Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek

Posted by Degan on September 27th, 2010

NOTE: this post was imported from EthnicEats.ca

UPDATE: This restaurant is closed.
It seems unfair to write about a place that no longer exists, but I went to Kakurenbo on my birthday right after meeting the most amazing man ever and sooooo… it didn’t get written about. And now it’s closed. Aptly named after the Japanese for “hide and seek,” I was first told about it during the Olympics and only months later it was gone.

Beautiful wood interior beams and sculptures decorated the place and made it look just like a Japanese inn – with a sake bar out front. The warm light and wood made it feel utterly cozy and comforting and then came the food.

Horse sashimi, curry spring rolls with chili sauce, salmon tataki with ponzu sauce, hot stone rice bowls and more, each lulling you in with the traditional and then opening your eyes with a little twist.

Yes, I said horse. Sashimi. Raw horse. I wrote a while back that people sometimes have an aversion to eating domestic animals or animals that are kept as pets in their part of the world. For some reason that doesn’t bother me. I certainly wouldn’t eat my pet, but I had a horse as a child and there was no stopping me from trying this Japanese version of beef tartare.

As I mentioned, this was also very shortly after meeting Matt, but he was a good sport and dug in with the rest of us, so I am definitely going to keep him. And in fact it was not all that challenging. Like carpaccio with a side of soy sauce.I will definitely be having it again if I can find somewhere that serves it.

Note: this restaurant is now closed.