Eatery - Kappo Honda (CA)
18450 Brookhurst St, Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Pricing - $$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Japanese | Reservations - Recommended, not necessary
After coming back from a month-long excursion in Vietnam where food was cheap but dirty and customer service was present but basically non-existent, I was craving some good eats. I bluntly told Duc that he was taking me out the night I landed, and he decided that we'd go to Kappo Honda. I had never been there before but apparently other friends had. On a Thursday night, we still had to wait a while but boy was I excited for sushi! What I realized after we sat down was that there was more than just sushi at this place.
After ordering several items off the menu ranging from sushi to yakitori to small plates, I took some time to look at the decor. It was a little cluttered in my opinion but not necessarily in a bad way. I found the atmosphere suitable and the service very polite and on the ball. I could just attribute this to my having returned from a place where customer service doesn't exist but I could tell from past experiences in restaurants that the servers at Kappo Honda are good. The first dish that came out was the buttered enoki. I love mushrooms and was slightly disappointed to see the dish so small. However, it was pretty good albeit salty.
We had gotten a few skewers from the yakitori menu and to be honest, I don't remember what they were. Nothing stood out to me but everything was fairly solid when it came to flavor. The sake-based broth with clams was a tad skimpy but the clams were good to slurp on. For my "adventurous" order, I chose sea urchin dumplings. These were tasty and the wrapper was made to perfection; the only downer on this that I saw was just that I didn't know sea urchin would taste like. The dumplings were wonderful but the sea urchin was almost tofu-like in taste. Good thing I like tofu eh? As for drink, I didn't take a picture but we each got a glass of their plum wine. It was excellent - sweet to the end.
For the sushi, I couldn't resist hamachi. I can never resist it wherever I go. The pieces they brought out were nigiri and my oh my, probably the best hamachi I could remember having seen. They were so good and so fresh. I finished off my dinner-ed palate with inari and was ready for some dessert.
What had caught both our eyes when we looked at the menu the first time was the black sesame ice cream. It came served with some orange on the side, an odd addition that didn't quite mesh with the ice cream itself. I liked how smooth it was; however, I had expected a lot more black sesame! Nevertheless, a smooth and great finish to a wonderful evening.
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