Duk Lee

Best for: Chinese
Location: Market City Shopping Center

2-combo plate: fried rice, roast pork, and lemon chicken ($8)

My dad and I used to stop by Duk Lee to pick up a pound of char siu (and roast pork too, if my dad's feeling up to it) every Sunday after my piano lessons. Since high school, I returned for the first time with Anthony because we were both hungry, low on funds, and right around the corner from Market City.



Duk Lee is a small restaurant with one long counter of food, about eight small tables, and a huge window displaying rows of hanging meat. Yum. We shared a 2-combination plate and a side order of chow fun, for a total of $12. Not sure why we got the extra noodles; the plate was more than enough for the two of us. It came with fried rice, roast pork, and lemon chicken. The roast pork was fantastic - loaded with flavor, crispy skin, and just enough fat. The lemon chicken was good, but can't really compare to roast pork, and its sauce went perfectly with the fried rice and complimentary bean sprouts.

chow fun (under $4)

Market City is another one of those areas blessed with an assortment of cheap, reliable restaurants - just like Waialae Avenue and Kapahulu. Anthony and I have set a goal to try every single restaurant in this shopping center. We can already check off Gina's and Duk Lee; next up - G Sushi, Anytime Cafe, Kaila, a burger place, and that odd Mexican bar.

another angle of our wonderful combination plate

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!