604 Foodtography

I had barely used up my own personal CHEERS EBISU package before VANEATS.ca emailed me to talk about the next package they were rolling out. Their first ever package deal was called SUIKA ME SILLY! in collaboration with Suika Snack Bar. This time, they go direct to the parent restaurant Kingyo Izakaya.

A 5-Course, $19 Dining Pass from December 1st – December 31st, 2011:

1. “Sashimi Salad”, three kinds of sashimi (changes daily) on a bed of organic springs dressed with soy based vinaigrette and garlic oil
2. “Seared Negitoro Sushi”, chopped tuna & green onions with seaweed paste and Kingyo’s original sauce
3. “Chicken Breast Tender & Cod Roe Spring Roll”, served with a side of mayo & special soy sauce
4. “Deep fried tofu and mushrooms”, served in a sizzling stone bowl (DO NOT TOUCH THE BOWL!)
5. “Petit Almond Tofu”, Kingyo’s famous super smooth and refreshing almond tofu with persimmon sauce

Excuse me, but does that say 5 courses for $20? What the hell is going on here, why is all this food so cheap? You don’t get deals like this during Dine Out Vancouver either. So how was it?

I brought Sandra along with me to try this because she was bugging me.. ‘,) This package deal is really meant for one person, but if you were to share it with maybe say, a pitcher of beer or another appetizer, it’s a full meal for sure. We did just that and ordered a pitcher of Sapporo to share. Sandra likes beer. A lot. Also, we had the option of purchasing an additional set for $19, but we figured we would try it out first see if we liked it or was full enough.

We started with the Sashimi Salad. Tonights fresh sheet was salmon, scallop and amaebi. I ate a big chunk of the dark jelly on top because I wasn’t sure what it was….yikes, that was sour. Yuzu jelly. However, put together with the sashimi, the greens and the soy sauce vinaigrette and garlic oil and all the flavours play nicely.

This Chicken Breast Tender & Cod Roe Spring Roll came next. It looks like it spent a little too much time swimming in the oil. Chicken breast and cod roe (I love eating cod roe, all those eggs make little crunch sounds in your mouth, combined with that texture.. mm!). The dipping sauce of mayo with a tart soy sauce and yuzu peel really brightens up the spring roll. Kingyo, you play with my tastebuds.

The 3rd dish to come out was the Deep Fried Tofu with Mushrooms. Two bowls came out, one a hot stone bowl with agedashi tofu, and another with sauce.

The sauce was poured into the hot stone bowl and broiled furiously. It contained a mixture of bonito flakes, enoki mushrooms and okra. There was something else in it that I can’t quite put my finger on.. or is it my tongue in this case? Anyways, this caused the crispy exterior of the agedashi tofu to take on this slimy texture. I know it sounds weird, but it wasn’t. This was my favourite of the 5 dishes by the way. Okra is one strange but delicious vegetable.

Seared Negitoro Sushi – chopped and mixed green onion and toro. Sandra and I both thought that this could have been seared more to extract more flavour, much like you would do with mackerel. The seaweed sauce is very light and doesn’t overpower the fatty almost butter like taste of toro. I’ve also had this at Kingyo’s sister restaurant, Suika.

Petit Almond Tofu. So very small. Tofu pudding with a delicate hint of almond flavour. Not much else I can about that.

So the description says it comes with persimmon sauce..but as you can see, there was nothing on top. Even Foodology got a small goji berry, and Eating in Vancouver got a wackload of bluberry compote! A little strange, someone in the kitchen must have forgotten. I should comment that we were there for 530pm, and this came out at 7pm. The restaurant wasn’t too busy and was only starting to fill up, so this slip up shouldn’t happen imo.

Other than the dessert, which I didn’t realize till after when I was reading my email again, our server was on the ball. As this package is $19, I would probably recommend this for the uninitiated or newbies to Izakaya like myself, as it’s a great introduction to this Japanese style of eating. For the experienced Izakaya diners, you try ordering these things singularly and come out under $30. Just try it, I dare you.

The KINGYO CRAZE starts on Thursday December 1st, 2011. Only 150 of these passes are available, but if you follow them on Twitter or Like them on Facebook, you can enter yourself for a chance to win 1 of 4 packages! They’ll be rolling out a new dining package EVERY WEEK of December, so your chances of winning are essentially quadrupled! [may not be true, I'm not a numbers guy]

**In case you haven’t realized by now, this was complimentary. Just letting ya know.