Critic Finds Much to Discover on the Menu at Kamakura

“A Bit More Time to Bloom”

This month for Boston Magazine, Colin Kingsbury visits Youji Iwakura’s Kamakura in downtown Boston. The seasonal kaiseki menu gives a diner much to discover, Kingsbury writes, and with Iwakura’s background at local establishments like Uni, Basho, and Snappy Ramen, the restaurant delivers some standouts.

“Iwakura’s dishes are exceptionally beautiful, and mostly very good, occasionally excellent,” though not always uniformly, Kingsbury writes. Highlights include the oyster nanbanzuke and a “delightful” unagi, and an array of sushi that “presented wonderful, progressively richer selections,” including yellowtail with citrus and wasabi and scorpionfish with uni. Overall, Kingsbury calls Kamakura an ambitious restaurant and gives it two and a half stars out of a possible four (between “good” and “generally excellent,”) praising its thoughtful presentations and its room to grow.

A Farewell

In other local restaurant review news, The Improper Bostonian magazine said goodbye this week after the better part of 30 years in business covering Boston’s arts, culture, and more. Longtime local critic MC Slim JB had been writing restaurant reviews for the publication since 2013, and it was one of the only remaining local publications still putting out formal reviews on a regular basis. The magazine’s closure will leave a hole in Boston’s food media scene — and the media scene in general.

• Dining Out: Youji Iwakura’s Kamakura [BM]
• An Improper Farewell [IB]