n/naka

It’s been a while since I published a foodie post so I knew I had to share our incredible dinner at the critically acclaimed, Japanese kaiseki restaurant, n/naka. Chris and I first learned of n/naka from the Netflix original series, Chef’s Table, which I highly recommend if you’re a foodie and haven’t seen it yet! Every episode profiles a single world-renowned chef and each time we watch it, I find myself scouring the internets for airline prices and flights around the world hoping to find a steal deal to one of the exotic locales. When we immersed ourselves in the 4th episode, I was elated to see that Chef Niki Nakayama’s exceptional restaurant was right here in our own backyard! Okay, not really that close but right here in LA, barely 20 miles away or in Angeleno terms, an hour or so away in traffic 😉 . We weren’t even halfway through the episode when I was aimlessly searching OpenTable for reservations only to be met with NONE available. Not just for the upcoming weeks but completely booked solid for 3 months. I started to become desperate, using my google master jedi skills to try to find a way in while also emailing my fellow foodie contacts to see if we had any connects. No dice. Luckily a foodie obsessed email to them directly got me a reservation for just over 3 months out 😀 fine by me! With all that hype, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Obviously not nervous about eating there but more concerned that they wouldn’t live up to all that hype. Well, let me tell you, it was everything we’d imagined and more! We decided to go with the Modern Kaiseki menu along with the optional wine pairings to really enjoy the full experience which is priced at $185 per person plus $85 per person for the optional wine pairing. Now, I know it seems like an exorbitant amount of money for dinner (and I know for most people it is) but if you watch the episode, you’ll see exactly why it was worth every penny. This isn’t just a dinner, this is an incredible culinary experience – a truly mind blowing artistic adventure. 13 painstakingly hand crafted courses with 13 perfectly curated wine pairings, this is NOT your every day supper. We were so engrossed in our gastronomic escapade that I didn’t catch the names of each dish and since their tasting menu changes almost daily, I wasn’t able to find them all online but I hope you’ll enjoy the photos I took anyway 🙂 and if you’re ever in LA and searching for a special occasion dining experience, I highly highly highly recommend trying to get a reservation at n/naka!