Ever tasted a Japanese Hogwarts cocktail? Now you can at Kinda Izakaya, a brand new restaurant in Berkeley specializing in Japanese bar meals and quirky shochu drinks.
Kinda is in its tender opening and is testing out late-night hours that ought to enchantment to the UC Berkeley crowd (open till 11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and midnight Friday-Saturday, in keeping with Instagram). The area on College Avenue is heat and comfortable, with wooden accents, traditional Japanese posters and a sprawling bar. “Drink Sake / Keep Kinda” instructions an indication, and sure, a wide range of sake bottles line the rafters – there’s Born Gold muroka (unrefined sake), Michinoku Onikoroshi “Demon Slayer” (dry sake) and far more.
The menu affords a horde of appetizers designed to match together with your beverage of selection. There are requirements like shumai and gyoza, shishito peppers with yuzu salt and dashimaki tamago, and lesser-seen dishes like sake-roasted pork stomach and sauteed kinoko mushrooms. From the deep fryer comes crispy hen, tofu, squid legs and vegetable tempura, and different menu sections are dedicated to noodle soups, rice dishes and sashimi and carpaccio. And naturally there are rice balls and grilled skewers like beef tongue, hen coronary heart, okra, eggplant and bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms.
The restaurant appears to be nonetheless testing out new stuff, as obvious from an Instagram publish that includes a Tomato Refreshing Welcome Shot that appears like a juicy, peeled tomato with herbs in a shot glass. Is it a drink, an appetizer or one thing else? Who is aware of?
As for that Japanese Hogwarts tipple, which mixes Onigoroshi sake and bitter yuzu, it’s in an inventory of “Signature Cocktails” which are made with shochu or sake. There’s additionally an Outdated City Berkeley with bitters and shiso syrup, a Tokyo Highball with matcha and yuzu liqueur and a Hotto Sho with sizzling sake, ginger and honey. The restaurant additionally affords beer, wine by the glass or bottle and non-alcoholic sodas and iced inexperienced tea.
Particulars: Kinda Izakaya opens at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 1941A College Ave., Berkeley; kindaizakaya.com.