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Nakai Saimin, a closer look
Aloha!
3/31/09 - Been sampling a lotta rice and noodles recently. I dunno, probably a natural response to all the rich foods I've been eating. Guess you gotta listen when the body's trying to tell you something, ey?
My hyper-drive starch binge, on this particularly stellar day, has taken me to a little hole-in-the-wall, a little slice of history that takes us back - waaay back. I don't know what it is about saimin shops, but all of them (at least the great one's!) are as old-school, laid-back, and cubby-hole'ish as it gets, with a look, taste, and feel that transports you to a more innocent, by-gone space in time, a time when... (Angelic harp strumming)... KC Drive-Inn was still in its hey-day, the Old Stadium still hosted the Islander's, Kress Drug Stores were yet busily pushing their ware's, Zippy's had only one restaurant (can you imagine?), and Chunky's was the only place to be for ono burger's and shakes!
My, how times have changed! Step into Nakai Saimin on Nuuanu Ave., however, and the harp strums yet again as you slow down and breathe a sigh of nostalgia-mania relief for your busy, modern, fast-paced soul! And if this is what your doctor ordered, then, along with the most old-school plate lunch houses and okazuya's, saimin shops are where you wanna be. And in fact, only a few doors down, right past Nuuanu Floral, sits two okazuya shops that are just as old-school! Get a three 'fer in one small stretch of sidewalk, and call me in the mornin'.....
How 'bout quirks? You gotta have some quirks to be considered old-school... One parking space good enough to qualify? While the sign says Parking behind building, little do you know that of the 30-or-so slots there, only one space is assigned to the store! We scored big enough to find metered parking in-front, directly on Nuuanu Ave., but only after looping around the building a few times - I wouldn't exactly count on getting lucky every single time!
Nakai Saimin only opened-up here recently, but this muli-generational shop has been open for many, many years out in Haleiwa town. Only figures, as you gotta have some kind of tie-in to the old ways, or the charm is somehow gone - at least this particular kind of charm, that is!
You see the space between the right-side of the door and the dividing wall just-left of the Nakai Saimin sign above? Well, that's actually the whole length of the dining room, with its depth coming at just about the same dimensions, as well. When several diners left at the same time, I literally backed-up into the far corner of the restaurant to get as much of the dining room as possible, and this was all I got!
Actually, this place is not nearly as old-school as places like Palace Saimin, okazuya shops, and even Kapahulu Poi Shop in the Hawaiian foods section, as the insides are very basic in design but clean and spiffy, nonetheless - no cases of soda laying out, no owners' kids doing their homework in the corner, and no half-the-dining-room used for storage. Shucks, I was just hoping there'd be a Costco-sized box of napkins or chopstix out to lay my arm on!
Surprisingly, saimin's not the only thing on the menu here. There are also a few other dishes here, including plates like hamburger steak, mushroom chicken, roast pork, and a couple of items we'll soon see, beginning with the classic saimin side-kick, teriyaki beef sticks. Actually, I didn't much care for these, as they were nothing but regular, thin-sliced teri beef usually found on plate lunches, not the thicker sections of beef usually placed on sticks elsewhere. The taste was ok, though, a little more on the shoyu-savory side than the sugar-sweet side.
Anytime they offer hamburger at an old-school saimin shop, chances are that they'll be very much worth your time. If you find any tightly-packed, pre-made, frozen patties, I'd be shocked! Despite perhaps being a bit on the small side, real, genuine saimin shops always make their patties fresh, pressing and shaping them by hand, and always come full of character and personality.
Nakai Saimin is no exception at all. I went with a teriyaki version, a gamble that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Here, it worked out well, with the perfect amount of teri sauce, a single slice of tomato, a full cut of onion, and a slight taste of butter that old-school places always like to use. Aaah, the simple pleasures!
But enough with the side-dishes, and on-to the real deal. Wifey was the only one to order a simple, no-extra's bowl of saimin. Like all great varieties, this one came with very light garnishes of Spam, sliced scrambled egg, char-siu, green onion, and a single kamaboko (fish cake). You never wanna add too much, even of these ingredients, as true saimin always relies on the power of the noodle - add in lots of bean sprouts, head cabbage, won bok, and too much other clutter, and it's not saimin anymore, at least in my book! Actually, the term saimin does connotate a kind of chop-suey (any-kine) mix of whatever you can find in the kitchen to add-in, as this dish has its roots in the plantation camps of immigrant workers who had to make-do with whatever they had, but just you look at the best of the best saimin houses, and you'll see what I mean.
Besides the instantly-recognizabe, flat shape of the noodles, the thing that stood out most was the noodle's somehow-silky consistency, which, along with the fact that they were cooked perfectly al dente, was a very pleasant suprise that left me simply tickled, I tell you. I know there's a sign on the window that says Fresh Home-made Noodles, but you never really know until you try it for yourself. And this place definitely backs up its claims.
Mom's order was very similiar, except for a few small won ton dumplings, otherwise known as won ton min (or mein). Although a bit small and I forgot to ask for a sample, the dumplings looked very much freshly-made, and mom seemed to enjoy them. I did notice that the broth tasted a little bit different from wifey's, though, a result of the won ton pieces slightly diluting the strong taste of the fish and vegetable-based broth. Pork does have a tendency to sweeten things a bit, but saimin broth is very savory in nature, and if you wanna get the pure taste of the dashi broth, I'd say stick with regular saimin.
And finally, my dish was an order of fried saimin, made from the same noodle and a dried form of the broth. The same silky-pleasant consistency was found on my plate, as well, with a light seasoning that seemed to accentuate the delicious noodles even further.
Though I thought it was seasoned perfectly, a light application of the standard shoyu/mustard mix was also used every other mouthful or so - aaah, just mixing up the taste a bit, is all.
On all the saimin dishes, there are small and large portions, and for all the above, they were all smaller versions. That's nothing different for mom and wifey, but for myself, I only went small because I also had the burger, as well. The two still combined for a relatively light lunch, and with small orders falling below $5, it's a very economical way to go. If you're dining alone, a large saimin plus a burger or other side will fall well below the $15 minimum for using a card, with even light to normal meals for two probably falling below that, as well!
In case you're not aware, check out the saimin section of this site to find out more about this uniquely local product, whether it's about saimin itself or finding the restaurants that feature them. There's not a single place on earth that has anything quite like it, so do yourself a favor and check some of 'em out - you may be pleasantly surprised by a few of the old-school haunts I list there.
And with that, I'm out. And about, that is, checking out more ono kine grindz on the island!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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