Kintaro Izakaya
Rating: 9.5/10 | holy actual fuck
I’m going to be totally honest—my entire draft got deleted as I was writing it, so here goes my best reconstruction from memory what I had already written (thank you Squarespace, for your incredibly idiotic auto-save mechanics, which if I had in any video game I would reconsider my existence as a mortal, corporeal being).
Kintaro Izakaya is not just a restaurant, it is a whole ass experience—from the moment you walk into the restaurant, you are transported back to the 70s and 80s in post-war Japan, with various signage hanging on the walls, torn-down posters, dim lighting, and an atmosphere bustling with loud yet muffled sounds of laughter, drinking, and sharing untold secrets (something you would never find at a Earls during happy hour). I also deeply appreciate the incredibly-well furnished and lavish menu they offered, as you can never really get good non-Western restaurants like this in places like Calgary (ask Silin, she can attest /j). As an aside, had it not been for the silly water-dispenser on the side of the table that dispensed water, the trip would have been ruined. Made the whole trip worth it, really. The menu was also full of different dishes which we were dying to try out, something which completely and utterly stopped us from moving forward with a decision as to what to order first—as such, we started out with a couple of drinks. Since the surveillance state of Canada prohibited me from ordering slightly toxic and health degrading beverages at the time, we instead looked to the mocktail menu to get ourselves started.
Given that both of us are incredibly basic, we ordered two of the same item: the Yuzu Mocktail for $7.0, which came with yuzu, soda, Calpico™, and orange juice. It was quite the drink to start off the evening with, as the Calpico and soda added a very nice sweet flavour at the base, which the yuzu and orange juice then complimented with a hint of sour and acidity for the aftertaste. For that alone, I would give it a 8/10—moreover, the amount of drink that we received meant that we did not even get to finish the entire drink before the end of the evening. The silly glass shape also gives it extra bonus points, so an 8.4/10 it is.
Moving onto the actual menu, we decided to start with the takoyaki at $9.9, which is a very reasonable price for takoyaki at these types of fine establishments. For what we paid, it was very standard, with themselves calling it as simple as:
“Deep-fried octopus balls w/ mayo, takoyaki sauce, and bonito flakes”
It was piping hot (which is how any dish served in its form should be) and had INSANE amounts of sauce, so it deserves nothing less than a 6/10. We can’t go higher until the rest of the meal, however, so onwards we go.
Next, we ordered the skewers set—Set A, for $25.0—which came with a heaping load of different skewers, each gently grilled with various seasonings. Not only did they have unique flavour profiles, but their textures all contrasted one another and added a cacophony of experiences:
Karubi – Beef striploin w/ karubi sauce
Sanmainiku – Pork belly w/ sea salt
Cheese Mune – Chicken breast w/ cheese
Scallop – Scallop w/ sea salt
Eringi – Buttered king mushroom w/ veggie spices
This was the perfect set of food to munch on while we ate the primary meal—it added the interesting-esque portion of the meal that was so desperately missing when you eat rice and a random fish skewered in the Artic circle six times in a row. I still don’t know what I ate but it was damn tasty :thumbsup:. As to what I am referring to, the fish can be seen in the cover photo above, which was the Chef’s Choice 6-piece Sushi for $19.9. It came with who knows what (I presume there was salmon, tuna, eel, white-fish, and slightly-pink-but-not-yet-red-fish) but it was buttery, meaty, and very smooth in its complexion. David Attenborough would have a wonderous time narrating these fish as they got chopped up and turned into our evening meal. 12/10.
As for the final dish of our wonderful evening thus far, the créme de la créme, we had the Maguro Tataki—Japanese-styled seared tuna sashimi with a wasabi ponzu dressing—for $25.3. This was a dish that allowed you to live the life of salt bae for a temporary moment in time, to savour the ideals of the Floridian-Miamian-Los Angelan-lifestyle as you sprinkled light amounts of salt over a very lightly cooked fish. It tasted salty, slightly sour in a very nice way - Silin. Also 12/10.
This concludes my review on Kintaro Izakaya, the much-better-than-Earls-at-happy-hour-restaurant by leagues, and since the restaurant did not implode when we left, we are likely to return again.
