Porter Square is the home of a number of great sushi places. One of the best is Kaya, a Korean-Japanese restaurant with great food and great atmosphere. Kaya's menu features a wide variety of traditional dishes, from edamame and miso soup to chicken teriyaki and Kalbi Tang, a traditional Korean cow-bone broth.
Although there are many options, the best food at Kaya is the sushi. Diners can select made-to-order sushi (anything prepared with sticky Japanese sushi rice, including vegetarian California rolls and cooked fish such as smoked salmon) and sashimi (pieces of raw fish, straight up) a la carte.
It's hard to have a bad piece of sushi at Kaya, and students who are used to the chewy rolls from the campus center are in for a treat. Restaurant-goers can sit at the bar and watch chefs make their dinner right before their eyes. Everything is freshly prepared, so the fish is tender and the vegetables are deliciously unwilted. Basics like salmon and spicy tuna rolls are always an excellent option, and for seafood-wary diners, the California and avocado rolls are consistently good.
Also good is the restaurant's tobiko, or salmon roe, rolls. Salmon roe are tiny orangey colored salmon eggs that look like little glass beads, and the rolls were both aesthetically appealing and delicious. Not only did it taste good, but the roe was also fun to eat -- imagine the pleasures of popping bubble wrap with your fingers and transfer that image to your mouth.
Another one of the pleasures of Japanese cuisine is the sake bomb, where a shot of hot sake, traditional Japanese rice wine, is dropped or poured into a glass of beer and ceremoniously chugged by everyone at the table. The ritual of sake bombing adds to the festive atmosphere of an evening at Kaya.
Kaya is casual and pleasant. Housed in its building on Massachusetts Avenue, the restaurant itself is decorated in traditional Japanese style, and high ceilings and good lighting give it an airy, open feel.
If you come with a large enough group, you can also request to be seated in a tatami room, a private dining room featuring paper screen doors and a low table with a barbecue pit right on it. You'll have to take off your shoes, but you and your friends get the whole room to yourselves.
Kaya can be a bit pricey, with entrees beginning at $10.95, but sushi and sashimi can be ordered a la carte, and soup and appetizers are more moderately priced. The atmosphere and overall quality of the restaurant, however, make Kaya a worthwhile destination for a low-key night out on the town. "I enjoy sushi and sake a priori, but I always have a good time at Kaya," junior Michelle Friedman said.
Kaya is a great place to relax with friends and have a good meal, but it's similarly a great place to take visiting parents who are feeling a little adventurous, but don't want to go all the way into the city.
Kaya is located across the street from the Porter Square T stop at 1924 Massachusetts Avenue. For reservations, call (617) 497-5656.
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