Dorinku

Whyte Avenue’s Dorinku might be thousands of kilometres away from Tokyo, Japan, but the local restaurant is bringing a slice of Japanese culture to Edmonton.

Opened in July 2016, and located on the corner of 102 Street and Whyte Avenue, Dorinku is providing Edmontonians with Japanese tapas in a setting mirroring Tokyo’s street food dining scene. “When you go to Tokyo streets, there’s the back alley, with different kind of places to eat and we tried to put up a Tokyo back alley on Whyte Avenue,” says Takeshi Kawabe, owner.

Paper lanterns, food on display and even a mock Tokyo bus stop with a Japanese vending machine that only accepts Yen all add to the décor that Takeshi has established within the restaurant.

The restaurant is divided into sections, with one room representing a ramen shop, while another part represents a tapas restaurant. The open concept kitchen is framed by a large bar that welcomes patrons to sit and  enjoy the Japanese cuisine.

Japanese pop culture is also a big part of the Dorinku experience, with the hallway to the washroom lined with popular Japanese cartoon figurines and manga. There’s even Japanese-style toilets in the women’s washroom. “We’re trying to make our restaurant a real Tokyo," says Takeshi. "We’re not offering a traditional way of a restaurant. If people think [of] Japanese restaurants, they think high-end but we really want to have a young feeling, which is why we chose Whyte Avenue."