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Monday, April 5, 2010

Tuesday, 3/30/10 - Koi Kawa

Date: 3/30/10
Restaurant: Koi Kawa
Location: 4051 Broadway St, in the same Boardwalk on Broadway shopping square that Tre Trattoria is in, right next to the Witte Museum.
Executive Chef: Unknown

Koi Kawa is the Japanese restaurant that my International Class visited for one of our field trips. It really surprised me how many of my culinary classmates had never eaten sushi or sashimi before! Even in San Antonio, there are at least 5 good sushi restaurants, and it is pretty trendy. It was perhaps even more fun visiting Koi Kawa with them because they were so new to the experience, watching their reactions from polite confusion to unexpected delight.

Koi Kawa is tucked away just behind Tre. Again, parking is somewhat tricky. However, as you approach the entrance, you're rewarded with this view:


And then you turn back around and you're here:

And then you go in.


Minimal decor, very bare-bones.

(To clarify: there shouldn't be any bones in your food).

We each ordered something over the phone before departing so it would be ready when we arrived. Chef Sanchez ordered about 7 rolls on and off the menu for us to pass and try. Most of them were absolutely demolished before they got to me, so I only grabbed a couple shots. Really, sushi is such an individual preference. I highly recommend the dragon roll and the Spicy Sara roll. Other than that, the sky is the limit!





Examples of a couple of rolls in their glory, before we fell on them brandishing our chopsticks like starving Asian hoodlums.

If you aren't big into sushi rolls, Koi Kawa has other options including "bento boxes," lunch trays filled with an assortment of food for a really reasonable price. They have sushi or sashimi bento but you can get them with katsu, which is basically chicken fried pork or chicken, or teriyaki chicken or tofu. Great options, amazing value.

Here's a teriyaki bento.


It even comes with deep-fried bananas drizzled in chocolate! How thoughtful.


I can't even remember what this little bowl of goodies was, and sadly Koi doesn't have a website or online menu. Looks very fresh and tasty though!


My assortment of food. From left clockwise: flying fish egg sushi, which is just fun for the color and the texture as they pop in your mouth; freshwater eel sushi, my most favorite ever; gyoza, tasty pork potstickers; and unfortunately dry and unflavorful yakitori, which you may remember from earlier in my blog when we were in Japan. This was a far cry from that delicious pub grub, sadly. However, the sole lacking flavor in an excellent meal.

Returnability: high! I enjoyed this restaurant at least as much as I have the other San Antonio sushi spots I've tried, including Goro, Godai and Sushi Zushi. The price is beyond fair, the waitstaff attentive and helpful, the quality of fish was good (by San Antonio standards, as if you still need the disclaimer) and it's right next door to Tre if you should happen to have room for a Nutella X3 after your healthy fish meal. Mwa ha ha!

2 comments:

Gloria Chadwick said...

Really great blog!! I've been looking through some of your posts and really enjoy your commentary about the food and the restaurants, especially since I'm a San Antonio foodie too. :)

Megan and Tavis said...

Gloria - thanks very much! I'm glad to provide you with eatertainment. I've learned a whole bunch about San Antonio since I started eating my way through it and I'm only a quarter of the way through the year.

Feel free to share some of your favorite restaurants anytime, I'm always willing to squeeze good eats in even if it isn't a Tuesday!