Shokunin — Restaurant in Calgary

Overall really good spot with an interesting and well-executed take on traditional Izakaya food. It sort of has that small Izakaya atmosphere, somewhere between that and a bistro. For the proper Izakaya experience I'd say it would make more sense to sit in the bar area.

We ordered several things, in general I was impressed that they brought things out gradually rather than all at once, which is what works best at this kind of place. We did have a few minutes where we had nothing coming and weren't sure if they had forgotten two of our dishes, but they did show up after a while. I wasn't hugely impressed with our original server, she seemed very unclear on what we wanted. I twice told her that I didn't want to order the fish tartare until I knew what it was, but she put it on our order anyway. It was good but I would have still liked to know ahead of time!

I was also not really into their cocktails, we ordered a yuzu sidecar and a park Hyatt in the mist. The yuzu sidecar was much too sweet for me, I was hoping for more of a balanced citrusy cocktail. The park Hyatt was also sweet but much more interesting, even though I'm not a big whisky fan I actually preferred it. After those we switched to sake, which was much better and complemented the food better as well.

The fish tartare was a salmon with seaweed chips, I was kind of indifferent to the salmon as it didn't have much taste, but I loved the presentation and the texture combinations of the chips and the salmon. The Japanese potato salad was really excellent, this isn't like western potato salad so expect it to be different, personally I loved the pickled red onions as they added a little tartness to a dish that has some sweet taste to it. Tsukemono were good, home made which was really nice and didn't have that strong taste that a lot of Japanese pickled vegetables have. The daikon was the more typically Japanese but there was also pickled bamboo and cucumber.

The grilled rice balls were amazing. I've had homemade rice balls in many places, grilled or not, including Japan and these were the highlight for me. The smell of that slightly charred rice was divine, and then the crunchy texture combined with the pickled plum in the middle was just perfect.

Our fish offcut was a salmon kama. I've only had hamachi kama before which is more popular, but this was well done and had a little something extra which seems to be typical of the shokunin style. A little bit of spiciness that livened up a dish that can be underwhelming at times.

Our final dish was the eggplant and goat cheese tempura. This was also really spectacular, if you order it make sure you eat it right away. The crunchy light texture of the batter and the smooth creaminess of the goat cheese inside when it's hot is great. Again this was a little non traditional, the tempura was lighter than what you might get in Japan, and the eggplant salsa was a nice accompaniment to the dish.

Our favourites were definitely the rice balls, tempura and probably the salmon in that order. Given the reputation of shokunin and how much we ordered (including at least $75 on drinks) it was not too expensive at all. Good value for money for sure.

I would go back to shokunin for sake and rice balls at any time for sure. I heard they have a different lunch menu so would absolutely try that. We didn't try any sushi but personally I think going to this type of place for sushi isn't getting you the full experience. If you're going Izakaya get Izakaya food! Overall the food was great, simple dishes with some twists and surprises that turned out well. I will go...

I made a reservation 3-4 weeks in advance, not knowing if I even needed to plan so far ahead. And you know what, it's lucky I did. My boyfriend's family wanted to join us last minute and the restaurant was completely packed on a Monday Night. Their customer service deserves a rating of 5/5, they were so accommodating and returned our calls promptly. On the day of our visit, it was the wait staff that arranged an opportunity for me to meet with Darren. When I forgot my jacket, our waiter was like Detective Pikachu, he found that thing in a flash. When you get seated, just know that there are certain staff members who will refill your water (no need to ask your assigned waiter). One thing I really appreciated was that our waiter knew the restaurant's dishes really well and was genuinely concerned when I told him that the skewers were just 'okay'.

Having said that, there are dishes that Darren totally nailed. You must try the scallops because they taste super fresh. The sauce he uses to bathe the bottom of the scallop is something I've never tried before. My boyfriend is looking to recreate that at home lols, I think the secret ingredient is yuzu! The napa cabbage is a masterpiece, you have to order it! Some people might complain that the vegetables were too burnt, but that's the beauty of this dish. It combines an array of textures and tastes that explodes in your mouth. I can't even describe how it tastes, just imagine burnt vegetable crisps coated by a miso dressing. Honestly a masterpiece that others would find difficult to recreate. The bone marrow and miso creme brulee are very worthy as well.

Let's move onto Darren's dishes. I'm going to be honest here and state that some of his dishes are 90% and the others might be like 70-75%. For me to give a restaurant 5 star (overall), they really need to nail everything and perhaps the Final Table hype increased my expectations a little too much. This restaurant is an izakaya, meaning dishes are smaller (like tapas) and are meant to be shared (exception would be the ramen). They have a pretty extensive skewer menu, but none of the skewers made me go 'wow'. We ordered around 6 skewers. The meat was slightly more tender than what I've tried in Toronto, but the sauce that came with the skewers didn't really go well. These skewers are priced anywhere from $3-5, meaning you need to order a lot to feel full. I think their best selection were chicken thigh and mushroom. The gyoza was really small, I'd say the skin really resembles what you would eat in Japan. I was a bit put off by the meat. It 'felt' raw, though definitely cooked, but the texture just felt wrong for a dumpling. As someone who eats dumplings almost weekly, I prefer a solid piece of meat inside the dumplings, not shredded in texture.

I haven't tried enough Japanese restaurants in Calgary to give this a gold medal, but I can tell you that his restaurant would do well in Toronto. In fact, he could probably reduce the size of his menu and do...

I originally emailed the following review directly to the restaurant since I’m not the type to complain without giving them a chance to defend themselves. 2 weeks have passed with not even a “Thanks for the feedback” reply so I’m assuming they wouldn’t mind my review to go public.

———————————-

Good afternoon,

I was dining at the restaurant last Friday night and unfortunately I did not enjoy the food and I thought to reach out to give my feedback whether or not this message will reach Chef Darren, as I'm not the type to leave a bad review without giving the restaurant a chance to respond.

The staff first and foremost were very pleasant and informative, nothing but praise for the staff. I started by ordering the cold shucked scallop, a couple nigiris and the sashimi Botan Ebi, the scallop was by far the best dish at the restaurant and I can see it at any Michelin starred tasting menu. The nigiris were good and the Botan Ebi was also good, they were nice to fry up the heads when I asked them to, as would any other sushi restaurant. It was fresh and tasty though overpriced for something you'd get for half the price at any sushi place.

I then ordered the Humboldt squid tempura and several Yakitori and one Kushiyaki, I asked my server (I believe her name was Irene) for recommendations on the Yakitori and pretty much took all her suggestions therefore, I didn't really remember what exactly I ordered. At the end though, it didn't really matter because all I tasted was salt and I was not able to differentiate any of the taste from one another, only textural differences. The Humboldt squid was salty but tolerable. I know we like to use the term "over-seasoned" in the industry but they are just literal salt bombs. I do like salt in my food and I understand encouraging your patrons to drink more with saltier food, but my tongue was still brined the next morning when I woke up. Needless to say, I did not finish any of the plates other than the first courses. I've attached a picture of the Yakitori's that I didn't finish to give you some background info on what I ordered.

For a $200 single seating meal (granted I did have a few drinks), unfortunately the food itself doesn't justify the spend or to revisit / recommend. I noticed the restaurant from being fully booked days in advance just a year ago to now easily walk in and getting a table on sunny Friday night (I did make a reservation but the restaurant was not full) - perhaps there was a...