When you stroll into this beauty of a restaurant in LoHi, you get the impression you’ve entered an izakaya in Japan, wood-paneled and welcoming, elegant but lively, elevated but approachable. It’s the same with the menu. You’ll find delight in its take on traditional Asian fare, with the kinds of adaptations and twists that make every dish unique.
And the seasonal changes make focusing on a favorite even more difficult. When the duck soba is on the menu, I’ll choose it over the spicy lamb dan dan. But that won’t stop me from giving long consideration to the cold sesame noodles with their perfect chili crisp topping.
The one stalwart — the item we order Every. Single. Visit — is the fried chicken bao. It’s my lady’s favorite, and the easy walk to Kawa Ni from my place means that tasty small plate is a staple when we’re on my side of town.
The fluffy bun itself is a pillow of perfection and holds the sultry innards well. You get a hearty hunk of encrusted chicken — which still seems to be sizzling from the fryer — with a nest of pickles atop, all sauced up and shiny in the flickering candlelight of the room.
Each bite takes you into a different phase of the dish, like a full meal in miniature.
When you fold the thing together into taco shape and take that first tentative mouthful at the pointy end (go easy — did I mention it’s still steaming?), you get the soft bao, the chicken crunch, the pickle buzz, a lovely sticky hot honey burn, and a crisp yuzu-bright recovery all at once.
“What the fuck?” you say aloud.
Yeah, I know.
As you work your way into the thick center of the bao, where the chicken is at its heartiest, the balance changes to something fulsome and nourishing, like the main dish in a three-course meal. And then, too soon, you’re popping the last edges of that drippy bun into your mouth — a spicy-sweet morsel of dessert.
You’ll be grateful for the moist rolled towel delivered alongside the bao, because this isn’t a tidy experience, and nobody will blame you if you wash it down with a sake bomb or a Toki highball.
You’ll move through the rest of the menu after that, joyful with everything you order. But when you get home that evening, it’ll be that first bite of fried chicken bao you’ll fall asleep thinking about.