My best friend tried Sakaya in Farmington, Missouri before I even realized it existed. She IMMEDIATELY messaged me, raving about how incredible the food was, and insisting we go together sometime.

Located at 510 N. Washington St. (In the back), Sakaya is a small business owned by a husband and wife – the husband, born in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan, does the cooking, and his incredibly sweet wife (from Farmington, MO) is at the front counter. Their story is quite interesting (you can read more about them on the restaurant’s website) and definitely motivated me to pick a day to check them out.

The menu is fascinating and I love how it’s done. What meals will be offered daily change based on what’s available, with a calendar featuring what items are offered according to which day. It’s one chef, after all. But I absolutely love this, because you can try different items at different times, learn new foods you may have never tried before, etc. It makes me excited to go back and try something new.

I had planned to just try the yakisoba today, but after hearing Brittaney go on and on about how delicious the kakuni was, I decided to try it as well.

The kakuni (Sweet pork belly, slow braised in soy sauce, sake, mirin, and ginger over rice) was absolutely delicious. The rice was so perfectly cooked, and the meat was incredible. Even thinking about it now, I wish I could have it again immediately.

I am a fan of yakisoba (Stir-fried ramen noodles with vegetables and thinly sliced pork, in our homemade yakisoba sauce), and this was the most authentic tasting I’ve ever had. Luckily for me, I only made it halfway through the yakisoba before I got too full (I DID just devour the kakuni, after all haha), so I had more yakisoba leftover to enjoy later.

I wholeheartedly recommend giving Sakaya a try if you’re in or around Farmington, Missouri. The food is delicious, the people are wonderful, and it’s the different sort of restaurant that our area really needed. Fans of Japanese culture would absolutely LOVE this treat.

-Angel