Revamping old favorites
Friday - June 06, 2008
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A Bite-sized Look at Food Events in Honolulu.
Sekiya’s New Customers Find Old Favorites.
They say that no publicity is bad publicity, and at one of Hawaii’s oldest restaurants, that seems to be the case. Sekiya Japanese Restaurant closed its doors for a much-needed refurbishment a couple of months ago and when it reopened, they discovered new customers eager to try their food.
“We closed the doors, threw everything out, painted everywhere and refurbished the kitchen,” says owner Joy Morihara. “When we opened up a few weeks later, we discovered there were lots of people who’d heard about us closing down who’d never tried our food.” Now there’s a whole new group of regulars, according to Morihara.
A large part of Sekiya’s attraction is the deli serves hard-to-find items such as corned beef hash tempura balls, netsuke butterfish that comes as fillet, belly or tail, and a variety of sushi and musubi. Okazu dishes, including chow fun noodles, fried noodles, kuromame, namasu and nishime, are sold by the pound. Ask Morihara about the top-selling items and she shakes her head.“It’s hard to pick just one or two,” she says. “Everything is a best seller.”
Sekiya now opens at 8 a.m. and okazu items are served until 4:30 p.m. daily.
Sekiya Restaurant and Delicatessen
2746 Kaimuki Ave.
Honolulu
732-1656
E&O Trading Company.
Nicholas Salvi continues his revamp of the menu at E&O Trading Company. Best night to try some of his tasty creations? Probably Wednesdays, when there’s a 50 percent off wines by the bottle promotion, which includes Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon ($130), Joseph Phelps Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($94) and Chalk Hill Chardonnay ($72).
The newer dishes in Salvi’s Asian-themed portfolio include an excellent curried New York steak with honey, Thai basil and a mirin marinade - the curry is subtle but gives the steak great flavor. Salvi’s five-spice seared duck with grilled papaya and Vietnamese garlic rice is a great balance of flavor and texture, and there’s a flavor-packed Mongolian lamb, which is one of the chef’s personal favorites. “This is really killer Mongolian lamb,” he says. “It’s served with a sweet onion curry risotto and it’s something I’ve been doing for about five years. It’s always been a big hit.” You’ll find Salvi in the E&O kitchen most nights, and if you’re a fan of fanciful desserts, then make sure to ask him what’s on the menu - he loves to create an element of surprise with his sweets.
E&O Trading Company
1200 Ala Moana Blvd.
Ward Centre
591-9555
Hifumi Offers Graduation Specials.
Those who know about Hifumi rave about the shrimp, the clean, fresh tempura batter and the inexpensive pricing - and those who don’t miss out on one of the hidden secrets of Chinatown.
“We’re not in a high-rent location,” says the restaurant’s Elsie Ching, “so we’re able to pass those savings on to our customers.”
There’s some of the “biggest and best” tempura in town with the largest, lightly tempura’d shrimp taking up more than a foot of room on each plate while managing to remain crisp, tender and sweet. This month, Hifumi will custom cater graduation parties and will work with customers on special menus.
Regular monthly specials are an attraction - an example is an 8-ounce wafu-style fish with rice, miso soup, tsukemono and tea for just $10.95, and an ongoing senior special features opakapaka and two shrimp tempura with tossed salad, gyoza, tofu, rice, miso soup and tea for $10.95.
Hifumi is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Closed Monday lunchtime.
Hifumi
100 N. Beretannia St.
536-3035
Parking inside Chinese Cultural Plaza
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