The first time I spotted Restaurant Wada, the signage at the front of the 611 Kapahulu complex — with no breaks between words and no logos to separate it from its neighbor — gave me the impression it was a laundromat restaurant.
I was so excited! The last time I was in a laundromat restaurant was in New Orleans, and I thought it was such a great idea, a place to hang out while waiting out wash and dry cycles. I don’t remember the name of it or the food, but I do remember the best bloody marys ever. None on Oahu have ever measured up.
Well, it didn’t take long to figure out the casual upscale Wada is in an entirely separate realm from the laundromat, offering some of the most decadent specialties you’ll find in a Japanese restaurant locally. The recent launch of a happy-hour menu provided a welcome excuse to revisit this gem. But first, the main attraction.
The restaurant showcases the work of Takanori Wada, a Hokkaido native who worked at Sushi Yasuda in New York before opening his restaurant here.
Hokkaido is renowned for its seafood, and while you will find all the basic fish and shellfish here, it’s two of the most decadent combinations that bring people back for more. These would include tuna akami made richer with a layer of foie gras, at $9.50 per piece, and the beef and sea urchin combo, at $7.75 for one piece of the Washugyu tataki topped with sweet Santa Barbara, Calif., sea urchin layered on nori. I would return for these two specialties alone.
Seafood dominance continues with a sashimi carpaccio salad ($11.25) that is more about fish than greens. About six of the day’s catch make their way into this dish.
Simmered dishes such as delicate sake-steamed Manila clams ($12) and fried Pacific oysters ($9.50) in a shallow pool of dashi with baby spinach warm heart and soul.
Seafood dynamite ($11.50) goes lighter on the mayo sauce than local versions, with a mix of potatoes, kabocha and seafood that tastes fresh, not like yesterday’s leftover fish. The content changes daily, but I love it when Wada includes salmon, scallops and tender calamari.
Other dishes, such as miso cod ($18), are just fine, but for the money and small portion, it’s a dish you can get in a lot of places, so I would stick with Wada’s specialties.
The deep-fried category includes crispy mochi sticks ($7.75), light spring rolls with a center of mozzarella and mentai cod roe wrapped in thin, crisp rice paper.
For many, these smaller dishes are only a warm-up to Wada’s stone grill, shabu shabu and nabe specialties. I will have to return for the salmon or chicken chanchan yaki ($28) featuring the stone-grilled fish or meat stir-fried with vegetables and miso butter at the table.
The curved stone used is made in Hokkaido and said to have been based on the helmets worn by Genghis Khan and his armies.
Washugyu tongue is the star of the ishiyaki dishes, at $47 for 8 slices of the Oregon black Angus, or $62 for 16 slices. Cook the tongue yourself, at 10 seconds on one side before flipping and cooking through, and sprinkle with pepper or garlic salt offered as condiments, along with light lemony ponzu. The 10 seconds work; any longer and the tongue gets tough and chewy.
After the tongue is gone, you’re ready for round two, a stir-fry of onions, shishito peppers and Angus skirt steak, also cooked in the stone pot.
People are already catching on to happy-hour pricing, with select hot and cold sake, shochu, white and red wine priced at $3 per order, $2.50 sushi and $3 to $5 small plates.
Many of the items are on the regular menu, such as fried chicken nanban ($9.75 regular, $5 happy hour) topped with egg tartar sauce, the asari clams mentioned earlier, maguro poke ($9.25/$5) and a grilled eggplant ($6.75) dish that rivals any Italian restaurant here. It’s not just grilled, but baked in a mild tomato sauce with a rich and gooey layer of mozzarella.
Finish with dessert of the day’s ice cream. Recent flavors offered were Kona coffee, raspberry and green tea, all so good I wasn’t able to pick a favorite.
