Finally, A Moncton Restaurant That Serves Sushi On A Conveyor Belt
MONCTON – Kinja, an Asian fusion restaurant, is taking over the space that used to be Jean’s Family Restaurant on St. George Street. It will serve conventional Western-style breakfasts like you might have eaten at Jean’s, but it will also make things like sushi served on a conveyor belt.
“We’re doing mostly Western-themed breakfast. There will be some fusion items in there, like different takes on classics,” said Breakfast Manager Mark Mazerolle. “Lunch and supper are going to be mostly Japanese, Korean and fusion dishes.”
Kinja will serve fusion dishes like bulgogi burger and spicy pork burger, among others. It will also offer various Japanese sakes, wine, beer and other beverages.
But the unique thing about Kinja is how it serves sushi. It uses the concept of kaiten-sushi, also known as rotation sushi or sushi train, which is popular in Japan and many other Asian countries.
It allows customers to grab the sushi plates they like from a conveyor belt. Each plate has a colour that indicates the price of the dish. Consumers can take as many as they want, and the total price will be counted based on the colours of the empty plates they’ve stacked.
In addition, the team behind Kinja plans to have brunch buffets served on the conveyor belt. But that would be a special feature in the future.
Aside from that, Kinja intends to make its food accessible by ensuring prices are affordable. But there will be some higher-priced specialty items such as Korean barbecue, sushi and steaks using kobe beef and prime ribs. Customers who want to try something different can also choose the ‘omakase’ option, which allows the chef to experiment.
“People can pay and say, ‘I need omakase,’ means I can make anything. You like tuna? You like salmon? I pick it up. It’s not on the menu. I make it special,” said owner Tony Keum, who has 41 years experience in making sushi.
Keum said he will be using salmon, scallops, lobster, snow crab and bluefin tuna from Atlantic Canada, while other fish would have to come from elsewhere in the country.
“We’ve got a menu worked out now, but as we go along we’ll see what people like and enjoy, and we’ll keep adding stuff later. It gives us time to train staff also,” Mazerolle said.
Keum, who is half-Korean and half-Japanese, grew up between the two countries before he came to Canada almost 30 years ago. He said there’s some misunderstanding about restaurants that serve sushi.
Some people think sushi restaurant, ‘oh, raw fish!’ No. Raw fish is only 20 per cent,” Keum said. “Eighty per cent are all cooked and [we have] so many fusion [dishes]. I like making fusion [food].”
This is not Keum’s first business. Five years ago, he sold Asa Sushi on Mountain Road after two years of operations. He moved to St. John’s, N.L., to open Asa Sushi on Water St.
Having lived in larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver before that, he’s happy to be back in Moncton.
“Here people are so friendly. In big city, people [aren’t] friendly. Food costs, rent, everything is very expensive,” he said. “I’m pretty happy here. Comfortable.”
James Kim, a Korean barbecue specialist who lived in Vancouver for 14 years and had a restaurant with Keum’s sister, followed him to Moncton this month to work at Kinja. The restaurant currently has a team of 12 people, including part-time staff. But more waiters and waitresses are needed.
Now, Keum wants to make sure his team is tight-knit and his business gives back to the community. And it’s more important to him that people hear about Kinja’s quality through word-of-mouth than having too many customers at once.
“Take your time and come in,” he said. “My focus for here, I need to [gather] together the Moncton community. My employees will be like family. I don’t [want] to have bad service. Relationship [needs to be] very good,” he said.
“We’re trying to be a good, relaxing atmosphere that’s accessible to everybody,” Mazerolle added. “I think we can give something to Moncton that is never seen and never experienced before. So we’re trying to bring the world here, through our eyes.”
Kinja plans to open from 7 am to 11 pm daily, possibly later on weekends, depending on the amount of business.
It’s set to have several invite-only soft openings in two weeks. It will have a grand opening on August 1.