Once upon a time, in a far far away land, the Black Knight and I passed through Vancouver on our journey to Whistler. He had a recommendation from his sushi chef, go to Kingyo he said – it’s the best place in all of Vancouver, maybe because his friend cooks there. Well, if you trust your sushi chef to serve omakase style at the bar, then you also trust his recommendation for city he used to live in.
hamachi and avocado carpaccio – topped with baby spouts for a bit of bite and freshness, wasabi mayo, and soy ginger dressing; there’s a lot going on here, but surprisingly, you can still taste the Hamachi and savor the creaminess of the avocado
kobe beef – stone grilled to perfection on a hot rock; the marbled meat so tender and flavorful only takes 45 seconds or so on the rock; if you make the trek all the way to Kingyo, you cannot miss this dish. We would have ordered a second helping if we didn’t have so much food already!
kobe beef – the closeup
dan dan noodles – with beef & shrimp broth, ground pork, peppery black sesame flavoring; the Chinese cousin to ramen with a thicker and firmer noodle, but a slightly creamy broth with the fire of the pepper is what really makes this so delicious. They’re supposed to be famous for this dish – it is also a must try.
crab bi bim bop – with the raw egg, cooked in a stone bowl; not sure what a Korean dish is doing on the menu of an izakaya restaurant, but I’m not going to question it; the runny egg yolk, the slightly crisped rice, the scallions and the crab make it so hard to stop eating!
Four dishes between the two of us, and we couldn’t have made better choices in the amount of variety of dishes we ordered. Every single dish was mouth watering, to the point where we wished we could have eaten more bites of each one long after we had cleaned the plates. My favorite was the kobe beef cooked over hot rocks. Kobe beef is a treat and cooking it over rocks is a thrill. The Black Knight said it was the best meal he had had in a long time. Some meals are memorable; they stay on the tip of your tongue dancing upon our lips and are tucked away in the memory of our stomachs. Certain meals in some ways bring us back to that “magic bite” – one you’ll never forget and sometimes crave. As a foodie, those are the moments that catch my heart. To be able to share that magic with others, so they too can salivate over the pictures and reminisce on the meal. The best meals are the ones shared. And the bestest of meals, are the ones with amazing food and amazing company. In a fairytale foodie world, Kingyo is definitely a place worth traveling for.
SUMMARY
Overall: happily ever after
Highlights: kobe beef, crab bi bimp bop
Footnotes: it’s worth the trek to Canada, they also have a sister restaurant called Suika in Seattle if you can’t make it there; make reservations ahead of time; the atmosphere is a lively bar humming full of excited patrons