Beyond the sumptuous food and a window into the world of one organic farming couple, profiling Hachisu Farm came with a huge bonus: an expressway to Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten, the humble Tokyo sushi restaurant run by Jiro Ono and made famous by the 2011 documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.”
It turned out that Nancy Singleton Hachisu, author of the critically acclaimed “Japanese Farm Food,” shares the same publisher as sushi master Ono, and this connection bestowed Hawaii chefs Alan Wong and Ed Kenney with an exclusive, two-hour visit — no waiting a year to get a seat.
Did Ono’s creations live up to his reputation as the top sushi chef in the world?
“We sat down and someone asked for beer, and Yoshikazu (Jiro’s son) said ocha (tea) was best with sushi. I automatically knew this was serious,” said Wong. “It was all about the sushi, nothing else.”
“I never had sushi like that in my life,” said Kenney. “It was all traditional nigiri, nothing that I never had before. But I always looked at rice as the vehicle for the fish to get from the plate to the mouth. I was wrong. The nigiri was one unit. Jiro creates something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.”
“Even though there was soy sauce, that was only for show. You don’t need anything. The only accompaniment was shoga (ginger),” said Wong.
He used a comparison to wine — “a long finish, meaning the flavor of the wine goes on and on on the palate” — in relation to the sushi. “On more than a few occasions, there was a long finish to the sushi. I was trying to savor every bite, but before I knew it, there would be another piece. It was the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life.
“Afterward we had time for an interview, so I asked Jiro if he wanted to come to the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival,” said Wong, who spearheads the annual event. “I learned immediately that he’s dedicated his life to sushi. It was almost impossible for him to come. It’s not even in his thinking. He’s dedicated to his customers, his business and to sushi.”
