| rev:text
| - This is a bit of a one-off review. I enjoy Kaya. If I was being objective about the restaurant overall, the review would probably be a solid 4 stars...but the thing is...
I just ate the best thing I've had in 2018 there the other night. And I feel like all things considered that has to make it a 5 star review. Compounding this is the strong possibility that the best thing I ate in 2017 was ALSO here; a Caribbean re-imagining of poutine that knocked my socks off.
So I'm not really REALLY reviewing Kaya so much as one spectacular dish on Kaya's menu. I can't vouch for all the food. Some might be good, some might not be to your liking...
But this past week I had their "Fried Chicken Tuna Poke Bowl": sticky rice, yuzu, Fresno, mayo, pineapple, cucumber, mango, edamame, avocado, seaweed, sesame, tobiko, garlic, cilantro...all of this is stuff I loooooove. But...but...what's missing from this description is the fried chicken. I know you're wondering, how does THAT play with this asian adjacent, Hawaiian "fish salad"???
Like the right hand of a ragtime piano player: syncopated, crisp, bright and joyful. Off the poke beat perhaps, but completely and satisfyingly fitting into the gaps, the element of crunch otherwise missing from the dish, a comfortable savor in the midst of the tangy acidity and asian spice.
And, best of all, it's the bowl. The poke is served in a bowl MADE of fried chicken. Right-hand-to-god I'm not sure what could have made it better...bacon? I don't know. I probably would have collapsed at that point.
When I ordered it our server scribbled it onto her pad, a slight smile creasing the corner of her mouth. Nodding almost imperceptibly she said, "good choice" and I knew this was no polite, "make the customer feel good about his selection," patter, no well-practiced rote response. She and I shared something that day. We communed mind to mind and her message was..."oh, you are going to enjoy this..." then "get out of my head...don't make this creepy."
I don't know how frequently Kaya changes their menu. But I know this:
Possibly the best thing I ate in all of 2017, the poutine, was not on the menu. So you owe it to yourself to try this before the menu changes.
*A note about the chicken-bowl...it was a bit overdone (a tad dry). I'm assuming it was pounded very thin and wrapped around a bowl or form prior to frying, which meant it was super easy to overcook when made crispy enough to hold the shape. THAT. DIDN'T. DETRACT. But by way of coming completely clean about the experience, if you try this because you're a fried chicken purist, you'll miss the magic.
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