If not for a shoulder injury many moons ago, we might be
watching Masaharu Morimoto swinging a baseball bat instead of deftly slicing
sashimi. As a foodie, I'm thankful that he took the path of sushi and sashimi
instead of besubooru. Morimoto opened his Hawaii outpost about 17 months ago
and our first visit was about a month after the grand opening. I originally
planned on writing a column after that initial visit but decided to pay another
visit to sample more of his delicacies. As in the case of many of life's plans,
life just got in the way and the second visit was delayed by over a year. I
guess I never embraced Nike's slogan "Just do it".
You probably know the story of Masaharu Morimoto and how
he ended up a Food Network icon. Starting with his own restaurant in Hiroshima
in 1980 (and selling 5 years later to tour the US), then a stint as the
Executive Chef at the Sony Club and landing the Head Chef position at Nobu
where he was scouted to be the 3rd Japanese Iron Chef in the original series.
After the series ended he left Nobu to start his own venture in Philadelphia
which has since expanded to New Delhi, New York, Tokyo, Florida, Napa Valley
and here in the 50th.
The Initial Visit
At our first visit, I wanted to sample traditional
Japanese faire (I mean if a Japanese chef can't hit the target with traditional
foods, there's no sense trying the avante garde) so we selected the $35 sushi
sampler along with the Wasabi Fries (for the Mrs) and the Lamb Carpaccio (for
me). The sushi as expected was very good though most of the "secret"
is simply procuring the freshest seafood that's in season. The fries were a
pleasant surprise, just enough wasabi to notice but not so heavy as to clear
the sinuses and they remained crisp throughout our meal. The Lamb Carpaccio was
beautifully plated though if I didn't know any better, would assume it was
simply beef carpaccio since it didn't have that characteristic lamb flavor (and
it no longer is on the current menu).
I also sampled Morimoto's Sake Moriawase sampler which
included a Junmai, a Ginjo, a Daiginjo and a 10 year old aged Sake from the
Chef's own label. They were all good but
for the $30 cost (for four 2 ounce servings), I probably would have experienced
the same pleasure with a full bottle of Prosecco or Off-Dry Riesling with my
meal for about the same price.
We then moved on to our entrees including a Tempura and
Green Tea Soba Combo platter for the Mrs and the Pork Kakuni (10 hour shoyu braised
pork belly) lunch set for me. The tempura was light and crisp and remained so
throughout our meal and as a testament to the chef, the Mrs consumed the whole
thing (she usually peels off the battered parts). My pork kakuni was so good
that it motivated me to create my own (aka as Okinawan Rafute or shoyu pork
belly in the 50th).
We also sampled two desserts starting with the Peanut
Butter Fondant which was like eating peanut butter air with a chocolate
cremeaux (the hit of the dish) and peanut butter ice cream. The salt from the
peanut butter helped break the creaminess of the dessert on the palate so as
not to overwhelm the palate. We then moved on to the Tofu Cheesecake with a
consistency between sponge cake and cheesecake served with kuromitsu ice cream
or molasses flavored ice cream.
Our Recent Visit
On our recent visit, we decided to sample some of the
Iron Chef's unusual creations including his Toro Tartare which consisted of
minced otoro (like negitoro without the negi) plated on a clear tray and served
with soy reduction, sour cream, fresh grated wasabi, minced Maui onion,
guacamole, and mini rice cracker pearls. Eating the otoro with all of the
accoutrements provided a symphony of flavor sensations but it did detract the
fine flavor of otoro. I still prefer plain otoro nigiri sushi, sashimi or
negitoro. We also sampled Pineapple Tempura with Iberico Jamon on Wasabi
Tzatziki. This dish really emphasized the Chef's "wild" side since it
combined fresh fruit batter fried Japanese style with Spanish ham on a Greek
inspired sauce. This really sounded like something from Kitchen Stadium but it
worked! Sweet and sour from the pineapple with a crisp exterior then salty
savoriness from the Iberico ham and finally herbal creaminess from the tzatziki
sauce. We ordered a few sushi items including two of my favorites - salmon skin
roll (as close to bacon without any pork products) and negihamachi which was
the same as negitoro using fatty yellowtail in place of fatty tuna. However the
crème de la crème was the Kanimiso sushi. I'm sure you all know what the
"miso" is in a crab. It's that yellowish-brown semi-solid mass that
ends up in the shell of a crab after you split the top from the bottom. It's
also called crab fat or crab tomalley (roe) but it's actually the equivalent of
crab foie gras (crab organs are a little different than ours so they don't have
a distinct liver). This Kanimiso sushi wasn't the most attractive sushi being a
pale shade of greenish-gray (like oxidized guacamole) but the flavor was out of
this world! In fact, the Mrs suggested just ordering a plateful on any future
visit!
For our main course, the Mrs selected the Chef's Loco
Moto which is a take on the Loco Moco served at plate lunch establishments
throughout the islands. A hamburger patty is placed on white rice covered in
brown gravy and topped with a sunny side egg. Morimoto's version used sliced
Wagyu beef instead of a hamburger patty and this was served with Hayashi rice.
The "gravy" in Hayashi rice is a step above your simple brown gravy
as it's enriched with demi-glace. Therefore the star of the dish is simply the
gravy and rice leaving the beef just a supporting role. The Mrs had an
ear-to-ear grin while enjoying her lunch! The lunch set was also served with a
green salad, miso soup and assorted sushi.
I selected the Morimoto Special Mini Burgers - three Wagyu sliders served with cabbage and pork Kakuni along with a green salad, house made pickles and wasabi fries. While the slider were cooked a perfect medium rare and were still juicy, they didn't have a pronounced beefy flavor which you usually find in Wagyu beef - even the hapa Wagyu beef from Snake River or Australia.
We ended the meal with the Vanilla Roasted Pineapple with grilled Castella sponge cake on a pineapple crème and lemongrass ice cream. Very refreshing after several rich dishes and the perfect palate cleanser to end the meal.
Final Thoughts
After two visits to Morimoto, I invariably had to compare
it to something or someone else. How 'bout his former boss, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa
who also set up shop in Waikiki? After comparing the establishments of the two
biggest celebrity Japanese chefs in the US with foodie friends, more seemed to
prefer Nobu. Having dined at both of their restaurants, the Mrs and I both
prefer the Iron Chef's cuisine. There are many similarities - both obviously
serve Japanese cuisine based dishes with Western touches and the costs are
similar ($$$$) and both chefs garnish certain dishes with the mountain peach, a
raspberry -looking sweet-sour miniature
red stone fruit. However while Nobu primarily adds a South American influence
to his Japanese cuisine, Morimoto travels the globe with Hawaiian, Spanish,
Greek and Italian flavors to his nouveau Japanese cuisine. And while Nobu's
restaurant is a little more elegant (it's right across the street from the
Grande Dame of Waikiki hotels, the Halekulani), Morimoto is located in the
trendy The Modern Honolulu hotel (formerly known as the Ilikai) and
occasionally hosts Sunday DJ events for the young and hip (NOT me). So while I
enjoyed meals at both establishments, the winner of Kitchen Stadium Battle
Gochiso Gourmet's Palate is Iron Chef Japanese, Masaharu Morimoto. And though you may not have a visit planned to
the 50th in your immediate future, there also is a Morimoto Napa in the heart
of Napa town just 90 or so minutes from The City.
Morimoto Waikiki
1775 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 943-5900
Comments