KAMINARI GYOZA BAR
ADDRESS: 323 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
INSTAGRAM: @kaminarigyozabar
As if four plates of pasta from Pasta e Pasta by Allegro weren’t enough food for me and my friend Yuji one night when we were out to dinner, we felt like we had the stomach room to take another stop to Kaminari Gyoza Bar, located in Little Tokyo. It happened to be on our way back to the garage that we parked at, and Yuji had mentioned that he was also interested to give this place a try.
From what it looked like, Kaminari was still in the soft opening phase, as they only had their front communal table dining area open for customer seating. There were also booths that were located in the back along one of the restaurant walls, but one of the employees indicated that it was just for staff only. The menu was pretty straightforward, with different types of gyoza being the featured items to choose from. Gyoza were available in three different types — yaki (pan fried), age (deep fried), and sui (boiled with soup). They did also have bento box options available with a mixture of the yaki and age style.
We decided that we had it in us to polish off two orders of gyoza, which amounted to 12 pieces total, so we went for the yaki and age styles, in the assorted and pork varieties, respectively. It was nearly 8:30PM when we stopped into Kaminari, and aside from us, there were only two other guys there at the place, so it was pretty quiet overall. It only took maybe about five minutes or so before we got our entire gyoza order brought out to us. There are also a number of dipping sauces to choose from to complement the gyoza. We chose the sriracha mayo along with the yuzu kosho to see how those were.
Both of our gyoza orders were served in to-go containers, even though we had mentioned that we would be eating there. I’m not sure if that is just a result from it being so late or that they didn’t have any dishware to use at the moment, but it was a pretty minor thing and I just found it interesting to note. We decided to start off with the pork age, which had a good crunchy texture on the outside, and a tasty filling with pork and chopped vegetables. For the yaki style, I thought that the soy sauce or the yuzu kosho was probably the best pairing. The punch of umami from the soy sauce or the citric acid from the yuzu kosho really helps to contrast from the crunchy exterior. Even though it was deep fried, it was nice that the gyoza didn’t eat oily or anything like that.
The assorted order came with a mix of their pork, chicken, shrimp, and vegan gyoza types, with the yaki style being probably what I’ve been most accustomed to when I’ve had gyoza in the past. Taste-wise, I think that I’m still a fan of pork the most, followed by the chicken, vegan, then shrimp. They did a good job on the cook for the gyoza, with the crispier side facing up to help with the presentation. The sriracha mayo tasted good with the gyoza, but it was still hard to beat that extra kick that the yuzu kosho gives each bite, which is what I think they needed.
It’s definitely cool to have a gyoza bar where you can pop in real quick for some small bites, since they don’t fill you up too much. If I were to try to have this place as a full meal, I’d probably get two orders of gyoza and that would be just the right amount for me. The cook on the gyoza is good, and the variety of the dipping sauces that you can choose from to complement the gyoza is also pretty nice. Although it’s a cool addition to the food options in the Little Tokyo area, I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way for this place. It would be one of those spots that is good to know about if you’re looking for a quick bite of gyoza when you’re in the neighborhood.
Let’s now take a look at the Kaminari Gyoza Bar Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Pork Gyoza, Age Style **
Deep fried pork gyoza.
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** Assorted Gyoza, Yaki Style **
Pan fried gyoza, with assorted mixture of pork, chicken, shrimp, and vegan fillings.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Kaminari Gyoza Bar:
Food: 4 / 5
From a texture standpoint, I thought that they did pretty well with both the age and yaki styles. From a flavor standpoint, all four of the types tasted pretty good, but I also did think that ones like the chicken, shrimp, and vegan types relied on the dipping sauce to impart more flavor.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
The inside of the restaurant is pretty brightly lit with a number of incandescent light bulbs, providing a warm temperature feel to the space. Metal, brick, and wood all make up some of the other décor elements that you see within the dining area as well, with a view into the open kitchen in the back.
Service: 4 / 5
It’s definitely more of a fast-casual type of restaurant, with ordering up at the register and then taking a seat with a number. Gyoza cooks pretty quick, so the kitchen was able to knock out our order pretty quickly as well.
Price: 4.25 / 5
When you break it down, it’s about $1.50 per gyoza in an order, which isn’t too bad. They are a good size and seem to have a good amount of filling as well for the value.
Overall:
16.5 / 20
(83%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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