Kiraku: Japanese Tapas in Berkeley
My coworker introduced me to Kiraku, a small Japanese tapas restaurant on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. She recently had dinner there and was texting me photos as the food was being served. I was intrigued. My friend who lives in Palo Alto was happy to make the drive to eat there with me last week. Here’s what we had in the order that it came out.
I was in love at first site with this beautiful spoonful of uni, ikura, and yuba. It tasted fresh and had a subtle flavor of the sea.
We had the homemade tofu that was topped with seaweed, bonito flakes, and green onions. Although the presentation was pretty, it was cold and bland and not what either of us expected. We should’ve had the agedashi tofu instead.
The beef tataki was lightly seared on the outside and thinly sliced. The beef was very tender and was complimented with a citrus flavored sauce. It was my absolute favorite plate of the evening.
The corn tempura is clusters of kernel corn that is battered and deep fried and tossed with green tea salt. This is a very popular dish. It was good, but I think I expected a wow.
My friend who is obsessed with foie gras ordered the foie gras with daikon. I remember my last hurrah with foie gras before the California ban in 2012 and decided to keep those memories as my last. My friend really enjoyed this dish. I tasted the sauce and the daikon and thought that was lovely.
The roast duck came out next. It was perfectly sliced with each piece having crispy skin. However I thought it was a tad over cooked which made it taste boring.
The organic chicken karaage was something my coworker had recommended. I had no problem ordering it because I love fried chicken. I liked the coating, but thought it fell a bit flat.
We ended our meal with my favorite sashimi, salmon. This was the perfect ending being that it was fresh and light.
My coworker would probably disagree on the perfect ending because one of her favorite things she had at Kiraku was their homemade grapefruit yogurt ice cream. Me and my friend opted to drive to Ici instead. There are a lot more items on the Kiraku menu that I am interested in trying so I’m sure I’ll be back soon.