Go-tos for quick comforts

The days following Thanksgiving are not usually ones to splurge on food but for readjusting one’s budget and eating on the fly as the rush of the holidays becomes reality. Here are a couple of spots that opened during the pandemic, which have become favorite go-tos for a quick, inexpensive meal.

Mama Kim’s

1481 S. King St., Honolulu

This little spot at King and Kaheka streets originally opened with a handful of chirashi bowls to go. They kept diners coming back by eventually adding on an assortment of grab-and-go housemade kimchi vegetables, side items ranging from dumplings to takoyaki, and daily specials.

Recent specials have included an Aloha Friday bowl ($14) with kalua pork, lomi salmon, Okinawan sweet potato and a choice of poke over rice, and a Hurricane Salmon bowl ($13) with the fish spiked with wasabi cream.

At the simplest — just rice and one seafood option — unagi don features baked eel ($15) and the hamachi-jalapeno bowl ($13) combines yellowtail from Japan with onions, jalapeño and garlic ponzu.

Fish aficionados who want a fuller experience might skip directly to the deluxe chirashi ($24) with its combination of maguro, salmon, hamachi, ebi, unagi, scallop, ikura and uni.

One of my surprise likes is the Neba Neba bowl ($16) of slimy ingredients such as mountain yam and runny eggs beloved by the Japanese, but by me, not so much. Yamaimo always seemed to me to have a consistency comparable to saliva, and though I will eat runny eggs, in my brain there’s always a warning message signaling “danger, danger, salmonella poisoning ahead.” This happens less frequently now that TKG salmonella-free eggs are available in Hawaii.

I had no such misgivings here. The balance of tuna, okra, natto, yamaimo, ikura, tobiko and egg worked to create a velvety, flavorful whole without an overly odious sliminess.

If you’re in need of greens, Mama Kim’s sashimi salad ($17) starts with a bed of rice and layer of romaine with cucumbers, Korean shiso, onions and radish sprouts layered with diced ahi, salmon, hamachi and tobiko and gochujang sauce. In addition to fresh fish bowls, cooked specialty bowls include thin-sliced beef gyu don ($12) and your choice of garlic-seared salmon, tuna or scallops ($13; plus $2 for scallops). The garlic aioli scallops are served over rice with finishing touches of slivered nori and garlic onion and unagi sauces.

You’re welcome to build your own bowl if none of the house bowls appeal to you on a given day. In addition to various sashimi, protein options include several kinds of poke — from Hawaiian-style ahi to kimchi ahi and creamy wasabi salmon, at one choice for $12.95; two for $15.95.

From there, you can pick three sides from such ingredients as crab salad, seaweed salad, tamago and kimchi, and free toppings of furikake, bubu arare, garlic chips and fried onions.

Sushi handrolls are also available, but I’ve never had one here. There’s just something so comforting and satisfying about wrapping your hands around a bowl. Mama Kim’s is open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturdays. Call 808-260-4109.

Sho’s Kitchen

808 Sheridan St., Honolulu

Shoji Namatame had just left his job as executive chef at Trump International Hotel Waikiki last February, preparing for a move to Texas to be closer to his adult daughters. But his job prospect vanished with the start of the pandemic and with local restaurant jobs also in short supply, he opened a small takeout spot, Sho’s Kitchen, offering a short list of affordable bentos that included Japanese and local favorites.

Many of the same dishes he started with continue to be popular, like chicken nanban ($10), a Western-style egg-battered fried chicken thigh; tonkatsu ($10); kalbi ($12); and unagi donburi ($16).

With a diverse background that includes working in kitchens around the globe, he’s branched out to include an eclectic array of monthly specials, some that have made it onto the permanent menu. These include ($12) served with rice and naan, and a Thai-style pad grapao or pad kra pao plate of minced chicken and basil over rice. It’s typically a more assertive dish loaded with fish sauce and chiles, but Namatame keeps it mild for customers who cannot stomach strong flavors. Without much of those, it has more in common with the Japanese minced meat soboro don. His attempt to satisfy timid tastebuds made the heat level of his curry surprising, but it represents a bid to reach out to a broader audience now that he’s settled in.

It’s not too late to try November’s specials of a loco moco with onion gravy ($14), Caesar salad with tofu ($10) or Caesar with chicken nanban ($10). The latter offers both Caesar dressing and the eggy tartare sauce that accompanies the nanban.

Namatame gets to show his chops on the weekend when he serves up seven- to eight-course B.Y.O.B. omakase dinners (about $80 per person). Events have a wait list of a month or longer. It took me two months to get into a dinner with a main course of New Zealand rack of lamb over risotto with baked Pacific tiger prawns in caviar cream sauce.

Before the main course arrived came dishes of beef tataki, a beet salad with honey goat cheese, seared scallop in pea purée, and chilled tomato bisque with cheese toast.

December’s holiday omakase menu will include an herb-and-pistachio-crusted rack of lamb with red wine demi-glacé, seasonal vegetables and whipped potatoes. Details on monthly menus are posted on Instagram (@shoskitchenhonolulu).

Sho’s Kitchen is open 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 5-7 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, and omakase with reservations is only Friday and Saturday evenings. Call 808-376-8067.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).