Aku Eats Oahu : a closer look : Sansei, a closer look

Sansei, a closer look

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3/19/10 - The second and third floor area of the Waikiki Marriott Hotel sure does come with lots and lots of history. Right now, most of the excitement is from this entrance-way shown above, which houses both Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar as well as DK Steakhouse, both creations of big-time Island Chef and restauratuer DK Kodama. Once upon a time, however, the most happening nightclub in the State, Point After, was located almost directly under Sansei, one floor down, via a large, open stairwell only a few feet away. All the rage during the '80's, it later tanked and became Eurasia nightclub, which was also popular for several years, before itself sinking into yet another vacated shell of prime, unused Waikiki Real Estate. Even Sansei's current property, waaay back when, formerly hosted two great fine-dining restaurants, Tiffany and Acqua. So there you have it. Waikiki Beach Marriott's All-Star line-up, dating all the way back to its days as the Hawaiian Regent Hotel.

Roam the grounds even today, and it's still a great place to hang-out, with the open-air Moana Terrace Bar still serving drinks and schmall-kine pupus right next-door to Sansei's. Not only does it feature live entertainment nightly, mostly of a laid-back local vibe, but also a comfortable, very gorgeous, third-floor vantage point overlooking beautiful Waikiki Beach. Before or after the restaurants, its always worth a stop. Check out the pool that sits right next to both the terrace bar and Sansei's:

Just FYI, the pupu portion of this trip took place, oh, about nine months, maybe even a year ago, and takes up an extensive portion of this page, so I just may have forgotten some of the finer details regarding the experience! I was thinking of scrapping the entire set of shots altogether, but eeeh, 'figure I may as well run it instead of allowing all that work to go down in vain! However, I've been to Sansei so many times over the years that I'm still very familiar with the show here. It was one of the spots Kumi and I would frequently hit when we were first dating, when we'd literally surf every day and hit a restaurant or bar just about every night - I joke you not!

Once inside its entrance, the end of a short hall-way leads to the restaurant, with DK's fine Steakhouse greeting you first, on the right, where the friendly folk are standing:

Take a further right instead, where the burly-looking sushi Chefs behind the sushi bar are, and it'll open-up to the roomy pad of tables and booths that make-up Sansei restaurant. No pics of the interior on this round except for the bar area shown next, which is shared by Sansei on one side and DK's on the other.

Happy Hours run weekdays from 5:30pm-6pm and also from 10:30pm till closing. Our motley gang of thugs and a princess were here for that half hour's worth, which obviously isn't very much time, so make sure you arrive promptly. Do so, and the bartender just may allow for, and you didn't hear it from me, a little bending of the rules should you stay past 6pm. I'm not saying it's a given by any means, though, so don't count on it!

I can't even keep track these days on their Happy Hour specials - I've heard it bouncing back and forth between the entire food menu offered at a 50 percent discount to only a separate, single-page menu of specials! Oh, well. You'll just have to call and find out for yourself (official Sansei link above) if you wanna clarify the situation on any particular date. As for the next several shots, they came from the single-page option only, where we ordered just about everything on the list, including many items you might not really expect from an evening here at Sansei. Take, for instance, this order of nacho's:

When thinking of Sansei, fancy sushi and island-style touches are what comes to mind, yes? Nachos didn't really seem very Sansei'ish to me (except for the won ton chips!), and neither did this crab/avocado dip shown next, which was something I'd more expect from an American Casual restaurant:

While the nacho's didn't really hit the spot for me, their crab dip sure did, even though there wasn't a whole lotta large chunks of crab. I guess it was more about cheese, cheese, cheese, along with that creamy filling, which was very rich and delicious over the crispy garlic bread pieces.

Wings were also awesome, its pieces golden-browned to perfection and the meat inside plump and juicy. Yes, I do remember!

Are you starting to see why I didn't list Sansei in the Sushi or Izakaya sections, but the Hawaii Regional Cuisine section? That's where all the quality cuisine types not fitting into one category are placed, so long as they include strong island-style touches throughout the menu and atmosphere. But it's really the many excellent entrees available that easily propel Sansei to the level of Hawaii Regional Cuisine stature - dungeness crab ramen w/Asian truffle broth, chili porcini mushroom crusted beef tenderloin w/garlic mash in shiitake cabernet demi-glace, shichimi-seared Atlantic salmon and tiger prawns, masago cilantro crab cake and whole lobster tail over sambal aioli linguine? Sounds not only very Sansei'ish, but also 3660'ish or Alan Wong'ish, no?

But for now, we'll continue through our Happy Hour pupu list with a couple more orders, a lox 'n bagel-like smoked salmon over crisped bread and an always great fried calamari:

Many of you can still remember the days when Sansei's Chef/Owner, DK Kodama, more than anyone else, helped bring new-wave sushi to the mainstream here in the islands. Now, it's grown so popular that even the most traditional of Japanese izakaya and sushi houses here usually feature at least some form of new-wave sushi. While the regular menu carried the lion's share of fancy rolls, there were yet a couple of Happy Hour rolls available, including these two:

I completely forgot what the first one was, but the second is a panko-crusted ahi sashimi roll, listed as one of their award-winning specialties. Inside, there's a green mix of spinach and arugula, while the sauce comes from a soy wasabi butter mix. Can't say it compares to Russel Siu's ahi katsu, at 3660 on the Rise, but still, not bad at all.

Besides recalling our next dish, a korokke (croquette), being on the creamy side instead of the potato side, that's about all I can remember about it. Looks pretty darn good, though, no?

From here, it was just a long list of nigiri sushi pieces Kumi ordered, all of them not on the Happy Hour list, mind you. Bad girl. Very bad girl.

While I can vouch for the best new-wave rolls here, I'm not quite so confident about their traditional sushi. Over the years, we've had lots of excellent, super-fresh items, but also some very bad, far from fresh, even stinky choices, as well, and the local Sushi Chefs are sometimes not very well-informed of Japanese sushi etiquette. One particular evening, Kumi's uni took forever and a day to arrive, and we knew why - you could tell they were rush-defrosted, as some parts of the uni were much colder than anything just refrigerated. Now, I'm not saying freezer stuff are always bad, but that night, the uni was bad. Really, really bad. You just never know.

But then again, it's not traditional that I'd recommend while visiting Sansei, anyway, but new-wave. Nevertheless, here's a line-up of traditional items, beginning with a hamachi. And by the way, on this night, everything was fresh and fabulous, including the uni!

Salmon nigiri:

Ika w/quail egg, gunkan-style:

unagi nigiri:

And of course, uni:

Just a couple of short weeks ago, Kumi and I returned, not for Happy Hour but for a few of their House Specialties. This time, I did get some shots of the dining area, as well as a closer shot of the sushi bar:

There's usually much more of a tourist scene here than anything else, with a smattering of locals here and there. Because I formerly worked at the Waikiki Marriott Hotel for many years, I also know that their focus seems to be more on the Mainland market, with Japanese tourists conspicuously absent compared to some of the other large hotels. Just an observation, is all.

And if you ever happen to come on weekends, just know that it gets really, really loud, and that on the count of there being open mic karaoke sessions, complete with animated Karaoke Master prodding people on and providing a few songs himself during any possible lulls in the action, which usually happens only in the beginning, until someone breaks the ice. And it doesn't just break here - it shatters! I mean, they're not local-style shy here, not in the least bit! No, no - with mostly Mainlander's on vacation, looking for a good time, things can get pretty out-of-hand and crazy, and whether that's for better or for worse is for you alone to decide!

Whatever the case, the large assortment of dishes here at Sansei are party-friendly and fun, with the great pupus, sushi, and specialty rolls above being just a starting point. One of the all-time great choices of Chef DK Kodama, around since the very beginning, is his rock shrimp dynamite:

Succulent pieces of deep-fried shrimp tempura are rolled in a creamy garlic masago aioli and drizzled with unagi glaze, in a taste combination for the ages! This one will just never grow old, the extra dress-up of green onion, black sesame seeds, and white sesame seeds all contributing, as well. I gotta say, though, for some reason, this time I didn't find the crispy batter quite as crispy as I've experienced in the past, and it kinda weighed negatively on the dish a bit. Every other time, however, it's been flawless, a must-try, always.

Though the ingredients on our next choice are familiar faces in the sushi world, sometimes, just the way you present them makes a huge difference!

I mean, shape and mold a flower-pedal-like wrap of salmon, a core of rice and shiso, and a topping of ikura in such a form, and you suddenly have the kinds of little touches that make quality restaurants so fun and worthwhile. But even besides presentation, the ingredients themselves carried that single-most important feature needed when going raw - freshness! The salmon was butter-soft and creamy while the ikura wasn't overly salty, a huge benefit that deserves a small explanation - in Japan, ikura is so fresh, they don't need heavy additions of salt, so they are much more natural-tasting and sweet. Here, you'll almost always find them shipped salted for preservations' sake. The best restaurants here will, however, soak the eggs to wash-out some of that salt, oftentimes in a dashi/sake or dashi/mirin base - the next-best-thing to completely au natural.

Another really interesting dish is this birds-nest-looking plate:

It's called an Asian Shrimp Cake - think of fishcake or surimi, only using shrimp! I know, I know - much more noticeable is the birds nest of Chinese deep-fried noodles, or even the fabulous double-whammy of ginger lime chili butter and cilantro pesto sauces - the last thing you actually notice is the shrimp cake on the bottom! However, it is this shrimp that ends-up, well, taking the cake. It has a delicate, yet firm consistency, with the deep flavor of shrimp and a just-baked warmth and texture that was unique and different. The contrasts of crispy noodles w/soft, warm shrimp cake, along with the strikingly-colored sauces, all worked masterfully together for a fun, highly enjoyable dish.

As for our next order - what the heck is it?

Despite the fuzzy, un-gainly appearance, there's actually a lot of expectations hanging on this roll, as it is called none other than a Sansei Special Roll!

Does that look special to you?

Hmmm... Before answering, check out the flip-side:

Aaah, that's more like it! With a fuzzy back-side showing mostly furikake, the anterior is much more photogenic, showing its innards of cucumber, cilantro, a mix of small green vegetables, and the main ingredient, a spicy crab mix. And we aren't talking surimi, either, but 100 percent real crab, all mixed in a vaguely spicy salad. With DK Kodama's plethora of fine sauces, I was kinda dissapointed with the straight Thai chili sauce, something I'm getting real tired of at sushi houses, but still, with all that delicious crab, not too bad a dish over-all.

One of the newer looks at Sansei is a torched moi, or Pacific Threadfin, a fish born-and-bred in the islands, in one of those giant fish cages situated off the Kona coast of Hawaii:

Pretty dish, it was, coming stuffed with sweet Maui onions, pickled gobo, and smelt roe aioli, then seared in a truffle ponzu reduction, and, finally, topped with masago and habanero. Unfortunately, neither of us cared much for it. I dunno, all's I could taste was a cooked salt 'n pepper fish with raw onion, which just seemed a little unexciting compared to everything else.

To finish things up, we rounded out the evening with yet another of their award-winning specialties, a dungeness crab ramen with Asian truffle broth:

Wow. Talk about an interesting and unique taste. The toppings of cilantro, Thai basil, and mild jalapenos were odd enough for ramen, but the one big difference with this particular bowl was the Asian truffle broth. Its flavor was deep and earthy, with a powerful essence that filled the palate with suuum kind of exotic, lemme tell ya. They say truffles are so expensive, and so pungently strong, that you almost never eat them alone, but as a complement to something else, either as a liquid infusion, powder, thin shaving, or other such form. Most times, however, I can't taste much of any truffle infusion at all. This particular bowl, on the other hand, was not only noticeable, but in-your-face powerful! The broth-soaked dungeness crab was also a great addition, and the combination of it all was truly something to behold. The only gripe I had was that the noodles were a bit too soft, something that often happens as they over-cook while sitting in hot broth.

It was so different from normal ramen that Kumi didn't quite know what to make of it, as she always compares ramen with versions in her hometown of Kyushu, where they are especially known for tonkotsu (pork) ramen. During our last Kyushu trip, I was fortunate enough to have tried a few of these renowned spots, places like Ippudo and Ichiran, and I am now definitely a believer! Kumi was right after all! I don't think any other soup/noodle can compare! With fresh-made-daily noodles and a broth much more sophisticated than any saimin, Vietnamese pho, Malaysian laksa, or Chinese mein found in the islands, it's a taste that can't be relayed, only experienced, to fully realize.

By the way, I did a home-made tonkotsu broth ramen the other day at home, and it did come pretty close! Magical things happen when you boil pork and chicken bones for 12 hours, until they become hollow, its marrow bled-out into the broth, creating a thick, milky, collagen-filled soup base! Maybe I should incorporate recipe and cooking pages soon, too, no?

Anyways, hope you found something you liked on our last couple of visits to Sansei, and will make it a point to try them yourselves! They do validate within the Marriott Hotel building, which reminds me - I forgot to put-in a map! No worries, here it is:

View Larger Map

Remember that Ohua St., from which Marriott's parking entrance is accessed, is a one-way headed towards the ocean, and Pauoakalani, on the back-side of the building, is a one-way headed mountain-side, not to mention one-way Kalakaua! If I can find a road-side spot on either of the two side-streets, I'll take it, but pickings are slim to none early evening's. Consider it a great omen and give thanks when you find one!

You all have a great weekend, and hope you're making the most of it!

Take care, and Aloha till next time!

Aku

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Comments:

Kyo H (6/6/10) Hey Aku! Great review! Though my girlfriend and I both love paitan ramen, we have never gone to Sansei without ordering their dungeness crab ramen! Your homemade ramen sounds good too, though... Care to share the recipe?? :)

Aku (6/6/10) Thanks Kyo, lemme get back with you on that recipe. I actually did a simple internet search and combined elements of different recipes into one, but the main thing is to boil those bones! Boil 'em until the marrow comes falling out, which takes ten to twelve hours or so on low heat (covered; bubbles forming). Makes the broth thick, rich and creamy, just like at the restaurants!

BTW, if you like that truffle essence that totally makes the ramen at Sansei, you may wanna try V-Lounge's Prima pizza! Yeah, completely different animal, but you get that same taste through your nose and up into every cavity of your brain! I'm gonna post on the place soon, but it's definitely the most eccentric, most new-wave pizza on the island!

Kyo H (6/7/10) I actually want to try V-Lounge's pizza one day, though my primary target was more their traditional style pizzas ;) As for Sansei, I believe they use D'artagnan's black truffle butter, available at R.Field or online!

Also, I noticed that you are a big foie gras fan. I don't know if you've looked at it, but Sansei's cookbook has a recipe in it for "Ramen with Foie Gras." I have the book, but have never attempted this recipe. I can send it to you, though, if you like. :)

Aku (6/7/10) If you mean traditional American-style, you won't find any at V Lounge! If you mean traditional Italian/European, you've come to the right place! For meats, there are only 4 Italian meats - pancetta, prosciutto, coppa piccante, and soprasetta (like pepperoni), all top-quality stuff, all rustic, and all very homey and very modern at the same time.

Foie gras rules! Most people say their last meal on earth would be their mother's meatloaf, spaghetti, baked bread, or something simple and homey, but not me! I'll take foie gras, o toro, and Kobe beef! Thanks for the truffle tip - I think I'll go pick up a bottle!

Kyo H (6/7/10) Of course I mean traditional Italian/European! :) It is very hard to find here, especially a good margherita pizza. I will definitely check out V Lounge when I get a chance, and am looking forward to seeing your review!

But yes, foie gras is great stuff! Did you try the foie gras nigiri at Sansei? It's good stuff! And good value too, they give you pretty big slices of foie gras! I do really want to try the foie gras donburi, though, at Cafe Miro.

Aku (6/7/10) Yeah, I did try the foie gras at Sansei, and it's very good! You know, foie gras is one of those things that, no matter where I've gone, is always impeccable, always delicious (unless it's done au torchon, which I don't really care for!), and I can't say any one restaurant has an clear "up" on anyone else. I guess it helps that the stuff is found only in top-knotch restaurants, so you know the quality will be there to begin with. BTW, V-Lounge does carry a margherita pizza!

Kyo (6/8/10) That's true, though the one time I went to 3660 on the Rise a few years ago, I didn't care for their foie gras preparation that much. At that time, I think they were serving it as a mousse. Oh, and I've had it served cold at La Rochelle Shibuya too, that wasn't all that great either. As for au torchon, I've had it once that way from Chef Mavro and it was actually pretty good, though his seared foie gras dishes do tend to be better. Unfortunately, he has taken foie gras off the menu for this season, hopefully he brings it back next time! Oh, and, thanks for the tip on V-Lounge! :)

Btw, where did you get the pork and chicken bones from to make your tonkatsu ramen? I always seem to have a hard time with getting the bones. Thanks!!

Aku (6/9/10) Exactly - anytime I've had foie gras cold, including torchon or mousse, I never enjoyed it nearly as much. Simply seared/grilled and served hot always works best. At 3660, they did a combo foie gras last time I went, with one side grilled on a toast bread (delicious!) and the other served cold (okay).

As for the chicken and pork bones, I got mine from Don Quijote, but it's not always available. I figure your best bet is to actually call the different grocery stores before-hand. Get the bones that have the most marrow. Since I never used just one recipe to make mine, and don't even remember exactly what I did, if you just Google "best tonkotsu ramen broth," which I just did again. I saw many of the sites I used earlier to make the broth. It's really easy - just boil everything together until the marrow leaves the bones, then strain afterwards. I believe I also used garlic, ginger, onions, carrot, celery, salt, and pepper. As for noodles, some friends from Japan sent us a special type of tonkotsu ramen from Japan, but the customs people actually took the tonkotsu broth paste out, leaving us only with da noodles! Which, by the way, is the reason I decided to make a tonkotsu broth in the first place. But no worries - they have a relatively thin egg noodle, the only one I found without broth mix, at Don Quijote that is like $1.49 for two servings! I'm pretty sure it was from Sun Noodle. Anyhow, it's located in the same place as the rest of the refrigerated Japanese ramen section at the Kaheka store. It's a respectable noodle, albeit an egg, not wheat noodle. Oh, I also took part of the broth and put some miso paste in the end as well, the kind that's fully-flavored (not needing to add dashi or any other taste).
Both broths were great!

Lemme know how yours comes out if you ever make it!

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