Kokkaku

Kokkaku

Recommended by: The hostess at Kamonegi mentioned Kokkaku in Miyabi 45th former location, as having interesting presentations on Wagyu beef and staying within the Japanese food theme.

Description on the Kokkaku website: Kokkaku, a “Japanese inspired Meat House” where whole beast butchery is the focus and local sourcing of farmed, foraged, and artisan craftsmanship is at the forefront of interpretation and creativity.

Neighborhood/Type:  Wallingford

Address: 2208 N 45th Street, Seattle, WA 98103

What we ate/drank:  Wagyu Four Ways-A5 Wagyu sashimi and sushi, and two American Wagyu tartar, one with quail egg and one with nori.  Ton Katsu, Lan Roc Pork Tenderloin, Wagyu Bolognese Linguine, 2 Asahi beers, Shoyu Ice Cream

Comments:  As mentioned in our Kamonegi review , my wife and I were always big fans of Miyabi 45th.  Well, the ex-chef/owner of Miyabi 45th opened up Kamonegi, but whatever became of the space that Miyabi 45 used to be in on the main street of Wallingford neighborhood on 45th Street?  We actually had no idea, but the hostess at Kamonegi suggested it as another Japanese restaurant to visit and mentioned they had unique presentations on Wagyu beef.

So what is Wagyu?  It’s basically four types of Japanese beef cattle breeds, the most famous being Kobe beef. So what makes Wagyu beef so special?  The main difference is that Wagyu beef is highly marbled, which means it’s highly fatty and leads to a better taste and a buttery flavor.  The Japanese have taken developing Wagyu cattle to a whole new level through distinct breeding methods, special feeds and longer periods of fattening the cattle.

Let’s first talk about the restaurant. As you enter on 45th Street, you’ll notice their herb garden as you enter the front door.  There are two tables near the window, which is where we were seated. Like most of the places in Wallingford on 45th Street, the space is long and narrow, so besides the two tables near the window, the rest of restaurant is pretty dark.  It’s a little too dark for my liking, but it does set a low key romantic ambiance for a perfect date night. Soft instrumental jazz playing overhead also adds to the romantic ambiance.  I wouldn’t call the type of décor here minimalist, but it is very simple. On one side of the wall are white hexagonal tile and the opposite side of the wall are plain white walls.  The middle portion has two long benches on either side of the wall for larger groups. The rest of the space comprises of a bar that seats maybe 6 people and 5 tables of two.

The staff was very attentive throughout, refilling water, general check ups and explaining the dishes. We didn’t order straight up steaks since we had just been to Daniel’s Broiler the week before, but we did order two dishes with Wagyu meat. First the Wagyu Four Ways, which is served as sashimi, sushi, steak tartare on nori and steak tartare with a quail egg. The Wagyu of course melts in your mouth and all four were delicious, but I’m a sucker for steak tartare and I’m an even bigger sucker for anything served with a raw quail egg, so that was my favorite of the four preparations.

The second Wagyu dish we ordered was the Bolognese Linguine. This was also a super tasty dish, although I don’t know if the Wagyu really added to this dish. The sauce and cheese are what really make this dish.

The other entrée we got was the Pork Tenderloin Ton Katsu. Normally, traditional tonkatsu is a slender piece of pork and here they replace it with a thicker pork tenderloin. I always have issues keeping pork tenderloin moist whenever I attempt to make it at home, but this dish is a homerun.  So damn tender and moist! They provide a mortar and pestle to ground up sesame seeds and then you can put the ground seeds on the tonkatsu and pour the sauce over it or combine the seeds with the sauce and use it for dipping, which is what we chose to do. We also ordered a bowl of rice to eat with the tonkatsu, but they also provide a huge mound of shredded cabbage with citrus. We washed these down with a couple of Asahi draft beers.

Ton Katsu, Lan Roc Pork TenderloinWe were definitely stuffed and don’t normally order dessert, but when our waiter explained the desserts they had, one caught our attention. It was the Shoyu(soy sauce) Ice Cream that is made in house. We were so curious we had to order it. Surprisingly, it was quite good. It tasted like salted caramel, but based on the after taste you could tell it was shoyu.   You can take a look at the pictures of all these dishes and see how the presentation was flawless.  As far as bang for your buck, I would say the dishes we got were fairly priced when taking into consideration the portion size, the presentation and the yumminess.

It’s always good to try different things on the menu whenever you do a repeat visit to get a variety of dishes, but we enjoyed these particular appetizer and entrees so much, I fear we’ll just order the same exact dishes on every visit to Kokkaku.

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.00

Service: 5+

Food/Drinks: 4.75

Bang for the Buck: 4.50

Overall: 4.60 

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.

• • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
  • Most locals know about it
  • Locals “in the know” know about it
  • Only those who live close by know about it.
  • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

 Servers Local reader recommendations to visit in the future: After a reader read our post about Kokkaku they suggested another upscale Japanese restaurant, Tamari Bar.  Took us a year to get out there, but we finally tried it. 

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