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

Shirokiya, a closer look

Aloha Everyone!

8/7/08 - Sorry for skipping out so long. I think I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that I can't very well keep up with the pace of a new "closer look" every other day - it keeps me so busy that I've totally neglected the main pages and other projects I want to roll out in the future. It's just that we have this cruel and unusual mechanism within that forces us to lay dormant six to eight hours per day. How unproductive, I tell you. As for the time being, I'll try putting out a new page every three or four days, but even of that, I can't be for certain! Whatever the case, I do promise to do my best, but that's all I should say about that for now...

Anyhoo, we last visited Gulick Deli in Kalihi, and I mentioned three very important classifications of food in the islands - okazuya (like Gulick), bento, and plate lunch. All of these are inexpensive, local-style, comfort-food-type meals, all very similiar but each having their own distinct characteristics and qualities. Having last visited an okazuya, we'll move on to a bento house today and then conclude with a classic plate lunch haven following that.

Like okazuya, bento is a Japanese word - this time for lunch box, or container. Plantation-era workers needed a durable, compact, transportable meal to keep them going out in the fields, and the bento box was the perfect answer. Without getting too complicated, it's basically a take-out lunch, is all. In time, and like any other of life's many needs and practices, the long arm of commerce was to get involved, soon replicating these home-made meals in various retail eateries around the island. The humble bento box was to become the fore-runner of any local-style take-out, showing up in small mom-and-pop stores well before the age of fast-food giants, drive-thru's, and 7-Eleven's.

The bento box did begin with Japanese immigrants, but soon mixed with other ethnic influences to become a very much localized product. Remember that this resulting version is similiar to, but still a little different from a true Japanese-style bento, which can be found at places like Don Quijote, Marukai, or the subject of today's visit, Shirokiya.

"Hey Aku, why are we covering a Japanese-style bento in the middle of a mini-series on local-style grinds?" Well, there is a reason for it, aside from the fact that Japanese foods are so easily recognizable and so very influential in the world of local grinds today.

I don't mean to confuse you, but it's just that if you were to look for a local-style bento, chances are you'll find them at either an okazuya or plate lunch eatery anyway. It is closely associated with both of these types of outlets and sometimes considered one and the same, the only qualifying difference being not the food, but the rectangular, box-shaped container of aluminum or plastic the food is packed in.

Typical local-style bento boxes.

Some prefer the stackable bento box containers over, say, a styrofoam container or paper plate, especially if you're ordering 30 of them for a company picnic or something, in which case, Presto! - you have local-style bento, even if they are from an okazuya or plate lunch outlet! Since the contents of a local-style bento are basically identical to an okazuya or plate lunch house, and for the fact that we're already covering both okazuya and plate lunch in this series, I've chosen to delve into the Japanese style of bento for today. Still with me? Good, 'cuz we're gonna dig even deeper!

As for the differences between local and Japanese bento, there are several. Presentation in local versions are much more rugged and basic, with bento boxes coming both with no frills and usually without separate compartments, only a single "box" like the one shown above. Inside you'll find a bed of rice and a top layer of four or five different meats of standard okazuya or plate lunch fare. You may get noodles and a rolled or fried egg, but veggies are most often missing outside of the occasional slice of yellow takuan (pickled daikon). Any other cold items like mac salad, if offered, will come in separate containers.

Japanese-style bento carries with it that unmistakeable, Hello-Kitty/Pokemon cutesiness that permeates every aspect of Japanese culture, with a much cleaner, more polished presentation than its local counterpart. Its contents are very much the same as comfort foods found on any street corner from Fukuoka to Osaka to Sapporo - katsu, croquettes, teriyaki meats, grilled salmon or other fish, yakisoba noodles, and a host of different vegetables - and basically cover a much wider variety of foods. The box containers are usually multi-compartmented, with the number of items within easily surpassing the 10 to 12 mark!

And the best place for Japanese style bento on the island is, without a doubt, Shirokiya, a department store in the Ala Moana Shopping Center.

Not sure how many of you have ever been to Japan, but a standard and very popular feature of any large department store or shopping complex is a level or more dedicated to take-out meals, most often packed in a (you guessed it) bento box. These floors are quite a sight to behold, let me tell you! Carnival-like atmospheres pervade, with busy vendors all jockeying for customers. The competition is fierce, runners from all sides often checking the neighbor's prices and products - once the price goes down at one location, drawing sudden crowds, the rest soon follow suit to stay in the game! As you can imagine, this makes for great bargains as well as the very best products possible.

Besides bento and other ready-made meals, these floors also cover fresh meats, seafood, produce, sweets, candies, baked goods, grocery items, and every other food type you can ever dream of. It's just not possible to enter without being drawn to something or other. The allure is much too strong! Creative meals abound everywhere, from kushiyaki, yakiniku, and teppan grilling to oden, nitsuke, and donburi. In addition to confectionary delights and intricately designed cakes coming in the typical fashion statements of Euro-Japanese styles, there are also the kinds of sweets kids lay awake dreaming about, molded into cartoon-character forms and packaged in kawa-ii-cute wrappings. Try moving down the aisles just a bit, and you'll find the variety and amount of fish available simply amazing, all so fresh you shouldn't be surprised to see fins still twitching and tails yet wiggling on the cold ice. Giant, whole King and snow crabs are piled one upon the other, either cooked and displayed in a bright, glistening red or uncooked and chilled in all its natural glory. Everywhere you look, sensory stimulation abounds. You'll easily find yourself hopelessly wide-open to the power of suggestion and methodically-placed market forces that will suddenly grip you with an uncontrollable, impulse-driven urge to buy something, anything!

Not that you can find anywhere near this same kind of hustle-and-bustle displays here on the island, but if you want a mini-version of all the excitement, do try the top level of Shirokiya. It is definitely the closest thing available here, especially when they have mini-fairs highlighting a specific region of Japan, as there was today when wifey and I visited. You may be pleasantly surprised, however, at the amount of different food items you can find on any given day. The atmosphere is bright and clean, the small aisles accentuating the amount of people milling around. In a way, I think the relatively small aisles and decent customer flow actually have a positive, energizing effect that replicates the fun and exhilirating experiences often found in crowded markets or similiar venues.

Here is another shot of one of the many different tables and displays of bento available, all coming in a variety of shapes and sizes. And before you think about going down and taking some shots of your own, you better check with the office first, or everyone from the security guard to the tempura fryer to the butcher, the baker, and candle-stick maker will be on your case before anyone can say cheese! Luckily, I spoke with one very kind and hospitable Anna Mae from the office, who was nice enough to accompany me and beat the natives back. Hey, I could be the enemy stealing trade secrets or something, so I don't blame them one bit. It's aaall good.

There are all manner of sushi types available as well, from maki, ura-maki, and various hand rolls to nigiri, musubi, and any number of combination sets. And don't think this single display contains all the sushi available - to show you everything would mean a tad too much bandwith, is all.

Imagine an elaborate party or Sunday brunch at a fancy hotel in Waikiki, full of separate action stations - an omelet station here, a full spread of dessert there; a pasta or sushi bar here, a prime-rib carver there. This is kinda what you can expect at Shirokiya. Tsukemono (pickled vegetables) here, senbei and arare there; baked goods here, smoothie station there. Deep-fried items here, grilled there; sashimi here, produce there. They even have a ramen section, which serves up a pretty decent noodle soup.

One of the newer niches at Shirokiya is the Korean section. Here they have all your favorite Korean-style vegetables - perhaps not as authentic nor as fiery-hot and potent as Palama Market or Queen's in Kalihi, where you find the real stuff, but a bit toned-down to reflect a more Japanese taste and style.

I passed by this section on another day with a good friend and budding young photographer, Jeff Benik, a technically-oriented kind-of-guy who has helped me immensely in learning about the world of photography. If you enjoy any of my shots, credit Jeff with the wealth of knowledge and techniques he has acquired and passed on. Sure, I don't know what he's talking about half the time, but some of it does manage to get through. You'll see some of his shots in future pages real soon.

Anyhoo, his eyes happened to open wide at the mention of a spicy ahi bowl from the Korean section. Most versions of spicy ahi, since they come in a flavorful hot sauce, come from older cuts or scrape-from-the-bone areas, but this one came with noticeably fresh chunks that made a huge difference. An ice-cream scooper of ahi was placed directly on sushi rice ( you can also choose brown or regular white rice) with a few garnishes, a liberal dose of sesame oil, and a sprinkling of sesame seed and green onion. A bowl of miso soup is included, along with an original creamy/spicy sauce that really packed some heat. Over-all, definitely worth a return visit and easily the classiest, most quality-oriented spicy ahi I've seen anywhere.

That day with Jeff led me to another display, where I grabbed a plus-sized bento with no less than 14 different items! There was crab, shrimp, fish, croquettes, salmon, teri chicken, bamboo shoots, takuan, and a bunch of different vegetable mixes hiding in every nook and cranny, some tucked away from sight under the main items. For about $8, this was one hefty meal!

I also picked up a small container of kinpira gobo (burdock root-the brown strips) that came also loaded with hasu (lotus root-the one with holes). Both are staple vegetables in any Japanese diet, rich in blood-cleansing properties and powerful nutrients that are often used by traditional medicine practitioners in many parts of the globe. I've been telling Jeff for a long time about these two items, and I just wanted to show him what they taste like. More often than not, one of these roots are in my own refrigerator at any given time.

I also got a container of sansai, or mountain vegetables, another delicious and very popular Japanese dish. The term originally came from any vegetable grown in the wild without cultivation, but in this day and age, the lines have become blurred. Me, I love the slightly "gamey" taste, crisp textures, and otherwise exotic nature of these items, some of the most popular ones being the warabi (mountain fern) and a few of the mushrooms you see here.

Getting back to my original visit to Shirokiya with wifey, during the Hokkaido Fair, I gravitated to the deep-fried section, shown here with stacks of crab and potato croquettes. Yuuum!

The real reason we were there, however, was to get our crab On! Hokkaido is the northernmost main island of Japan, where icy-cold waters bring a bountiful harvest of fresh fish and especially King and snow crab, two of God's greatest gifts to mankind!

Here, a few visiting workers from the region assemble crab bento boxes.

At about $18, they are easily the most expensive bento's around, but considering its generous servings of de-shelled, pure crab meat, I can't complain in the least.

Not your typical, every-day bento box, neither of the local nor Japanese versions, these upscale containers were a step above in every way. Yeah, the boxes still ended up in the trash, but hey, they did have a pleasant and satisfying effect that served to justifiably reflect the more valuable contents inside. Check out the crab-shaped green plastic for garnish!

And finally, I'll leave you with a shot of wifeys bento, also full of crab but featuring ikura (salmon egg) and uni (sea urchin), as well. One day I'll learn to appreciate the flavors in these two items. Just not today...

Now that you have an idea of what an okazuya and bento (both local-style and Japanese-style) are, next time we'll stop by a classic plate lunch house to complete the trinity of affordable take-out meals popular in the islands. Of the three, plate lunch houses are most likely to also allow you to dine-in, which is what we plan on doing when we visit.

Hope you're having a great day, and I apologize again for the long break!

Take care and aloha till next time!

Aku

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