Shinsen

I recently dined at this delightful Japanese/Thai fusion restaurant, and it was a flavor-packed experience. The Spicy Creamy Tom Yum Noodle broth was rich, tangy, and had just the right amount of heat. The egg noodles were perfectly cooked, and the fragrant aromatics—garlic, chilies, and kaffir lime leaves—elevated the dish. And fav dish was Yakiniku don. The savory-sweet yakiniku sauce tied everything together. It was comfort food at its finest. The Beef Tongue was our adventurous choice. Thinly sliced and grilled, it had a unique texture—tender but slightly chewy. The marinade was flavorful, and the hot stone grill made it even more enjoyable (10/10 for this dish!!)

Truly enjoyed this lunch experience. From the drinks, entrees, dessert -- each one had an exceptional angle to them. I ordered the garlic fried rice with wagyu in a stone bowl. The garlic flavor was present but not over powering. Wagyu always works, and the clincher was the crunchy caramelized rice due to the stone bowl. We tried 3 desserts and they all were tasty with different leanings.

Loved it. Food was so delicious. Service was perfect. BYOB

Shinsen is a contemporary Thai and Japanese restaurant that I have been patronizing for a few years now. One of my go-to orders is their Yakitori (grilled chicken) Don and Yakiniku (grilled skirt steak) Don. I especially like the soy reduction that accompanies the rice, which I think is house-made and brewed for several hours. Another one of my go-to orders is their Shallot Fried Rice with shrimp. It's unique and not like your traditional Thai or Japanese fried rice. My only complaint is that it comes with only three pieces of shrimp chopped up into little bite sizes. Shrimp fried rice at most, if not all, other restaurants come with at least five shrimps. I also really like their robata skewers. Among the more ordinary skewers are shrimp, chicken wings, and asparagus while their more exotic skewers, if you are adventurous, are grilled chicken gizzard, chicken heart, and pork jowl (cheek). All of the skewers that I have ordered are good. It's a shame, however, that they have removed their pork belly skewer from the menu. My second and final complaint, which I think is really important and therefore want to highlight is the way the skewers are packaged for carryout orders. Every order of skewer is wrapped in aluminium foil and packed in its own styrofoam box, which is wasteful. If they're going to wrap every order of skewer in aluminium foil, then there's no problem with packing them in the same container. I also wish Shinsen would use a more environmental-friendly material rather than styrofoam containers for their skewers. I'm generally not a tree-hugger, but styrofoam is really harmful to the environment, cannot be recycled, and takes an incredibly long time to degrade. I know that Shinsen cares a lot about presentation for their carryout orders, but there are ways to maintain good food presentation while being thoughtful about wastage and the environment. I hope Shinsen can be more conscious about this issue.

I recently visited this restaurant with my friend. We got there and was greeted by a waitress who took our orders. We then sat there for 30 to 45 minutes waiting for our food and when our waitress finally returned, she asked us how everything was and if we wanted more water. Which obviously caused some confusion amongst us because we had yet to receive any food at all. She then walked away and came back with a check for $60 for the food that we had ordered but never received. At that point, we were so shocked that we just decided to get up and leave without saying anything. We laughed about it on the way out, but the fact that we were completely ignored and forgotten about really sucked.

Nothing better on a bone-chilling winter night than a delicious bowl of ramen! The Tantanmen Ramen was sooooo good! We loved everything we had. The service was attentive and polite. We will definitely be back!