This sake biz launched a sushi bar

Islander Sake Brewery recently pulled up its roots on Queen Street in favor of moving its brewery operation to the more pristine Big Island in search of a natural setting and fresh water aligned with the philosophy of sake making. But it leaves behind a bigger, upgraded version of its legacy, a sushi and sake bar, Hanale by Islander Sake, that brings people together for conversation and camaraderie, which brewmaster Chiaki Takahashi views as sake’s appeal.

I guess it works because while there, a friend and I bonded with a couple of filmmakers from Vancouver, Canada, who were in town in search of the best omakase experiences. Surely they had found one of them at Hanale.

Just as at the brewery’s original small sushi bar in Kakaako, chef Tetsuzo Yao presides over $120 18-course omakase dinners centered on sushi with a handful of salads and dishes incorporating byproducts of the sake-brewing process.

The aim is to pair food and sake, but the restaurant is still awaiting its liquor license, so at the moment, it’s operating with a bring-your-own-bottle policy, hoping that diners will purchase Islander Sake from such nearby retail partners as The Sake Shop, Village Bottle Shop & Tasting Room or Nijiya Market. Corkage is free for sake or beer and costs $25 for other alcohol.

They believe that the acidity of their fresh-made sake reveals layers of umami hidden within the raw fish offered throughout evenings spent here. Sweet refreshing Islander Junmai Jai Ginjo and Omachi sake paired well with a recent dinner that started with beautiful, pristine combination of matchstick-size slices of yamaimo and Miyagi prefecture uni in aromatic bonito- and konbu-flavored dashi.

Next came a salad of custardy Aloha Tofu over mixed greens with yellow bell peppers, red onions and a sesame-onion dressing.

What followed was the heaviest dish of the evening, a pairing of one-day koji-cured washugyu beef tataki and koji-cured smoked salmon, making use of the fermented rice that helps start the sake-brewing process. The same microbes that convert starch to sugar breaks down enzymes in meat resulting in intense aged flavor.

Sunomono was not just the simple dish of vinegar cucumbers presented at most Japanese teishoku restaurants, but an upgraded salad of shrimp and scallop with yuzu miso and tangle of fresh green seaweed.

Then the flow of nigiri sushi started with aburi-style, or torched Kagoshima ika, which was extremely tender. Chef Yao uses sushi-friendly Hokkaido Nanatsuboshi rice for all his creations.

Kagoshima otoro appeared three times on the menu as Yao has gauged over time that Hawaii diners really love the fatty ahi belly. I informed him that I could eat otoro all night, but truthfully, by the time the third piece appeared lightly torched at the end of the meal, seasoned with a pinch of charcoal salt, I was stuffed to the point of nearly giving up.

Other seafood nigiri along the way included a sweet Hokkaido scallop; hirame (flatfish); torched Kyushu rock-fish topped with momiji, or Japanese maple; oroshi; yellowtail; barracuda; tachiuo (largehead hairtail white fish); sweet soy-marinated unagi; and a grand finale of double-layered uni with a dab of fresh wasabi.

Soup is an important part of the Japanese philosophy of a balanced diet, and near the close of the meal, seaweed-ginger dashi broth containing a small fillet of boiled amberjack was presented.

The sake experience was completed with the offering of dessert, a pairing of panna cotta topped with matcha gelee, and castella cake made slightly fruity and sour by including sake kasu, the rice, yeast and koji sediment left behind after sake is made.

Considering Islander Sake’s difficult start, having opened at the beginning of the pandemic, Takahashi is just getting warmed up and in a few months you may be seeing more varieties of sake at Hanale’s table, incorporating Hawaii’s natural yeasts, gleaned from flowers.

Hanale by Islander Sake Brewery

25 N. King St., Honolulu
Food: ***½
Service: ****
Ambiance: ****
Value: ****
Call: 808-517-8188
Hours: 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. seatings Mondays-Saturdays
Prices: $120 per person

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).