On Monday I was lucky enough to meet some lovely ladies who also blog about food. It’s always really exciting to meet other people who share your passions and crucially get a new list of places to eat. So when N messaged to ask where we were eating that night,  I consulted my new list. We hadn’t seen each other in ages so we wanted somewhere we were guaranteed a table.  I was surprised and happy to get a table at Shackfuyu. Shackfuyu is from the Bone Daddies family, it was a pop-up, sort of, that went permanent, serving western style Japanese food.

I was taken to the table by the newest member the Shackfuyu team, it was his first day and I’m sure he’s going to fit in and do just great. All of the staff  we spoke to were smiley and friendly. N is gluten intolerant, properly, not just she doesn’t eat bread. The staff were super helpful at checking what she could eat and even brought a little hand written list from the kitchen. They were especially good at being honest, as in, ‘yes, we could make that gluten free but honestly, it’ll not be good’.
Because we were so busy talking we ordered in stages. I started with the infamous prawn toast masquerading as okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki if you don’t know, and I didn’t, thanks google, is a savoury pancake.

This came topped with bonito flakes, wafer thin dried tuna flakes. This dish has gained legendary status, it is nothing like the prawn toast you know. It’s crispy on the outside but oh so moist and juicy on the inside. I’m not crazy on the Bonito flakes but the okonomiyaki was delicious,  if not overly prawn flavoured.

N had the monkfish cheeks with chilli pepper and lemon mayo. Lovely light batter and juicy monkfish worked well with the fresh, sharp mayo.

Next we asked for some recommendations and N had a salad of kale and cucumber with a sesame wafu dressing. Sadly she couldn’t have the dressing, I, however, can tell you it was rich and creamy.
There are few things I don’t like, but aubergine is one of them.  However aubergine, 4 miso and bubu arare was very highly recommend by our lovely, smiley waitress. So, I went for it for it and, let me tell you, I was very glad I did. It was a stand out dish, the aubergine was rich, smokey and delicious, the miso flavour was intense and wonderful. The bubu arare, little crispy toasted rice balls, are a perfect contrast to the smoothness of the aubergine.

We moved to the bigger plates, N opted for the iberico pork pluma, spring onion & black pepper miso, with the sauce on the side. Wow, the pork was tender and sweet, really beautiful and the sauce was fresh and vibrant with the right amount of spice and heat. This was my hero dish.
I opted for the hot stone rice with sesame, chilli and beef. This arrived at the table in a heavy stone bowl, topped with an egg yolk which was then mixed at the table. It’s a huge portion and I’d definitely suggest it is better shared between two. 

The combination of flavours was delicious but I found it hard to single out the meat. The little nuggets of corn on the other hand were juicy and added to the combination of textures in the dish. The bowl itself is hot, so the dish continues to cook at the table, which meant you got lots of little crispy, caramelised bites of rice, really lovely.
We really wanted to try the dessert but sadly our time was up and while we never felt rushed we did get our bill without asking for it. I guess we’ll just have to come back another day.