While many people I know have trouble resisting bread and pasta, I tend to avoid simple carbs unless they’re extra delicious. It’s not because of any fad diet, but because they break down into sugar while providing few nutrients.
Which makes it all the more surprising that when it comes to Aburiya Ibushi, all I want to eat are the carbs. If you’re leaning toward a meatless diet, the potatoes and rice here will put you on the path toward righteousness. This is contrary to the restaurant’s slogan, “Nice to meat you,” which would have most diners envisioning a meal built around its specialty of binchotan charcoal- grilled meat.
This Kapahulu Avenue restaurant is the sibling of Osaka Teppanyaki Kawano in the McCully Shopping Center. An aburiya is a restaurant that specializes in fire-scorched food, a method that originated in Miyazaki, Japan, home of some of the world’s best beef.
The small restaurant is perfect for apartment dwellers hungry for a taste of backyard grilling because a strong charcoal flavor permeates most dishes.
OVERALL, I found the meat dishes wanting,but a grilled potato brought me back for more. Halves of creamy Yukon Golds were topped with butter and creamy mentaiko (cod roe) with cheese ($7). If life were a cartoon, it’s the kind of dish that would cause your jaw to drop and your eyes to pop out of your head.
I had been torn between this potato and another potato dish of nori-shio “Punch” fries ($6.50), but the staff recommended the mentaiko potatoes, and I was satisfied with my choice. On a repeat visit, though, I found the fries to be even better! First boiled in dashi for sweetness, they were fried to achieve a brittle crisp exterior, and sprinkled with extra enhancements of nori and bonito, then served with a side of mentaiko cream sauce. Heaven!
Then there was a special of garlic beef fried rice ($15). It already had me at the words “garlic” and “fried rice,” but then it was blanketed with a sheet of mozzarella, torched, then sprinkled with green onions.
When it comes to the meat on the menu, concessions have been made to Hawaii’s taste for sugar. It makes business sense, but falls flat from a critical point of view. For instance, why cover up the natural flavor of fatty, juicy pork belly ($14, add $3 for a teishoku set that includes rice, miso soup, potato salad and pickled vegetables) with a thick slathering of ketchupy Western-style barbecue sauce? I tried to unload as much of the sauce as possible on the sides of the plate, to no avail. All I could taste was sauce.
Aburiyaki (flame-grilled) beef flank fared a little better, marinated in a miso, ginger and garlic sauce and presented with no added sauce ($15, add $3 for set). Even so, the overall flavor registered as sweeter than typical at a Japanese restaurant.
I preferred the simplicity of charcoal- seared rib-eye ($27) served with choice of red wine or chimichurri sauce, or a dish of aburiyaki chicken thighs, like pieces of yakitori served on a plate instead of on skewers.
The chimichurri was more like a garlic sauce than the parsley-concentrated Argentine version, a little disappointing due to expectations, even though garlic makes anything tasty. The steak itself was dry, but adding a bit of wasabi boosted its flavor enough to compensate for texture.
The chicken was marinated in shio koji (salt and fermented rice), which tenderizes the meat and imparts an umami richness. It’s served with a grilled onion and a dab of yuzu kosho, a chili-infused salt and citrus paste that brightens each bite of chicken. Yum!
Another specialty is a nikomi-style miso pork belly stew, simmered with rice in broth, served with soft-cooked egg and a sprinkle of minced raw onions, another more local touch.
Maybe next time around I will try the charcoal-grilled rib-eye steak sandwich with garlic teriyaki sauce, basil sauce, butter and cheese ($12 with fries). Anything to have those potatoes again.
ABURIYA IBUSHI
740 Kapahulu Ave.
Food: ***
Service: **1/2
Ambiance: **1/2
Value: ***1/2
>> Call: 738-1038
>> Hours: Noon to 11 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays
>> Prices: About $40 to $50 for two; BYOB
Ratings compare similar restaurants:
**** – excellent
*** – very good
** – average
* – below average
Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
