HUNI — Restaurant in Kanazawa

A relatively undiscovered gem. The glowing reviews don't lie though, I would rate Huni is one of my top 3 best restaurants I've tried in all of Japan.

The space here is small and intimate with only 5 or so counter seats, and just a couple tables. It's actually more setup as a place people come to get drinks more than anything, however it just so happens that the owner is an absolute legend in the kitchen as well.

I asked the owner if he would be interested in doing an Omakase course for us and he seemed particularly excited by this as I don't think he gets the request very often. For 5,000 yen each he served us with 7 courses and a dessert.

I'm glad we picked the omakase, as we got served a number of dishes we probably never would have ordered ourselves but turned out to be incredible. Every dish we had was some of the best food I've eaten. The owner told us that he was thinking carefully what dishes to prepare based on what was best in season at the time.

We were able to come here at 8:30pm on a Thursday with no reservation and get a table no problems. The space is small though so you may want to try reserve if possible. After we had eaten, the people who were sitting at the counter left and we were able to move to the counter seating and have some drinks. The view from the counter is particularly nice, as it overlooks the river.

Cannot recommend this place more highly and strongly suggest you come here if you're in Kanazawa. Thank you very much for the...

Ok, so this is one of those reviews where I wonder if I really want to encourage people to go there, since the place is so small and seating is limited! I have been here 4 different nights on trips over the past 10 years, and every time has been fantastic. Fantastic in a unique way, not glitzy or luxurious, but fantastic in uniqueness, a small, cozy, out of the way, unexpected pleasure that makes you feel like you have lived in this town forever. The owner is great, very personable, the food is unique, like a Japanese tapas menu…we always just order small plates and then share (4 or us), and then reorder those that were especially tasty. Risotto with spicy Salmon roe was a favorite. Maybe 6 seats at the bar overlooking the river and hauntingly picturesque bridge, and 1 table for 4, and a couch and 2 chairs for another foursome. Be sure to check out the small Buddhist museum on the 2nd floor worth a trip up the creaky stairs. Ok…how can this be improved: 1) need to replace the dirty couch cushions (I even flipped it over and it was just as dirty on the other side) and 2) not sure what the art on the wall above the couch is (we took guesses but non are appropriate for...

I had a ratatouille moment here where I flashed back to my childhood eating a comfort meal that left me happy and satisfied in a way money can’t buy. I could barely take pictures of the food because my partner and I ate everything the moment it was set down in front of us.

The atmosphere and food has quickly made this restaurant my favorite place of all time. I even begged the chef for a cook book so I could attempt to recreate his dishes but he has not yet made one.

He has been a chef for 20 years and you can easily tell that he has been amazing at what he does because he has spent so much time on perfecting his meals. He spent time backpacking in Europe learning to cook and when he came back to Japan he perfected his style.

If you can get a reservation I highly recommend going. I am told Fridays and Saturdays are their busiest so make the...