In this odd year, time essentially froze in March, so I still find myself backtracking to early spring. I was in the process of writing about a handful of new restaurants but had to stop when they closed during the first pandemic restaurant shutdown, reopening only recently.

Ichifuji was one of those restaurants. The nabe restaurant’s grand opening was March 1, and after just a few weeks it shut down for eight months, until Nov. 19.

Co-owner Takuya Tsutsumi came up with the original concept for a healthier form of nabe, well-suited to the pandemic era with its emphasis on nongreasy hot-pot cooking and meat-and-vegetable rolls made with thin-sliced beef and pork.

With many more diners seeking healthful options, Tsutsumi’s otoshi nabe keeps the spare nature of shabu-shabu alive, with just a little twist to appeal to those who still want a novel experience.

To streamline options, the Moiliili restaurant has created three set-meal options showcasing the breadth of its offerings. A six-course meal is $39.80 per person, the nine-course is $49.50, the 10-course is $54.80.

It’s possible to order a one-course meal and one hot pot a la carte to try a few additional rolls not covered in the sets. The nine- or 10-course sets are ideal for those who like variety and don’t want to feel as if they’re missing out on anything. These two sets also include a daily appetizer presentation, most recently a trio of botan ebi, a sweet shrimp flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu Shijo fish market, black sesame tofu and beef tongue.

At the basic level, the six-course meal comprises four beef tongue rolls, two Kurobuta pork rolls, two pieces of tai (snapper) sashimi, a choice of noodles, barley and rice zosui (porridge) and dessert.

The beef tongue was wrapped around stalks of negi (Japanese green onion), while the pork rolls had a center of crunchy shredded cabbage. It’s recommended that you swish the rolls in Ichifuji’s signature 24-hour oxtail and beef broth about eight seconds for the beef and 15 seconds for the pork to cook through. Then dip in ponzu or sesame sauce, or sprinkle the rolls with one of the offered seasoning salts.

The salt options are Kauai red, nori, garlic, konbu, lemon and matcha green tea. Servers can direct you to the house recommended salt pairing, but they’re all good, so your perfect match most likely will come down to personal preference.

The nine-course offering adds two American wagyu rolls and a dish of assorted vegetables, tofu and mushrooms, plus the appetizer; the 10-course encompasses all of what’s on the six- and nine-course menus, adding chawanmushi.

Ordering the smallest set gives you leeway to add more a la carte items, but the menu is limited, so there’s not much beyond what’s included in the larger sets.

Those few items include pickled onion ($4.90), pickled edamame ($3.90), tomato salad ($3.90), seared mentaiko ($7.80) and Kurobuta pork-wrapped items from tamago (two pieces, $6.90), to daikon and nagaimo ($6.90 each). You can also order minuscule stand-alone portions of beef tongue (four pieces, $12), American wagyu (two pieces, $9.80), pork (two pieces, $6.90) or snapper (two pieces, $12.80). The pieces are not much larger than an inch, so it’s the vegetable rolls that will fill you up.

I wish there were a little more variety, but this is a small operation with its own specialty, trying to be different from every other nabe shop and izakaya in town.

To wrap up the meal, you’re given a choice of Japanese soba or ramen, and when the noodles are gone, there’s zosui made with Tsuyahime rice and barley, with silky yamaimo, egg and nori salt. I never thought it would be possible to find happiness subsisting on rice porridge, but this was delicious enough to eat every day.

ICHIFUJI

2334 S. King St., second floor

Food: ***

Service: ***1/2

Ambiance: ***

Value: ***1/2

>> Call: 367-0012

>> Hours: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Closed Wednesdays and Sundays.

>> Prices: Set meals about $80 to $110 for two

Ratings compare similar restaurants:

**** – excellent

*** – very good

** – average

* – below average

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