Today we had an awesome dinner at this place that serves "ho-ru-mon" (sounds like Japanese pronunciation of hormone).  It is basically Japanese twist on Korean barbecue.  However, in addition the regular cuts of meat found at Korean BBQ joints, they specialize in guts, including all parts of the intestine. 


We started out with some wagyu liver sashimi.  This was the best liver I have ever eaten.  It was exploding with flavor - sweet, bitter, fresh - and the texture was smooth, creamy, and buttery. It did have the familiar bitter liver aftertaste - but it was a lot more subtle than in any other liver I've eaten.  I can still distinctly remember the taste and texture of this dish and I wish I had some in front of me now!!!



Instead of a gas grill on the tables, they had these woodburning ones which got surprisingly hot.



You get plates of raw meat, just like at a Korean BBQ place, and you cook it yourself on top of the hot grill.


the top left is strips of fatty pig.  everything else is wagyu.  Starting from top right and going clockwise: harami, throat, tongue, tail, and bottom left is wagyu kalbi!!! 


Meat was superfresh and lightly dusted with salt and pepper.  We didn't cook these for a long time preferring most cuts rare.



Here is a shot of some of the cooked stuff.  The harami was sort of liver-y.  The tongue was crazy.  It was tasty but the texture was just too weird for me.  Usually I've eaten tongue chopped or shredded but this one I felt like was actually eating an entire tongue!  Tail was great.  The throat was mostly cartilage and I didn't really care for it.  The kalbi was some of the best I've ever had.  It was not marinated but it's just so hard to beat wagyu.  Wagyu trumps all...



So here is their specialty, the HoRuMon.  It's basically all the guts, intestine, etc.  It is so hard to differentiate it just looking at the plate.  But we determined that our favorite was shojoo, small intestine.


Here's a shot of the small intestine cooking on the grill.  Even the HoRuMon we preferred rare.  It's taste was savory, a little bitter, creamy, and a tad sweet.