Behind KinKan’s Genre-Defying, Thai-Japanese Tasting Menu

Resy: You were born and raised in Bangkok. How did food shape your upbringing?

Nan Yimcharoen: My family had a dinner cruise, so I grew up around food and ate very well. My grandma was a great cook. Bangkok is in the central part of Thailand. The north has more mountains and the food is spicy and salty. The east is dry land, so [the food is] spicy spicy. The south has more curries; it’s more Muslim. Central [Thailand] is where the river flows. The King and Queen live there. The center has everything. You can get all kinds of ingredients, so we have more complex flavors. The cuisine is really balanced and not too spicy. 

How did KinKan start?

NY: I’ve been in L.A. for 14 years. My ex-husband was Thai but was born here, so that’s why I moved here. I couldn’t find the same food, so I started cooking my own. I became more and more serious, and nine months before COVID happened, I started doing an underground omakase from my apartment. That’s when KinKan first started getting some attention. After COVID hit, my customers missed the food, so they asked if I could do takeout. I tried to do Thai-Japanese, but it was hard to get Thai ingredients since the market wasn’t safe to go to, and my Japanese purveyor delivered to my front door. 

The blending of Japanese and Thai cuisines is a KinKan signature. How did that happen? What sparked your love for Japanese food, specifically sushi?

NY: I’m 44 years old. When I was growing up in Thailand, the sushi wasn’t as good as what we have here. Back then, sushi restaurants in Bangkok would serve cuts of tuna that were so huge, I was like, ‘Woah, that’s raw?’ I wasn’t sure about that idea until my first trip to Japan. I went to Jiro’s son’s restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, in Roppongi. That was my first omakase, and I was like, ‘This is great’ [laughs]. So that set my expectations high. I came back to Orange County, where I was living, and went to the sushi restaurant San Shi Go twice a week. I loved it so much. Four or five years later, I was making my own omakase, at first just for fun, for friends.

How did you learn how to make sushi?

NY: I’d watch and learn. I became friends with Daisuke San, the Japanese chef of San Shi Go in Newport Beach. Every time I went, I would ask him questions and then go home to make my own. If it wasn’t right, I’d go back and ask him what I did wrong. I learned everything just by asking questions, and he was happy to teach me because I was always there. He also referred me to another chef in L.A., Yasu Kusano, I call him my sensei. His restaurant [Yasu, in Beverly Hills] was closed during COVID, so he helped me with my take-out and corrected whatever I did wrong.

These days, when I go to a nice omakase sushi restaurant, the chef is like, ‘Oh! KinKan!’ They know me because I respect the cuisine, and they respect me for that. And [because I] add Thai flavors to Japanese [cuisine], they’re like, ‘Wow, you have the balls to combine this food,’ and they really like it. I’m still learning today. Every time I use a new ingredient, I make sure to double-check with Yasu San and Fumio Azumi San of Kogane, who has also become a good friend, about the perfect way to prepare it.

Why did you decide to open a restaurant?

NY: It was very impulsive. My neighbor was like, ‘What’s going on?’ So I thought maybe I should get a brick-and-mortar. I posted on my Instagram story, and the next day, this landlord in Virgil Village said he had a spot for me, and the build-out was done, it was good to go, he could just hand me the keys. I didn’t have anything, no personal warranty, nothing required to open a business. The landlord asked for my Venmo transactions for 12 months, and was like, ‘I think you could do it.’ He’s the same landlord of Courage Bagels, and he watched them when they were at the farmers’ market and approached them in the same way.

As you started to incorporate Thai flavors, how did customers react to the shift?

NY: I did well with the Japanese takeout, but I feel like anyone can do that. It’s cool, but I’m Thai, so I want to present Thai food. To find a bridge between the take-out and my Thai cooking, I used all of the ingredients from the bento boxes — scallops, bluefin tuna, ocean trout, everything — and found ways to present them with Thai flavors. My grandma passed away during COVID, and she left money for me [which I used to open the restaurant]. The first menu was an homage to grandma, so it was more of a conversation.

Do your guests at KinKan understand the cuisine as an expression of you as a chef?

NY: Very much. When they come to my restaurant, it’s not because they’re hungry. They come for the experience. Most of them are artists, a lot of people in the film industry. In the first three months, every night someone cried. They’d say, ‘Oh, your food tastes like a sunset.’ And I’m like, ‘What is that?’ On Halloween, a couple dressed as astronauts and said, ‘Chef, do you know why we’re wearing this? Because your food is out of this world.’

It’s a small community of guests because of our price point as a tasting menu restaurant. But we have a lot of return guests, which is why we change the menu so often. When they come to the restaurant, they don’t ask for the menu, they’re just like, ‘Whatever you want to do. Just do it.’ It’s unique, but very niche.

You have two offerings: the Thai-Japanese tasting menu for dinner, and then kaiseki lunch on the weekends. How are they distinct?

NY: The tasting menu is about new flavors. It’s more creative. People who travel the world, often older people, want to taste something new. The kaiseki is more just a good lunch. We change the three appetizers very often, and then we serve a chirashi bowl. 

In the three years since you opened the restaurant, how has KinKan evolved?

NY: We tried many different menus, but ultimately we’re more of a tasting menu, special occasion kind of place. We tried to change it to a la carte, but then we were worried because people weren’t mind-blown. We were not used to people just walking out without saying anything. We always hug and exchange contact information, it’s very personal. [Going to KinKan] is more like going to someone’s house. 

I noticed on Instagram that you ask customers to text you. Do you engage with a lot of your guests this way?

NY: Yeah. Since I do many pop-ups and collaborations, many customers check with me before they make a reservation to make sure I’ll be there. It’s been hard though. So many of our guests are from the film industry and during the strike they were like, ‘We love you but we don’t have money.’ I’ve been working on a relocation to West L.A.

Does more of your clientele live on the westside?

NY: Yeah. People with 7 p.m. reservations leave the westside at 5 p.m. They even come from Malibu. They say if I moved closer, they’d come once a week …Virgil Village is tough for what we do. We tried to be casual, but we’re not good at that [laughs]. 

What are you most excited about right now?

NY: I hope I can move to a new location. This is my first restaurant. I tried my best, but there are some things I’d like to redo to revise the restaurant. I’m ready for an upgrade. With a generous, million-dollar buildout, I can design my own restaurant. I tried the eastside, but it’s been so tough to maintain a steady business, and I want to make sure what I do is the best. Otherwise, why do it?

Emily Wilson is a Los Angeles-based food writer from New York. She has contributed to Bon Appétit, Eater, TASTE, The Los Angeles Times, Punch, Atlas Obscura, and more. Follow her on X and Instagram. Follow Resy, too.