{"id":8600,"date":"2016-09-19T23:06:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T07:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/?p=8600"},"modified":"2016-09-20T07:05:34","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T15:05:34","slug":"ko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/ko\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly Opened in Gastown – Kozakura"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was fascinated while\u00a0reading\u00a0about the recently opened\u00a0Kozakura<\/strong> in Gastown and their “Kappo<\/strong>” Japanese cuisine. “Kappo” is a style of dining in which the chef prepares and serves a meal\u00a0on the spot for a customer sitting behind a counter. Although popular in Kyoto, it shall not\u00a0be confused with Kaiseki, the ceremonial cuisine in Kyoto that also consists of multiple small dishes, as it is less formal.<\/p>\n

As I found out Nosh and Nibble<\/a> was also interested in checking it out, I thought we were just going to pay a casual visit together. Somehow the idea turned into a group event, and I found myself sitting with him and 4 other food bloggers inside\u00a0the Gastown eatery. \u00a0We did think about getting the Omakase option, which is $60 or $75 per person, which seems to be on the pricey side, and finally settled on getting 2 servings of every item on their dinner menu. Normally this would work well at a typical izakaya restaurant, but soon\u00a0we discovered this did\u00a0not work as nicely as hoped.<\/p>\n

First we had the\u00a0Osentamago Ohitashi<\/strong> ($6) , featuring a soft poached onsen (hot springs) egg, along with some snow peas in a dashi soy broth. The broth is delicious on its own. Once the egg is broken, the flowing egg yolk gets mixed\u00a0into the broth, making the broth \u00a0richer and even more flavourful. \u00a0It is a beautiful dish to set the tone of the evening. But unfortunately this dish is definitely not meant to be shared by 3 people.<\/p>\n

\"Osentamago<\/a>
Osentamago Ohitashi ????????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Aigamo Sumiso<\/strong> ($9) came with\u00a0sliced sweet soy cooked duck breast, sumiso and flowering chives. \u00a0 The sumiso sauce, mainly vinegar and miso, \u00a0is slightly\u00a0potent on the vinegary and salty side, and in need of some sweetness or spiciness to balance it out. Although the duck was quite tender, the chives were a bit tough and chewy rather than crunchy as expected. \u00a0Since they describe it as flowering chive, why aren’t they picking the tenderer part of chive that includes the blossom?<\/p>\n

\"Aigamo<\/a>
Aigamo Sumiso ?????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Honjitsu no Osashimi<\/strong> \u00a0($25) comes with 4 types of sashimi (sockeye, toro, albacore, and amaebi) and 4 pieces each, but the chef managed to provide\u00a06 slices from\u00a0each type and charged us only $5 extra. \u00a0The fish tasted very fresh and I think with such quality the price is reasonable.<\/p>\n

\"Honjitsu<\/a>
Honjitsu no Osashimi ??????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next we were presented the Tako no Yawarakani<\/strong> ($12) featuring sous vide octopus, dressed with smoked ponzu and garnished with mizuna leaves. Besides the portion being quite small, the octopus was quite salty and the texture was a little tough as well. \u00a0As one of the benefits of sous vide is to tenderize the tough meat over long hours, but it didn’t seem to be the case here.<\/p>\n

\"Tako<\/a>
Tako no Yawarakani ???????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Food Wench<\/a> really enjoyed the\u00a0Sake Kasu Salmon<\/strong> ($10) in which the salmon is marinated in sake kasu for long hours before it was cooked and torched, and she found the texture and flavour unique. I actually found the sake flavour a little overpowering over the delicate fish, and the texture slightly\u00a0mushy.<\/p>\n

\"Sake<\/a>
Sake Kasu Salmon ??????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the Sanshou Steak<\/strong> ($12) \u00a0we were presented a piece \u00a0of thinly sliced ribeye, \u00a0with sanshou peppercorns, and a few shungiku stems.\u00a0Shungiku, or Tong Ho in Chinese, is one of the very few things that I am not so keen on, but with the sanshou peppercorns, the vegetable was actually bearable. Sanshou tastes just like Sichuan where can i buy valium online <\/a> peppercorn – spicy, aromatic and having the same tongue-numbing effect. I actually quite enjoyed this dish, and I’m definitely stealing the idea in my own cooking.<\/p>\n

\"Sanshou<\/a>
Sanshou Steak ??????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sumonomo Salad<\/strong> ($8) was topped with fresh crab leg meat and appeared to be petite and precious. Personally I found the dressing needed a little more sugar to balance the acidity, although I know a lot of people might\u00a0enjoy the flavour and find it refreshing and appetizing.<\/p>\n

\"Sunomono<\/a>
Sunomono ???<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Yuzu Miso Buta Niku<\/strong> ($10) has a more successful use of sous-vide with sous vide pork loin, yuzu miso paste, and apricot glaze. The texture is slightly chewy but it’s \u00a0just the way how I like it. \u00a0And yuzu miso combined with apricot glaze, giving it all the acidic, savoury and sweet flavours the pork needs. \u00a0It was a very small dish as there are merely 5 or 6 very small slices of pork for $10.<\/p>\n

\"Yuzu<\/a>
Yuzu Miso Buta Niku ??????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Madai Sakamushi<\/strong> ($12) is\u00a0\u00a0likable, as a piece of steamed seabream with seared skin, along with\u00a0a small branch of bok choy, is\u00a0served in a thick soy dashi gravy-like sauce. The soy dashi sauce is clearly using the\u00a0same\u00a0broth for the onsen egg dish, which I really like. The fish itself was\u00a0\u00a0nicely cooked.<\/p>\n

\"Madai<\/a>
Madai Sakamushi ?????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My favourite dish of the night was the Anago Dashi Chazuke<\/strong> ($10),\u00a0featuring\u00a0slow cooked sea eel, steamed rice, dashi, and mitsu. Not a huge fan of unagi\u00a0(fresh water eel) and the unagi sauce that’s often a little too rich and too sweet, I rather appreciate\u00a0how light but flavourful the sea eel is. All the components were cooked nicely\u00a0with subtle but pleasant flavours. I figure the proper way to eat it, is to mix the rice in the dashi broth and consume it like have congee or soup using both the chopsticks and the bowl. \u00a0But to share with 2 other people, it was somwhat challenging.<\/p>\n

\"Anago<\/a>
Anago Dashi Chazuke ???????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maggi <\/a>and I shared some\u00a0Hakuin Masamune<\/strong> (300 ml for $30), it was an easy drinking sake and it went well with the food.<\/p>\n

\"Hakuin<\/a>
Hakuin Masamune<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nosh and Nibble<\/a> enjoyed a small serving of\u00a0Yamahai Ume Sake<\/strong> ($10). Not to be confused with Umeshu, which is shochu (distilled liquor) with steeping ume (plum) flavour, this is a sake that’s infused with ume. So it is even lighter.<\/p>\n

\"Yamahai<\/a>
Yamahai Ume Sake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are a lot of artistic touches to\u00a0the interior design. Overall the ambiance is very Gastown.<\/p>\n

\"Kozakura,<\/a>
Kozakura, Gastown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kozakura,<\/a>
Kozakura, Gastown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kozakura,<\/a>
Kozakura, Gastown… Model: Food Wench<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was also in the company of Foodgressing<\/a> and Foodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I would compare the experience of dining at Kozakura to \u00a0a viewing of a small artsy film,which definitely has a few heart felt\u00a0beautiful moments. But I’m not sure if the whole thing would warm up to\u00a0the mainstream audience quickly. \u00a0However the cuisine style does have potential to be better received if they could fine tune the menu or the format. \u00a0A tasting menu with 5 or 6 courses around $45 \u00a0seems more adequate. \u00a0I think people will prefer that over omakase when they visit for the first time. As almost\u00a0all the\u00a0dinner dishes here are\u00a0quite small to share by more than 2 people, if you are looking for izakya style dining, this place is not the right place. If you’re adventurous and up for a unique experience, Kozakura is worth checking out.<\/p>\n

Website and menu:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.kozakuragastown.ca\/<\/a><\/p>\n

More reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kozakura<\/a><\/p>\n

Location:<\/p>\n