Lunch at Kingyo

Kingyo
871 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Izakaya places in Vancouver are places I have seldom gone because you need to go in a small group; something I rarely have opportunities to do. Hmmmmm… I guess outside of my food bloggers circle of friends, I need to find other friends more willing to eat out… (OK, PO aside, who has been a good sport; in fact, he was a partner in crime on this visit!). Sure, you could go by yourself but that does not necessarily work that well, as you can only try that many things. But this post is not about the regular izakaya fare; rather, it is about lunch, something that might be an oxymoron if you are having it in an izakaya (unless you work graveyard shift). And, given my previous lunch experience in an izakaya (check my visit to Guu with Garlic and Wanoma ), my expectations were all over the place. Oh, well, I was about to find out!

Since most people go to Kingyo for after work, there was absolutely nothing for me to do a comparison on, not even the ambiance. Sure, ambiance is not something I care much about, but, if it was really dark, would you be able to notice this?

Fortunately, the menu was straight forward, with several yoshoku offerings and some drinks. I decided to skip drinks and went for tea. PO, on the other hand, went for a drink… To tell you the truth, I completely overlooked what was ordered. Calpis soda with melon? The only detail that was mentioned was that it was quite sweet. Sorry about being fuzzy on this one… -_-;;;

PO went for something “simple”, in this case, simple being Kanazawa Pork Cutlet Curry. I will have to admit it looked quite good and, had not order my dish, chances are I would have ordered it. Not really noticeable in the picture above is the gravy/curry sauce. According to PO, it was slightly spicy, which deviates a little bit of the norm, i.e., a more sweet gravy. Also, rather than just gravy, it had some pieces of minced meat. Finally, the cutlet was crispy and, in no way, dry.

As for my dish… I ordered their Assorted Delux (sic) Bento. While I could provide what was written in the menu, there is an “items change daily” note so what is written might not be accurate. So, without further ado…

A picture of the whole order

Egg omelette with eel – the piece of eel was barely there and the egg wasn’t really sweet.

Mackerel salad.

Japanese stew. Vegetables were soft but otherwise a hearty stew.

“Hamburg” steak.

Grilled salmon.

Chicken karaage.

Braised (?) pork

Sashimi, don’t remember the exact fish cut, though.

In addition to the small plates above, there were two pickled items, a bowl of rice and some miso soup. For the later it wasn’t the usual variety; instead, it had some pumpkin in it. As for the small dishes themselves, it was a bit of a mix, i.e., some I had mixed feelings, some were better, others were meh. For example, the egg one was just OK. There was a bit of fishiness from the mackerel (in the mackerel salad) but otherwise it was an OK salad. I liked the stew but, given the size, you could only taste that much. While it is called a hamburg “steak”, it look actually like a meatball. Taste-wise it was pretty much like one and the glaze gave a sweet taste. The salmon lacked the skin which was unfortunate. The karaage, being a fried item, was good, though far from being the best I ever had. The pork, as usual, is good. Finally, the sashimi was somewhat disappointing as it had a slight rubbery texture.

Despite my description seems to indicate there were mostly disappointments, actually that wasn’t the case. It had some redeeming qualities but it is difficulty to explain, as, after the second bite, you want to take a third one. Unfortunately, by then, that mini dish is gone! There was another minor problem: some of the dishes weren’t pipping hot, just lukewarm… In the end, I did enjoy all the combination of flavours and textures.

After the meal, I had to ask one question to the waitress: according to the menu, this dish is limited to 10 per day. Why? I partially understand their need to limit the amount as that limits the amount of food wasted in the case less people order (i.e., you just prepare 10 portions); however, some of them does not really matter that much as you can prepare it to order. In the end, the answer was on the line of a gimmick. By limiting the “availability”, people would be more encouraged to order it. Strange (but effective) marketing if you ask me…

Overall, it was an interesting lunch. At $16, it was expensive and the limited availability gimmick might be annoying. If variety is something you like, this lunch will certainly feel your boots. But, putting that one aside, the other dish ordered was seemed interesting as well. Given this experience with lunch, I can only say I look forward for an izakaya experience.

Tagged under: Downtown • Izakaya • Japanese • Lunch • Vancouver • West End