Resturant With Kobe Beef in Hawaii

Teppanyaki Ginza Sumikawa is 1 of Iii U.South. Restaurants That Serve Existent Kobe Beefiness

Hiroshi Onodera who is the owner of Sushi Ginza Onodera opens his second restaurant in McCully.

The large draw at Sumikawa: accurate and certified Kobe and Omi beefiness.

Photos: Steve Czerniak

Editor'due south Notation: Teppanyaki Ginza Sumikawa has recently changed its name to Tenppanyaki GinzaOnodera.

Think teppanyaki, and you might conjure upwards a pocketknife-wielding chef juggling utensils or flipping a shrimp tail onto your plate from the flat-top grill in front end of you.

It's more than dinner bear witness than haute cuisine.

But Teppanyaki Ginza Sumikawa isn't sassy sizzle. At this new restaurant, the centuries-old style of cooking feels more like a highly trained personal chef skillfully preparing a multicourse repast just for yous.

"Teppanyaki" derives from the words "teppan," which ways iron plate, and "yaki," which means grilled or broiled, so information technology's literally a manner of cooking that uses an iron plate to grill steak, shrimp, rice, chopped vegetables and noodles. Modernistic teppanyaki often refers to a kind of functioning cuisine, with bondage like Tanaka of Tokyo and Benihana promoting that image. Not surprisingly, this style of teppanyaki is far more pop with Americans than Japanese.

In Nihon, teppanyaki chefs cook in front of customers, unremarkably sitting at a counter. The menu is most often prix fixe, and the ingredients tin can range from the unremarkable to the extraordinary. Similar sitting at a sushi bar watching masterful chefs prepare and gather perfect nigiri or temaki, the experience is intimate and interesting, even without flying shrimp.

So when Teppanyaki Ginza Sumikawa opened in Honolulu in Feb, information technology was no surprise people didn't know what to expect. The prix fixe carte, which started at $200 (now $160), didn't help, either.

When possible, the restaurant sources locally, like this Kona abalone topped with a black butter sauce.

What did help, though, was its connection to the established Sushi Ginza Onodera, a high-end sushi place on Kapahulu Avenue that opened 2 years ago. Both are owned past Hiroshi Onodera, president of LOEC Co. Ltd., ane of the biggest catering companies in Japan. And Sushi Ginza Onodera has established itself equally a legit sushi destination with exceptional ingredients and Instagram-worthy presentation. And its prix fixe menu starts at $160 per person, likewise.

While fresh fish and sushi done right draw folks to Onodera, Sumikawa brings people in with the beef. Turns out it's ane of only iii restaurants in the United States that serve authentic, certified Kobe beef. (The other two are SW Steakhouse at the Wynn Las Vegas and 212 Steakhouse in New York Urban center.)

Authentic. Certified. Similar the departure betwixt Champagne and sparkling wine, Kobe beef must be the meat from Tajima cattle raised in the Hyogo Prefecture in Nihon. The consign of this highly prized beefiness to the U.S. was only approved by the U.Due south. Department of Agriculture in Baronial 2012. And, even at present, scant amounts make information technology here. Of the roughly three,000 head of cattle each year that encounter the very strict standards to exist labeled as Kobe beef, simply most 10 percent leaves Nippon, more often than not heading to Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao and Thailand.

The opportunity to try Kobe beef hither in Hawai'i explains the premium cost, particularly when yous consider what else comes with the $250 Kobe-option meal: more than a dozen additional dishes, including Kona abalone in a black butter sauce, fresh crab from Hokkaido and seared foie gras dressed in a sweet Madeira sauce. (The carte du jour has changed slightly this summer.)

To be honest, I didn't fully appreciate the privilege of eating real Kobe beef. I thought I had already eaten it, at to the lowest degree in burger form, not realizing these restaurants were serving Kobe-style beefiness or domestic Kobe beefiness raised in Australia or the U.South. Simply none of it could accept been authentic or certified. And none carried the 10-digit identification number given to each Tajima-gyu cow. (Seriously.)

Sauteed duck foie gras on la French republic with truffle sauce.

PHOTOS: STEVE CZERNIAK

The Kobe beef on the carte du jour here is the highlight, the describe, the justification to spend more than your monthly cell phone bill on a very special piece of meat.

Sumikawa serves 3 prix fixe choices, the most expensive boasting 3.five ounces of A5-grade Kobe beefiness sirloin. The other two feature the same form of Omi beefiness, i of the top brands of Japanese wagyu beef. (Wagyu literally means "Japanese cattle" and refers to the entirety of the nation's breeds.) This beef is no slouch; the all-time wagyu stands up to the revered Kobe, with many actually preferring it.

Chef de cuisine Keijiro Yamano brings French culinary training to a traditional Japanese style of cooking.

We booked the earliest seating at the little restaurant on King Street in McCully, right at 5:30 p.thou., mostly out of fright the consummate meal would stretch likewise belatedly into the evening. (Turns out, the entire dinner took just two hours, from charm-bouche to dessert.) The seating expanse, impeccably make clean and clutter-free, was empty, save for three very polite chefs who stood in front of the flat-top grill and smiled at us. The L-shaped counter accommodates a dozen diners—at that place's a private room that seats six—a space that, in the American version of a teppanyaki restaurant, would cram in 20. Already, I liked the place.

In the 1,000-square-human foot space, there's a tray of cooking staples—butter, Himalayan rock salt, olive oil, shoyu—and the autograph of Japanese soccer superstar Kazuyoshi Miura scribbled on the gleaming white walls.

Along with the traditional oshibori (hot cloth), we were given a cloth bib to article of clothing to protect our clothing from splatter. Thoughtful.

We were then presented with a basket of vegetables—its contents change every week depending on what's available at the farmers market. That night, we chose from purple spring onions, Portobello mushrooms, shishito peppers, broccoli, eggplant, bok choy, squash, Maui onions and sugariness potatoes to be served with the beef course.

Our drinks and the beginning amuse-bouche arrived, a small plate with two items: a profiterole filled with a cream cheese mixture of shallots and parsley, and a cold vegetable terrine with king crab meat, beans, okra, cauliflower and peppers, wrapped in kale and served with a back-scratch aioli. A 2nd amuse-bouche was a paper-thin slice of bluefin tuna with uni (sea urchin) from Hokkaido and bonito-infused vinegar.

 SUMIKAWA SHARES THE SEAFOOD BROUGHT IN FROM JAPAN, Similar THIS Rex CRAB FROM HOKKAIDO, WITH SISTER RESTAURANT SUSHI GINZA ONODERA.

Next, chef de cuisine Keijiro Yamano brought out a wooden tray with a few of the raw ingredients he would be cooking for us. Thick squares of Hudson Valley foie gras, a leg of king crab and uni from Hokkaido, and abalone from the Big Island—one of the few featured local items on the carte.

A surprise hit: Kahuku corn panna cotta topped with thyme-flavored consommé jelly and Osetra caviar.

The beginning course turned out to be i of the best of the evening, and used local ingredients: a panna cotta made of Kahuku corn topped with thyme-flavored consommé jelly, Osetra caviar and garnished with thyme leaves. The blusterous texture and subtle sweetness of the corn paired perfectly with the slightly salty consommé and caviar.

The next class was a rockfish carpaccio infused with kombu, dressed in a finger-lime vinaigrette and topped with ikura (salmon roe). Finger lime is a micro-citrus that's filled with little orbs of lime juice—like citrus caviar—that popular in your oral fissure. Though information technology was discovered growing wild in Commonwealth of australia, finger limes are now cultivated at Wailea Agricultural Group on the Large Island. This dish, bundled with microgreens, was as gorgeous every bit it was tasty.

THIS KONBU-INFUSED ROCKFISH CARPACCIO IS DRESSED IN A VINAIGRETTE OF BIG Island FINGER LIMES AND IKURA.

Though this is conspicuously a Japanese eatery, the European influence is strong. Have the jambon persille, an former-fashioned French dish of jellied ham with parsley and shallots, served with a horseradish mayonnaise. Or the very refreshing —and very Castilian—chilled cherry gazpacho garnished with a slice of kiwi.

Like its sushi sister, Sumikawa excels at seafood technique. The rockfish was sautéed with the skin on, keeping information technology moist and flavorful, and served over lentils with a white-vino foam sauce. The Big Isle abalone was paired with a rich black butter sauce that had a slight hazelnut flavor. And the crab didn't need anything to polish on its own.

Only on to the Kobe. Information technology arrived on a decorative ceramic plate, ii densely marbled, small slabs of Japanese beefiness with slices of Maui onion, bok choy and a stalk of regal jump onions.

The chef recommended that both Kobe and Omi beefiness exist cooked to a medium or medium-well finish because of the high fat content. I wasn't going to argue with a highly trained chef holding a knife.

Sumikawa shines with seafood. This rockfish sautéed peel-on is served over lentils and a white wine sauce.

PHOTOS: STEVE CZERNIAK

At that place were several ways we could eat the beef. Nosotros could rub the cooked meat on a small plate fabricated of pink Himalayan salt—a souvenir you take home—to add together a delicate salty flavor. Or choose from three sauces: an artisan Kamebishi shoyu from Kagawa Prefecture that'due south aged in cedar casks for three years; a sweet Maui onion sauce with white wine, mustard seeds and horseradish; or a creamy house-made sesame dressing. Or only dab wasabi on the beefiness, dip it in shoyu and height it with a deep-fried garlic bit or two.

Only commencement, I just took a bite. No sauce or salt plate. I wanted to try the Kobe beef in its purest course.

Prefecture that'southward anile in cedar casks for three years; a sweet Maui onion sauce with white wine, mustard seeds and horseradish; or a creamy firm-made sesame dressing. Or just dab wasabi on the beef, dip it in shoyu and elevation it with a deep-fried garlic chip or two.

Kobe beef's high levels of unsaturated fatty acids make each morsel melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Just first, I just took a seize with teeth. No sauce or salt plate. I wanted to attempt the Kobe beef in its purest form.

Now, the reason Kobe beef is so fatty and tender is the closely guarded secret of Japanese ranchers. Do they feed their cattle beer or give them massages? We can't say, but we do know this: Kobe beef contains high levels of unsaturated fat acids, which cook at a much lower temperature than saturated fatty acids. And then the fat in a piece of Kobe beefiness literally melts in your rima oris. Information technology's not your imagination. Which is why you're served just 3.5 ounces: That's enough.

The Kobe is soft and tender, similar to otoro, or super-fatty bluefin tuna, that dissolves in your rima oris.

The Omi beef, though, wasn't equally sweet or fatty, and I actually preferred the meatier flavor. (The restaurant will showtime offering Miyazaki beef, too, later this yr.)

While nosotros ate the tender meat, the chef took pieces of the fat, fried them almost well-baked and added them to the garlic rice on the flat-top. That concoction almost made me cry.

As did the check. We opted for one Kobe beef carte du jour at $250 and ane $200 Omi beef. (It gave me suspension fifty-fifty though I take paid $295 for a meal at Vintage Cavern.) Restaurant manager Manbong Ching pointed out that you don't pay gratuity hither, which saved about $100 in tip.

For anyone who's dropped full paychecks at sushi bars—you lot know who y'all are—Sumikawa offers high-quality food you lot tin can't get anywhere else.

This isn't the kind of place you'd dine in monthly or on an average girlfriends' night out. Sumikawa is for serious foodies who wouldn't hesitate to splurge on a 3.v-ounce slice of beef. Call up special occasion, non pau hana. And yous have to exist OK with the chef watching you swallow his dish. While holding a knife.

 Teppanyaki Ginza Sumikawa, 1726 Southward. King St., 784-0567,teppanyaki-ginzasumikawa.com

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Source: https://www.honolulumagazine.com/teppanyaki-ginza-sumikawa-is-one-of-three-u-s-restaurants-that-serve-real-kobe-beef/

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