Kingyo Izakaya - Vancouver, BC

Another beautiful day for a bike ride around Stanley Park but now we're starving!  Unable to decide on where to go, Mr. Piglet and I narrow it down to Denman Street.  After riding up and down the street and giving a call to Mrs. Teddy (who will be joining us!  Yay!), we narrow it further to two establishments - Kingyo Izakaya and a Korean jem next door.  We leave it to fate and tell each restaurant that whomever will be able to seat us first will be the winner of our business.  After a several tense minutes (not really - just us standing around our bikes and them going about their business as usual), the Kingyo host comes out and declares victory with arm pumps (he actually does it!) and promises to let his neighbours know of his win.  LOL.

A hip place with a nice vibe - not too loud and I kinda like the faux bamboo.  There's an open kitchen but you can't really experience it without sitting at the bar.  We're lead to the back of the restaurant - basically the last table before the bathrooms and it seats 8 but they've just partitioned the other side of the table off with a bamboo blind.  So much for experiencing the vibe...  Oh well, we're here for the food so let's start eating!

 Deep Fried Fresh Corn - $5.80

Deep-fried fresh corn with soy-butter

LOVE fresh corn and now that's its deep fried, it must be better right?  Hm, the jury is still out but since this thing is doused in soy-butter it turns out to be really tasty although rich as well.  The corn is also super sweet and there's a bit of a crunch from the deep-frying but it would have been crunchy already from the kernels so I think the deep-frying is a bit unnecessary.  Mrs. Teddy is a sucker for corn on the cob so this is up her alley.

 King-yo Style Beef Tataki - $9.80

Super tender beef tataki with organic greens, shaved onion, garlic chips & oil, with Japanese oriental dressing

King-yo is right, this beef is super tender.  Completely soft and tender with a light soy and citrus-y dressing and with a bit of shaved onion, greens and garlic chips rolled up in a piece - awesome.  It's got the refreshing components from the onions and greens and then there's the crunchy garlic chips to give it some extra bite.  The whole table enjoyed this dish.

 Tako-Wasabi (Raw) - $3.80

Chopped octopus and pickles marinated in wasabi-flavored sauce

It doesn't look too appetizing but the flavors are ok.  The octopus is mostly soft pieces which is a little disappointing since I like contrasting densities when there are soft and tougher pieces in it.  I also find that the wasabi sauce is a little weak.  I've had this dish at Guu and Taka's and unfortunately, Kingyo's version has been my least favorite. 

 Stone-Grilled Beef Tongue - $8.20

Stone-Grilled beef tongue served with a yuzu pepper paste and green onions

I love the kitschy-ness of this whole dish - super hot rock that you lay thin sliced of raw beef tongue on to be cooked!  Even without the pepper paste and onions, the beef tongue was super tender and delicious.  With the yuzu pepper paste and green onions is a whole other level.  The whole table enjoyed this dish.  Yum!

 Chicken Karaage - $7.80

Deep fried boneless chicken served with 3 kinds of premium salt

I got a piece with absolutely no gristle but both Mr. Piglet and Mrs. Teddy got pieces that were quite fatty so I guess it's hit or miss.  The chicken was magma hot and super crunchy on the outside and we all appreciated it was boneless.  I found I didn't really even need the salt and even when I tried the three varieties (from Japan, USA and Nepal), I couldn't taste the difference between them - it just tasted like salt.  When the chicken was all said and done, there was a lot of the salt leftover since none of us really thought it was necessary.

 Ebi-Mayo - $8.90

Deep fried tempura battered black tiger prawns dipped in spicy chili mayo sauce

THE TASTIEST ebi mayo the Piglets have had in a while - large prawns that are super crispy and blazing hot.  We've been disappointed several times bu the limp ebi mayo we've been getting but Kingyo does it well.  Better than well, they do it awesome.  The spicy mayo, although tasty, takes a backseat to the prawns as it should.  The salad was rendered inedible with the giant globs of mayo on top but c'est la vie.  We weren't looking to eat the salad from this dish anyways.

 Stone-Grilled Kakuni Bibimbap - $9.20

Slowly steamed tender pork belly "kakuni" & Korean-style pickles on "Koshihikari" rice in a sizzling stone bowl

I gotta say, whatever they did to that pork is amazing because it was tender and super flavorful.  That pork should be in all rice dishes.  The Korean pickles were a nice contrast in terms of flavor and texture but this dish also needed more - more components to make it more complex because with only 3 main ingredients, it can get boring after a while.  The rice was also a bit too moist so when they mixed it for us, the crust that usually forms where the rice rests on the stone bowl was absent for the most part.  We missed that crust.   *tear*

 Our Famous Invincible and Undefeated Tan-Tan Noodle - $8.80

Noodles in pork bone and shrimp broth seasoned with sesame, miso and cashew nuts topped with ground pork, chili marinated Chinese chive and black sesame

With a name like that, it better be good!  And you know what?  These noodles were pretty flippin delicious.  The broth had just a depth of flavor that I can't even describe.  Savory, sour, spicy, umami...  it was all there.  There was that silence in the air with the only sound of slurping noodles when we were eating this dish.  Everything just worked - the noodles were cooked to al dente perfect, the nuts and sesame gave it a nice taste and texture and the ground pork was a nice meaty addition.  Mr. and I would come back just for this dish and Mrs. Teddy was pretty impressed.  Awesome.  Just awesome.

 Kingyo's Homemade Gelato - $5.20

Homemade green tea & Yuzu (Japanese lime) gelato

We were all really excited for this dish but when it arrived...  why is it all melted???  The gelato is basically half gone by the time it arrives at the table.  So sad...    The Yuzu flavor tastes like soap...  it's not exactly tart but then it's super sweet but kind of citrus-y.  I'm quite certain I have something from Occitane that smells exactly how this tastes.  The green tea on the other hand is delicious - smooth and packed full of green tea flavor.  Yum!

 Kyoto Style Green Tea Brulee - $6.80

Frozen green tea cream brulee with red bean sauce

This is not brulee save for the torched top - the frozen green tea ice cream tastes great - lots of green tea flavor - but the torched top, probably because it's frozen ice cream, is more chewy than that crunchy thick sugar top that you find on traditional brulee.  It makes Mr. Piglet sad that he can't crack the top with a spoon.  The red bean sauce is a nice sweet compliment but the green tea flavor is so pleasant that I found I didn't need the sauce.  

Would the Hungry Piglets be back?  We certainly wouldn't be opposed to it but we also think we'd choose other izakayas over this one as well.  Don't get us wrong, the food was mostly good to excellent but at that price point, it certainly can't be a regular meal and I think we also get the right to be choosy.  We'd come back but maybe not in the next little while.  Bon appetite!

Pros:

• Good to excellent food
• Tapas-style so you can try a lot of dishes
• Friendly and funny host
• Reservations accepted

Cons:

• On the pricey side - those little dishes can add up
• Servers were too absent during the meal and food was taking too long to be served (the poor gelato never stood a chance)
• Very busy during prime dining hours - make a reservation if you can!