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| - Expectations can be a blessing, or a curse. Sometimes it helps to whet the appetite and build excitement before an epic experience. Other times it can drain the flavor of the moment as reality falls short of an unreasonable ideal.
For Kyara, I had started with Yelp (of course) and noted the many wonderful reviews and recommendations. I saw that this was frequently visited by the Yelp Elite and they had collectively given it high marks. This evening fell short of that mark.
The atmosphere was wonderful. Clean and efficiently appointed with special extras like the small bamboo spice containers on the table. Service was also quite good. Attentive, but not invasive, willing to make suggestions and help guide our choices.
But ultimately, it simply must come down to the food, the singular reason for spending your hard earned money to have someone else prepare your meal. We had three experienced diners on a journey through the menu. We tried several items and found some stand-out selections that delighted our senses. But alas, we also had several items that fell short of gastronomic bliss.
Some of the stand out dishes included the Kaisen Chawanmushi (seafood custard) which was creamy and beautifully infused with shrimp flavor, and the Yuzu Chili Salmon with equal balance of acidity, spice and lovely salmon flavor. The dishes that had challenges included the Kawa (chicken skin) and Butabara (tongue) which both lacked flavor and left me wanting.
The overall experience to price ratio was decent, with several dishes and hearty man sized appetites we spent about $70 per person. I could try it again, but I would be selective on the dishes I tried.
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