Sitting inside Khan Skewer Restaurant, Honolulu’s newest Chinese-style skewer eatery, I couldn’t help but think that as far as civilization and technology has progressed since the discovery of fire, mankind hasn’t evolved very much.
Political skirmishes have already shown that a good percentage of people possess no mastery over their most primal emotions or warring impulses, but I imagine most of us can agree that food is one of the great pleasures of life, the same now as when our early ancestors first marveled over the flavor of fire-seared meat.
How wonderful it must have been to gather around a fire to enjoy the day’s hunt with one’s tribe. Today, we can enjoy the same simple pleasure without the danger, sweat and labor. All we have to do is show up.
Khan comes closer to the spirit of Mongolian barbecue born on the Asian Steppe, than the griddle-cooked stir-fry most people think of as Mongolian barbecue. The latter was merely a clever marketing ploy by a Taiwanese comedian and restaurateur Wu Zhaonan when he opened a street food stall in Taipei in 1951. That Mongolian barbecue became a phenomenon that made its way around the globe.
The real Mongolian barbecue grew out of a nomadic lifestyle forced on people by an unforgiving environment that made agriculture impossible and subsisting on meat and dairy a way of life. Thirteenth century writer Giovanni da Pian del Carpini wrote of the Mongols — before herding goats and sheep became a standard of living — “They eat dogs, wolves, foxes and horses, and, when in difficulty, they eat human flesh.”
More appealing to our primitive brains than a stir-fry, Khan Skewer Restaurant teases us with little more than meat plus fire and a sprinkling of spices.
The only thing more fun and pleasurable than chowing down on the skewered meat would be seeing the flames at work and participating in the grilling process as we are able to do at more interactive spots. Alas, the restaurant’s setup only allows for this work to be done in the kitchen, sight unseen.
On the plus side, the meat is cooked perfectly, never at risk of being charred by inattentive guests. The finished skewers are placed on a warming tray at the table, allowing guests time to savor each morsel while methodically working their way through chicken parts and pieces of beef, lamb and pork.
Before getting to the main attraction, you could start with appetizers such as braised beef salad ($12) or a 1,000-year-old egg tofu salad ($10), the cold tofu topped with pidan, slices of blackened preserved eggs that add a creamy, cheesy umami to the tofu, already flavored with a light soy-sesame sauce with cilantro and chopped red chiles.
Also filling appetizer roles are such dishes as steamed abalone blanketed with a thick garlic sauce ($7 per piece), and soft, grilled eggplant ($9) that’s split open and flattened before being grilled with a garlic sauce and arriving at the table looking like a meaty fish fillet.
Once you get to the meats, it’s pretty straightforward. Just choose your favorite cuts. My favorites here were the lamb ($7 for three skewers, $11 for five), a mainstay of the Mongolian diet, pork belly ($8 for three skewers, $12 for five), fatty and juicy pork jowl ($9 for three skewers, $13 for five), and crispy fried chicken wings ($4 for two pieces).
The meat is flavored with the restaurant’s signature dry spice rub dominated by cumin and chile pepper. Customers are warned that it’s fiery, but it’s tolerable to anyone familiar with Northern Chinese cuisine. What I thought was spicier was an accompanying sauce of chile pepper, pineapple and apple sauces. It was fiery when sampled on its own, but proved more balanced when accompanied by meat, adding a bright, refreshing note to the savory cuts.
For more variety, there is head-on, crispy whole shrimp with shell ($8 for three skewers, $12 for five), vegetables such as zucchini ($7 for three skewers, $11 for five), green peppers (same) and king oyster mushrooms (same), and you can also get enoki mushrooms wrapped in pork ($4 each), a crunchy treat.
I didn’t get to the offal, but it’s there for those who love chicken feet ($3 each), chicken hearts ($7 for three skewers, $11 for five) and gizzards (same), pork feet ($13 each) and pork kidneys ($8 for three skewers, $12 for five).
Some items, such as chicken skin ($7 for three skewers, $11 for five) are so tightly bound to the metal skewer that this was the first time I felt at risk of an accidental cheek piercing while trying to bite it off the needle-sharp metal. Be careful out there!
For dessert, there are soft Chinese buns served with a thick condensed milk sauce ($3 for two pieces). The buns themselves aren’t impressive on their own, but adding that sauce turns them into such squishy sweet delights that I had to get seconds.
Khan Skewer Restaurant
St. Louis Alumni Clubhouse,
925 Isenberg St., Honolulu
Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambiance: ***
Value: ****
Call: 808-955-8868
Hours: 5-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays
Prices: About $70-$80 for two without drinks
Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).
