Kinjiro has received so much praise from foodies  and professionals alike that part of me wondered if it could indeed be as good as people said it was. But just a few courses into our dinner this past Tuesday I was all Lili von Shtupp: “Oh it’s twue, it’s twue! It’s twue, it’s twue!” Yes, people, Kinjiro more than lived up to the hype. It was one of the very best meals we’ve had this year and it is now at the top of my list of restaurants I will recommend to friends who ask me where to eat in L.A. In fact, I am inclined to say that if you are passing through Los Angeles and only have time for one dinner, this is where you should go. But if you’re not from L.A, or even if you are but don’t follow the food scene very closely, you may be wondering what Kinjiro is. Read on. 

Kinjiro is currently one of the hottest izakayas in Los Angeles. It opened in late 2014 in Little Tokyo and is located right next to the ever-popular Sushi Gen in the Honda Plaza. Izakayas, in case you don’t know, are basically bars with good food. You drink and eat small plates of food that go particularly well with drinks and which are easily shared. They’re typically informal both in atmosphere and in service: you order food as you go and things are brought out as they’re ready. Kinjiro retains the informality even though there’s no separate bar here: you sit at tables as at a regular restaurant. The menu is diverse but manageable and the staff are only to happy to explain and guide you through the sake selection and the food. The food itself is pretty fancy as izakaya food goes and runs the gamut from cold to warm to hot, from pickled to simmered to deep fried, from cucumber to crustacean to cow, and from bone marrow to short rib to tongue. There’s something here for everyone, except maybe the strict vegetarian.

Now I should say before I go any further that I am no great expert on the izakaya genre and that Kinjiro is the only izakaya of its kind that I’ve ever eaten at. So please keep that in mind as you register my enthusiasm. That enthusiasm is great, however. It was all I could do to not go back immediately the next day to try all the many things we couldn’t get to. Which is not to say that we didn’t get to very much. There were four of us and we were told as we sat down that they usually recommend eight or so dishes for four people to share: we unwillingly stopped at 13…What did we eat? Well, I’m going to annoy those who really hate clicking on slideshows and put the description of the food in the captions to the pictures below. Please take a look and scroll down for some more comments.

It is not hard to find Kinjiro. You go to the Honda Plaza and look for the crowds outside Sushi Gen; Kinjiro is right next door. There will be no crowds outside it because they are reservations-only, or at least they discourage walk-ins. (This picture was taken as we left; yes, we closed the place down.)

As you enter you will see that the room is small, that the kitchen is visible at one end and that one wall is lined with sake bottles.

The thing to do is to order some sake as soon as you sit down. It will help you deal with the menu. If like us, you know little about sake put yourselves in the hands of the friendly servers.

Our server recommended we start with a small bottle of the Hakkaisan.

It was very good.

The sake sorted you begin to look through the menu, which is divided into a number of short sections. You will also be given a “specials” menu, which you should also look at closely.

The staff will be only to happy to explain and make recommendations…

So don’t be hesitant about asking. This is not like walking into an intimidating temple of sushi: this is a very friendly place.

This gorgeous layered masterpiece of uni, scallop and blue crab with a tart ponzu jelly and just a dab of wasabi to give it some bite would be a very good way to start. This comes two to an order, by the way. We got two orders so as to not come to blows.

So would these tiny oysters in ponzu sauce.

So indeed would this plate of tiny roe-filled smelt, battered and fried and then pickled.

You eat all of each tiny fish, ideally in no more than two bites. And don’t forget to eat the pickled scallion too!

It’s a bad idea to run out of sake.

Our server recommended we follow the Hakkaisan with this slightly sweeter Dassai.

It was also very good.

The “specials” menu includes a section of ultra-salty and fishy bits that are apparently especially good accompaniments to sake.

This was pretty intense: salty and pungent. We quite liked it but this was one of the dishes we were very glad to be splitting four ways.

At some point you might think about getting warmer dishes.

There are a number of categories for those.

Oh man, this was amazing. Crispy skin on the outside of the tofu, soft, almost-custardy goodness inside, and a mushroom broth that is umami exemplified.

On to cooked flesh! Here we have chicken that’s pounded, rolled and perfectly fried with a crisp exterior and a tender interior. And the spicy dipping sauce was dynamite too.

Back briefly to the water with this take on what is a rather ubiquitous dish in L.A: miso coated black cod. I think it’s on this menu because the owner, Jun Isogai—who also waits tables and by now had taken over our table—was a protege of Nobu Matsuhisa, who is identified with this dish. Anyway, it was bloody good.

At some point you will notice the bull staring balefully at you from the wall opposite the one with the sake bottles and your thoughts will turn to meat.

But first, more sake! Jun recommended the “Cowboy” as one that goes well with meat.

He also recommended not putting the bottle in the ice bucket so we could see how it opened up as it came to room temperature.

Thin discs of raw wagyu with shredded scallions and radish and a killer pepper sauce. Great stuff.

Not a great picture but I needed to look at it close up again.

A bone marrow take on what is apparently traditionally an eggplant preparation. As someone who hates eggplant I am so glad they went with bone marrow. A thick swipe of sweet miso over luscious bone marrow, all of it roasted and presented either with or without toast as you see fit. We got it with toast but I couldn’t bring myself to dilute the incredible flavour one bit.

Yes.

Oh yes.

This was one of my very favourite things on the night: perfectly charred and caramelized on the outside, toothsome and just a bit springy on the inside. The minimal seasoning let the meat shine.

Tonguelicious.

Drawing to a close your eyes drop to the bottom of the menu but don’t be in too much of a hurry…

Check the “specials” menu to see if they have the uni risotto. If they do, just get it. Then spoon it into your mouth, trying to stay ahead of your friends, and be assured that no one will take the orgasmic sounds coming out of your mouth between bites amiss. Incredible stuff.

This is apparently a traditional end to this sort of a meal and so we got an order (which had to be placed early on). I have to say that this was the one thing that none of us were excited about. It wasn’t bad and it’s entirely possible that we’re just not habituated to it, but we found it a bit too heavy and chewy at the end of what had been a rather decadent meal. On the whole, I wish we’d gotten the green tea soba noodles instead or the foie gras custard from the dessert menu. But after this we were full. (I actually preferred the pickled cucumber to the riceballs themselves.)

They did photograph very well though.

I hope you have a sense from the slideshow of why I am as enthused about this meal as I am—and it’s not just me: the other three loved it too. The closing riceballs were the one B grade in a meal that otherwise was entirely in the A-/A range. It’s hard for me to say what I liked best. Of the twelve things we ate there are seven that I thought were just outstanding (some in very different ways): the uni-scallop-blue crab, the oysters in ponzu, the chilled smelt, the tongue, the marrow bone, the agedashi tofu and the uni risotto—and the carpaccio and cod were just below (others in the group had the cod and carpaccio near the top of their lists).

And it’s a pretty good “value” in its own way: all this food, two small bottles of sake, one large bottle of sake and a number of un-photographed Sapporos plus tax came to $320 for four people. This means you could drink less and eat far less excessively and still leave fully sated for quite a bit less than the $95/head or so we arrived at after tip. I also don’t want to give the impression that this is a restaurant you should go to only in a group of four or more. While it’s true you can try more with four people (more than four and the sharing becomes more complicated) I would be extremely happy just eating various combinations of three things if I were by myself: start with the oysters or the smelt, move on to the tongue and end decadently with the agedashi tofu or the uni risotto for example. Or just get three orders of the uni-scallop-blue crab-ponzu jelly, a small bottle of sake and call it a night.

I also want to reiterate again just how pleasant an experience it is. And most of the credit for this must go to the proprietor Jun Isogai, who both manages the room and waits tables. The feel of the place seems like an extension of his personality, which is affable, welcoming and genuine. Apart from a solo diner who was a friend of the house (and rocking it hardcore: by himself with a bottle of champagne) we were the last people in the restaurant, and we spent quite a bit of time chatting with Jun about Japanese food in the US, hospitality and sushi restaurants in town—he seems to know all the chefs at the big places and shared a lot of his insights into the idiosyncrasies of different establishments (I won’t repeat them in public). I’m not sure when we’ll back in L.A next but I know we’re coming back here. And our friends, I’m pretty sure, will be back well before then.