| rev:text
| - Kinjo is a breath of fresh sushi, the first lungful in a long time, one I would frequent if my home wasn't 900 km away. A lunch at Kinjo is like eating solid joy, perfectly transmitted from its owner to each table...and to think this is a chain, albeit a small one. Only three Kinjos exist, scattered like buckshot across the city of Calgary, validating the appeal of the décor, the quality of its sushi, and the passion of its owner.
I know I'm long past my obligation for an opening joke, something involving the inner workings of my gastro-intestinal system or perhaps a remark a passing reader may mistaken as faintly racist. Truth is, right beside my computer, I have a Thunderdome-like Aunty's wheel I spin to determine the bizarre pop-culture references I'll have to drop during the course of a review. My initial attempt landed on Silence of the Lambs, which I've touched on three times already. A second fell on Pink Floyd's laser concert which...okay, I've honestly no idea why that's there. So perhaps I'll just do this one review serious, respectful, honoring the zeal of Kinjo's owner, a man with enough faith in this restaurant that he named it after himself.
That's right, Peter Kinjo, and that's a name that should be familiar.
You're right, it's not, but that's why I'm here. To know the restaurant and to properly understand the enthusiasm of the owner I personally encountered that day, I feel compelled to take a moment to educate those reading this. Peter was one of the founders of the massive Edo Japan chain of fast-food sushi eateries literally infecting every single mall and airport from Vancouver to Saskatoon. Although now amounting to over a hundred locations, Peter no longer earns anything from them. He sold his shares, made a few unwise economic decisions after, and came to Calgary to try something new, to move away from the fast-food sushi and take a crack at an actual restaurant. He went about this by replicating a restaurant model seldom seen in Canada, something known as Kaiten-zushi. This is where the sushi is presented on a conveyer belt which orbits the bar where patrons sit, some on stools, some around connected tables. I encountered this in China and lamented its absence in my travels about Canada.
Well, bemoan no more because Kinjo has gone one better. To hell with cheap conveyer belts like we're at the end run of a tired Lucile Ball comedy sketch, bring on the boats! What better way to deliver food than on a boat. Some restaurants have platters shaped as boats; I'm not talking about that. These are actual seaworthy boats on a channel of water, chained together and carried along by current induced from vents below the surface. Sushi delivered via flotation device, seriously the only way this could be cooler is if the whole was put against a backdrop of Laser Floyd (heh).
Unlike the fluorescent Teletubbie explosion I ate inside of in Guangzhou, Kinjo is slightly more restrained, reserving its energy for its animated owner as he organizes a birthday chorus for a table when he hands out complimentary Pocky to random kids at tables. This guy is pure class, navigating around the customers and employees ensuring everyone is seen to. I know restaurant owners responsible for twenty seats that don't do this, and Kinjo has over sixty...and three locations. No wonder this guy made a million in his first year. No wonder he turns tables eight times over on a busy weekday. Of course, this would all be irrelevant if the sushi was substandard. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. One especially brilliant special order, known as the kissing dragons, involved two complete rolls, a rainbow and an eel, made to resemble Asian snake-like dragons, even going so far to include head-pieces with roe-eyes and vegetable whiskers.
Now that being said, I guess I should find fault. Despite attempts to make it operate more like a restaurant, it's by no means a high-class sushi-ya. Like a Trek holodeck, behind the lights and colors, the motions of a fast-food joint can still be found...but it's a very well made illusion, one I was more than willing to look past. And the formula as it stands obviously works like gangbusters. Kinjo's namesake restaurant reflects his devotion. He obviously eats and sleeps his business. He's doing what he loves and I hope that until he decides to retire, he and his restaurants continue to find success.
Food: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Presentation: 4/5
Value: 5/5
Recommendation: 4/5
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