Kissa Tanto

Jazz Café Upstairs in Chinatown

4 of 5

Climb the stairs on East Pender and you leave Vancouver for a while. Kissa Tanto takes its mood from the jazz cafés of 1960s Tokyo, with white mosaic floors, antique Japanese panels and the kind of low light that makes everyone look like they have a secret. It sits on the upper floor of a gloriously faded Chinatown building, and the faded part matters. Nothing here feels new for the sake of it.

The idea sounds reckless: Japanese and Italian cooking on one menu. Chef Joël Watanabe makes it look obvious. The tajarin is hand cut, dressed with butter, miso-cured egg yolk and parmesan, which is basically carbonara that went to school in Kyoto. The charcoal udon brings Dungeness crab, prawns and squid. Carne cruda arrives as wagyu with nashi pear. There is an omakase that pulls from the menu and from off it, if you would rather surrender. Michelin gave the room a star in 2022 and has not taken it back.

Dessert is a tiramisu that brings tofu and plum wine into the story, which should not work and does. Go late in the week, book well ahead, and sit where you can watch the room. Order more pasta than seems responsible, then one more plate after that.

Order this: Tajarin with miso-cured egg yolk, Charcoal udon with Dungeness crab, Carne cruda with nashi pear, The tiramisu
The damage: $$$$
Go: Late in the week, booked well ahead
Find it: 263 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T8