Gaijin Review

Author and Photographer: Zach Yeoh

Nestled underneath the Morgan station of the Green Line is a small restaurant tucked away from the usual hustle and bustle of the gastronomically overwhelming Fulton Street. This restaurant refuses to go quietly, however, with Japanese-inspired street art overlaying its walls making the small shop pop out from its other surrounding brick brethren. Going in, you are met with bright red neon signage and a casual, modern interior with a glass skylight illuminating the homely warm yellows of the interior lighting. There’s a certain energy that the restaurant exudes, a suave coolness that seeps into your skin the moment you step through the door, maybe it’s the sight of multiple chefs preparing the food in the open kitchen or the number of people that fill the restaurant with a lively air.

The restaurant, named Gaijin after the Japanese term for ‘foreigner’, is Michelin-star winning chef Paul Virant’s venture into literal foreign territory, providing a delicious take on the traditional Japanese street food.

Gaijin specializes in okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake made of a mish-mash of different ingredients. The dish begins with a base of cabbage, eggs and grated yam and to it many types of proteins or vegetables can be added. The okonomiyaki is finished with a healthy brush of okonomiyaki sauce, a web of mayonnaise, and a healthy garnish of bonito flakes. There are two styles that are offered at Gaijin: the Osaka style, which mixes all the aforementioned ingredients together, and the Hiroshima style which layers the ingredients separately with a layer of yakisoba noodles sandwiched between and an extra bedding of cabbage for good measure. On my visit to Gaijin with a group of friends, we ordered a variety of okonomiyaki in order to best sample the offerings of this restaurant. We started with the kombu marinated vegetables, a delicious vegetable starter which was devoured too quickly before I could come to my senses and take a picture of it. Following this was the shrimp Osaka-style okonomiyaki, the pork Osaka-style okonomiyaki, and the traditional Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. The okonomiyaki, once prepared at the open kitchen, is brought over to the table and left on the hot plate in the centre of each table. Each bite is savoury & sweet, the saltiness of the proteins balancing with the sweetness of the batter and the okonomiyaki sauce; each bit is crispy and creamy, the crispness of the proteins balancing with the creaminess of the grated yam in the batter creating a satisfying textural contrast with each bite. The bonito flakes which garnish the top of the savory pancake only serve to further add to the umami profile of the dish. To finish, I ordered the black sesame ice cream, a jet black scoop of ice cream with a rich, deep, flavor with a nice hint of roasted nuttiness. It might be a bit of personal bias but it is in my opinion as close to heaven as you can get in a scoop of ice cream.

I can personally vouch for Gaijin as one of my favorite places to eat in Chicago without being as expensive as some other restaurants in the area. Gaijin’s selection is most certainly not limited to the dishes listed above and I personally cannot wait until I can return to experience the rest of their offerings.

ReviewsMelanie WangDecember 23, 2021ReviewComment