WAILEA, Maui » Alan Wong may not have been officially entered in the Maui Onion Festival Recipe Contest over the weekend, but in my mind, he was. I was judging Maui Onion Fest food competitions before heading over to his new restaurant and thought it had better be good, because I was leaving behind some wonderful dishes for dinner at Amasia.

It’s pronounced am-Asia, though try telling that to Mauians. In a state of dyslexia and/or humor, they have taken to calling it Alan Wong’s Amnesia.

Whatever. It’s Wong who will have the last laugh because the restaurant is bound to be the talk of the culinary world once word gets out.

First, there is the setting, the former Kincha at the Grand Wailea, which looks like a teahouse transported from Japan and reassembled over a koi pond. The 800 tons of Mount Fuji rock remain part of the decor, as do partitioned tatami rooms, although the restaurant has been modified to look less Japanese and more global, in tune with Wong’s idea of bringing his world travels to the table in a sensory excursion that explores Asian, Southeast Asian, Central American, Pacific, Mediterranean and all-American ingredients and flavors.

The menu of mostly small plates is playful and group-oriented, and not stuffy or formal at all. Dishes are intended to be shared, so bring as many friends as you can. You’ll find a lot on the menu to tempt you.

Start with hot and cold appetizers, robata specialties, sushi, or other raw specialties such as a Kushi oyster with red onion jalapeño granite ($12), uni shot with Peruvian-style yuzu ume leche de tigre ($17), or as I did, with a Kumamoto oyster shooter in tomato water with wasabi pearls ($7). Also in this section is kampachi tiradito ($15), served over Hanaoka Farms lilikoi sauce, though the sweet-sour nature of the sauce wasn’t an ideal match. I loved the bite of red pepper and cilantro accompanying the sashimi, but missed the salt of more traditional preparations.

From there, purists could move on to traditional sushi, while others explore a farm-to-table menu of maki rolls. When the restaurant ran out of crispy soft-shell crab with garam masala and a cilantro dipping sauce ($12), a couple nearby left in a huff, telling staffers they should have every dish available at all times. Sheesh. The curried crab does sound wonderful, but there are plenty of other rolls to try, from lemongrass-marinated prawns ($15) to ahi with very spicy kochujang miso ($14). The most novel is marinated grilled ika ($11) encased in a mix of soft and crisped rice splashed with Sudachi lime, served with coconut milk luau sauce and luau leaf cubes, built with layers of steamed leaves, then cut into squares that resembled chocolate. This is one for fans of Samoan palusami and concentrated luau flavor.

From the robata grill come skewers of Jidori chicken, kurobuta pork ($7 to $8), pork tenderloin with spicy miso mustard, Hamakua Ali‘i mushrooms with lemon and salt ($8), or sirloin with honey-mustard foie gras coulis, but I had to try Wong’s "Spong Mi," a Vietnamese-style pork patty ($9) made with Wong’s "Spong." Daring to come up with his own Spam equivalent, Spong (Spam+Wong) is like Spam without all the fat and perhaps questionable pork parts that scare people. It’s delicious!

Working back to appetizers, we tried Richard Ha’s whole tomato salad ($12), set on a base of sliced cucumbers and a pool of li hing mui dressing. The tomato was bigger than a cat’s head and perfect inside and out. It needed no assist from the overly sweet dressing. There are few other vegetable salads on the menu, an oversight considering many more people are opting for vegetarian selections these days.

Then we got to the hot pupu that included melt-in-the-mouth soy-braised short ribs with kochujang sauce ($15), and chicken meatballs ($11) in a coconut-ginger-lemongrass broth, a balanced blend of savory and tart. I also enjoyed crispy oysters ($16) served in a light sambal sauce. This is a part of the menu I wished I could explore more, with its offering of seafood won tons with black bean-lemongrass and chili veloute ($12), pork adobo empanadas ($8), bambucha potstickers ($12), Kurobuta char siu baby back ribs ($16), and ahi meatballs ($11) in "Angry Sauce," whatever that is.

If you can afford to splurge, there are family-style entrees of whole steamed fish ($64), Maui Cattle Co. ribeye ($64) and whole chili garlic Dungeness crab ($85), but I can’t see going there until you’ve exhausted every other option.

For dessert we tried Waialua Chocolate pudding, with salted light and dark layers. It was a great finale, and I was no longer fixated on the Maui Onion Fest dishes.

I hope Amasia is successful enough to allow Wong to replicate the formula on Oahu. We could use more relaxed spaces with varied, casual-upscale menus.

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Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.