What better way to start off this blog than a post of a birthday dinner?
This was actually a last minute decision from an afternoon of picky eaters, and finally my friend NN suggested Gokaku, a Japanese tapas joint in Cupertino. It was a Sunday and fairly busy, but we called ahead and were seated as soon as we got there.
The place is located in a nondescript strip mall in Cupertino with suburban strip mall classics. The sign for Gokaku itself said "TAPAS AND SUSHI" in bright neon lights, so it was a surprise to walk in to a nice, cozy atmosphere.
The menu was extensive, but they had their top picks shown in the menu - and I'm never one to turn down a special.
Seafood nachos - nicely flavored spicy tuna with a great sweet sauce. I found nachos were a weak and easily soggy vehicle to carry all the toppings, but the taste of the fish was on.
"Secret Shrimp" was fried shrimp in a creamy and tangy sauce. Usually I'm not one for deep fried shrimp but this was quite nice. I believe the top right is the sashimi salad? Name is unimportant because this was delicious - nice fish:vegetable ratio (read: lots of fish) and strongly flavored.
Fried baby octopus - nice crunch
Croquettes, a tofu wrap sushi roll, and takoyaki. The croquettes were standard, but the rolls and takoyaki were delicious. It's hard to find any decent takoyaki in the states so I was glad to have found these.
Okonomiyaki was delicious, but standard.
Star of our night - beef tongue with vegetables. There's fried garlic bits too. Everything was tender and flavorful - I only wish we could've had more! Five people devoured this in no time...
The prices were overall reasonable, especially for Japanese tapas this tasty - probably on the middle to lower end of these kind of tapas places. There was a selection of drinks but alas, we had all driven separately. Next time!
Cupertino, CA
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