The restaurant conjures images of old Japan, merging various looks into a funky, modern restaurant with a surprise-filled menu
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Mari shows off the sashimi plate which is served on half a bamboo stem at Kingyo on Denman. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
A few years ago, all a Japanese izakaya needed was to open its doors and we’d swoon with delight.
Now they’re all the rage, which is just fine. They have minds of their own and chefs are free to invent dishes and reveal more of Japanese cuisine.
But we’re so darned spoiled here, once a trend hits the ground we start goosenecking, checking the horizon for the next hot thing. Kingyo, an izakaya which opened more than a month ago, shows restaurants needn’t careen like drunkards from concept to concept. Kingyo simply raises the bar.
It is definitely much more than a hangout for Japanese students, which is what some izakayas have become. Owner and chef Minoru Tamaru was last at Guu with Garlic on Robson St., which fed legions of Japanese students.
At Kingyo, he built character into the place, conjuring old Japan with antiquey looking details. Sleights of carpentry merge the look of temple, ryokan and old Japanese dwelling into a swish and funky restaurant.
A communal stretch table takes centre stage with tall plumes of bamboo plants cutting down the middle, screening one half of the table from the other. Jazz percolates with the buzz in the room and cooks in the open kitchen create a din with their yelling out welcomes.
The place gets packed and we were lucky to snag the last remaining table one evening. Another night, we had to take a hike for 45 minutes waiting for one. (A server kindly called our cellphone when the table came up.)
I was impressed with Tamaru’s food, which is full of surprises — he tweaks traditional dishes with presentation. One such dish, the sashimi (lovely seafood) was served on half a bamboo stem. The darned thing kept rocking and spilling its cargo on to the table but the fish was pristine.
And yes, I’d order the rockin’ sashimi again. You can order a trio or a five-o ($15 and $20). Our trio consisted of tuna, prawns and mackerel. Tapas-sized dishes are priced very reasonably, most between $6 and $8.
Other dishes you should try include Tokyo sukiyaki, a mini version cooked at the table, with a twist, new to us, but not in Japan: a bowl with coddled egg for dipping your sukiyaki. In Japan, apparently, it would be a raw egg.
I loved the “Stone Unagi Bowl.” The server brings a very hot stone bowl (ishi) to the table and fills it with steaming hot rice, into which she mixes an egg and unagi (cooked eel). “Wait one minute,” she says, emphasizing the one. Patience is not my virtue but I do, and a good thing too, because in that one minute, the rice forms a crunchy crust from the heat.
Kingyo style mussels are nice and fresh. To get at the delicious broth, made with sake, snap off half a mussel shell and spoon away. The tempura prawn rice ball, the pressed salmon sushi, the ramen noodle salad, the daikon and shiso salad — all quite delicious. But I’ll pass next time on the octopus and pickles, marinated in a wasabi flavoured sauce. The texture verged on slimy.
The Japanese aren’t great at desserts but here the almond tofu was quite nice — delicate and smooth. Matcha custard didn’t work for me but I could have eaten a whole mess of the “Kyoto” style tira misu. There’s no such thing in Kyoto, but the jelly-roll-style dessert of green tea cake, mascarpone and red bean is a more delicate version of the Italian dessert.
The sake and cocktail menu offer interesting choices and the kitchen excels at hunting and gathering ingredients like special rices and Kobe beef, as well as Hataka, Himalayan and Utah salts.
I’m keen to go back.
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KINGYO
Overall: Rating 4
Food: Rating 4
Ambience: Rating 4
Service: Rating 4
Price $$
871 Denman St., 604-608-1677. Open daily, 5:30 p.m. to midnight.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006