Perhaps one of the more compelling food stories of 2020 bore witness to the rise of Nan Yimcharoen and her labor of love, KinKan. Coming from a background rooted in fashion, she crossed into the culinary world by offering a series of strikingly beautiful and delicious bento boxes for takeout during the pandemic shutdown, with predominantly social media and word of mouth as marketing. Success came rapidly, as Nan steadily built a legion of loyal fans with each and every drop. Ultimately, her rapid ascent translated into the realization of a brick-and-mortar location for KinKan in Virgil Village which recently opened for business.
Yoku Taburu (which according to Nan, roughly translates to ‘Eat Well For Lunch’) is a quirky yet delightful Thai-Japanese pop-up lunch counter omakase concept at KinKan which began earlier this week. For this venture, Nan enlisted the help of her mentor, sushi chef Yasu Kusano (formerly of I Love Sushi in Bellevue, WA, and more recently helming the kitchen at Gonpachi Beverly Hills), to team up for a high quality, very satisfying - and dare I say, hard to find in L.A. - lunch omakase. Let’s go!!!
The bright and airy L-shaped counter seats up to nine. All slots were reserved for lunch…
Nan, prepping for service…
Random overhead ceiling piping, for @CiaoBob…
Iced matcha tea from Shizuoka…
Kasutera-style tamagoyaki beckons under the protection of the mosquito netting in the corner… (This is for you, @kevin…)
Yasu-san, readying the neta…
… and uncovering the su-meshi to achieve optimal temperature.
Miso soup with madai, wakame… Comforting and bold in taste - A stupendous start to the meal. Huge Bite.
Madai… The shari at this relatively new upstart is already surprisingly deep in texture, and really brought out the best in the sea beam.
Masu (sea trout)…
Duo of honmaguro: Chu-toro zuke and akami zuke… Both pieces were aged for 10 days. Superb!
Yasu-san serves up the next course…
Ankimo… Marinated and never frozen, the uncanny airy quality in texture of this ankimo made this delicacy even more decadent, and a true highlight of the lunch omakase! Huge Bite.
Shima aji with yuzu kosho… Fantastic.
Seared hotate… Very nice.
Ikura gunkan… Quite good.
Uni… Murasaki, from Santa Barbara - Top, top quality. Huge Bite.
Toro temaki… I would have liked more ‘heft’ to this handroll, but what I did taste was surely excellent.
Toto inspection… A beautifully appointed bathroom.
Kasutera-syle tamagoyaki… OK, somebody spent some serious time learning how to perfect this egg and shrimp dish, because this is one of the fluffiest, tastiest tamagoyaki I’ve ever had in L.A. Huge Bite!
Nan prepares a final gift for us patrons…
Golden kiwi… At the height of ripeness. A marvelous coda to an outstanding lunch omakase!
Gochisosama deshita! Don’t miss this lunch pop-up at KinKan, for it is a true pleasure to experience a midday repast conceived and executed at this level.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Yoku Taburu (Eat Well For Lunch) at KinKan
771 N. Virgil Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90029
ExploreTock.com/Kinkan
Instagram: @kinkan_la