Morimoto Waikiki

Best for: Modern Japanese, Dessert, A peaceful meal in Waikiki
Location: The Modern Honolulu
Foodgasmic dish: Black cod, Tofu cheesecake, Traditional breakfast

The most beautiful restaurant in Honolulu?

Breakfast, lunch, and dessert have now been taken care of - dinner is the only meal left to try. Morimoto is, hands down, my favorite lunch place in Hawaii. Ironically, lunch time is when my expert friends advise me not to go, probably because the menu is much more limited and the lunch crowd is somewhat boring compared to the lively dinner crowd. However, I happen to enjoy the peace and quiet of this beautiful restaurant -- perhaps the most beautiful restaurant in Hawaii? -- and continue to bring out-of-town guests here for a $40 lunch that's worth every penny.



For those of you who do not watch the Food Network obsessively, this restaurant is owned by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Ah yes, that explains why the dishes are (relatively) innovative and absolutely delicious. People have their own opinions about this whole celebrity chef phase which America seems to be going through, but I happen to approve, despite Anthony Bourdain's deep criticisms of it. Come on, people, it means more restaurants, more cooking shows, more food, which are always good things! By the way, I think Mario Batali should open a restaurant in Hawaii too. Please?

During lunch, I always order the iced tea. In my pre-Morimoto life, I was never a fan of iced tea. I thought it was a disgrace to Chinese oolong and Indian chai. However, I reluctantly copied Michelle's order of iced tea when I first dined at Morimoto and now can't digest a lunch set without it. Must be the fancy pitcher and the addition of the perfect amount of agave syrup.

Iced tea: $7

The lunch sets are the best deal. For a mere $22, each lunch set comes with miso soup, 3 pieces of maki sushi, 2 pieces of nigiri sushi, and salad. So far, the black cod is my favorite. Braised black cod in ginger-soy reduction, pickled bell peppers, and budo mame - all laid on top of congee (rice soup). I get hungry just thinking about this. The angry chicken and pork belly are also good.

Black cod lunch set: $22

Pork belly lunch set: $22

I always end lunch with dessert, of course. For my birthday, a group of us came to Morimoto for dessert on Friday night. The atmosphere is completely different, and it's easy to see why this place is considered one of the hot spots in Hawaii. The six of us were taken through the vibrant dining room and seated at a large circular table. The dessert menu during dinnertime is slightly larger, but we ended up ordering two orders of three dishes because apparently we were all in a chocolate mood that day. Quite fitting, considering it was my birthday.



My friend who happened to be working that night served us an adorable pink bottle of sake. Best sake I've had - she knows me too well! As for desserts, the tofu cheesecake is still my favorite. It sounds kind of disgusting, but, in fact, tofu cheesecake just tastes light and airy, and is served with molasses ice cream, kuromitsu (Japanese black honey), kinako (roasted soybean powder), and adzuki (azuki bean). The flavors and textures work together marvelously.

Tofu cheesecake: $12

Peanut butter fondant: $12

A few days ago, I finally tried Morimoto for breakfast, and it's now my favorite time to come. Chloe and I were seated outside (my first time outside!) and ordered the yose dofu and traditional breakfast. The yose dofu (house made warm tofu) comes with grilled miso cod, kim chee sauce, dashi broth, pickled vegetables, and onsen tamago. You spoon the desired amount of kim chee sauce and dashi broth onto the large pot of tofu.



The traditional breakfast comes with grilled miso cod, sashimi, miso soup, pickled vegetables, onsen tamago, rice, and tsukemono. Delicious! I was glad to see that both dishes came with the miso cod; Morimoto knows what people like.

Yose dofu ($29)

Traditional breakfast ($30)

I'll be dragging someone to breakfast with me again soon because I kind of want to try his ume shiso mary. I've never been a fan of bloody marys, but this one, made with muddled shiso and ume, and served with a wasabi-salt rim (wasabi-salt!! omg), sounds absolutley tantalizing.

Ezogiku

Best for: Cheap ramen
Location: Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center



Pizza to Anthony is like ramen to me - even bad ramen is good ramen. Before ballet class, a bunch of us used to buy those huge spicy ramen bowls from the convenience store downstairs and eat and gossip in the hall. Ramen and ballerinas...that's not something you'd expect to see everyday. Once in a while, when my dad was lazy and the temperature in Hawaii actually dropped below 70, he'd make ramen using the noodles from the Top Ramen package and create his own broth using bouillon, char siu, and fresh vegetables. My brother and I always looked forward to these days. I even enjoy those crappy Cup Noodles, with too much salt and nondescript vegetables.

"Oh, there's the noodles!"

Ezogiku doesn't offer the best ramen (go to Yotteko-ya for that), but it's cheap and convenient and looked a hell of a lot more appetizing than the other fast food restaurants in the food court, e.g. Maui Tacos, Kenny's "Hawaiian" Express. Considering I only enjoy eating in food courts when I'm in Singapore, the fact that I happily brought Anthony to this place already says a lot.



For about $13, he ordered the ramen + gyoza combo and a drink - slightly cheaper than Goma Tei's ramen + gyoza combo, but smaller portions and not quite as good. In other words, you get what you pay for. And, as someone who loves ramen of all qualities, that works for me.

Prince Court

Best for: Japanese dinner buffet
Location: Hawaii Prince Hotel

I'm not usually a fan of Japanese buffets (I think Japanese is too delicate a cuisine that mass-producing a few dishes for people to touch seems almost blasphemous), but most of the food at Prince Court is relatively high quality, and service, which is usually compromised at buffets, is surprisingly good.

Located at the Hawaii Prince Hotel with stunning views of the harbor, this restaurant is noted for its dinner buffets. Apparently my family comes here often enough because our waiter recognized my parents and brother immediately (and was probably very confused by me) - must be one of the many traditions my family started while I was away in Portland. If you come early like we did, you can catch the sunset, which is breathtaking, no matter how many times I see it. Dinner is $43/person, which is a bargain considering the location. 

This is obviously my dad's plate

The buffet consists of over seven stations - sashimi/poke, customized saimin, sushi, seafood (crab, shrimp, and clams...but no mussels), miso and curry, noodles, and desserts, just to name a few. I would have been completely satisfied with the sashimi/poke station. The sushi station is small, but there is a sushi chef ready to make you made-to-order handrolls. The nori they use for the handrolls is perfect - crispy, just the way I like it. The steamed crab is okay; I still prefer the Chinese preparation.

my bowl of clams

hand roll - love their nori!

In conclusion, I'm still not a huge fan of Japanese buffets, but when I must go to one, the Prince Court is probably one of the best in town.

Wada

Best for: Japanese
Location: Kapahulu
Foodgasmic dish: Sakizuke, Grilled beef tongue

Thanks to a dinner at Wada last week, I had to rearrange my entire Top 10 Restaurant list; this is definitely one of the best restaurants I've been to recently. Wada just opened up a few months ago and is hidden behind the Papa John's on Kapahulu. Intimate and refined, this bright, white-walled and light wood-paneled restaurant only has about 9 tables. More restaurants should be like this. Service is excellent (as a result of the manager keeping a blatantly close eye on the abundant wait staff), and the dishes are some of the most interesting I've ever had.

the $55 "Wada" tasting menu is worth it!

We got there around 6:30, which is the perfect time to come because it was completely packed an hour later. Mizuki and I started off with a couple of drinks - yuzu and something called Sweet Dreams. No idea what they are (I do know that the Sweet Dreams had some honey in it), but they were delicious.We decided to order the 6-course "wada" tasting menu for $55.

1st course: Sakizuki, which came with mushrooms, shrimp, and some other things that I couldn't recognize but only enjoy. Everything came in beautiful ceramic dishes that complemented the equally exquisite food.

Sakizuke

2nd course: Zensai (raw beef and sea urchin). Yes, that's right, raw beef. And, look, America, I'm still alive and well. A piece of nori, a thin slice of raw beef, cucumber slices, and a bit of uni, dipped in soy sauce... absolutely delicious!

Zensai (raw beef and sea urchin)

3rd course: Age Mono (baby scallops and seasonal vegetables). Mizuki assured me, "Sure it's fried, but they're vegetables, so it's healthy." I agree.

Age mono

4th course: Tsukuri (3 varieties of sashimi). I almost felt bad about destroying this impeccably laid-out creation of raw seafood. There were a few sashimi with which I was unfamiliar, and all were melt-in-your-mouth perfect.

Tsukuri

5th course: Kuroge Wahugyu Beef Tongue & Harami (diaphragm). That's the oddest way of spelling wagyu beef. Our waiter brought out a stone ishikaya grill and started the fire on our table. We were each given 8 paper-thin slices of raw beef tongue. Best beef tongue I've had (and I even cooked it myself!). Our waiter instructed us to cook the first side for 5 seconds and the second side for 3 seconds. Of course, these instructions were too complicated for me, so I think I ended up grilling mine for about 6 seconds on each side. Whatever, they still tasted amazing.

6th course: Shime - we were given a choice of "Wada" Shiso Gohan (rice flavored with sesame and shiso leaves) or Hiyashi Tan Tongue Men (noodles). We ordered both and shared. Our waiter took over our grill and cooked us a bunch of tender beef, bean sprouts, and onions to go with our rice and noodles.

Dessert: Kanmi (milk pudding). It's basically creme brulee without the hard crust, which sounds really depressing but it was so rich that I could care less that it was more of a flan than anything else. The kanmi was served with a side of fruit, which I so generously slid over to Matt.

Milk pudding and tea

The only insignificant flaw I can think of is that this place requires valet. I happen to love valet, but in this case, the valet actually came in during our meal and handed everyone their keys (and demanded $3) because he was taking off for the night. After such impeccable service from the actual restaurant, the [lack of] service from the valet company caught everyone off guard.

Gazen

Best for: Japanese, Izakaya
Location: Kapahulu
Foodgasmic dish: Tofu sampler, Salmon & ikura "oyako" chazuke

homemade tofu sampler, $12.80

 After fantasizing about their homemade tofu for weeks, I finally returned to Gazen for another round. Gazen is the type of place I'd pass without ever trying, mainly because it looks like a sketchy diner from the outside. Luckily, Mizuki took me there two summers ago and shattered my preconceptions.

salmon sashimi, $10

Gazen is dimly-lit and has a couple of tatami rooms for private parties. I usually sit in one of the huge booths and share a bunch of dishes. Last week Anthony and I ordered a Kirin and umeshu on the rocks (I guess we weren't feeling very adventurous, at least for drinks). We shared four dishes: salmon sashimi, tofu sampler, grilled beef tongue, and salmon & ikura "oyako" chazuke.

salmon & ikura "oyako" chazuke, $6.80

The sashimi was amazing - buttery and melts in your mouth. The tofu sampler was as perfect as I remembered it to be. It comes with three different preparations of tofu: 1) zaru tofu w/ natural sea salt; 2) kurogoma tofu w/ black sesame seeds - my favorite one; and 3) sukui tofu floating in a soymilk broth. Each one requires a delicate process of adding the various condiments of salt, soy sauce and/or wasabi. The grilled beef tongue was tasty, but it was a bit too meaty for my taste. I like my beef tongue thin. I tried the chazuke for the first time, and it is now one of my favorite Japanese dishes. Chazuke is a dish made by pouring green tea over grilled rice. Our salmon chazuke was topped with shredded salmon, fish eggs, and some black sesame. The perfect comfort food.

grilled beef tongue, $12

I'll definitely be back shortly, as I expect to have another homemade tofu craving soon.

Mr. Ojisan

Best for: Japanese lunch
Location: Kapahulu

Mr. Ojisan reminds me of Hata Restaurant - another unassuming hole-in-the-wall restaurant serving straightforward Japanese food for a good price. I ordered the mini size combo: miso ramen with 4 pieces of gyoza for $10.95. Mmmm comfort food. As usual, the mini size was perfect (maybe even a little too much?) for me. Mel ordered the tempura set, which was crispy and not too oily.

The place can get pretty busy during lunch, and Mel and I ended up chatting with the next table of elderly Japanese friends. Moments like these really make me appreciate neighborhood restaurants, in which most customers know each other but are still welcoming to those they don't know. For dessert we had zenzai, a warm azuki bean soup with mochi. Delicious!

Imanas Tei

Best for: Traditional Japanese, Izakaya
Location: Puck's Alley

 
You know I really like you when I let you order my meal, especially when you're ordering things like sea urchin and beef tongue. In a previous post [about Nobu], I had established that if any place could get me to eat things I normally wouldn't, it would be at a good Japanese restaurant. So when I went to Imanas Tei for the first time with one of the few people whose impeccable taste I'd trust with my life, I knew I was in for a treat and in good hands.

After hearing horror stories about the inevitably long wait before being seated, I was amazed that Mizuki and I only ended up sitting on the outside bench for about 3 minutes, and were then taken past the crowds to a table that seats four. Nice! I guess it helps coming with someone fluent in Japanese.  

We started off with a couple of drinks: a grapefruit chu-hi and a sweet potato sake. Not bad.

seafood salad

We ordered the grilled beef tongue, some maki, a salmon skin hand roll, hamachi kama (broiled yellowfin ahi collar), and seafood salad. My first grilled beef tongue and hamachi kama! Both were amazing. The grilled beef tongue is sliced thinly, cooked just right, and perfected with a splash of lemon. My salmon skin hand roll was one of the most beautiful handrolls I've ever seen, with tobiko (flying fish caviar) and long shreds of daikon artistically sticking out. The hamachi kama has so much flavor, and the meat falls off the bone when you pick at it with chopsticks. 

grilled beef tongue

salmon skin hand roll

hamachi kama (broiled yellowfin ahi collar)

Time for round two of drinks. This time I ordered something safe, a plum wine on the rocks. Perfect. Mizuki ordered a sake, which was actually served in the traditional masu, a box made of hinoki or sugi. The server put a glass inside the box and poured the sake until it overflowed and filled both containers. Now that is how to drink sake!

the proper way to drink sake

We ordered even more dishes: abalone and mackerel, uni nigiri (sea urchin sushi), and tataki bonito (seared ahi). My first time for all three dishes! The abalone has an interesting texture that I'm still getting used to, but the mackerel was delicious. As Mizuki instructed, "Eat the abalone with wasabi, and the mackerel with ginger." Good advice. Watching me attempt to slurp down an uni nigiri is one of the funniest (or maybe most disgusting?) thing you can do; I'll have to work on that. It's creamy and smooth - characteristics I would never expect from such a spiny little creature.

our beautiful abalone and mackerel dish

uni nigiri (sea urchin) - not something I'll be ordering on a first date

Despite being packed the entire time we were there, service was always efficient and graciously put up with our multiple orders and my indecisiveness. Towards the end of our meal, our adorably clueless waiter - as in, it's a good thing he's cute because he's also kind of clueless - came over and sheepishly told us, "By the way, you two look very beautiful tonight." Wow. I wonder how he could sense the generous tip Mizuki was planning to give him. 

Dozens of people have called Imanas Tei the "best Japanese restaurant in Hawaii." While I could easily say the same, Mizuki has warned me that there are a couple more places I still need to try, so I'll hold off on definitives until then. Our bill came out to about $115, excluding tip. Definitely worth it, considering the ambiance, number of dishes ordered, and quality of food. Even more important, I broadened my palette and thus more fully appreciate another culture - and that in itself is one of the greatest achievements in life.