Kingyo Izakaya Vancouver ~ 金魚居酒屋
priss | September 6, 2010Kingyo Izakaya – 金魚居酒屋 is ma favorite Japanese izakaya in Vancouver! Yes, absolute favorite. Minoru Tamaru is the owner and chef, and Beau and I miss seeing him at the restaurant. We knew each other since Minoru-san worked at Guu Garlic as the head chef. We went so often that we became friends… gotta love those magic tricks he did for us back then. =)
Then around 4 years ago, Minoru-san opened up his own restaurant – Kingyo Izakaya – 金魚居酒屋. I still remember how excited Beau and I were. We were there almost every weekend for a while, regardless if it shined, rained, or snowed. I love taking ma friends to try it out and I always got complements that I know “where good food is”! =p Love spending birthdays there too ’cause almost all the chefs and staffs would come to da table and sing us out-of-tune Happy Birthday song at the top of their lungs! XD
I’m happy to see their business doing well. They are rated as Vancouver’s Best Casual Japanese for 4 years in a row since 2007! Woot woot! They absolutely deserve it!
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Their food is seriously delicious and classy. I can see and taste Minoru-san and his staffs’ hardwork and their endless creativity. Sitting by the sushi bar is awesome because the sushi chefs would make us special complementary dishes that you can’t find on the menu. Tee hee~ So spoiled! Thank you!!
Their lunch is definitely something I’d urge you to try if you haven’t done so.
Beau and I had their King Lunch, only 10 sets are available each day.
It reminded me of the happy times in Tokyo having traditional Japanese breakfast which also consists of a number of small dishes.
Mon amie had their negitoro rice bowl.. simply amaing~ mMmMmMMmMMmmm
So Kingyo means gold fish in English. You can see custom-made sake bottles as a gold fish, and you can find traces of little gold fish made of carrots in your sashimi and ones that are made of lemon in your drink. Love it!
What do I think?
Need me to say more? ♥♥♥♥Kingyo♥♥♥♥ It’s the ONLY izakaya I’d go in Vancouver! ありがとう、Minoruさｎ！
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Then around 4 years ago, Minoru-san opened up his own restaurant – Kingyo Izakaya – 金魚居酒屋. I still remember how excited Beau and I were. We were there almost every weekend for a while,
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How much you spend per visit? I hear it is so expensive that 2 people could spend as much as $150 for dinner.
Hi ya,
The two of us eat a lot (yes I do!) and we never spent more than $90 including alcohol. On avg we spend around 60-70 bucks which is quite reasonable for the quality of food. Definitely a must-try!
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Hi Tappy! Haha Have you tried any Guu restaurants? I started with Guu on Thurlow years ago and then fell in love with Guu Garlic where Minoru Tamaru was the main chef. Then Minoru-san opened up his own restaurant – Kingyo Izakaya 金魚居酒屋, which I wrote a review on. I gotta tell ya, Kingyo is ma all-time favorite izakaya in Vancouver! So for that reason, I’m biased and haven’t been to any Guu after Minoru-san left. I was at Kingyo almost every weekend one summer. =p So.. nope I’ve never been to Guu Garden. Looked at their menu and we might go try some day. =D
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I see.
Is this Minoru-san?
http://www.almostjapanese.com/wp-content/gallery/kingyo-izakaya/kingyoboss.jpg
Who is this Koji Zenimaru?
http://www.vanmag.com/Restaurants/Koji_Zenimaru_Kingyo_Izakaya
http://www.almostjapanese.com/kingyo-izakaya-at-the-top-of-vancouver%E2%80%99s-gourmet-game-meet-koji-zenimaru
I think this person, http://www.almostjapanese.com/wp-content/gallery/kingyo-izakaya/kingyoboss.jpg
He was Guu Garlic’s first manager?
Yup that’s Minoru-san. Koji-san is the main sushi chef. Love him! He always gives us treats when we were there. =)
When will you visit Kingyo next? Can I come too and you pay for my bill please?
Read this about Kingyo:
http://www.oopsweb.com/2010/tabearuki/01a/index.htm
Can you read this?
http://www.mingpaovan.com/htm/News/20101028/wd1h.htm
Ah nice!! Good for minoru-san!!!
Priscilla,
Kingyo Toronto is having soft open at 51B Winchester st( E of Parliament east of tim Horton),tel:647-748-2121, chef by Koji Zenimaru from Vancouver, parking on Winchester
Officially open on Monday
Worth visiting,
Takashi san, thank you for letting me know! Yes Koji san told me about this before he left and I’m so happy it’s now open for business! I love your work at Kingyo Toronto. 凄い！ I’ll for sure visit if I happen to be in Toronto!