Another favorite restaurant of mine in Brunswick, Georgia is Kyoto Express. It carries on the tradition of Kyoto Restaurant (lovingly called Kyoto’s) that used to be the go-to celebration hibachi restaurant on St. Simon’s Island, which featured large hibachi grills you sat around, twirling knives, explosive fire cooking, and good times. After Kyoto Restaurant closed, one of the chefs opened Joe’s Japanese next to Glynn Place Mall, which recreated the Kyoto Restaurant experience without the same kind of atmosphere as the original. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, but thankfully, Kyoto Express opened as a quick alternative without the show and atmosphere but with the same good food. It is located in the Publix shopping center next to the Super Wal-Mart.
I went there several times during my last trip to Brunswick. My go-to meal is the teriyaki chicken and hibachi shrimp dinner (above). I also like the teriyaki chicken and hibachi steak combo dinner (below). If I’m real hungry, I’ll add on a side of extra veggies (stir-fried zucchini, onions, and sesame seeds).
There are two key elements that keep me coming back to Kyoto Express besides the overall quality of the food. The first is the way that they make stir-fried rice. It’s simple. They begin with oil on the grill. Then dump the rice. After working it a little, they add a lot of butter while working it over the grill’s surface and then toss in some soy sauce for flavor and color. The second element are the sauces. While most folks tend to like the “white sauce,” I don’t. I only use two sauces: mustard sauce (a concoction I’m guessing of thick mustard and soy sauce) and ginger sauce (both seen below). I use the ginger sauce for shrimp and steak. I put mustard sauce on everything else–chicken, veggies, and rice.
