Grayson and I rarely ever go to Richmond these days because we rather spend our time downtown basking in the summer sun. But, I wasn’t feeling too well one day and it wasn’t too sunny out either so we ended up going to Richmond for the first time in months instead. We were debating where to go for dinner and I suddenly remembered that we had a list of restaurants we wanted to go and after scrolling threw a few dozen restaurants we decided that we would go to Gyo because we wanted some “non-sushi” Japanese food as Grayson likes to put it.
Goodness Gyo is NOT hard to miss especially since their store front almost literally screamed “we serve Japaense food here!” Their interior of Gyo wasn’t too far off from Japanese either as the walls were adorned with fish murals and everything gave off a really “woodsy” feel which is something I really like because it makes everything feel “clean” and welcoming.
From what I read, one of the reasons as to why Gyo is such a go-to spot is because of their delicious homemade soy sauce! I don’t know enough about soy sauce to make too much of a judgement on it but I like how they make it in house because it brought a certain amount of uniqueness to the restaurant. They also gave us a little piece of tofu with soy and green onion on top on the house as an appetizer.
Scallop carpaccio
Grayson was feeling hungry so we decided to get an appetizer with our meal. We were debating between getting oden or a raw dish but eventually we were sold on the scallop carpaccio that came with a wasabi sauce ($6.50) because I love me some scallops and Grayson loves his wasabi. I was a little hesitant to try it at first because I don’t personally like wasabi but I was surprised to find that it wasn’t as strong in wasabi flavor as I thought it would be. Not in a bad way though…because it was only not as strong because the mustard/mayo in the dressing made it a little milder.
Spicy salmon and tuna bukkake udon
Another thing that Gyo-O is known for is their house made udon. Since I haven’t had homemade udon since Japan, I HAD to get my hands on some! They offer lots of udon options but in the end I decided to go with the spicy salmon and tuna bukkake udon ($9.50). Usually I am all for spicy food but since I wasn’t feeling too well, I asked if I could get it no spicy.
The waitress told me that she had to ask the chef. When she returned she told me that they couldn’t make it not spicy since it’s in the sauce. Which is understandable so I looked through the menu again to pick something else but when I was about to set my mind on something, she came back and told me that they could make it not spicy by just giving me the soy based house sauce that is used on their non-spicy bukkake udons instead!
I’m almost glad that I ended up getting it non spicy because that house sauce was absolutely delicious! And the udon? It was amazing! It was perfectly chewy still and not too soft; just the way I like it. I gave Grayson some to try and he wasn’t as enthusiastic about it. I should probably mention that since I ordered my udon hot, some of my sashimi ended up cooking from it.
Seafood Yukke don
Like me, Grayson had a hard time settling on something because there was just so much to choose from! Lucky for him, at the back of the menu, there was a list of Gyo-O’s top dishes. He decided to get the #1 dish on there, the Seafood Yukke Don ($11.00).
This don is like the ultimate don because it has all sorts of raw seafood in there to choose from! From what I remember there was tuna, salmon, squid, prawn, and takowasabi in it and everything was coated in a sweet soy sauce. Grayson said that he loved the don and the egg just tied everything together nicely.
His only complaint was that there seemed to be a lot of rice. He wished that there would be a whole egg on the rice instead of just half of one. We both found it interesting how they only put half an egg on each dish too. How do you only soft-boil half an egg?
Spicy sashimi cold udon
I usually get the spicy sashimi cold udon but I haven’t had it in a while. Plus I’ve actually never got it with the spicy sauce before! I’m glad I did this time around though because it was so addictingly delicious!
And come-on now, you can’t say no to a soft and gooey yolk staring you in the face right?
Salmon nanban don
Despite being the un-adventurous one, Grayson always gets something different everytime we’re here. This time he got the salmon nanban don which is basically a deep-fried version of a salmon don. The salmon was perfectly cooked on the inside since it was cooked in the fryer. It was crispy on the outside but remained flaky on the interior. It was topped with a sauce that resembled tartar sauce? Anyway, Grayson enjoyed it just fine but as always, he also said that it was much too small for him!
All in all, we both loved our Gyo-O visit and would be back again without a second thought. Their food is without a doubt amazing and so is their customer service. Although they have lots of dishes, I think I’m going to end up getting an udon again the next time. Homemade udon is definitely something that’s hard to come by!
