Aburiya Kinnosuke

went to Aburiya Kinnosuke last night for dinner. the restaurant is an izakaya so they have an extensive sake and shochu menu and serve Japanese tapas/small plates instead of full-on entrees. the restaurant specializes in authentic food, so there's no beef teriyaka or soba (from which stemmed a hilarious incident. Gohm had wanted to eat soba but we weren't sure if they served it there so he asked the waitress-who is 100% Japanese, fobby accent and all-and then proceeded to describe what soba was as if she didn't know).

i got there first so i ordered a Grapefruit Sour which is shochu w/seltzer/club soda and then you get a fresh half grapefruit on the side that you squeeze yourself then pour into the drink. it was, as the waitress had said, truly refreshing.

Gohm & i sat in a private booth which was fun. we could overhear other diners' conversations and the whole place was full of Japanese people. the place is actually pretty cute. very tranquil and they play mellow remakes of American songs which was pretty funny. when you enter they greet you w/an irrashaimase but not in a "let's-scare-the-crap-out-of-you" (which is what i hear happens at EN Japanese Brasseries) but in a calm and cute way. even our waitress was adorable.

we ordered a bunch of really good food. Gohm, being the sashimi lover he is, ordered Toro which was good. i've recently read somewhere that toro is best in the winter b/c the water gets colder so the fish develop more fat to stay warm. i will admit that Aburiya Kinnosuke has the most interesting but delicious side sauces and dips for the food. the toro came w/wasabi and another version of it that Gohm made the mistake of eating a large bite of.

since the food is small plates we ordered a bunch of stuff. we had chicken wings (it always feels stupid ordering this at a Japanese restaurant), fried fish cakes (they were SO yummy), chicken meatballs, grilled salmon (that you grill yourself. they bring a small grill to the table), seafood salad, octupus tempura, amazingly tender berkshire pork and a robata grilled pepper pork (both porks were delicious). we also had lots and lots of sake to go w/all the food.

i would definitely recommend this place but only for people w/adventurous palates. the food here is definitely not mainstream but nonetheless is good. plus the service is adorable. Gohm loved our waitress so much he wanted to adopt her.