Category — Japanese Restaurants in Hawaii

I wanted to take my dad someplace special for his birthday the other week and after thinking about it for a while, decided on Miyako Restaurant in Waikiki! This is the same place that we went to for our 5th wedding anniversary last year.

But this time I made sure to get seating out on the lanai. It was a great view of Waikiki

and the sunset.

We all decided to get dinners from the Kaiseki menus.

Since it was October, Miyako had many matsutake mushroom dishes available. We got this Matsutake to Kikka no Oshitashi to share.

It was very yummy with enough mushrooms for each of us to try a couple pieces of matsutake.

For drinks my dad tried this sake sampler which he enjoyed…

My mom didn’t want to eat too much so she got the Mai Kaiseki meal.

My hubby got the Miyabi Kaiseki. Here are some of things that came with his…

Sashimi

Agedashi Tofu

Butterfish Misoyaki

But really, the star of this evening was what my dad and I ordered, the October Kaiseki Menu! Here is what we had…

Duck and Eggplant with Miso Vinaigrette

Crabmeat Dumpling with Seaweed in Clear Soup

Tuna and Yellowtail “Hamachi” Sashimi

Broiled Seasonal Salmon wrapped with foil

Stewed “Karei” Flounder and Matsutake

Seven Mushroom Chazuke and Japanese Pickles

Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce

Everything was so delicious in our kaiseki. I really love mushrooms so this October set focusing on mushrooms was perfect for me! My dad also enjoyed the meal so much that he said it was his best Japanese dinner EVER! This includes meals that he had at restaurants in Japan. And you know what? I think I would have to agree – the food, atmosphere, view, service…were all awesome!!

Miyako Restaurant
Address: New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel
2863 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
Phone: (808) 921-7077

After going to watch a concert on the Windward side a while back, we went with my mom for a drive around Kailua looking for a restaurant that was still open for a late lunch. Craving Japanese food we decided on Noboru near Down to Earth in Kailua.

Since it was after the time that most folks eat lunch, we started off having the restaurant all to ourselves.

The two of us both got the Special Lunch Bento and my mom had the Grilled Salmon Teishoku.

Today’s Special Lunch Bento was sashimi, tempura (we asked for all vegetable tempura), and grilled salmon.

The portion size was a little small for the price, but everything was very tasty!

My mom ordered the Grilled Salmon Teishoku which I thought was odd since for $1.00 more you could get our Special Lunch Bento that had the grilled salmon PLUS sashimi and tempura. But it turns out she made a great choice!

After tasting her salmon, it was clearly a better cut and quality. Much more fatty and moist! Still to this day she says this is the best grilled salmon she has ever had!

Noboru Japanese Restaurant
Address: 201 Hamakua Dr # 102, Kailua, HI 96734-3984
Phone: (808) 261-3033

Although our pattern is to frequent our favorite handful of Japanese restaurants, the other day we decided to try somewhere new. Utage is located in the Kapalama area, in the same shopping center as Young’s Fish Market.

We wanted to try the most variety since it was our first time, so our first choice was the Mixed Plate. Our choices in the photo above were the Mini Hamburger Steak and Chicken Katsu.

These were pretty standard, no complaints…and I liked that there were onions with the hamburger steak!

Our second choice was the Utage Special.

We chose Sashimi, Vegetable Tempura, and Tonkatsu for this plate.

I have to say it was a bit pricey here, especially the Utage Special. But if you look at the close up below you can see that it included ten pieces of sashimi!

Utage hasn’t quite made it onto my list of favorites yet, but the food was good and I wouldn’t mind coming back to try other things on the menu.

And for those who like Okinawan food there is a pretty good selection of dishes here. If you can’t make it to Off the Wall in Pearl Kai, this looks like a fine place to try in town to satisfy your Okinawan food cravings.

Utage
Phone: (808) 843-8109
Address: 1286 Kalani St., Honolulu, Hawaii
Hours: Mon – Sat 10:00am – 9:00pm

After the funeral and a little quick shopping, we met back up with some relatives before our flight home. We had dinner together at one of our regular Hilo stops, Nihon Restaurant.

My dad had one of the specials, ahi nitsuke over somen.

My uncle had the soba salad.

My dad’s aunty who is a regular at this restaurant ordered some sushi. It’s hard to tell but these pieces were huge!

And a bunch of us had combo dinners. It’s described as a two choice meal, but sashimi is included in all of them so it’s really like a three choice dinner!

I had the miso butterfish and tempura combo.

My husband had the chicken katsu and tempura combo.

We all really enjoyed our meals at Nihon Restaurant. And it was so much food – I was starving when we got there but could barely finish my dinner!

For special occasions such as wedding anniversaries, we usually go to one of the fine dining restaurants around Oahu. The other day being our 5th wedding anniversary, we were going to do the same ‘ol thing but at the last minute decided to try a Japanese place instead. We had a coupon for Miyako restaurant in Waikiki so we agreed to give it a try, I’m really glad we did!
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Kikuya is one of our regular stops when we’re in Kaneohe around dinner time. This is where we ate this past weekend when we were hanging out on the windward side.

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An evening of delicious food, great friends, and wonderful conversation. That’s what I had this past Saturday at Kunio Restaurant when I went out with some of my friends from work. And raising the bar on the fun-o-meter were the husbands who we all get along with.
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The other night we went out to indulge in Japanese food again. Because it was a Friday, we wanted to go to Yanagi Sushi for our usual late night specials. However, when we got there at 11:40 pm, it was packed with a 40 minute wait! Yanagi is great but not “waiting around while you’re starving at midnight” great. So we quickly set off for our next late night choice: Sushi King.
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Yanagi Sushi..one of my favorite late night eateries. Just like Kat, I usually do some sort of eating out over the weekend.

A perfect Friday for me goes something like this:

1. Productive day at work
2. No traffic on the way home
3. Two hour nap
4. Update blog
5. Late night dinner at Yanagi Sushi

What I like so much about Yanagi is their delicious Japanese food and cheap prices from 10:30 pm – 2:00 am. Because everything is cheaper at this hour, we can order to our hearts’ content. Here’s a look at what we had this past weekend….
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