Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar

Best for: Early or late-night tapas
Location: Kaimuki
Foodgasmic dish: Almond brittle flan with bourbon

Most dishes are about $5-10

Tapas are my favorite form of dinner because I prefer an assortment of small plates to one large dish. Plus, tapas pretty much require a glass of wine. Perfecto!




Salt reminds me of Portland, maybe because it's tiny, maybe because post-modern black-and-white photography cover the walls, maybe because the menus don't have decimals or dollar signs. Or maybe because some of the food seems to be obscure for the sake of being obscure. Whatever the reason, I do like Salt, and it has become one of my favorite places to go either for early night tapas or late night tapas - it's way too crowded during prime dinner time.

discussing the charcuterie

I've been here four times so far. On the first time, Mizuki, Matt and I arrived at 9 pm and sat at the bar. The crowd definitely made me feel like I was back in Portland, which, in this case, is a good thing. We had had dinner elsewhere, so I ordered one of the three desserts: chevre cheesecake with caramel popcorn. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake (unless it's Japanese cheesecake) or popcorn, but this dish is one of Salt's specialty, and I thought the flavors were delicious together. However, halfway through the cheesecake I was sick of it.

chevre cheesecake and caramel popcorn ($7)

A few weeks later Carolyn and I came around 5:30 and were glad to see that it was almost completely empty. We sat at an upstairs table on the left, which has become my favorite place to sit. We each ordered a glass of white wine (try the savennières!) and shared about 4 dishes:

1. Fried egg
2. Pork-stuffed calamari
3. Grilled tako bruschetta
4. Empanadas

fried egg, calabrian chilean aioli, frisee, and grilled egg ($5)

grilled pork-stuffed calamari with frisee and smoked tomato creme fraiche ($8)

The first two were my favorites and the most interesting of the bunch. The grilled bread was perfect for sopping up the yolk from the fried egg. The tako bruschetta and empanadas were underwhelming, which is the case for about half of the menu at Salt.

grilled tako bruschetta, charred peppers, soft poached egg aioli, and fine herbs ($9)

empanadas

The last time I came to Salt, I was relieved to see that they updated and expanded their dessert selection. I can only eat so much popcorn cheesecake. I tried the almond brittle flan with bourbon, and it was the best flan I've ever had. Must be the bourbon.

Hiroshi

Best for: Eurasian tapas, Drinks

Location: Downtown
Foodgasmic dish: Hamachi carpaccio, Chilean sea bass

My first time at Hiroshi was an accident. Mizuki had wanted to take me to next door neighbor Vino, but a party had reserved the entire restaurant, so we ended up at Hiroshi. Apparently, Vino and Hiroshi share kitchens because, on some nights, you can sit in either one and order from both menus. Works for us!

We sat at the bar and faced the impressive wall of liquor. I was pretty amazed by the crowd there, late on a Wednesday night. Don't these people have families to go home to?? Alright, no judgment. Let's talk about the meal.

Since most of our dishes were ordered off Vino's menu, I'll save the bulk of dinner for that post. However, the $3.50 cocktails and $8 desserts were ordered off Hiroshi's. Yes, I typed that correctly. The cocktails were $3.50 (if seated at the bar). And these are damn good cocktails, unlike the simplistic $5 ones at Panya. In fact, our bartender didn't even charge Mizuki for her second round of margaritas. I had the Sex in the City (vodka, cranberry & triple sec) and Sexy Lychee Martini (Parrot Bay mango with a hint of pineapple juice). Don't ask me why I ordered so much sex. Both were great; I love it when bars are generous with their lychees in lychee cocktails.

 

For dessert I had the haupia lemongrass crème brulee with raspberry sorbet, while Mizuki had the Hawaiian vanilla bean panna cotta with mango sorbet. The presentations of our dishes looked almost exactly the same. I guess if you like a design, stick to it? It's not the best crème brulee I've had, but it was pretty good, and the haupia lemongrass was an interesting twist. 

Hamachi Carpaccio, $11.50

 I recently returned with a small group of friends and had such a good experience that Hiroshi is now on my Top 10. In fact, this is my new favorite place for tapas. We shared about five dishes and a bottle of pinot blanc. It was a lot less crowded this time - in fact, by the end of the meal we were the only ones left besides a couple of guys at the bar. I'm not sure if this explains the impeccable service, or if service is always this good.

Chilean Sea Bass

We were first offered some crispy rice cakes and nori wasabi aioli, which is interesting because I definitely remember getting only bread and balsamic vinegar the last time I came.

  Baby Abalone "Casino," $14.95

We ordered:

1. LaBelle Farms Foie Gras, served with crispy Hamakua organic mushrooms, kabayaki sauce, white truffle oil and raspberry reduction & mint. Can you ever go wrong with foie gras, mushrooms, and truffle oil?
2. Hamachi Carpaccio, served with julienned ginger, tomato concasse, tofu and truffled ponzu. I absolutely love carpaccio, and this dish did not disappoint. The hamachi was silky, refreshing, and soaked in a ginger sauce. Amazing.
3. Chilean Sea Bass, which was buttery, moist and tender
4. Baby Abalone "Casino," served with tosaka salad w/ roasted garlic aioli, shiso, tobiko, parmesan, and white truffle oil. I was actually getting too full to eat this, but my friends really liked it.
5. Portuguese Sausage Potstickers, with choi sum, sweet corn, kim chee foam and truffled ponzu sauce. The Portuguese sausage is wrapped like gyoza and bathed in a tangy ponzu sauce. The kim chee foam was creamier and heavier than I was expecting, but went well with the potstickers.

LaBelle Farms Foie Gras, 14.95

I look forward to returning and definitely need to try their happy hour, when the menu is half off (too good to be true!).