Owner and namesake Hiroshi Kimura, a native of Japan, opened the restaurant at 328 Main St. in March. The focus is on Wagyu beef flown in weekly from Japan — as is seafood like crab and uni — served omakase-style, said Kevin Biggerstaff, the restaurant's general manager.
He described the one-seating concept as popular in Japan and becoming more so in the United States. The restaurant orders enough food for eight people and draws on whatever is available, hence the lack of a set menu. Kimura accommodates vegetarians or pescatarians, Biggerstaff said.
Hiroshi serves Wagyu beef flown in weekly from Japan to one group of diners each night. Photo by Elena Kadvany.
Previously, Kimura owned Yakiniku Hiroshi, a Japanese restaurant in Honolulu where customers could grill meats at their tables, for 28 years. He also ran several restaurants in Tokyo. His "speciality," Biggerstaff said, is Wagyu steak.
On the Hiroshi website, Kimura writes: "Since the age of sixteen, I have spent forty plus years in pursuit of perfecting the art of Wagyu steaks. I can now proudly share with you all my accumulated experiences and knowledge at our restaurant, to provide you with a Wagyu steak experience like none other."
Kimura decided to open the restaurant after a recent visit took him through downtown Los Altos, which reminded him of certain areas of Japan, Biggerstaff said. (For those who might be surprised to hear that, it was Los Altos' cleanliness and quietness that felt familiar to Kimura.)
The Los Altos restaurant espouses the spirit of "omotenashi," Kimura writes, which describes Japanese hospitality. Everything inside Hiroshi, from the food and drink to tableware, has been personally "hand-picked and/or prepared" by Kimura, the website states. A recent diner posted a photo on Yelp showing "handcut crystal glasses" on the dining table, which she said was made from a 800-year-old Japanese keyaki tree. The wine list is also shown on an iPad.
For more photos of the space and food, head to Hiroshi's Facebook page.
Since the restaurant orders enough ingredients to accommodate eight people, Hiroshi has taken groups of five or six, but the diners pay the same price. The dinner starts at about $395 per person before tax and gratuity but has been averaging at about $500 per diner, Biggerstaff said.
Hiroshi also serves sake, wine and some beer.
For reservations, call 650-332-8332.
