Kinkaku Izakaya is located at 217 King St. W. in Kitchener, which is approx. 100km SW of Toronto. It's a 10 min. walk from the Kitchener GO station so can be considered transit-accessible. We went for weekend lunch. Kinkaku has a dark, more traditional interior with wood-frame booths and plenty of black-and-white geisha photography and other Japanese decoration on the walls. AYCD pop is available for $3.50. Unfortunately disposable chopsticks are used, but we brought our own as always. Soy at table was strongly flavoured and savoury and fresh, although the strength of the flavour means it was a little salty, but it blended in well.
We both loved the miso soup as it had a wonderfully delicious smoky flavour with plenty of umami savour. Beef skewer was excellent, tender and not dried out, and the sauce was very good and we both loved it. Chicken karage was excellent, moist and not over-breaded and the sauce went well with it.
Gyoza were quite good and we both enjoyed them; they had a nicely-flavoured filling and the sauce although understated was complimentary. Deep fried scallop aka surimi was pretty much the same as everywhere else and the sauce was equivalently good. Mishy said the cheese wontons were amazing and I loved them as well as they had plenty of cheese, the sauce was very good and they were not oily. Mishy said that the chicken teriyaki was amazing and not “rubbery” which makes twice in a row she is had a good chicken teriyaki not-rubbery experience, which has to be a record; I also enjoyed the chicken teriyaki very much. Unfortunately she commented that the beef teriyaki was lackluster, but I didn't mind it at all as although it wasn't the best cut at least the sauce was good and so many other things are on the dinner-only menu. She liked the spring rolls saying they were comparable to everywhere else and were just at the right temperature; I do agree they were pretty good. Chicken skewers were excellent and I loved the sauce and they were flavourful and juicy and savoury.
Mishy tried the deep fried tofu for once and enjoyed it; I did too as it had a very good sauce. Yam and broccoli tempura were very good although a bit oily, but the sauce did them proud. The shrimp tempura was less oily and very good with the sauce. Ebimayo is a fried shrimp dish with an interesting mayo-based sauce that I don't remember trying, before but it was quite good. Takoyaki was very good and had a tangy sauce.
Mishy said the salmon sushi nigiri was amazing... it was her go-to word of the day. Salmon cheese roll had tempura crumble and avocado, and the cheese portion was rather tiny, so can't really be considered a substitute for the missing Philadelphia rolls, but they weren't bad. Similarly the avocado salmon roll slightly resembled a Philadelphia roll but wasn't really comparable, but it was quite good as it was. Red snapper aka tilapia nigiri was quite good and fresh enough and the rice had good consistency. Butterfish aka escolar and crab aka surimi was similar, and as Mishy noted the salmon nigiri was very good.
For dessert on the lunch menu there are only two flavours of Melona bars, coconut and mango, or Kit Kat bar, one per customer as is the norm at the grill houses. Weekend lunch is $30.99. This is pretty standard for the GTA and only a couple of dollars more outside it, and it was pretty much worth the small difference... we certainly enjoyed our lunch there.
Rating: 8.5 - 9 / 10
