Kui Shin Bo

Kui Shin Bo

Kui Shin Bo, which translates roughly to "glutton," is a small sit-down restaurant in San Francisco. It is located in the corner of a small mall in Japantown. It seats only about seven parties at once in its small eating area, which is cutely decorated with Japanese art in frames and has dark blue Japanese flower wallpaper as trim; not only that, but the walls to the small eating area were sectioned off by wood paneling and lit by Japanese light fixtures. This gave the restaurant a very quaint and had a traditionally Japanese feel. 

Despite its small size, it has one of the most extensive menus you will see. It is a great place to look for Japanese dishes that are hard to find elsewhere, like okonomiyaki, shabu shabu, or sukiyaki. They also serve a variety of noodle dishes (many types of ramen, soba, and udon dishes), sushi (traditional maki and nigiri, modern rolls, and sushi burritos), sashimi, teriyaki dishes, yakimono, and tempura, among other things. Everything is made to order in their small kitchen, which is partially visible through a window at one end of the restaurant. 

We ended up paying between $20 and $30 each for the food we ordered, even though we had fun picking things off the menu and were not paying particular attention to the cost. The prices were relatively low given how generous the servings were. The helpings all were quite hefty and large, but the prices did not reflect this; it was a very sizable meal for an affordable price. 

The sushi burritos were an interesting invention. They came in large rolls packed with fresh, raw fish, sushi rice, and vegetable fillings like corn, carrot, and cucumber.  They were served with a special sauce as well as ginger and wasabi. Unlike a traditional roll, it was huge and rolled up in seaweed like a burrito. 

The more typical sushi rolls, such as the California rolls, were also very good. They were expertly rolled out of traditional ingredients, and they tasted as fresh as they were.

The udon was also a very satisfying meal. The udon noodles were thick with just a hint of salt. They came in a satisfying, lightweight soup that I doctored with the togarashi (assorted chili pepper) that they brought to the table. It was a filling meal but a tasty one. It was served hot, and the noodles were fun to slurp.

Overall, we enjoyed the eating experience here a lot. It was a nice environment; sitting in that little restaurant felt like being in a small, family-owned eatery somewhere in Japan. The food embodied several delightful paradoxes: it was a perfect mix between traditional and modern, classic and innovative, and elaborate and homemade. It was all of those things for a price that could have reflected a meal of much lesser quality.