1861 El Camino Real, Burlingame CA 94010
(650) 689-5436
Parking: in strip mall parking lot
Hours: Tues-Sat 5pm-9:30pm, Closed Sun-Mon
Last Visited: February 17, 2024
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 to 4 stars
Service: 3 to 4 stars
Price: $$ to $$$$
From the owners of Morning Wood, now Diamond Head General Store, comes Kuma Nori. I was walking through the shopping center and noticed the Japanese letters and stopped to look at the menu. I wasn't planning on trying it until the Chow family mentioned how great the wagyudon is. Thanks to someone's thorough yelp review, I arrived at 4:20pm on a rainy Saturday and waited ten minutes for the iPad waitlist (on yelp) to be put outside, along with the A-frame sign containing the menu and the other sign saying BYOB since they don't have a liquor license yet. From there, I returned to my vehicle, sheltered from the rain and wind.
About ten minutes before 5pm, I received my first text asking me to look at the menu since they're expecting large groups (aka 4 people) and then a little after, I received a second text - this one to get ready to be seated. Your whole party must be present in order for you to be seated. Note that if you have a need for a high chair, you should plan to count your baby/toddler as a member of your party since it's a small place (they managed to fit someone's baby, 5th wheel, onto the bench seating after a minor scolding about how that isn't a party of 4, but a party of 5). Also note that even if you arrive early enough to be part of the first round of seating, they fill the restaurant about 1/3 of the way full to manage the kitchen.
Once in the restaurant, the pop music blaring and modern decorations make it a fun and casual atmosphere, but tables are quite close together - it's actually hard to get into and out of the two person tables since one side is bench seating along the wall. You're right next to your neighbor which is great for seeing what everyone else has ordered, but bad news if you're seeking a private experience.
I wanted to balance out my selection with one fried item, one meat with rice, and one other dish.
- "Almost famous" fried chicken - The menu says that this boneless fried chicken has a spicy salt and vinegar rub, comes with nanban sauce, shredded cabbage, and 'ryowa' sauce. Since I had gotten the Morning Wood spicy fried chicken and nearly collapsed from the aftermath of too much habanero and my system not tolerating the spicy sauce, I knew I wanted to try their fried chicken again, this time, without the spice. Of the three dishes, this was by far the best one - juicy dark meat, crunchy batter, and finely shredded cabbage topped with a creamy sauce containing small pieces of egg white and sprinkled with green onions. This was a perfect balance - fried goodness and a refreshing salad with creamy dressing. I had to look up what nanban referred to and found that unlike karaage where you marinate and then fry, nanban chicken is just the opposite - it's usually fried and then dipped in sauce. That's likely why there is a separate sauce here with red chili in it - so as to keep the batter crispy. Even without the nanban sauce, it's quite tasty and the crunch lasted throughout the meal as we savored the last bite after trying other dishes and nearly finishing our dinner. Solid four stars - if I were to go back, I would definitely get this again. It's easily shareable and very good. $23
- Crab roll - Dungeness crab meat is put inside a butter obanyaki and served with frisee and a yuzu kosho hollandaise sauce. So reading the Kuma Nori menu is an experience in itself as it's a guessing game if you don't know all of your Japanese foods well. Once again, I wasn't sure what to expect and had to look up what obanyaki is. If it sounds like takoyaki, it's in the same family. It's like having a crab cake and not at the same time. The tender crab meat is very moist and stuffed inside of this pancake batter which has been crisped in whatever device they are using in the kitchen. What's weird is that they don't serve this with a knife and fork (unlike the chicken which came with a large steak knife and a fork). This makes for a great appetizer. The crab gives this dish a lot of richness and the creamy yuzu kosho sauce is a nice pairing, although it's not particularly strong. Yuzu koshu is a Japanese condiment made of fresh chilis, salt, and the juice and zest of yuzu (a citrus fruit). However, I pretty much just tasted a very mild citrus and not much else. The frisee is topped with tiny round rice crackers (bubu arare) which gave it a little crunch. This was ok to try, but personally, I like this type of pancake as a dessert with red bean instead of crab. I would choose a crab cake over this dish, although the pancake was browned nicely and a touch crispy. $32
- Wagyudon - The wagyudon is listed as market price based on the specific farm and cut. Today's was from Hokkaido prefecture. The menu lists this as house tare, shoyu cured egg yolk, steamed rice, and garlic. Some other things that come with this is pickled vegetables, microgreens, green onions, tiny round rice crackers (bubu arare), and fresh horseradish. On the wall is a certificate of authenticity for the wagyu. So this is going to sound like I'm a total snob, but after having Kobe beef in Japan where I had to cook it myself, I still remember the wonderful fattiness and how that complemented the slight smokiness from the grill. Here, you can enjoy thin rare slices in the house tare, which is typically made with soy sauce, mirin, sake, brown sugar, vinegar, and aromatics. The rice in the layer below contains furikake and the sauce is soaked into the rice making for a flavorful bite. Let me break this down. The meat is tender and fatty. Nothing is overcooked even if you leave the lid on it for a bit (I was still eating the crab roll and let this sit a little). Each bite feels luscious, creamy, and rich and occasionally, you'll get a crispy garlic chip which is a burst of flavor on its own. However, some of the pieces of beef contained sinew. It was manageable, but still present. I also longed for the wagyu to have that touch of smokiness from being cooked and that was missing. It's more like eating a tartare which can also be good, but is not the same. I'm sure cooking it would also be a tricky endeavor because then it could become tough and overcooked if you're not careful. This dish was just ok for me. It's easily shareable if you want to try other things. $68
When it comes to service, the two servers were friendly, but considering that your bill has an automatic 18% gratuity, I expect a bit more service. Menus are already on the table when you arrive. Since I had already looked at the menu as instructed by the text and was ready to order, the wait seemed extra long. They don't bring water unless you ask for it, so you're pretty much just waiting for everything.
I heard the server telling the table behind us that the crab roll was a new menu item and asking about what they thought about it, but he didn't ask us. While that server did come to remove a plate and checked on us once, nobody checked on us again until the end of the meal when they brought the bill and simultaneously asked if we wanted anything else.
While it was a good place to try since we were celebrating a special occasion, the price tag for most dishes is pretty high. The food is a variation of what you can get elsewhere; for example, the kuma katsudon is made with a rather large kurobuta pork rib loin, but even in the short period that the restaurant has been open (just a few months), the price tag for that has already gone up and is now $38.
Other menu items include hambagu steak (hamburger steak), metaiko crab pasta, and the stupid tuna roll which is quite a popular offering.
Overall, visiting Kuma Nori was an experience that you can't find locally, and I would definitely get the fried chicken again. The other items were three stars for me. If you plan to go, show up early to get on the waitlist.
