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Izakaya Naru, a closer look
Izakaya Naru according to Yelp!
Aloha!
11/6/10 - We've been seeing the signs for months now, so it was a relief to finally see Izakaya Naru opening even though it displaced one of our favorite Japanese restaurants on the island, Hanabi! Woulda been a double-bummer if the new spot was a tanker, but fortunately, I think Izakaya Naru has been and will continue to be a welcome addition to the island izakaya scene. Part of a four-restaurant chain in Tokyo, President Eichi Yoshizaki's dream of coming to Hawaii, in his first venture outside of Japan, has finally come true! We didn't get to see him upon our visit, but we did get to chat with Vice President/Chef Hiroyuki Akiyama, who is one Kool Kat with a friendly disposition, good looks, and a youthful but mature presence that, I'm sure, will take him a long ways. Here's a shot lifted from another site of some of the owners and staff members. I wrote once to ask permission for its use, but never got a response. Furthermore, I can't seem to find the exact page anymore, so please, if this is yours, do contact me so I can place a link to your site, or lemme know if you want me to take it down altogether!
I believe that is the President in the middle, while Vice-Prez Hiroyuki is just left of him. Others shown were also present, providing excellent, jovial, and enthusiastic service. Here's an aerial shot of this very location, with parking located in the long lot just right of the restaurant:
The name Naru connotates a type of harmony or calm, while the former eatery's title, Hanabi, means firecracker. In reality, however, it should be the other way around, as Hanabi was very much harmonious and calm while the new spot embodies one of the more dynamic, celebratory atmospheres around, despite its tiny dining room of one L-shaped counter and a handful of small tables. I always love walking into a Japanese restaurant and being greeted with a loud and hearty irasshaimase, along with an equally enthusiastic arigato gozaimashita upon leaving. Yeah, it can be a bit intrusive and jarring for the uninitiated, but it's all done in a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude for your patronage, and also inspires an open, no be shame type of atmosphere perfect for a drink-friendly izakaya. Taking it one step further, however, they also give thanks in declarations of the high-decibel variety each and every time someone orders a drink, and with all the drinks flowing at a place like this, you can imagine how loud and party-like it gets on a good night! Fun-fun!!!
There are several little aspects regarding Izakaya Naru that help make it a unique choice among Japanese eateries in Hawaii, not only for the atmosphere desribed above, but also for a bevy of funky-modern-fusion dishes, which we'll get into as the page progresses, as well as a number of different items fermenting or marinating in Awamori, a type of Okinawan drink similiar to sake in that it is made from rice but also similiar to shochu in that its alcohol content is higher and is distilled rather than brewed like sake. Interestingly, since Okinawa was once a separate entity from Japan, it has incorporated distilling methods from another neighbor, Thailand, using a Thai long-grain rice instead of a Japanese type of rice. A black koji mold indigenous to Okinawa is used to aid in fermentation, unlike the white koji used for shochu.
Sitting on the counter, you can clearly see three large jars of items soaking in awamori on the right-side and also two large jars on the top-shelf of the wall counter:
Unfortunately, it takes a week to properly work its magic, and being so popular, they were all sold out of the last batch! On the good side, however, you gotta listen to the wise words of Orson Welles and Paul Masson, who declared "We shall sell no wine before its time."
One particular awamori-fermented product here is tofu. And when I say fermented, believe you me - we're talking fermented! At $6.50, the size of this dish may shock you, but I suppose the time and care it takes to ferment anything in-house justifies the price:
Those two toothpicks on the side clearly show how small the piece is, but they are included for neither measurement nor aesthetic purposes. With a texture very much like a very soft, slightly pasty cheese, small amounts at a time are scraped-off with a single toothpick, as you won't be able to eat a whole lot at one time, anyway! Talk about strong and fragrant! I won't say it's nearly as bad as natto, though. In fact, there wasn't too much of a smell until it was actually in your mouth, diffusing into your nasal passages, but it was the taste that was the potent part. The sweet miso also given, however, brought a unique balance to the mix and helped to curb the sharpness of the rotten tofu. The two somehow combined for a pleasantly curious experience that piqued the senses just like a fine Roquefort, Gryuyere, or Brie. I couldn't help thinking how great it would have been with a deep-red bottle of Shiraz.
Here's a better shot at the insides, revealing its creamy-pasty consistency:
The menu here isn't particularly large regarding the number of items, but sitting like a block on your table, it's definitely large in quite another way. Check out this special menu, which came from a cut of solid wood at least three inches thick!
The regular menu was thinner, but still substantial and full of character, coming in the form of four wooden panels folded-out like a standing fan. Just a few extra's that make a dining experience more interesting and fun, is all:
Though not a sushi house, there were two types of sashimi available on their special menu - salmon and maguro. Being familiar items, however, Kumi and I chose a couple of other dishes, including this one called a tako watershield ($6.75). Tako whaaat???
Most of us are already familiar with mozuku (which is also carried here), that slimy seaweed/vinegar dish mostly harvested from waters off Okinawa, but the particular plant used in this dish does not, in fact, come from seawater, but pond water. Called watershield, it is a freshwater plant of the brassenia family, and is similiar to mozuku not in shape, but for the fact that it carries a thick, slimy substance in its leaves. And you know the Japanese love and fascination for all things slimy...
Like mozuku, it is also mixed with a sweetened vinegar, and for all intents and purposes, tastes pretty much the same. Several pieces of tender, but slightly chewy tako pieces were also provided, as were strips of shiso, which always adds a great, herby, fresh touch to any dish. Here's a better look at the three main ingredaments:
With shoyu pork, bittemelon, mozuku, and all the awamori items, Kumi and I were surprised that this operation wasn't from Okinawa. Turns out, however, that the owner's brother has a shop on the southern Japanese island, which explains everything.
Another dish on the special menu was a stir-fried seaweed and vegetable, for $5.50. Not a very accurate title, however, as those chicken-looking pieces actually come from fishcake, which is neither seaweed nor vegetable:
Not a badly done dish, but a bit forgettable, actually.
Our final order from the special menu was a chicken and taro nimono. Nimono is a stewed dish of mixed meats and vegetables, usually in a soy/dashi/mirin or sake broth:
Like the seaweed and vegetable dish previously, however, there seems to be a bit of confusion over the title. That's because the Japanese word for taro root is satoimo, but taro root can come from a variety of different bulbous roots, and the one Japanese use most is a small, hairy, brown potato very much different from the purple taro we know and love so much in the islands. The taste of this Japanese variety is much like a regular potato, only it carries a slightly slimy (of course!) consistency.
Here's a few ingredaments stewed in our little bowl of nimono ($5.25), including carrot, chicken, taro, and the always-healthy konnyaku, cut and tied in a shape just like mom does! For a hearty, healthy, nostalgic meal, nimono is always a winner!
With a number of very traditional dishes on the special menu, it's about time we talk about a few new-wave choices listed instead on their regular menu. Not wanting to venture on both the gyoza pizza and gyoza lasagna (whaaat???), I asked our kind waitress which one she'd recommended, and the results are shown here:
Pizza or lasagna? I guess it does look more like a lasagna than a pizza, yes? Outside of the cheeses, however, I don't really see any other similarities to the Italian/American dish. There was a bean/hamburger mix in somewhat of a hybrid dark tomato sauce, smothered all over a single row of gyoza. A bit of a departure from what you might expect at a place like this, and perhaps just a bit too much of a stretch for Kumi and I. Nothing particularly bad or anything, but not something I'd order more than once.
Much better was the negi miso grilled sanma ($7.25), which (oops!) was also on the special menu:
Called Pacific saury in English, it grows to about a foot-and-a-half and is very common in Japan, where it is considered an important, albeit inexpensive fish that is most often grilled over a fire. It carries a slightly bitter, fishy meat that is oily, yet not as oily as the similiarly-found saba, or mackeral, which I prefer. Kumi being my attractive opposite in so many things, however, we had to try it out. And I'm glad we did, as that slightly fish-gamey taste was masked perfectly with the strong miso/Japanese onion paste, which was beautifully browned and toasted to perfection.
Being a small, thin fish, it wasn't a single fillet, but both fillets folded open. Here's a better shot at the insides:
Also very good was a dashi-maki tamago ($7.75), or rolled egg flavored with dashi:
This was no ordinary dashi maki tamago, however, even outside the Kanji character seared-on the tops. Inside, there was the hyper-modern combination of mentaiko, which is the pickled or marinated roe of pollock, and, of all things - cheese! And why not? Cheese is always used in omelets, so why not cheese with eggs and fish roe?
It was actually a very classy mix, the salty ocean protein providing a punch of flavor to the delicate, fluffy egg, while the cheese was given only sparingly, just enough to mellow-out the roe by bringing a bit of creaminess and gooey texture. Very well-done.
Some of the items we wanted to try but didn't for lack of stomach space were the deep-fried veggie chips, yukari fries, summer rolls w/ahi and avocado (looked really nice on our neighbor's table!), ahi w/Tokyo green onion in salt sauce on a hot stone, and perhaps most of all, any of their several varieties of udon using fresh, house-made noodles, including one with mentaiko and kimchee! I've been hearing nothing but good about their udon, but for now, I'll just have to trust the reviews!
One dish on the menu whose name became increasingly larger as the night progressed was a garlic fried rice with octopus ($9.25). You may have noticed that most dishes ordered on this particular evening were on the small side, and outside of gyoza wrappers, there was very little starch at all. Well, at the fanciest of Japanese restaurants, rice is often served at the very end, so we decided to close with this simple but elegant dish:
There was very little tako used, but to tell you the truth, it didn't really need it. This was no cheap, local-style fried rice, mind you, where day-old rice is used, but a soft, fluffy, freshly-cooked, perfectly-sheened rice obviously of a high quality and from chefs who know what they're doing. The great flavors of tako and salt were infused into the rice itself, along with a hint of garlic; not enough to interfere with the sweet, fragrant taste of the rice, but enough to make it a meal unto itself without any need for added boosts of tsukemono, fish, or meats of some type. All I know is that it was the perfect way to end our excellent evening!
Izakaya Naru is definitely a welcome breath of fresh air to us islanders. There's a slightly different kind of vibe here than most izakaya's in Hawaii. It's Japanese through-and-through, yes, only not in the proper, traditional style we are so accustomed to seeing, but in a youthful, modern, even edgy kind of way. The staff is extremely friendly and open, reminding me of a walk into a local surf store like T&C or HIC, where young, attractive people deem a good attitude waaay cool. And the modern, forward-looking foods, which you've already seen, match perfectly with the entire ambience, combining for a must-visit place for stylish couples and groups (or ogres like me!) looking for a fun time!
I'll leave you with one final shot of the entirety of the dining area, minus the 10 or so counter seats and an extra table missing from the right-corner of the pic. The entire place was filled for most of the evening, but it was getting close to closing on this particular night, so it was beginning to empty-out. Remember to count this as another go-to late-night spot on weekends, as they close at 2am on Friday and Saturday nights!
Hey, hope you've enjoyed the views!
Work hard, play hard, and live life to the fullest!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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