So what really is modern Japanese cuisine? Mike Dargani, Red Kimono’s owner, readily refers to the menu to illustrate what this tweaking is all about. The maki, for example, a staple in any Japanese restaurant, is given a different twist as salmon and cream cheese maki and crunchy ebi maki.

Even the common California maki is reincarnated from its near-fast food status as the California crunch – rolled in tempura batter, deep fried and served hot, not cold. As Dargani puts it, Red Kimono serves typical Japanese food yet somewhat unusual in taste and treatment.

Dargani, who already has more than a decade-long experience in the restaurant business, credits a lot of these inventive ideas to his travels all over the world, visiting restaurant capitals with his wife Namita.

"You don’t necessarily just dine in a restaurant, you look and observe. You can get an idea for a Japanese restaurant while dining in a restaurant in Paris," he says, noting that salmon and cream cheese, for example, is a typical combination in European cuisine, applied this time to Japanese food.

"Sometimes it comes out very good, sometimes bad. The good ones end up on the menu, the bad ones we just throw out," he adds. After a few bites, the salmon and cream cheese maki does stand out; the cream cheese gives it a different taste and blends well when dipped with soy sauce and wasabi. The crunchy California maki, on the other hand, is definitely a must-try, if only for the atypical maki "crunch."

Even if inspiration from various foreign cuisines is applied liberally, Red Kimono makes sure it keeps its billing as a Japanese restaurant intact. Its owner even prefers to shy away from the word "fusion" to describe Red Kimono’s dishes.

"Fusion may mean a combination of different cuisines. We’d like to think of Japanese as still our "base" cuisine. We make the ingredients strictly Japanese. You won’t find French or Italian ingredients," Dargani explains.

Some of that tweaking is also applied to main-course dishes like gindara with sweet miso sauce (instead of the usual teriyaki sauce) and chicken teriyaki with potato hay (potato cut into fine strips). The menu also has a vegetarian section, which is rather uncommon for most Japanese restaurants. For vegetarians, Dargani recommends the layered spinach with tofu.

The menu also includes a selection of imported Japanese beers and, of course, sake. Being at the Fort Strip, Red Kimono gets its fair share of customers, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, people who want to dine al-fresco while downing a few drinks. Dargani adds: "We will soon serves sake-based cocktails like margarita."

The modern Japanese appeal is also quite distinct in Red Kimono’s interior design. Instead of small, square windows and wooden tables typical of traditional Japanese restaurants, the place has a high ceiling and an all-glass façade. The inside features strong palettes of red with gold accents while various plants offer spreads of green.

A wall-mounted stone water fountain is found along the stairs leading to the top floor, which gives a Zen-like appeal. Near the sushi bar is a life-size mural that features a red kimono, yet only a small part of the kimono can be recognized in the frame.

"My wife (Namita) had this recurring dream of a woman in a red kimono. That was at about the same time we were thinking of a name for the restaurant," Dargani recalls.