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Hanamaru, a closer look
5/10/10 Up-date: Hanamaru is now Hanamaru Nabe-ya, with new owners and featuring Nabe (still carry sushi and other izakaya-like items, though)!
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Don't just take my word for it! Check out these other view's, as well!
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Aloha!
2/1/10 - Izakaya Row. Sushi 'n Sake Avenue. Nihon-jin Town. Whatever you wanna call it, there's no denying that the short stretch of road on S. King St., between Puck's Alley on University Ave. and Fukuya, houses more truly Japanese restaurants and eateries per square foot than anywhere else on the island! The entire distant can be traversed on foot in a matter of 5-6 minutes or so, in which time you'll count no less than eight (used to be ten!) entirely separate Japanese eateries and one Japanese grocery store, not to mention other restaurants and pubs, such as Spices (mixed Southeast Asian), Sabai-dee (Thai), The Varsity (pub), India House, Buffalo Bill's Hoagie's, and several more.
As far as Japanese restaurants go, though, here's the bonanza, should you ever care to loiter around these-here parts. Restaurant-hopping, highly recommended:
1) Curry House - inside Puck's Alley; all about curry!
2) Hanamaru - inside Puck's Alley; hold your horsie's, we'll cover it today!
3) Nijiya - inside Puck's Alley; actually a Japanese grocery store
4) Kohnotori - izakaya specializing in grilled items on a stick
5) Imanas tei - one of the most respected izakaya's on the island
6) Aki-nono - izakaya; only one located on ocean side of S. King St.
7) Hanabi - little-known spot with simple, but elegant and extremely well-executed cuisine
8) Sushi King - wide variety of foods; teishoku sets very popular
9) Fukuya - Take-out okazuya only open day-time
Hanamaru is located on the far Diamond Head side of Puck's Alley, which is the entire building you see on the corner of University Ave. and S. King. The structure's parking lot has two entrances accessible from either street, but egress will take you out-back, on Kalo Pl. The fee is quite nominal, and they don't require validation, which is the reason you see so many people parking here, then wandering-off to parts unknown - but you didn't hear it from me - you never know if they'll decide to change the rules one day, in which case - you're on your own, brah! Street parking on S. King is also a good bet and usually available during evenings, especially the later it gets. At night, it's free, so no worries!
Hanamaru is actually a venture stemming from the owners of another Japanese restaurant, Hatsuhana, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Being at a high-priced resort in the heart of Waikiki, however, I think you'll enjoy the prices a bit more right here on S. King!
With late-night spots being rather limited here in Hawaii, it's good to know that not only is Hanamaru open for lunch and dinner daily, but they stay open till 1am, every night! In fact, guess what? All the restaurants mentioned, except for Hanabi, Fukuya, and Curry House, are open till 11-11:30pm every night, and of these, several go till 2am on weekends! When Kumi and I are out cruising past ten, any day of the week, it's always great to know that sushi alley, or sake avenue, or whatever you wanna call it, is alway a safe bet! I can't tell you how many times we've been to each of these spots, far from the prying eyes of a Closer Look page!
Upon entering, there's a largely unused bar area, complete with three good-sized flat-screens, although I've never seen them playing any sports programming or pay-per-view's at all.
There are also several smaller private rooms alongside, but for the most part, you'll be scooting right on-by and entering the main dining area, a relatively spacious room with a working sushi bar off to one side. The decor is clean and contemporary, albeit curiously decored in a mixture of modern Japanese and, uh, well... American movie posters? Don't know what the deal is with that, but everyone from Rocky Balboa and Crocodile Dundee to Robo-Cop and Terminator adorn the walls on two entire sides. And they're pretty much all from the 70's and 80's, mind you, cuz' we all know that that period in history rules. Just kidding...
The menu is pretty much what you'll see in any modern-style Japanese restaurant/Izakaya, such as cold appetizers of sunomono, yamakake, and ohitashi; hot starters like sakamushi clams, niku jaga, shioyaki chicken, and grilled ika; teishoku-style dinners of saikyo miso butterfish, tempura, and karaage; along with a wealth of other Japanese staples like donburi, udon, nabe, and, of course, the full spectrum of both traditional and new-wave sushi varieties. But Hanamaru does push the envelope. Besides traditional dishes like those above, there's also a bunch of fusion elements, such as a deep-fried cheese mochi, garlic butter steak, and some really unexpected choices, such as (gasp!) spaghetti and penne pasta carbonara! Uh, I think I'll stick to Mediterraneo or Sabrina's for the last two, thank you very much.
I guess we'll start with starter's, the first a celery and okra ohitashi:
About as simple as it gets, but that's a good thing, really, as the older I get, the more I love vegetables simply raw or just barely cooked, with a touch of shoyu or other flavoring. This one? Hit it right on the money, it did, especially the money in my wallet. Five bucks? Delicious, yeah, with that light soy-dashi broth, and cooked beautifully to a crispy-green crunch, but I'll never order this here again unless it either drops in price by more than half, or at least doubles the portions!
The next two were tofu dishes costing a buck more, but proved much more substantial. First was a kind of tofu salad, while a classic agedashi tofu followed:
Deep-fried to a light, golden-brown, these blocks of silky tofu were then presented in a soy-dashi broth and topped with daikon oroshi, green onions, and a small pinch of grated ginger. An old-time, very traditional taste good enough to warm even your grandmother's heart, as well as her stomach. The broth for this dish, as well as the ohitashi further above, was sophisticated and very much indicative of true Japanese cuisine.
The next dish was quite interesting. Again, though these soft-shelled crabs were tasty-little critters, at $8.75, I was kinda expecting a little more, as far as portions go. Battered and deep-fried as thorough as they were, I couldn't tell if they were crabs, crayfish, spiders, or tarantulas!
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I forgot exactly the cost of our next dish, a daily special combination teishoku set, but I believe it was just under $15 - not bad at all. From right to left, a seafood platter of juicy, savory half-filet of grilled saba, a plump crab/potato korokke, a fried oyster, and some type of fried whitefish, not to mention the miso soup, rice, and tsukemono also provided. Quite honestly, I didn't taste any of it, but mom sure was happy!
As stated, there's a wide variety of sushi choices here at hanamaru, from nigiri to gunkan to maki to inside-out rolls. I won't comment on each one, as there are quite a bit of shots to go around, but just know that, yes, Hanamaru does carry a good sushi, albeit, once again, with portions running a bit on the small side. The rice was of a good grade, the fish, fresh, and the craftmanship, skillfull - what more can you ask?
Here's a trio of rolls, from right to left, a California, a spicy ahi, and a Philadelphia (cream cheese and salmon):
A pretty rainbow roll, or California topped with ahi, avocado, salmon, hamachi, and cooked shrimp:
Caterpillar roll - California topped with unagi, avocado, and kabayaki glaze:
A set of traditional nigiri-zushi pieces, with a fresh aji standing front and center:
A mixed platter of nigiri, gunkan, and rolls:
For those in the islands who've never tried a fresh unagi (freshwater eel), or anago (saltwater eel), for that matter, I think I can safely say, you don't know what you're missing. That's because here in Hawaii, by and large, just about every restaurant imports their unagi in vacuum-packed, pre-cooked, pre-sauced packages of the same variety seen in grocery stores, which are then simply heated under the hot coils of an oven. Not that they don't taste good - on the contrare, they're still pretty darn good - I eat them myself at home, straight from the package and into a toaster oven. It's just that I've been forever spoiled on Day Seven of our last adventure in Kyushu, Japan, where we were treated to a restaurant specializing in the slithering creatures, and nothing else comes close to fresh-grilled eel, far from the reaches of any plastic whatsoever!
This una-jyu, or unagi donburi-style, could not have possibly been fresh from the river, but no worries - it was still plenty good, as you can probably tell from these next two shots!
Grilled jumbo shrimp, at $8.75, were indeed jumbo, and looking as pretty as it gets, but I think all that mayo sauce could be tempered a bit, as it was layered-on a little too thick for my taste, even though I'm a mayo lover!
A really great dish to try here is their pork kakuni, at $7.75. The super-moist, fork-tender pieces of luscious pork are slowly simmered in shoyu and sweet sake, then served with shiitake mushrooms and baby greens. It literally melts in your mouth, the meat and fat fusing into one incredibly decadent taste, each mouthful exploding with rich, Oriental-inspired flavors. And that sweet/savory broth? Spooned all over a hot bowl of white rice? Aaah, to die for!
Besides Kumi's hot chawanmushi to close the evening, that's about all on the menu for now. As stated earlier, Hanamaru is one of those places that Kumi and I might come on a night when I don't have my camera around, and we'll grab maybe a quick couple of drinks and a few pieces of sushi to end the night, and perhaps a pork kakuni, if I have anything to say on the matter. It's a convenient stop very close to the freeway on-ramp, and past 8:30pm or so, I can't remember ever being denied parking on the street, sometimes only steps away from the restaurant. Dining facilities are so large, there's never a line to deal with, and always features plenty of room to enjoy a comfortable and relaxing dinner or night-cap, unlike at nearby spots like Akinono, Kohnotori, or Imanas tei, where you just may have to wait outside for a table, especially in the case of the latter.
I'll leave you with one last shot of Kumi's chawanmushi, the savory, dashi-flavored custard. It's her customary and favorite way to end a good Japanese meal:
Hope you're all having a fabulous and wonderful weekend! Kumi's friends are in from Japan, and we're all having a great time hitting the beach, hiking, shopping, and, especially, eating!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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