Izakaya is huge in Vancouver for whatever reason. With so many options to choose from, we decided upon Kingyo for this trip. Sitting at the bar and leisurely ordering  was a great way to spend an evening with friends. Not to mention tasty!

While I love that I can now get Takowasabi at Guu in Toronto (yay for easy access! Now, if only one could get a seat…), Kingyo is where I first tried it. Crunchy and briny with a kick, this was a great snack that I greatly enjoyed. To compare, Toronto’s seems to have more wasabi in it.

Seared toro with jellied soy. I really liked the coolness of the jelly on the fish – I’m guessing it was soy, given that there was no descriptor for it. Gave a nice hit of salty, but also additional dimensions of texture and temperature.

The uni chawanmushi was really lovely. Rich and creamy with the lingering taste of uni, this eggy custard dish was really satisfying. We’d had a super-tasty gnocchi-and-uni dish at Elemental earlier in the week, so we were on an uni high.

A trio of negitoro. Om. Nom. Nom.

And a complementary send out from the kitchen, frozen grapes on a skewer. We see this in Toronto at Guu as well, but the presentation factor is higher in Kingyo‘s case.

Overall, it was a fun and relaxed time. There was also tasty amaebi, salmon sides, and a few more dishes, but these were my particular highlights of the meal.

  • Kingyo 871 Denman Street, Vancouver

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