HONOLULU (KHON2) — I have something for all you foodie people, anybody who loves to try different things, or even loves to try different tastes from around the world.
One thing about Hawaii is that we have, we sometimes make a fusion of these different traditional tastes to come up with our own inspiration and interesting flavors, but we also have restaurants that keep to their traditional core.
We are here at a brand new restaurant near the Ala Moana mall and near the KHON2 News station. It is called Tonkatsu @ Honolulu, bringing in some traditional Japanese cuisine.
I am here with Jodie Oyamada.
Tell us a little bit about this restaurant and what makes this Tonkatsu @ Honolulu different from other Japanese restaurants?
“Yes, thank you so much for coming in. We like to bring a little classic, a little twist to our tonkatsu,” says Oyamada.
“Our family came from Nagoya and so did the chef, so we like to put a little twist to our flavors and we bring our traditional Nagoya-based miso sauce, which stands out from the other sauces. We have our mild and spicy sauces too, but it pairs perfectly well with our tonkatsu, so I say we bring the authenticity from Nagoya.”
So, the first time I went to Japan, I was the complete ignorant one where I was asking for saimin.
Come to find out, there is no such thing as saimin in Japan.
That is one of our unique flavors and dishes.
So, when we are talking about the dishes and cuisines here, is this little twist to your traditional dishes back home or are you capturing the same flavor and bringing that here?
“I would say that we capture the same flavor profile but we, the chef, has worked really hard on working with ingredients that we have here as well, so he has worked really well with the high-quality ingredients that we want to bring here,” says Oyamada.
“So, I would say adapting with the ingredients that we have access to, he has definitely tried to bring authentic flavor from Japan.”
And the chef comes from great experiences from other restaurants.
Japanese, Italian, Michelin-star restaurants as well.
What makes your chef so special and unique?
“He is able to bring all that experience into each of the dishes that we have,” says Oyamada.
“So, with our teishoku, we also have small dishes. Three kobachi that come along. We have our tonjiru, which is our pork and vegetable miso soup, and we have our tsukemono, and we also have high-quality rice that is brought from Ibaraki, Japan. He also has worked with dried-aged meats and high-quality meats as well, so he is able to bring that expertise into our cuisine as well. So, each of the dishes that are served has a little chef’s kiss to it.”
Coming out fresh from the kitchen.
What do we have here?
“So, we have all the proteins that we offer here at our restaurant. So, we have the loin katsu, tender loin, shrimp, oyster, chicken and our wagyu,” says Oyamada.
This is so delicious.
You have to try this out.
Again, this is called Tontaksu @ Honolulu.
1232 Waimanu Street, right near Ala Moana mall.
They are open every single day except for Wednesdays.
For more information, click here.