticky and absolutely YUM.
Big thumbs up.
Picanha Beef with Kimchee Butter Sauce That Will Make You Cry Because it’s so Beautiful.
(FYI that’s what the dish should actually be called…)
The beef is a cut popular in Brazil and is super tender and yummy. Shackfuyu’s version is marinated in kimchee butter and then cooked in the giant pizza oven they inherited from the building’s last owners.
It’s then topped with pickles and spring onions, ready for you to dig your fork into it and moan inappropriately at how good it is.
Seriously. Order the beef, OK? Just do it.
You can thank me later.
Something else you NEED to order? The Instagram-famous kinako french toast with matcha green tea softserve ice-cream.
You’ve never had a dessert like this before. Honestly, you haven’t.
The french toast is sprinkled with Japanese kinako flour and is served hot, perfectly crunchy on the outside and deliciously squidgy on the inside.
The ice-cream is delicate but perfectly flavoured, with the earthy notes of the tea perfectly pairing with the sweet French toast…
I know. I’m sorry. I sound so pretentious trying to describe it.
But honest to God it’s one of the best desserts I’ve had in a very, very long time.
Vicky and I are already planning our return for this dish alone!!!
We finished off with a couple more cocktails: Bone Daddies rum punch for Vicky and a cherry-vodka-sake combo for me.
Not quite as nice as my gin and apple, but I’ll take it!
The decor is simple but colourful, with jade green walls and Chinese characters graffitied over them. The waitresses were friendly and helpful and quick to point out their favourite dishes and drinks for us.
Overall, I really, reaaaally liked this place.
It’d be a perfect date spot, and equally good as a place to sit and catchup with friends over a couple of drinks and sharing dishes.
So what are you waiting for?
Didn’t I tell you to go order that beef already??
(And if you fancy bringing me some, I wouldn’t say no…)
