Kisser
Michelin Bib Gourmand
James Beard Recognized
Brian Lea
Leina Horii
Kisser is a Japanese comfort food restaurant in East Nashville from chefs Leina Horii and Brian Lea — lunch only, no reservations, Michelin Bib Gourmand, and some of the most talked-about Japanese cooking in Nashville.
Review
About
Kisser is named after kissaten — the Japanese word for a neighborhood restaurant — and that framing tells you exactly what Leina Horii and Brian Lea were going for: unpretentious, deeply rooted, the kind of food that feeds people rather than impresses them. The fact that it has become one of Nashville's most buzzed-about restaurants — and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand — is a testament to how good it actually is.
The Japanese Breakfast is the dish people talk about first, and it earns every conversation. A bento-style box with miso-sake marinated cobia, tamagoyaki, furikake rice, and rotating vegetable sides. The Chicken Katsu Sandwich on house-made milk bread is the other anchor: properly breaded, properly sauced. The spicy miso udon with duck confit is the thing that sends people stratospheric. Order it.
Kisser is lunch only, open Thursday through Monday, with no reservations. The wait can be long — sometimes over an hour. Plan for it. It's worth every minute.
Horii's food is rooted in her memories of eating at her grandparents' home in Japan, and that specificity is what makes it different. This isn't Japanese cuisine as a genre. It's Japanese food as personal history, cooked by someone who grew up eating it and knows exactly what it's supposed to taste like.
The Japanese Breakfast is the dish people talk about first, and it earns every conversation. A bento-style box with miso-sake marinated cobia, tamagoyaki, furikake rice, and rotating vegetable sides. The Chicken Katsu Sandwich on house-made milk bread is the other anchor: properly breaded, properly sauced. The spicy miso udon with duck confit is the thing that sends people stratospheric. Order it.
Kisser is lunch only, open Thursday through Monday, with no reservations. The wait can be long — sometimes over an hour. Plan for it. It's worth every minute.
Horii's food is rooted in her memories of eating at her grandparents' home in Japan, and that specificity is what makes it different. This isn't Japanese cuisine as a genre. It's Japanese food as personal history, cooked by someone who grew up eating it and knows exactly what it's supposed to taste like.
Japanese comfort food rooted in Leina Horii's childhood — a lunch-only Michelin Bib Gourmand spot with no reservations, lines that earn it, and some of the best Japanese cooking in Nashville.
Kisser is named after kissaten — the Japanese word for a neighborhood restaurant, the kind of unpretentious spot that has been feeding communities in Japan for decades. That's the spirit Leina Horii and Brian Lea brought to Highland Yards in East Nashville: Japanese comfort food rooted in Horii's childhood memories of eating at her grandparents' home in Japan.
The menu is tight and focused. The Japanese Breakfast is a bento-style box anchored by miso-sake marinated fish, tamagoyaki, rice with furikake, and rotating vegetable sides. The Chicken Katsu Sandwich uses house-made milk bread and has developed a serious following. Handmade udon bowls — particularly the spicy miso with duck confit — beef tartare on grilled rice, and a handful of rotating dishes round out a menu that doesn't overstay its welcome.
Kisser operates lunch hours only, Thursday through Monday, with no reservations. Waits can exceed an hour. The check-in system runs through a QR code at the door. The restaurant started as a pop-up at The Patterson House before becoming a permanent spot in Highland Yards.
Kisser is connected to Strategic Hospitality and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the inaugural American South Guide.
The menu is tight and focused. The Japanese Breakfast is a bento-style box anchored by miso-sake marinated fish, tamagoyaki, rice with furikake, and rotating vegetable sides. The Chicken Katsu Sandwich uses house-made milk bread and has developed a serious following. Handmade udon bowls — particularly the spicy miso with duck confit — beef tartare on grilled rice, and a handful of rotating dishes round out a menu that doesn't overstay its welcome.
Kisser operates lunch hours only, Thursday through Monday, with no reservations. Waits can exceed an hour. The check-in system runs through a QR code at the door. The restaurant started as a pop-up at The Patterson House before becoming a permanent spot in Highland Yards.
Kisser is connected to Strategic Hospitality and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the inaugural American South Guide.
