Located in the City Square just off of Dillingham, Utage is an Okinawan restaurant that also serves traditional Japanese and local Hawaii plate lunch faire. However since I can get local plate lunch food almost anywhere and there are loads of traditional Japanese restaurants around the State, I was here for one thing... okay, maybe two things; Rafute or shoyu pork and Goya or bittermelon. I previously despised bittermelon partly because of its appearance - looking like a cucumber or squash with a social disease, partly because of its taste - bitter, bitter and can you say bitter and partly because nature usually makes foods meant to be eaten attractive - usually red and sweet with pleasant aromas... not waxy feeling, light green and bumpy!
But after sampling Champuru (stir fried bittermelon with tofu and eggs) along with Rafute (shoyu braised pork belly), I found the two perfectly complemented each other. The bitterness of the melon helped cleanse the palate after each bite of rich, fatty pork. Culinary yin and yang!
Dinner started with complementary pickled cabbage which was very good - a nice balance of cabbage crunch, shoyu, sweetness and a touch of vinegar.
I then progressed to my Goya Champuru with Shoyu Pork... I'll probably start trying to cook this on my own... maybe not with Rafute, perhaps shoyu chicken so as not to clog my coronaries prematurely but Utage's version was very good! And completing the theme of the meal, I had this with a bottle of Orion beer.
Mom had the Okinawan Soki Soba with Pork Spareribs, Ginger and Kamaboko. The noodles in this dish were more udon than soba but were still pleasingly al dente with a slight bite to them in a full flavored broth (probably due to the pork spareribs) but nicely balanced by the ginger.
The Mrs had the Shoyu Pork Donburi which basically was an Oyako Donburi substituting the rich shoyu pork in place of chicken. I would have liked a little more sauce to coat the rice but it was still very good.
Dinner also included dessert - I had the Vanilla Tapioca while Mom and the Mrs both had the Coffee Gelatin. This place is definitely a repeater!
Comments
You gotta' try the Okinawan Pig's Feet Soup at Violet's Grill, another Okinawan restaurant right across the street on Dillingham Blvd. It's by far the one of the BEST bowls of soup I've had in my entire life.
I did a couple Goya Champuru recipes on my blog. Love the stuff! Easy to make, too!