What a treat it is for Honolulu to have become home to a third Yamada Chikara restaurant, following Tokyo and New York City.

The aesthetic is Japanese, but the food is colored by chef Chikara Yamada’s experiences in the kitchen of Spain’s El Bulli, where superstar chef Ferran Adria brought molecular gastronomy to the forefront of modernist cuisine.

Some of the chemistry is on display here, such as with an introductory “cocktail” of watermelon gazpacho presented with an olive sphere. The sphere is the size, approximate shape and color of an olive, but was born of combining green olive juice with sodium alginate and calcium chloride to give it its shape and gel consistency, with a burst of olive flavor.

While some chefs can go overboard with the concept, Yamada — who is not in the kitchen here but will be in town in August — never loses sight of the fact that more people prefer to eat for sustenance than to be entertained. Rest assured that you will go home fully satiated. Still, there’s enough here to boast of the El Bulli connection.

The restaurant is in the space on Piikoi Street that was home to Izakaya Tairyo, and most recently Kohnotori. The exterior is all black, and good luck looking for signage as you’re driving. Only a small glass window, no bigger than a standard sheet of copier paper, bears the restaurant’s name in fine print. Another window features the Kyoto-style kaiseki menu that for now is priced at what I consider a reasonable $80 (food only) for this type of exacting and labor-intensive meal.

They did their research on the Hawaii market, so portion sizes for main courses are much bigger than in Tokyo, where a meal runs $200 per person. Our cost is also less than half that of New York, where diners are willing to pay $180 per person. So consider us lucky!

Kaiseki menus usually don’t leave diners an option other than to trust the chef, so it’s a little more satisfying here to know that you can take charge of your appetizers and main dishes.

That said, some of those selections come with upgrade prices, such as an additional $20 for a generous portion of wagyu. (I still found this reasonable as some restaurants charge $75 for a much smaller portion of A5 Miyazaki wagyu alone; here it’s A4 but you still get that prized marbling and, let’s face it, not everyone can handle the oil that gushes out of the A5.)

The most tempting options cost more, so the reality is that a meal is more likely to come closer to $120 per person, unless you’re a strict budgeter.

The restaurant’s interior is dark and minimalist. I felt transported to Tokyo.

A tea bar reflects Yamada’s family roots in Shizuoka’s tea industry. If it’s not too crowded, you could end the evening at the bar with tea prepared to order. Yamada’s restaurants are based on the chakaiseki tradition of a simple meal served prior to the tea ceremony. Unfortunately, they’re not staffed here to devote full attention to the beautiful ritual.

The meal opens with a finger of white rice with a plus-$15 option to add a dollop of Osetra caviar. I can’t eat plain rice, so, cha-ching! The rice arrives with chopsticks with the tips moistened to better grasp the grains.

Also in this initial course were a light Kyoto miso soup containing a delicious cube of sesame tofu, and the day’s mokouzuke, or side dish. Recently, these have been plump, juicy oysters from the Pacific Northwest.

Next up is a selection of two appetizers from a list of six options, from sashimi (plus $15) to smoked conger eel. I ordered the Spanish omelet (plus $10) and crab and sea urchin soup royale (plus $10) and was confused when the “omelet” arrived in a martini glass looking so much like soup that I thought it was the royale.

It all became clear when it was explained that I was sipping the truffle-topped foamy egg omelet, which had the airy, cloudlike appeal of zabaglione. I was extra delighted when the royale arrived, essentially a crab-filled chawanmushi with the expected crown of uni.

For those who require detailed explanations of dishes, it helps to be conversant in Japanese or go with a friend who knows the language.

Options without upgraded prices include a delicious truffle vichyssoise, perfect for a hot summer day, and an equally refreshing tomato and shrimp capellini.

Next up was a quinoa appetizer that also required explanation: It’s not quinoa at all, but liquid nitrogen-frozen foie gras powdered to look like quinoa and stacked on one side of a bowl. Miso consomme is added on the other side and we were instructed to eat it quickly, without mixing the two sides together, in order to enjoy the play of hot and cold. It is quite lovely when the pour is controlled. On a second visit, too much broth melted the foie gras too quickly.

There were five options for the main course. Items are periodically swapped out so not every dish I mention here is always on the menu, but you can look forward to a balance of seafood and beef.

Choices can be made by process of elimination. After the foie gras “quinoa” I felt I could skip the teriyaki grilled foie gras (plus $10), and because I’m not enamored of beef tongue, I could skip this red-wine stew.

I settled on fried onagadai (red snapper) served in a light plum soup. The fish arrived scales and all, but the skin wasn’t crisp enough to enjoy eating those scales.

Marlin marinated in soy, mirin and sake yuan sauce, and topped with stewed tomatoes was another Japan- meets-Mediterranean dish that worked.

But my favorite was the wagyu (plus $20), accompanied by a smooth soy sauce and a yuzu sauce. The sauces worked individually and together, but for purists, the steak really needed no adornment.

Carbs followed, including Japan-style omelet-wrapped rice (a real omelet this time), truffle carbonara (plus $10) and mentaiko udon. I don’t usually order Bolognese in Italian restaurants because it’s so basic, but I had to try it here with udon and loved the combination of thin udon and stewed ground beef topped with Parmesan foam.

Desserts included another foamy combination of melon soda with ice cream, and more straightforward creme brulee with caramel ice cream. A favorite with different guests on two occasions was the combination of roasted tea tiramisu and roasted tea ice cream.

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