I constantly listen to people tell me they wish they could try this restaurant or that restaurant but, due to family obligations, work hours or financial reasons, are unable to do so.
Well, guess what? No more excuses. Restaurant Week is here, through Sunday.
The event was created to support culinary education in Hawaii with the eventual completion of the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head. Diners benefit now from special menus offered at reduced prices.
Restaurateurs often look at the week as a catalyst for changing up the dining experience for restaurant junkies or seducing the once-in-a-blue-moon restaurantgoer.
It’s a time for the restaurants to put their best feet forward, and the menus often read like a greatest-hits list. Or the week can offer an opportunity for chefs to experiment and for diners to preview what is to come.
There are 78 restaurants participating this year, and a handful were offering previews of their menus. Here’s a sampling. Bon appetit!
Shokudo japanese restaurant
1585 Kapiolani Blvd., at Kaheka Street. Call 941-3701.
Shokudo Japanese Restaurant is turning out a mix of traditional and new via a six-course, $38 tasting menu (add $20 for sake pairings) highlighting the work of new sushi chef Satoru Matsumoto. The chef brings a taste of traditional Japanese cuisine to the restaurant, better known as an American-style fusion restaurant.
The menu starts with zensai, or appetizer of big-eye tuna wrapped in avocado, tako in egg yolk vinaigrette and beautiful, silky house-made goma tofu. Next comes sashimi of hirame, sliced so thin it’s transparent. Hokkaido scallop and masago tempura follow; the sweetness and texture of the scallops remind me of lobster.
The fourth course is seared filet mignon stuffed with uni. Then comes an omakase course, a trio of sushi; on the night I was there, it comprised shima aji, chutoro and Kona kampachi.
Finally, fans of the restaurant’s signature honey toast will find more to love in its newest incarnation, tempura bread pudding, deep-fried and served with Roselani vanilla ice cream and a sake-caramel sauce.
Arancino at the Kahala
Kahala Hotel, 5000 Kahala Ave. Call 380-4400.
For the upscale Arancino at the Kahala, Restaurant Week marks the opportunity to showcase its Spaghetti ai Ricci di Mare, arguably the best uni pasta in town.
The restaurant’s four-course dinner is priced at $62, with wine pairings for $24, or wine pairings a la carte at $5 to $9 per glass.
An amuse bouche starts the meal, followed by picture-perfect caprese, with Ho Farms cherry tomatoes and petite basil encircling an orb of pillowy burrata.
This is followed by an antipasto platter featuring arancini, a seafood risotto ball and two pieces of grilled calamari served over squid ink sauce.
The main course is the uni pasta, with the thin spaghetti enveloped in a sauce of white wine-garlic-tomato cream, plus sweet Santa Barbara urchin roe.
The meal finishes with a deconstructed tiramisu.
For those who prefer dining midday, the Spaghetti ai Ricci di Mare is offered at a 25 percent discount off its regular $32 price.
And Arancino’s original 255 Beachwalk Ave. and Waikiki Beach Marriott locations are featuring the same discount for lunch, and a three-course dinner menu of caprese salad, uni spaghetti and tiramisu.
Buho Cocina y Cantina
2250 Kalakaua Ave., Suite 525 Call 922-2846.
The rooftop restaurant and bar in the Waikiki Shopping Plaza is offering a four-course, $35 tasting menu with room for personal choices.
The menu starts simply, with a salad of mixed greens tossed with roasted pepitas, Big Island goat cheese and tamarind vinaigrette, then layered with apples and jicama, and drizzled with honey.
An appetizer duo follows, of pork belly flautas with your choice of pork belly taco or fish taco. This is a tossup for me. I enjoyed both tacos but might go with the deep-fried fish because of the pork belly duplication with the flautas.
The third course is a choice of pan-seared duck breast, the only time you’ll find this on the menu here, or Mexican adobo jidori chicken breast. I liked the spicy adobo sauce that accompanied the latter, as well as the jalapeno-bacon potato gratin under the chicken.
The finale is a Mexican habanero brownie topped with vanilla ice cream. You’ll pick up the cinnamon notes that distinguish it from other brownies, before the heat kicks in.
Visit RestaurantWeekHawaii.com to check out the menus. Nadine Kam’s restaurant column runs every Wednesday in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Contact her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
