On a recent weekend, my family and I went to Uniqlo to pick up new mesh onesies for our daughter, as she outgrew the ones we originally got for her. Ever since giving birth, I’ve been in this weird mind space where I enjoy seeing her grow up, while simultaneously wanting her to stay a little baby forever — parenthood emotions are crazy, y’all. I was in the latter kind of mood that day, nearly crying at the thought of her needing bigger clothes, so we stopped by DEBU for a quick pick-me-up.

It’s a cute little spot that opened at Azure Ala Moana late last month, and I knew I wanted to check it out, specifically for the mentaiko varieties that I saw all over social media.

The DEBU name comes from dewang yubu (aka inari bombs, aka yubuchopbap), the restaurant’s signature item. The iconic inari age fried bean curd and rice are topped with everything from spicy ahi to scrambled egg to avocado to bulgogi beef, so there’s truly a yubu for everyone.

The restaurant concept is simple: pick the size of your plate — four ($11.76), six ($17.10), eight ($22.56) or 10 ($27.90) yubu — and self-select your pieces. There are quite a few options to choose from, so picking my plate of 10 was harder than I thought it would be. The mentaiko and unagi were the first on my platter, and the additional 50 cents for those yubu were worth it. Other inclusions were garlic shrimp, bacon kimchi, zesty salmon (additional 50 cents), tako wasabi (additional 50 cents), Spam and fire cheese chicken.

The staff can kick things up a notch by making some choices aburi style. Torching my zesty salmon, fire cheese chicken and unagi aburi style gave the yubu more depth of flavor and texture, and I highly recommend it. But be warned that you need to eat those ASAP; they do not fare well in the fridge. Though the leftover mentaiko and bacon kimchi were great the next morning for my breakfast.

The only reason I had leftovers that day was because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I had also ordered an unagi DEBU roll — think kimbap, but way, way bigger. Whereas many sushi-style rolls have a plethora of rice surrounding tiny amounts of ingredients, DEBU’s rolls are more good stuff than rice. And they’re big bambuchas. Stuffed with shrimp tempura, tamago, yubu, cucumber, yellow and red pickled radishes, avocado and green onions, the classic rolls ($11.89) can also include salmon ($16.89), ahi ($17.89) or unagi ($19.89).

If eating your yubu or rolls immediately, there are a handful of booth seats inside the restaurant, as well as out door tables. But if it’s hot, I recommend ordering takeout and enjoying your yubu from the comfort of your air-conditioned home (or car, if you can’t wait).

Finally, I am that millennial who internally panics when I need to drive/park somewhere unfamiliar, so I’ve got you covered: The entrance to the parking structure is off Keeaumoku, and once you drive up the ramp, retail parking is ample.

Other than great parking, DEBU has the added advantage of being right next door to YiFang Fruit Tea Hawaii, so I was able to get my red bean sago latte for dessert.

All that to say that I’ll be back, definitely for more mentaiko yubu but also for the chance to up my platter-arranging game. I tried to make my tray look pretty for photos (because, again, I am a millennial), but it turned out to be a lopsided and sad-looking array. Oh well, it still tasted delicious.

DEBU at Azure Ala Moana

ADDRESS 641 Keeaumoku St. Ste. 2, Honolulu
WEBSITE debuyubu.com
FOOD: 4/5
DRINKS n/a
PRICE: $$
AMBIANCE: more suited to takeout or a quick bite
SERVICE: 5/5 (since it’s self-serve)
PARKING: free at Azure Ala Moana; entrance off Keeaumoku

Nicole Monton is the managing editor of Crave and contributing editor for Kaka‘ako VERT magazine. Follow her on social media (@nicmonton).