![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_0069.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the big one at the top of the page.<\/p><\/div>\n
So when I received an invitation to their private media party this week, I was dressed and ready to go a few days early! I grabbed my New Best Friend, Marc, and off we went.<\/p>\n
I have to admit\u2014I\u2019m far from a Japanese food expert.\u00a0 All I know is that none of the fare that night was sushi; I believe it\u2019s labelled yakatori.\u00a0 (What gave me that clue, you may ask? It\u2019s right in the restaurant\u2019s title!\u00a0 Duh.) No matter the designation, the bites were all creative, with a Japanese bent. (If ever I do a full<\/em> review of Hatch, I\u2019ll get to the bottom of it for you.)<\/p>\n It was all passed in small batches by some of the most pleasant servers I\u2019ve ever encountered. They didn’t try to be our friends\u2014they just wanted to accommodate us. That\u2019s<\/em> the biggest bonus in any<\/em> restaurant, especially at a party!<\/p>\n The lychee drink. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Hatch is in a very hip and interesting area of downtown, in an open-air mall called The Bloc. It\u2019s a not-big space on the bottom level, with indoor-outdoor seating. A bar is the first thing you see when you enter from the patio. That area was hopping all night, with Japanese cocktails, including a pink one with lychee nut juice. (But it was in desperate need of an actual lychee nut garnish. So by the time you<\/em> have one, they may be doing that because of this nudge. You\u2019re welcome.)<\/p>\n Marc is my best foodie these days, and he tried absolutely everything, while I stuck to chicken and potatoes. And the tidbit with my favorite moniker, Mushroom Party, which was three different varieties of fungi on a skewer.<\/p>\n The adorable potatoes. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n The fete featured nine passed treats, and one special Wagyu Beef bite that you needed a ticket for. (Neither one of us eat that, so I can\u2019t give you an opinion on it. But others seemed happy with it. And just having to go up to the cooking area to order it added a little something special to the festivities. Everyone kept asking each other if they had gotten theirs yet. It was a great mingling point!)<\/p>\n The Avo Tuna Toast. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n I made a meal of just three of the appetizing morsels\u2014Black Karaage Chicken, which is a bite of chicken with something black and crunchy on the outside, (which Marc thinks was seaweed,); Pee Wee Potato Stick, which is adorable tiny tasty potatoes on a skewer; and the aforementioned Mushroom Party Stick.<\/p>\n Marc went to town on five of them. His fave was the Hamachi, which he told me he loved<\/em>; followed by the chicken Thigh and Green Onion Stick; Avo Tuna Toast, which he liked, especially because it came on a crispy rice cake; and the\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0spicy Pork Belly Stick.\u00a0 Of interest is that he is far from a lover of tofu, but he said the Agedashi Tofu was very good, again because it was very crispy. (We\u2019re obviously both fans of the crisp!)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>