1/15/10 Up-date - I've changed most of the pics, as this was the single worst page I've ever done, as far as pics are concerned. The lighting was giving me fits, and there was only so much I could do to make them presentable. They're still bad, but believe me, they're a whole lot better now! There's even one shot so irreconcilably horrible, I turned it black-and-white!
11/24/08 - Anyone remember the disappointment when L'Uraku, at the Uraku Tower near Ala Moana, closed its doors several years back? Bummed out, we were - but only for a time. Before we knew it, Chef Hiroshi Fukui, the mastermind and force behind that particular operation, soon popped up with a restaurant of his own name, this time backed by fellow Chef DK Kodama's culinary empire that also includes his flagship fusion Sushi House, Sansei, as well as DK's Steak House and Vino's Tapas and Wine Bar. All of these fine restaurants come with the expert help and pairings of Master Sommelier Chuck Furuya, who is about as fun and gregarious as anyone you'll ever meet. He cracked jokes and one-liner's with us on several visits to our table, no doubt helped along by the fact that our little party of eight was set up by Renee Leong, who is a regular at all the fancy restaurants around town and knows all the big names on a first-name basis.
Hiroshi's specializes in smaller dishes with a fusion of European and Asian touches, which he calls Eurasian Tapas. But don't think that he doesn't offer traditional courses, as well, as there is a decent selection of full-sized plates combining starch, vegetables, and a main entree - along with soups, salads, and desserts for before and after. These can include items like crab-stuffed mahimahi, sous vide of onaga, pancetta and brie-stuffed pork tonkatsu, braised short rib Milanese, and pan-roasted filet mignon with seared foie gras. For a look at the rest of the menu, check out his official website at www.hiroshihawaii.com/menu.
On this fine evening, we were lucky enough to participate, not in his regular menu posted on the internet, but in a special event that happens only four or five times per year. Chef Hiroshi's Kaiseki dinner, held on the tenth of this month, Novemember, was a lavish nine-course extravaganza. Kaiseki is deeply rooted in traditional Japanese culture, and has grown to become the premier dining experience in all of Japan. Emphasis is always placed on fresh, seasonal items that are endemic to a particular geographical area, all harmoniously presented in a refined simplicity and beautiful elegance. For a little more on kaiseki, check out the upscale Japanese section of our site.
Though brought up and trained in this fine art, Chef Hiroshi's version of kaiseki is presented with a clearly modern, fusion twist, so don't come here expecting the same kind of meal as in the old country, sitting on the floor in a yukata, fresh from a hot onsen bath. There are no signs of softly-trickling water from bamboo water fountains, no freshly-raked sand gardens, no miniature bonsai trees, and no geisha or maiko to serve your every beck and call. While Chef Hiroshi does utilize all the finer points of traditional kaiseki training, his dishes here clearly speak more of modernity and cutting-edge innovation than culture, which is a lateral move, not forward or back.
The restaurant is located in the space formerly occupied by Sansei, on the far Diamond Head/Makai (ocean) side of Restaurant Row. The same door will take you straight into Hiroshi's, as well as to Vino's Wine and Tapa Bar, through another door off to your right.
Besides the extensive bar area, the most visible feature of the dining room are large, round lanterns that line the entire area. Other than that, the mood and ambience is casual but still cosmopolitan, with furnishings that are simple in design but chosen in good taste.
Everyone on our table waited over a month for this one evening, so we were all filled with anticipation, especially since it was everyone's first kaiseki night here. The opening course was a Big Island Abalone "Casino," coming with a sweet miso glaze, garlic butter, ginger, Thai basil, and ogo tosaka. These little guys were about the size of my G-Shock watch, each one with a clean, crisp texture, yet still much softer than other baby abalone's I've had before. I didn't know what to really think about the combination of Oriental miso and Western-style butter/garlic - my taste buds may have boringly craved a conventional either/or thing, but this little curve-ball was perhaps more the better, if, for nothing else, the sheer sake of being different, which definitely has its virtues. The taste of fresh abalone, meanwhile, was the most important factor of all, and this in this sake, did not fail to impress.
The second course was called a Sauteed Twin Bridges Asparagus Milanese, but two other ingredients dominated this dish even more than the green stalks. The tiny, bright yellow quail egg on top stood out the most, while an underlayer of ground pork, a bit on the sweet side, provided most of the flavor and punch.
The wine pairing along with this course was also very interesting, a 2006 Terredora Falanghina, grown strictly from the grapes on Mt. Vesuvius. Yes, that Mt. Vesuvius. Our wine pourer (not Chuck Furuya himself, but someone that came highly recommended by Mr. Furuya) said that there were tones of basil and shiso - whaaa? Try as I may, this untrained tongue couldn't taste any such herbal qualities at all. The only thing I knew was that it came very dry compared to the earlier glass, a 2004 Willi Schafer Riesling Kabinett "Graacher Himmelreich," which was much sweeter. You may know that I'm just-now beginning to learn about the wonderful world of wine, and hopefully, it is a field appreciated more by nurture rather than nature. Otherwise, I'm in trouble...
Next up was an interesting combination. There was a dark but bright-green soup made of basil and chili oil, along with a black squid-ink pasta and three small, delicious, crispy shrimp pieces that I could have eaten all night if given the opportunity. I liked the fact that this soup, though looking very powerful and herby, was actually light, smooth, and very refreshing, with a slight hint of spiciness through the chili oil - a mix that was, to me, gratifyingly bold, unexpected, and with just that sense of curiosity that helps in making an evening more exciting! In fact, though not overly dramatic in appearance, many of the dishes struck me as a tad fearless, at least ingredient-wise, and seemingly willing to be experimented upon in sometimes unconventional ways. But hey, as always, I could be totally wrong, and the combination could possibly be old-hat in the new vogue of culinary critique - but who cares, 'cuz I ain't part of that crowd, anyway, so if the combination strikes me as different, well, then, I'll relay the experience, which is all I'll ever do here. I is what I is, is all, and what I see and experience through these Aku eyes is what you'll see and experience, as well - nothing more, and nothing less.
Before the meal, I requested a written list of the entire 9-course meal, and besides the foie gras that came later, nothing filled me with more anticipation than number four, crispy-skin moi. It came sitting in a shiso/lemongrass curry broth, along with a kicked-up fukujinzuke (a type of Japanese pickled vegetable), orange aioli, and a unique Maui pineapple "air," as they like to call it - no, those are not soap suds on top, just one of those modern fusion things, is all. The moi was as moist, delicate, and wonderful as I expected it to be, but with a skin that I thought would be a lot crispier, as it did soften up a bit under the layers of sauces and toppings. However, that might have been because I spent too much time taking pics first - especially with the dim lighting giving me fits! In any event, the toned-down crispiness was actually a nice approach, really, the skin soaking up all the slightly sweeter sauces and maintaining a more subtle tone than a simple, brazen charring could ever foster, a situation that could, in the end, possibly overwhelm the flaky-white meat.
Next was another fabulous dish, Japanese mongo squid with golden Chanterelle mushrooms. Besides these two main items, there was also a medley of different vegetables and herbs, but it was the mongo squid that amazed me most, with its unbelievably tender texture and delicate taste, accentuated by a slightly grilled smokiness. Often used in sushi, I guess a gentle cooking works just as well as raw sometimes!
I wish there were more Chanterelle's available in the islands, as I had gotten spoiled while living in Esta Cada, Oregon for a time, where we used to get them up in the mountains, along with Morel mushrooms and a few other varieties, as well. Most of them had that slightly wild taste and very wild look, very much different from the tame button mushrooms we are accustomed to, and often appearing more like fungus or even large-holed sponges than anything else.
Next up was the most substantial dish of the evening, a Cornish game hen done huli-huli-style. For those not from the islands, huli-huli literally means turn over, turn over in Hawaiian, but has grown to also become synomymous with huli-huli chicken, where a special soy-based sauce is used to marinate whole chickens, which are cooked over an open fire en-masse, usually for large fund-raisers and non-profit organizations. If you'd like to know more about this special, very nostalgic, very local product, check out the Huli-Huli Chicken page in our main site area.
Cornish game hens are those hand-sized birds usually found frozen at the supermarkets. They have a slightly wilder taste than chicken, and are very tender and more tasty when done right, as was the case tonight, much having to do with its smaller size. Local overtures ran heavy on this dish, as not only did it carry a huli-huli-sauce-type flavor, it also came with a side of Portuguese sausage rice "stuffing," which was basically a kicked-up local fried rice.
The following course was the most decadent of the evening, and also the one I most looked forward to, all because of two simple words - foie and gras. The Aku cannot see anything in his foreseeable future that will top this lavish extravagance. I suppose it may also have to do with the fact that anytime you eat it, it will definitely cost a pretty penny, will likely be prepared by a professionally-trained chef, and probably be eaten in a pampered environment where everything just tastes that much better. I mean, it's not like you'll have the liability of an $8.50 per hour line cook from a local diner or coffee house messing with such a haute ingredient, right?
I could very easily ramble on and on about pet passions and personal favorites, but I'll spare you the tender moments in my life. However, for those who'd like to know more about what foie gras really is, check out our Closer Look page on 3660 on the Rise, where I go into a little more detail on the matter.
Although Chef Hiroshi's foie gras was as sinfully delectable as I've had anywhere, it wasn't really the center of attention on this particular dish. The portion was small, and placed upon a much larger round of Maui Cattle Company ground beef, which was, itself, placed upon a mound of white rice and covered with a luscious, dark-brown foie gras sauce that looked like a thin brown gravy. The whole dish was a play on that famous local comfort food, locomoco, which is rice, a hamburger patty, a sunny-side-up egg, and brown gravy all over. There was no sunny-side-up egg on this fancier version, but it was topped with a more upscale imposter Chef Hiroshi calls a truffled cheese scramble.
Our last savory dish, right before dessert, was crispy-fried shishamo chazuke. What's with all the comfort foods gone wild? Shishamo, or smelt, is an inexpensive fish usually grilled whole, and often with a belly full of eggs, while chazuke is an even more inexpensive dish, basically made by placing rice in a broth of hot tea. It is usually eaten with pickled vegetables, fish, or any other salted item, as is the case here, with our fried shishamo, mitsuba (a kind of Japanese parsley), nori (seaweed), umeboshi (a type of sour, pickled fruit), and wasabi (Japanese horseradish). I pretty much grew up with chazuke and still enjoy it today, especially with shoyu hotdogs! Not that any of my bowls looked or tasted quite like this...
And finally, our farewell course. It was called Cherie's Frappapuff, and was a bi-menu of Kahlua chocolate mousse with caramelized walnuts and whipped cream, along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with Kula strawberry sauce and a hat of of mint leaf. You know, we always hear of triple chocolate fudge cakes, brownies, or mousses, but have you ever heard of triple-vanilla anythings? Vanilla-vanilla, yes, but vanilla, vanilla, vanilla? If not by name, however, this little scoop of frozen cream at Hiroshi's would surely be deserving of a triple vanilla title, as it was bursting with the taste of this potent bean - just the way I envisioned it being during one of my episodes of acute cravings late at night, tossing and turning after the Haagen Daaz runs out.
I guess if I were a die-hard chocolate fan, I may be offended at a pic relegating the other side of this plate to a blurry mess, but please don't, as this picture just came out better from the vantage point of my digital window, is all. Besides, I really do go both ways, anyway. Concerning chocolate and vanilla, that is. Now, now...
Thanks Renee, for setting up this wonderful evening - We all had a blast! Everyone left happy and satisfied with another great meal in the dining room of one of the truly great chefs on the island.
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