Nikujaga at Kizuna

When I miss casual comfort food at an izakaya, I come to Kizuna for its night menu. It morphs into a cocktail bar and izakaya in the nights, especially fun on Fridays and Saturdays. Of course I always skip the cocktails and order the easy highballs. Its cafe hours don't match my schedule anymore. I haven't had a coffee here for ages. I stop by in the nights instead. 

I was here for the nikujaga / 肉じゃが and Okinawa-style stir-fry of pork, eggs, tofu and bittergourd (goya-chanpuru ゴーヤーチャンプルー). I was quite thankful that they ran out of rice at 9pm, so I didn't have any rice, not that I needed the carbs. Hurhurhur. But it would be nice to have stew with rice. I also couldn't resist a grilled stick of tontoro. Heh! 

Of course the man shared my stew and stir-fried dishes. But he also had extra protein in the form of tsukune and grilled chicken thighs. There was randomly a mapo-tofu with beef, but less spicy. Perfect. We couldn't resist trying out the cured hamachi drizzled in sauce of Bloody Mary. It was rather delicious! Ooof.

Washed down the food with refreshing highballs. It was another good night. Casual chats, good food and easy nights — these are all the things I was hoping to find in an izakaya that we come by often. Glad we have Kizuna.