Maguro-Ya

I must have passed by Maguro-Ya at least a hundred times over the last several years, especially since I'm a regular visitor to this particular block in Kaimuki.  Maguro-Ya is located between Happy Days and Café Laufer, while a little further up the block are Big City Diner and Kim Chee II.

When I entered the restaurant, there were a couple of tables occupied, but there were quite a few people sitting at the sushi bar in the corner.

What I really found interesting about the interior of the restaurant was the reverse wave pattern that was painted on the walls, and the huge boat sticking out from the side wall.  It sort of reminded me of those Cadillacs that you see sticking out from the roofs of various Hard Rock Café locations.

As I was seated, I was presented with a menu and brought a cup of tea and a glass of water.  Here's the tea cup with the restaurant's name and logo on it in a wonderful shade of midnight blue.

After looking over the menu, I was stumped.  I didn't know what to order because everything seemed so good.  I called over the waitress and told her that I was considering a few of the choices.  She immediately recommended the Magurozukushi on the teishoku menu (US$15.95).  OK, I said...and proceeded to drink my tea and wait for the food to arrive.

First, to arrive was this lacquered tray which contained sashimi, nishime, salad, tsukemono, miso soup and a bowl of white rice.  Don't be shocked as you see the rest of the dishes that came along with this.

Here was the maguro sashimi.  In the little serving dish were some shredded daikon, some wakame, and some wasabi.  In the front left corner of the dish was a bit more fish and I believe the sauce on it was miso-based.  Everything here was so fresh and delicious, I couldn't help but want more.

Here's the bowl of miso soup.  There were a few cubes of tofu and some wakame in there as well as those radish sprouts floating on top.  Delicious.

Here we have a tossed green salad.  Garnishing the salad was some minced bonito (?).  There was also some delicious dressing on the salad as well. 

(Sorry this one's a bit blurry.)

This was a small bowl of nishime which consisted of daikon, carrot, bamboo shoot and araimo.  The vegetables were nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked.

Here we have several types of tsukemono, or pickled vegetables.

One by one, the other dishes started arriving.  This was a deep fried maguro, almost like a katsu.  On the plate with the deep fried maguro was some finely shredded cabbage and a scoop of potato salad.  The fish was tasty enough with just a squirt of lemon juice.  There was also some katsu sauce there as well, which gave this a different sort of flavor.

Next, was this huge chunk of grilled maguro.  The fish was lightly seasoned and it was served with some grated daikon.  Moist and flakey, this one was good with just a little shoyu sprinkled over the top.

This little platter of goodies arrived next.  Included in the assortment of goodies were some edamame, two pieces of tamagoyaki, grilled maguro and Japanese onion on a skewer and something the waitress called the "mini negi-ma".  Basically, the mini negi-ma was two cubes of maguro that were coated with some puffed rice and then deep fried.  It was crunchy and slightly chewy at the same time.  It was probably my favorite item here.

Last to arrive was this little cup of chawan mushi.  Served warm, I couldn't stop eating this and by the end, I wanted more -- even though I was stuffed. 

Have another look at what's near the bottom of the cup.  Mmmm.

The food here at Maguro-Ya was delicious and super fresh.  The decently sized portions are well priced and the wait staff was helpful.  They made some wonderful recommendations and came back often to see how I was doing.  I'll be sure to come back for more of the tasty dishes here in the near future.

Maguro-Ya
3565 Waialae Avenue Suite 108
Telephone:  808.732.3775

Comments

[babe_kl]

gosh all looked so yummy, getting hungry... luckily its 4 minutes to lunch time!!!

[Kirk]

Reid - Looks almost as much as you had at Taste of Honolulu :)....looks great, I await your report.

[Makan Kings]

Hi,

Love japanese food and it seems that Hawaii has alot of that! Must visit sometime!!

-Makan Kings-

[clare eats]

ooh
Looks soo good! now I have a hankering for japanese *sigh* oh well you got me back!

[AugustusGloop]

My stomach just growled with jealousy (truly it did). I love the little wooden well containing the edamame. Cute!

Argh. Must stop looking!

[MrsT]

I love..!! i love..!!

[chef 'em out]

I could not keep up with you. How do you do it?

[Jo]

I liked that little well dish too! There's a shop around the corner from Minato that has a huge variety of beautiful Japanese dinnerware. Both ceramic (porcealan?) and wooden laquor (not sure about my spelling). I really appreciate the artistic sensibilities that Japanese culture apply to presentation.

[Julia]

Wow, all this delicious food for only US$15.95? Unbelievable! The dishes are so beautifully presented too. Again, it's the observant AG who first notices the quaint little bamboo holder. Cute!

[Lajja]

Slurp! That chawan mushi looks sooo good! I never get enough of it...love the ginko nut too...must go home and cook :) Thanks, Reid!

[Cheryl]

haha yes I agree with AG and Julia... the miniature bamboo 'pot' caught my eye too, when I was scrolling down your lovely pictures. It's adorable!!! Seriously, just 'oogling' at all those wonderful jap eats just makes me wanna head straight to a jap eatery to satisfy my sashimi and sushi craving. i just had ebi curry don yesterday.. and boy was it extra spicy...

[keona]

I miss the wonderful Japanese food in Hawaii more than the beaches.LOL

[Jo]

Oh but Keona... much as I love to eat, those beaches are second to none. I grew up in Florida. The ONLY thing I miss from there (aside from family) are the beaches. The only time I was in Hawaii was the first time I've seen beaches that were comprable, or rather, superior.

[Kirk]

Reid - Not to change the subject - but I'm really "cracking-up" to see Bert's and Ray's (though I don't know if the new location is quite as colorful as the old)in the "Coming Up" section! Gives new meaning to "hole-in-the-wall".....

[Reid]

Hi babe_kl,

It was really yummy and really worth the price. I'm glad I had this and I can't wait to go back!

Hi Kirk,

Can you believe I got all that for $15.95?!!! It was a bargain because everything was so delicious. I'm glad that I asked the waitress for her recommendation.

Hi Makan Kings,

Welcome to my blog!

Yes, Hawaii has a lot of Japanese dining options. If you like Japanese food, you should definitely consider coming here!

Hi Clare,

Oh, but I'm sure you can get good Japanese food in Australia. I definitely can't get good Indonesian food here. =P

Hi AG,

Well, now that I've found out the real story about Tetsuya, I'm really jealous that you got to go there.

That was cute wasn't it? I thought the boat coming out from the wall was really fun as well.

Hi MrsT,

I love Japanese food too. I'm so lucky that I have so many options.

Hi chef' em out,

Nice to hear from you again! I wonder about it myself sometimes! =)

Hi Julia,

Long time no hear!

Yes, it was a lot of food for US$15.95. A real bargain in my eyes, especially since all of it was fish and of very good quality I must add. =)

Hi Lajja,

The chawanmushi was delicious. I liked it because it was still warm when I finally ate it at the end of the meal. I was so stuffed, but determined to eat every last bit of it.

Hi Cheryl,

Ebi curry don....mmmm! I love Japanese curry too. Especially curry with cheese.

Hi Keona,

You miss Japanese food more than the beaches? I think a lot of people would argue on that one. On the other hand, most of the beaches can be very commercial, so I can understand where you are coming from. When I lived in the states, I really missed good, reasonably priced Japanese food too.

Hi Jo,

I lived in Miami Beach for a while and I really didn't think the beaches were that nice. I actually liked the beaches on the Jersey shore much better.

Hi Kirk,

I decided to add that to the sidebar. How nice of you to notice. I went by Bert's a couple of weeks ago with the intention of going in, but I decided to go somewhere else instead. I'm really going to try to get to Bert's next weekend, so look out for the review.

[Jo]

I've never been to Miami or to the Jersey shoreline. Well, I was in Miami, but I was 3 years old. I grew up in Jacksonville which is a northeastern point. My daughter has lived in South Carolina and now North Carolina. She loves the beaches there as well. From my knowledge the ONLY beaches that truly rival the beaches we went to in Hawaii are the beaches in Mallorca. No surprise there though because Mallorca is an island! The most spectacular beach being a tiny cove that dropped off immediately yet the water was so crystilline you could see 100' down. After beach trips we would always head to a local restaurant for paella for lunch. Now that my friend, is living!

[Dave]

Finally tried Maguro after hearing good things about it. The food was okay. Wife and I both ordered the Magurozukushi teishoku which we shared with our 5 yr old daughter.

What struck me was how unfriendly the staff was, perhaps because we also have an infant (that's the reason we went in at 5:00 pm when the place was empty). No "irashaimase" from the 2 waitresses (Japanese nationals) nor the two guys behind the counter. No "thank you" either when we left. I guess these people have been living too long in America.

[Jo]

Reid! In all the excitement recently, I managed to miss reading this completely! Well I've read it now. A few questions, the last dish, chawan mushi, is that a custard on the top that you dig thru to the savory nuggets below? What exactly is "Magurozukushi"? Does it mean "meal of Maguro cooked in different ways"? If so, when it says sashimi, yakimono, and agemono below, are those the cooking methods used? The first fried maguro looks particularly appetizing, to bad I can't reach through the screen and try some! So does the mini negi-ma. The notion of coating with whole puffed rice is particularly intriguing. Is that a traditional coating?

[Reid]

Hi Jo,

I've never been to the beaches in Mallorca, but the beaches in Mykonos are wonderful as are the beaches in Brazil and the Caribbean.

The beaches here are not what you remember them to be. In my opinion, they've become over commercialized and so I rarely, if ever, go anymore.

Hi Dave,

Welcome to my blog!

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience at Maguro-Ya, I wonder why it was like that. When I visited there were maybe 3 or 4 other tables occupied and the three waitresses were so friendly and helpful. None of them looked like Japanese nationals, so I guess you may have gotten different servers.

Hi Jo,

Yes, chawan mushi is like a Japanese egg custard, but instead of being sweet, it's savory.

Maguro is tuna and I'm not really sure what zukushi means, but if my memory serves me correctly it's like a lot of different things that are presented together. My Japanese is a bit rusty, but I would say that your approximate translation is correct.

Sashimi is raw, yakimono is broiled and agemono is deep-fried. As far as the mini negi-ma is concerned, I couldn't tell you if it was traditional or not, but I did like it a lot! =)

[Dave]

Reid,

I have to correct myself on the service at Maguro-ya. While the service was unfriendly, there was one local looking girl who was quite attentive.

Perhaps having lived in Japan for a number of years has spoiled me upon my return home regarding customer service here.

I do enjoy the food and friendly atmosphere at Minato Restaurant.

Anyway, keep up the great work with your site.

Mahalo & Gambatte,
Dave

[Reid]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for clarifying the statement that you made earlier. I do have to agree that the level of service one gets in Japan is much different than that which we get here.

Thanks again and thanks for the compliment!