Kiss Seafood: A Hidden Gem

I probably shouldn’t have started Weight Watchers a week and a half before my birthday. At the same time for someone like me that enjoys eating so much, there probably isn’t a right time. I made the decision to go ahead and start.

What I like about Weight Watchers is that you don’t necessarily have to give up foods, it’s about moderation. In celebration of my birthday, two of my friends took me out to Kiss Seafood in San Francisco. Japanese food seemed like a healthier choice.

Kiss Seafood located between Japantown and Pacific Heights is a mom and pop shop that seats about a dozen people. I’m not kidding when I say mom and pop. The husband is the sushi chef while the wife waits tables. Kiss is a restaurant known for their Omakase meals and I have been getting my fix of Omakase lately.

We started with a free appetizer made of white radish, clear noodles, and tiny sardines. It was pretty adventurous to say the least. It was fairly tasty having been marinated in some kind of sweet soy and was easy to wash down with Asahi beer.
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Our first plate was a trio of salads. It came with Japanese eggplant, octopus, and a persimmon salad. I loved the octopus. It was tender yet smokey.

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Our second plate was full of beautifully cut sashimi. From left to right, we had baby striped bass, toro, king mackerel, amberjack, giant clam, and Thai snapper. It was fresh and all were very good. I can reflect on a time many years ago that I worked at a sushi restaurant and disliked sushi.

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Our third plate were deep fried lotus root and turnip with fish meat in a broth with a clam placed on top. This plate showed a lot of creativity and textures.

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Next came number four which is a favorite of mine, chawanmushi. It was not that long ago that I had my first chawanmushi at Coach Sushi. This steamed egg was perfectly silky. It had scallops and mushrooms in it.

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The fifth plate was five pieces of nigiri. From left to right, we had halibut, sockeye salmon, spanish mackerel, yellowtail, and marinated tuna. I was so focused on making sure I got the names down that I forgot my photo. The photo below is a bad photo of a customer having the same dish as us. The other photo is my plate after I was done with it, after all I am on Weight Watchers.

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The sixth dish was mushroom soup. The warm earthy flavors were very comforting on this rainy evening.

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It’s common for Asian restaurants to leave you with some type of fruit to end with. We received a piece of melon. It was nice and sweet.

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Kiss Seafood is a hidden gem and really worth finding. And if you happen to be on Weight Watchers, a meal at Kiss works pretty well.

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