Kirala, Berkeley

2100 Ward St. Berkeley
510.549.3486

Kirala, a Japanese restaurant, is located at the corner at Ward St. and Shattuck Ave. across the street from Walgreen's. It was a convenient place for my friend and me to have lunch. I got there at noon, and it was fully packed and we had to wait for a table for 10 min., which was ok. But when we were seated, we both wanted to order sushi lunch special. To our disappointment, it was sold out! So we ordered the other special lunch, which was called kitchen special. We got the last two.

It came with a so-so miso soup with bean sprouts (I never had miso soup with sprouts before), and a small bowl of udon, chichen teriyaki, deep-fried scallops and a shrimp, a small plate of oshinko (pickled hakusai cabbage), and a bowl of rice. I haven't had rice and udon in one meal before. I thought it was an interesting combination. Udon and fried seafood were ok, but chicken teriyaki was a bit dry, and the sauce had a taste I am not used to.

My friend says it better at night, so I will have to give it a chance at night. Actually, sushi looked very fresh, and I was told they also have robata-yaki, food grilled in front of you. So I will write about their dinner in later days.