Our visit to Kali's Garden Cafe had us wondering how Kindred was doing. It had been almost four years since we visited, which was during the pandemic. As a plus, we knew they had outdoor seating so we went just after the 5pm opening time during the week and got seated along the counter on Beech.
As always, the service was friendly, though things got a bit tight as the clock ticked along.
We placed our order and I decided on a cocktail. I asked for something smoky and not too sweet and the "Akuma no Uta" was recommended. I should have known that something titled "The Devil's Song" would be pretty darn stiff.
This was no joke as it made its way down my throat. I actually enjoyed it, but one of these was more than enough!
Our food soon started arriving. Starting with the "Doom Bloom"; basically tempura mushrooms.
So crisp and light; the earth and almost sweet Shimeji, the savory Oyster, and the meaty Trumpet Mushrooms were really tasty. We both thought the watery-mayonnaisey yuzu sauce was a bit too mild and the mushrooms could have used more salt. But overall, a very nice dish.
I really like Yuba, so of course we got the BBQ Yuba Skewers.
Grilled in this manner, the yuba attains and interesting crisp, yet chewy texture. The BBQ sauce was interesting, perhaps a bit too sweet, but the pungent hot mustard really cleared our sinuses in a very enjoyable way.
The Chimichurri Seitan has always been a favorite. And it seems they've made it even better.
The gluten was crisp on the exterior, yet slightly creamy inside. It just went well with the spicy Harissa like sauce and the mild horseradish sauce. This is indeed Satan's Seitan….so good it's evil!
The last item was the "Charred Remains" – charred broccoli.
The broccoli crowns were nicely charred, the stems a bit too hard. The ricotta cheese really seemed to clash with the spicy chili oil. This was pretty sizeable portion.
Overall, we really enjoyed our meal at Kindred. And even though they won't convert me to "Vegan-ism", they just put out tasty food, and I feel better for eating it. Service was friendly as usual. We'll be sure to not let 4 years go by before revisiting!
Kindred
1503 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 5pm – MN
Friday 5pm – 1am
Saturday 10am – 1am
Sunday 10am – MN
First thing I noticed was how foamy the broth was, like it was kept at a rolling boil instead of a simmer. It was also on the thin side and seemed more like a thickened, slightly bitter, shoyu based broth. Like the tonkotsu I had here before, it also had a slight "metallic" tinge to it.
The chashu was a bit on the chewy side and lightly flavored, but not bad. The noodles were actually cooked decently and had a nice "springy pull" to them.
The pseudo tonkotsu bowl arrived seaming hot. There were some…well, interesting things about this bowl. My least favorite was the "impossible chicken karaage". It seemed to be sort of soybean based; but the texture was not to my liking; it was spongy and super chewy…think thick nylon sponge and had no flavor.
Not quite sure what to do with the slice of tomato? How much acidity, sweetness, will one slice of tomato provide for a bowl of ramen? The cabbage added a slight sweet-bitterness and was blanched. The corn also added some nice textural contrast and sweetness to the bowl.
While we didn't care much for the pita, which was too dense, hard, and "bready" for us, we thought the falafel were quite good. Crisp outside, mildy creamy interior, nice nutty herbaceousness, this was actually better than what we'd had at 
