This may sound desolate, deprecating and, perhaps, depressing, but we’re all born alone and we all die alone. That’s a fact I’ve come to accept, so I have no issue with participating in certain lonesome activities like eating by myself. But when you’re a food writer, things can get a bit more complicated — especially when you’re reviewing a new restaurant. If I write about an up-and-coming biz and only tried one dish, that wouldn’t be an extensive review, now would it?
However, Totoya (1127 12th Ave.) is a perfect place to dine alone. And so, I did; but because I care about authenticity, I pushed past my embarrassment and ordered too many dishes for one person. Only for you, Crave readers, would I compromise my ego for the sake of a column.
I arrived at Totoya at 11:30 a.m. and found a line of about 10 people had already formed outside. I took a quick peek inside and saw a small space with only a counter wrapped around the open kitchen; there were no tables. I knew I would be waiting for awhile for everyone who was already seated to finish eating. Thus, I left. I apologize — but waiting in line is just not my forte. I tell you this story so you may be informed about the popularity of the restaurant and to give you advice on a better time to go.
I came back around 1:30 p.m. to absolutely no line and empty seats at the counter.
“Irasshaimase!” The staff exclaimed as I walked in.
The eatery had a cozy vibe, with business associates, couples and solo diners seated all around the counter. The menu is as small as the restaurant, featuring Totoya’s original negitoro bowls and kaisen bowls.
The negitoro bowls all had tuna, scallops, cucumber, kazunoko green onions, tobiko, nori and sesame seeds on a bed of sushi rice. There were four options for the negitoro bowls: ume ($17), which was the original bowl; take ($24.90), which added salmon roe; matsu ($29.95), which added salmon roe and sea urchin; and tokujo ($36), which added salmon roe, sea urchin and snow crab.
I opted for the matsu bowl paired with a highly coveted egg yolk shoyu for an additional $1. The texture of the salmon roe mixed with the creamy sea urchin was splendid, and the egg yolk shoyu gave the bowl an additional savoriness. I would highly recommend this dish.
The kaisen bowls are a little different, and appear to be various options of rice bowls with different types of protein. The first four options — nagomi ($25), miyabi ($28), nishiki ($33) and fukuju ($36) —all featured the original negitoro tuna but with different additions and proteins like shrimp, salmon sashimi, snow crab, sea urchin and more. They reminded me of the negitoro bowls, so I opted to order the fresh shrimp combination bowl ($29.95) and the salmon bowl with salmon roe ($16.95). The fresh shrimp combination bowl came with sweet shrimp, red shrimp, egg yolk shoyu and tobiko. It was beautifully presented with a delectable egg yolk in the middle, and the simplicity of the dish was excellent.
The salmon bowl with salmon roe was also fantastic, but nothing to write home about in terms of innovation. It was a bowl of sushi rice with lots of salmon sashimi pieces, salmon roe and tobiko. Do not get me wrong, it was delicious — but there is a good chance you can order salmon sashimi with rice at many other establishments. I felt the same way about the house salad ($2.90). It’s fine and the dressing they provided was great but I don’t think these were the dishes that build such a demand at Totoya.
Here’s where Totoya stood out: Every bowl came with miso soup and yuzu pickled ginger. There was an option to upgrade the complimentary miso soup to a crab miso soup for an additional $4.90. My friends, I cannot emphasize this enough: Please upgrade the miso soup. The flavor of the crab marinating in the miso soup was absolutely divine. I’ve had a lot of miso soup in my life, but never a bowl this delicious.
Totoya is a perfect place to dine in Kaimuki — that is, if you can bear the wait in line. The bowls were exquisite, the environment was comfortable, the employees were kind and the prices were decent given the high-quality ingredients such as the sea urchin and aforementioned e highly coveted egg yolk shoyu.
Well folks, in my desolate, deprecating and perhaps depressing opinion? Totoya is absolutely worth the wait — and that’s a fact I’ve also come to accept.
