The signature dish at Kōjin, the flatbread, falls in the starters section, making up at least a third of the offerings, but they do also offer some classic seafood preparations like oysters and crudo, beef tartar, and a couple salad like things.
We ordered two flatbreads, one meat appetizer, and one salad. We were full after this round, without even moving on to the heavier meaty mains and very heavy sides. Note that our meat appetizer included 3 full size sausages, and there was a full flatbread per person ... and again, even with our other food that was still to come, our server really thought we hadn't ordered enough ...
Noting was particularly great, and the highlight for me was the mustard ... which was legit amazing, and the best part of this course.
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| Amuse Bouche: Chicken Bone Broth. |
As soon as our order was sent to the kitchen, we were presented with a welcome amuse bouche, little bowls of a chicken bone broth.
It was warming, perhaps nice to sip, but like consommé, it was just too rich for me. The others all enjoyed it.
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| Corn Flatbread. |
"Griddled flatbread made from local K2 mills cornmeal & hominy."
This was *the* dish I was there for. Definitely the signature dish of Kōjin, the only one that gets consistent rave reviews.
The flatbread is available in 5 varieties. They all use the same base flatbread, the different versions are just different toppings that you apply yourself, ranging from fruity red wine poached pear and ricotta to a confusing sounding marinated sardines with potato aioli and parsley, but there is only one that people really go nuts over, the most simple one of all, and not something I'd ever think to order if I hadn't done my research. You can also opt for all 5 as a big platter for $70.
I planned to just order the one well known one for the table, but our server told us we needed at least two, probably three, for the table. I opted to be conservative and went for two, asking her to recommend our second one.
The two orders came with 5 flatbreads, so I'm not quite sure how that math works out. If we had ordered one type, would we have ... 2.5 flatbreads? I think not.
The flatbread really is a unique item, no question. They serve it with giant scissors to cut it into wedges, but given that we had 5 people and 5 flatbreads, that wasn't entirely necessary.
The bread was hot and fresh, covered in cornmeal, just like pizza bread, but had a far more unique texture. It was griddled on both sides so bit crispy on the exterior, but doughy-ish inside, and soft overall. I expected to taste more corn flavor, but it was barely noticeable, besides the cornmeal grit on the exterior.
"I was not prepared for how pizza-like this would be", said one diner. We all agreed. It didn't look like pizza, we weren't expecting pizza, but ... that is kinda what it tasted like.
But of course, you can't just order the flatbread. You order it with toppings, so the plain base makes sense.
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| Drew’s Grass-Fed Butter / Spiced honey. $10. |
The version of the flatbread that everyone *raves* about is the ... butter and honey version. Yes, just butter and honey. I really would never have ordered this.
The butter was good quality butter, and the warm flatbread was fairly perfect for slathering with it, it melted in perfectly. The spiced honey was actually a great match, and I've always been a sucker for corn bread and honey butter, and this really was just a different take on the same concept.
Creamy melty quality butter, sweet honey, slight spice ... these things all did work together nicely, and it was enjoyable, just again, not life changing. Worth ordering if you go to Kōjin, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. The flatbread with these toppings was good, fine, but not as mind-blowing as I expected, and only my #6 favorite bite overall.
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| Hot Sauce. |
Also served with the honey, butter, and flatbread is a little jar for the Momofuku yellow pepper hot sauce. Again something *everyone* raves about, insisting that you mix it with the honey and butter.
I did like the heat it added, it was spicy but not overpowering, so we asked to keep the hot sauce on the table to use on other things later.
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| Niagara Ham & Coppa / Pickled cherries. $17. |
For our second flatbread, I took our server's suggestion and selected the ham and coppa, which came with a pickled cherry spread. The charcuterie was fine but average, them pickled cherry jam quite tart, so slightly interesting. No one really thought these toppings went well with the flatbread at all.
No one really was into this, and I'm still confused why our server thought it was a good recommendation, surely the ricotta or brie versions must have been better than this? None of us would order again.
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| Sausage Board. $29. |
"Chef’s daily selection of sausages, made by our in-house butcher & served with Kōjin mustard by Kozlik’s ."
The only other dish that people consistently like at Kōjin is the sausage board, with chef's choice of three different sausages offered daily, by their in-house butcher. You can also get individual sausages during "Social Hour" in the early evening.
Our platter came with an all beef smoked frankfurter (far right), a spicy pork italian sausage (middle), and the chicken and cheddar kimchi that often is raved about.
All had a nice sear on them, and were shiny and looked great at first, but I found them fairly dry and underwhelming. The chicken/cheddar/kimchi was strangely soft, full of little bits, and just fell apart.
Also on the platter were pickles, including bread and butter cucumbers and onions, fairly standard, carrots (I didn't try), and ... pineapple, which was at least fascinating, with the extreme sweetness somewhat balanced out by the acid.
And then there was the mustard. A custom mustard made by Kozlik’s, a Canadian brand. It was ... awesome. I honestly loved the mustard. It was zesty and had bite, but it also had sweetness to balance it out. It even had texture. I adored it. I'd buy it by the bottle if I could. The mustard (particularly when combined with the ranch, keep reading) was my ... #3 favorite bite of the meal. No joke. I didn't want anything to do with this platter of sausages, but wow, that mustard. I think my notes say "ZOMG, the mustard" or "I really like the mustard" or "mustard + ranch = <3" in at least a half dozen places.
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| Celery Root Salad. $15. |
"Apple, blue cheese."
And finally, to have some vegetables, we went for one of the two salads, a celery root salad, with julienned apples and celery root, in a creamy dressing, with huge chunks of blue cheese. Not exactly a light salad, but honestly I think the lightest item on the entire menu.
The apple and celery root were fresh and crisp, the blue cheese pungent. It was ... what it was. I don't love blue cheese, so this wasn't really for me. This dish went unfinished, and no one said much about it.
Mains & Sides
And then it was time for main dishes, and sides. The main dishes focus around meat, mostly large format red meat, and are not individual portions, with the burger as the only exception. There are no vegetarian mains, only a single seafood. The sides are all vegetable based, and there are many on the menu, which is an odd match as the mains all come wit several (different) sides each.
We ordered two mains, one of which was a full 1/2 roast duck, and two vegetable sides. Our server really, really told us this was not nearly enough protein, and suggested we add on more. I was fairly confident that 3 sausages, a full large burger, 1/2 duck, and a platter of charcuterie were more than plenty of protein for a group of 5 (honestly, that is more than one full portion of protein each already ....), and that the 5 flatbreads, side of decadent mashed potatoes, included sides of grits and onion rings were plenty of carbs, and the salad, the side of crispy brussels sprouts, and the included broccolini and pickles, plus all the other extra goodies were more than enough food for 5 people, but she seemed so concerned.
I held my ground, and told her we'd order more if we needed it. As I said, we were all full after our appetizers, and enjoyed the mains/sides much less as a result. And of course we didn't come close to finishing it all. Also ... the proteins really were poorly cooked, which is what I had read reviews about, but truly didn't expect at a Momofuku restaurant. Quality control is needed here.
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| Hot Sauces. |
When I asked to keep the mustard and hot sauce on the table for the main courses, our server asked if I liked hot sauces, and I said yes, so she brought us this, a platter of 5 sauces (the yellow one was the same). Also in the mix were sauces described as: sambal, goose pepper, "green hot sauce", and "pineapple".
Some were seriously spicy if you tried them without food - oops!
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| 1/2 Roasted Duck. $59. |
"Broccolini, corn grits."
I've recently discovered that I like duck. Previously, the only duck I really cared for is ...
foie gras. But Air New Zealand, of all places, is were I discovered smoked duck, and I've been hooked ever since. I was excited, but concerned, to order the 1/2 roasted duck, because multiple reviewers talk about how the duck was not properly cooked. And we were warned it would take 50 minutes (which was fine, given all the appetizers, and needing a little time to attempt to want more heavy food).
It was ... The. Most. Underwhelming. Dish. Ever.
Seriously. I don't even understand.
But let me back up a bit, as it is not very clear what is even on this plate.
The broccolini is perhaps the only identifiable thing, it was, literally, just broccolini. No one touched it.
The corn grits were hiding under that crispy cheese topper. The grits were fairly heavy, gloopy, but had a nice texture from the bits of cornmeal. I liked the texture. A different style than Southern style grits I am more familiar with, certainly missing the creaminess. Best with hot sauce. Points for serving in a cute cast iron. The cheese topper was unnecessary, particularly given all the other cheese we had coming in this course.
Where was the duck? Oh, it was served *under* the broccolini. Yeah, what? Strangest plating ever. And the duck was ... really not good. Not properly cooked at all. Incredibly chewy, yet underdone, visible bloodlines. I struggled to cut off a bite, and then struggled even more to chew it. I wanted to spit it out, as I really couldn't chew through it. The skin was crispy, but it still seemed like the fat layer wasn't properly rendered.
And finally, a bowl of what looked originally like just cilantro, but turned out to be a bowl of ... lentils. Well, under a ridiculous amount of cilantro. We didn't even find, nor notice, the lentils until I was picking around at things at the end. I hate lentils, so I didn't want to try them, but I made someone else do so, for you dear readers. The conclusion? They were no different from any other lentils out there.
At $59 this really was ridiculous, poorly prepared protein, confused plating, and just seemed poorly conceived in general. I felt like I was missing something.
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| Easton-Blend Burger. $25 | . |
"Gruyere, onion rings."
The majority of the meat entrees are steaks of various cuts, cooked over a wood fire, but I had read soooo many negative reviews of them that I opted for the burger instead. Plus ... I knew it came with what looked like fabulous onion rings.
The onion rings, 3 of them, actually were fabulous. Tempura battered, crispy, oily and heavy but in a good way, thick chunks of onion inside. I may have taken a whole one for myself, even though we had 5 people, and only 3 rings. And no, I didn't take the little one. Gulp.
On the side was little bowl of ranch (and, soft/wimpy carrots ...), and I absolutely loved dunking the onion ring in the ranch. The ranch itself was extremely flavorful, tangy, and herby, and I really quite liked it. The onion ring, with generous ranch, was unquestionably my #1 bite (and #2 and #3, really, since it took three bites ...).
The burger itself was a mixed bag. The bun was nicely toasted, but heavily buttered. Again, everything was just amped up in the heaviness department. It was ... a fine bun I guess.
The burger patty itself was cooked ... well done. Not medium-rare as I'd expect, or even medium, or even medium-well. Actual well done. And it was only lukewarm when it arrived. The flavor was fantastic, it had a great char on it, but I was fairly shocked that the burger was so well done, and I was saddened that it didn't arrive warm.
Also on the burger were more bread and butter pickles like we had on the sausage board, what seemed to be chunks of caramelized red onions, some kind of "special sauce", and ... yes, the cheese component. Inside the bun, it was melted gruyere, lots of it, and coming out the sides, as you can see, is an extensive cheese frico. It looked like lava coming out the sides. Certainly interesting visually, unique, but much like the cheese topper on the grits, it was just rather unnecessary, at least in that quantity, and with all the other heavy elements. A little for crunch and concentrated awesome gruyere flavor was nice though.
So, I am very mixed on this. The burger patty with special sauce was actually my #4 bite, I loved the flavor in the beef, but it was not prepared how I'd expect, and the onion ring and ranch were the highlight of my meal, but I can't exactly recommend this as an overall well executed dish.
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| +$15 Foie Gras Addition? |
On the menu, after the steaks and burgers section, is a call out to a foie gras torchon supplement, for $15. You know how much I love
foie gras, and now that it is back to being banned in California, this was very appealing.
So I added it on to the burger, expecting some foie to be perched inside somewhere. It wasn't. But after our food came out, another server came over with a torchon and grater, and shaved it tableside. Um, on top the burger. On ... top of the burger, as in, on top of the bun. Uh, what? And this is how much he gave. How was this a $15 supplement? And really, that isn't quite what I had in mind.
Another strange plating/serving element here.
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| Shaved Foie Gras. |
I may have said something about "can you just shave it directly onto my plate", joking (ish), and ... my wish was granted. Still, I can't say I felt like I got my $15 worth, and the others certainly did not, but at least I was able to taste it a little, since I had it separate.
Such an odd tableside prep ...
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| Tita's Mash. $15. |
I had read about the mashed potatoes, and knew they would be rich, and come smothered in cheese, but I was still a little shocked by the side of potatoes. Just like the grits, served in a cast iron (a bigger one), and just like the grits, and the burger ... crusted in cheese. Warning, as the menu certainly doesn't prepare you for this. So much cheese in this meal.
The potatoes were rich, thick, and mounted with too much cheese/cream/butter to really be enjoyable, losing all creaminess and any actual potato taste. I love the Joel Robuchon potatoes (which I first had at
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris, and then again at
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in London) which are seriously the least healthy mashed potatoes out there, so its not like I want lean mashed potatoes, but these just didn't do it for me.
The cheese crust on top was unique, but, meh. These also went unfinished, a single bite was really all you needed.
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| Crispy Brussels Sprouts. $15. |
The final vegetable side that we originally ordered was the crispy brussels sprouts, the suggestion of our server to add more vegetables, and her only food recommendation that I was pleased with.
The sprouts were indeed quite crispy (thanks, oil!), very flavorful as they were coated in an addicting fish sauce vinaigrette (mmm!), and topped with crispy flavorful puffed rice. I really loved the sauce.
I really did enjoy this dish, and besides the condiments, is the only dish I went back for more of. Great textures from the crispy sprouts and the rice puffs, and quite flavorful. #5 bite overall for me, best actual dish for me, and #1 dish for another diner.
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| Extra Onion Rings. |
So ... remember how I mentioned being a horrible person and taking a full onion ring, leaving my dining companions to not all get one? Yeah, I was called out on this, and our server overheard it, and eagerly offered to order us a side of onion rings. Turns out you can do that, they just weren't on the menu. We certainly didn't need these though, particularly given how late into the meal they arrived given the late order. I really just felt bad raving about the rings, when someone didn't get a chance to try.
This batch however was ... not nearly as good. In fact, actually not good at all. Those of us who had rings from both batches agreed and were confused. These were oily and soft. Not well drained. At least they were hot and fresh?
The ranch was again amazing though. At this point, I was over-full, but grumpy, having not really loved everything. And we now had a big bowl of delicious ranch in front of us. And the amazing mustard. So ... I decided to try combining them. They were magic together, better than the sum of the parts. I wish I could say I had something to dunk in this creation, but, I didn't. I literally sat there eating spoonfuls of ranch-mustard, and loved it. #2 bite. For reals. (This is also how I discovered the lentils, I was looking in the cilantro bowl for something to dunk in my magic sauce).
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| Tableside Duck Soup. |
And then ... 15 minutes later, an awkward server arrived tableside, explaining he had the rest of our duck dish. We honestly were all DONE eating. There was tons of food left, and we were done. Too full. Ready to move on. And ... it was time for a cooking show.
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| Adding the egg. |
He prepared egg drop soup, I guess with the duck broth as a base, swirling in the egg slowly beside us. Individual bowls were then distributed to us all.
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| Duck egg drop soup. |
I ... don't like egg drop soup. I tried it, but as I expected, just totally not for me. It had good size chunks of veggies, and one diner said it was his favorite thing, so clearly, this is just my preference.
Dessert
By the time we hit dessert, we were all uncomfortably full, and full of such heavy cuisine. I was honestly heartbroken, as, even though I had read literally no positive reviews of Kōjin desserts, I ... I just love
dessert.
We looked at the menu, which had 4 options: chocolate souffle (with a 20 min warning), apple crisp (with white cheddar ice cream!), ice cream cake (featuring peanut butter and chocolate), and blueberry cobbler (which gets awful reviews). Of our group of 5, 2-3 of us said we'd have a "bite" but no one was particularly interested in anything. We ruled out the souffle since we didn't have 20 minutes (needed to turn the table around faster, made clear to us by the staff), and the blueberry cobbler since it was universally hated by every review I read. We opted for the ice cream cake, sorta randomly, although I was a bit sad to miss the white cheddar ice cream.
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| Ice Cream Cake. $15. |
"Peanut butter, maple, chocolate."
The ice cream cake came quickly, and was a very large slice. It was more than our group needed at this point, and most certainly designed for sharing.
It was decent, although clearly served straight from freezer (to rush us out?), and would have benefited from warming up a bit.
We all hated the base, ridiculously hard, and we think coconut based, likely inspired by Nanaimo bars. I discarded my rock solid chunk quickly.
Above that was a layer of delightful thick rich peanut butter. I'm not sure what else was mixed in, as it really seemed mostly like just amazingly smooth creamy peanut butter. Great peanut butter, so not a bad thing, but, very plain.
On top of that, the ice cream. The ice cream looked vanilla, but I believe was maple. The flavor was lovely, the consistency reasonable, although, again, a bit too frozen still.
Then, dark chocolate shell, just like you get on an ice cream novelty, just clearly higher quality. It had a great snap to it, intense chocolate flavor.
Finished with large chunks of sea salt, which I loved, and immediately identified in my notes. It amped up all the great flavors. But one diner said the dessert was far too salty for his tastes.
I was fairly satisfied with my few bites, but I wouldn't call this an extraordinary dessert by any means.
