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Kokoro-Tei, a closer look
 Kokoro-Tei official page! |
 Kokoro-Tei Moiliili on Yelp! |
Kokoro-Tei Waikiki on yelp! |
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Aloha!
4/27/11 - Talk about versatility. Since when has the humble bento box somehow become associated with high-end Japanese cuisine bordering on kaiseki? Yes, it's true. The same company quietly and successfully running Kokoro-Tei Bento House in Waikiki for the last couple of years and now, Kokoro-Tei Bento House in Moiliili, has also recently opened one of the best high-end Japanese cuisine restaurants in the State in Bistro Shinn. I guess another example of such extreme ambidexterity, this time in the local foodie world, can be found via chef Russel Siu, who has not only created Kakaako Kitchen at Ward, which represents one of the cheapest kinds of local meals, known affectionately as plate lunch, but also 3660 on the Rise, which represents our most expensive, Hawaii Regional Cuisine.
Lucky us, this kind of diversity yields rich rewards. After all, when a chef has high-end skills, and is willing to also bring those same skills down to every-day, under-$10 levels (mostly!), how can we not benefit? Like Kakaako Kitchen's catfish tempura and opakapaka dore, Kokoro-tei's premium-grade rice, exotic vegetables, meticulous attention to detail, and fresh, intricate presentations definitely reflect a quality belying their normal culinary classifications.
Kokoro-Tei is located on S. Beretania St., in the small new strip mall also housing Teddie's Bigger Burger. Parking is available behind the building.
Not only does the building look pretty from the outside, but on the inside as well. I've heard the Japanese company that owns the place is huuuge, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same designers fashioning Bistro Shinn are the same folks in charge of style here at Kokoro-Tei, as well. Of course, it's not nearly as swank here, considering it's all about bento, but it's as cool, classy, and well-coordinated a bento place as you'll see here in the islands, for sure!
Unlike Don Quijote, Shirokiya, Marukai, and Nijiya Market, Kokoro-Tei is similiar to another great bento house, Iyasume, in that it makes almost all bento choices to order. I say almost because there are a few items pre-made, but mostly, these are all musubi or vegetables that are eaten cold or at room temperature, anyway.
And don't skip-over this section too flippantly, either! With the rise of macrobiotic foods throughout the world, a good layout of Japanese vegetables will include a who's who of potent, healthy products, such as okra, kabocha, gobo, hasu, hijiki, and wakame, all done simply yet sophisticatedly in typical Japanese fashion. And the prices, listed right there, are all very good.
The one hot item I've seen pre-made on our two visits is an omu-rice, or rice omelet, which is a popular dish in Japan.
You may be surprised to know that the rice inside of an omu-rice is often seasoned only with ketchup, or ketchup with a light chicken broth, as is done here. Mom used to throw a small amount of chopped onions inside when we were kids, too. All I know is, when I saw those fluffy, still-hot eggs recently, I had to try one out, perhaps partially out of dexterity's sake!
Didn't quite bring back a sense of natsukashi (sentimental; from the past), especially with those perfectly soft, fluffy eggs and delicate but tasty demi-glaze - not sure demi-glaze was even in mom's lexicon back then! In fact, not only did it not bring back any sense of the past at all, but I didn't really care much for this particular package in general, either. The rice was given in waaay too large a portion and very much lacking in flavor, some parts of the rice obviously not even touched with sauce, as you can see in the next shot! Always a bad sign in any kind of flavored rice. I do, however, consider it a rare blip on the screen.
As for main items here at Kokoro-Tei, those of the made-to-order variety, there are a number of bento choices available, as well as a few specials posted here and there. For a much better look at the regular menu shown below, including in-depth, item-by-item descriptions of each bento, check out their official page link above. There's like, 50 different things in one bento, so it'll be illuminating!
These are not local-style bento's, where you'll find 3-4 different meats crudely packed to the hilt, such as hotdog, Spam, teri-beef and chicken katsu, along with rice and a slice or two of daikon, but entries here are a bit more delicate and time-consuming in nature. Individual items no less than an inch or two long are often given, but multiply that many times over, and all of a sudden, you have an entire mini-buffet in your single container! Their vegetable bento, for example, contains so many different things I can't even begin to start naming them. The rice changes daily from brown, 5-husk, or 10-husk, all mixed with little extra's like tiny-cut Shiitake, hijiki, nuts, or sesame seeds. As for the rest, there's bamboo shoots, daikon, tofu, Kabocha, boiled egg, sesame string beans, nitsuke string beans, sweet potato, cucumber, hijiki, edamame - and that's just getting started! Hard to beat that kind of micro-detail and variety, no?
A house-recommended choice here is their hamburger bento. They use 100 percent Angus beef, mix-in their special ingredients by hand for flavor, and cover with either a wafu or demi-glaze sauce. The patty itself is thick in comparison to its smallish size, and is juicy and tender inside.
Here's the whole bento, which came with a mini-omelet, pasta noodles, an interesting citrus-flavored sweet potato, marinated eggplant, sprouts, pickled ginger, rice, and perhaps a few other small items - you never know what you missed in one of these orders!
Don't know how they determine what side dishes fit with what main dishes, but it all seems to work. One of their daily specials was a sweet/sour chicken, and it came with a bunch of my favorite Japanese veggies. The chicken itself, however, was a bit lacking, maybe because it was left sitting for at least an hour before we chowed down, and any crispiness in the crust was completely gone! Even so, all the flavors in the veggies, along with that great white rice and a few bites of clean, white-meat chicken in-between, and I was all good!
Much better was their ebi-fry. I actually asked the kind and bubbly helper for a shrimp katsu, but I guess they don't really use the term in Japan, as she had no idea what I was talking about. I was kinda surprised, actually, because it is, after all, covered with panko and deep-fried! The good thing about panko is that it is sturdier than tempura batter, keeping its crunch a lot longer.
Here's the whole bento:
And finally, having to decide between a ribeye steak, beef yakiniku, or ginger pork, I went with the latter. For take-out, I think a thin-sliced pork dish, mixed with grilled onions and flavored with a soy/ginger sauce, would keep better than the others. I think it was a good choice.
Now, if you're a big eater, this is probably not the place for you. In fact, I found some of the bento choices similiar in a way to a meal at Well Bento, which has recently re-opened under new ownership, where you can eat an entire plate and not feel weighed down at all. Some love this kind of feather-light fare, but others may interpret the feeling in a completely different way, such as "Take me to the Drive-thru now!!!"
But for quality-oriented, health-friendly, clean and light meals, with lots of ono veggies, good rice, and an authentic Japanese signature, you can't go wrong. Kokoro-Tei is the real deal.
Hey, thanks for checking in. Was good to meet the cool, intelligent, and fellow food blogger Natto-kun the other night at Sushi-ii, as well as another foodie blogger who refused to tell both myself and Natto-kun her internet name and blog! What's the deal, girl?! It's ok, though - she was really cool and definitely knows her food! Natto-kun hasn't been doing entries recently, but maybe you can check out his site and tell him to get on the ball!!!
Hope you're having a great one!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
