Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Kingyo Izakaya

Kingyo is a Toronto branch of the Vancouver restaurant, Kingyo, that serves refined Japanese comfort and bar food.

Raw chopped octopus and pickles marinated in a kelp/wasabi flavoured sauce, accompanied  by nori sheets. Tasting of the sea, the octopus is crunchy textured, with a bit of a bight.

Grilled, sweet saikyoi miso marinated black cod with a yuzu miso sauce. The flavours and textures were sublime.

Sea urchin "shooter" with shiso, sticky yamaino yam, sea kelp, sushi rice, yuzu and orange, topped with a raw quail's egg yolk. If you love sea urchin, this sea mist fragrant shooter will be an "eye opener".

Avocado, raw shrimp and raw tuna with garlic fragrant, buttered toasts. Another very pleasing dish with complementary flavours and textures.

Beef tongue served with cilantro dipping sauce and a dab of hot pepper paste. The fattiness of the pre-cooked tongue, grilled to one's liking on the very hot stone, was sublime.


Stone grilled Tajima beef, sourced from Australia. The beef although a touch tough, was wonderfully marbled and highly pleasing.


The hot pot before the sauce was added and heated.
Hida takayama style spicy chicken hot pot with sesame miso, chicken thighs, shredded cabbage, kimchi, chives and bean sprouts. A meal in itself.

"Flame seared" salmon oyako battera and salmon roe. Oyako (family) battera box sushi. The salmon was too salty, almost inedibly so and was not flame seared. This "flame seared" dish was a very inferior version of the Jabistro version.

O-sho kuragga with "magic pepper" blend powder, was boneless chicken battered and deep fried. A tasty dish, the chicken was juicy and not overcooked, but the breading was not crispy enough. Nevertheless, this was a pleasing dish.

Otana no pudding. Very soft, silky rich, egg based flan on a bitter caramel, liquid base.

Coloured almond tofu: almond tofu with berry sauce and jasmin sauce. This was a delightful refreshing dessert.

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