Photography by Kelsey Shoemaker.
The restaurant stands out in a city where authentic yet affordable Japanese dining is hard to find. They are known as JingHe.
Founded by Kangfan Jing and Gangchao Zhang, a husband-and-wife duo, JingHe feels like a step into Japan. Since immigrating from China around five years ago, the two have had one mission: to redefine the local dining scene and offer a place for neighbors to enjoy traditional food inspired by their heritage.
JingHe Japanese has been open for less than a year at Mockingbird Station in the space formerly home to Urban Taco — which closed in March last year after 16 years.
The restaurant’s interior has been completely renovated from its previous Spanish-style look consisting of bright and bold colored Talavera tiles.
According to manager Larry Jia, not many restaurants in the East Dallas area offer affordable chef-prepared Japanese dishes. Because of this, Mockingbird Station felt like the right location for JingHe’s opening.
At JingHe, everything is intentional. From plates to artwork, the restaurant blends traditional izakaya-inspired cuisine within its modern interior furnished in a color scheme of deep brown, dark woods and hints of red.
Izakaya, Japanese for “stay-drink-place,” is an informal bar for drinks and unwinding with friends. Food at izakaya tends to be classic, simple, dishes with a broad appeal.
For now, the restaurant offers a fast-casual, dine-in experience. However, JingHe is in the works of transforming its next-door storage space into an upscale concept that will act as a speakeasy for the restaurant.
The visual design of JingHe is enough to satisfy the eye, but the real charm is through its food menu of more than 60 Japanese otsumami (finger foods).
Customers can dine on tapas like the takoyaki (stuffed octopus pancake balls) and gyoza, Wagyu and chashu (Japanese braised pork belly), sashimi, and mini ramen.
Additionally, JingHe offers an extensive selection of sake, Japanese whiskey, beer, and its signature drink, the “Mockingbird” — a reinterpretation of the classic Cosmopolitan, served in a bird-shaped cocktail glass.
Dessert offerings include Japanese-style cheesecake, matcha tiramisu, ice cream and taiyaki, a fish-shaped cake stuffed with red bean paste topped with ice cream.
While the term “all you can eat” paired with Japanese food may raise an eyebrow, it’s not the typical buffet style you’d expect.
Here’s how it works:
Upon arrival, you’ll be seated and presented with two menus: one at $19 including staples like cheese wonton, California roll, spicy miso ramen and teriyaki chicken. The other menu at $39 offers premium options like sashimi, tuna tower, summer roll, beef tongue and yellowtail jalapeno. Both menus include “unlimited” food tastings.
Your server will give you a piece of paper — and time, to select dishes and their quantities. The quantity is not final — you can request more food.
Once ready, you’ll press a button on the table to notify the server via a watch, indicating your table number and readiness to order. This ordering method is common in Korean restaurants for efficiency.
The chef behind the bar will prepare your food and within less than 10 minutes you’ve got a table full of Japanese tapas.
“It’s an incomparable price tag for high-quality, all-you-can-eat Japanese food,” Jia says.
“[When you look at other places in this area] you can expect to spend over $30 or $40 for just one appetizer and drink. So in that way, all you can eat is kind of like you can choose your course by yourself, very flexible, everything is small portions so [you get more],” Jia says.
JingHe Japanese Restaurant 5321 E Mockingbird Lane, Ste. 105, 214.258.5700
