'Ono Kine Grindz

Utage Restaurant & Lounge

A while back, when I did a post on Sunrise, one of my readers asked if I knew of any other Okinawan restaurants.  I mentioned this place, Utage, and offered a review on my next visit.  Utage is located in the City Square building next to Young's Fish Market, Kalani Korean Bar-B-Q & Sugoi.

Friends of mine asked me to call on my next visit here so they could sample some of the Okinawan specialties served here.  When we arrived at about 8:00 pm, a few of the high-backed vinyl booths were occupied.  Although it looks small from the outside, this place is actually quite spacious.  There are quite a few seats inside the restaurant.

This was the table next to mine. From what I could hear, it seemed as though the two couples enjoyed their food here tonight.

After looking over the menu and making our selections, this arrived at the table.

It was an appetizer of sorts, consisting of some pickled daikon that was crunchy, tangy and slightly sweet.  Each meal comes with a beverage of your choice, so I decided to have some ocha (tea).  Take a look at this teapot.  My grandmother has one just like it at home. 

A bowl of piping hot miso soup came next.

Filled with lots of firm cubes of tofu, chopped green onions and knotted konbu (seaweed), this was just a little too strong and a little too salty for my tastes.  Nonetheless, I found it quite satisfying.

I chose the goya (bittermelon) chanpuru (stir fry with tofu and eggs) with shoyu pork (rafute) (US$9.25).

This dish can be prepared with shoyu pork, as shown above, or it can be prepared with pork, chicken, Spam, bacon or tuna.  The shoyu pork was mouthmeltingly tender, its sweetness complimented the bitterness of the melon very well.  The pieces of bittermelon were tender, yet still retained some bite.  There was lots of flavor here, but much of it was too sweet.  I also didn't like that there was a lot of "gravy" on the bottom of the dish -- I guess I don't really like it when the dish is served "wet".  By the way, I didn't eat much of the fat that was on the pork.  I ate a couple of pieces of pork with the fat and that was about enough for me. 

For dessert, which was also included, I had a scoop of Dreyers green tea ice cream.

Both of my friends had the nabera (squash) chanpuru (stir fry with tofu and green onions) with chicken (US$9.25).

One had green tea ice cream, the other, tapioca.

The food here at Utage reminds me of home cooking -- nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, but comforting, even when they are not prepared exactly to my liking.  In fact, many of these same dishes have been cooked for me at home by my grandmother, who is half Okinawan.  I felt that for the price, the meal here was a good deal.  For less than US$10.00 each meal comes with soup or salad, a drink (coffee, tea, iced tea, fruit punch), an entrée including rice, and dessert.  These days, deals like this are very hard to find.

Utage Restaurant & Lounge
City Square
1286 Kalani Street Suite B102
Telephone:  808.843.8109

Sunrise Restaurant

After making a few calls this afternoon, a few of us decided to get together tonight for dinner.  Since everything was planned at the last minute, we wanted to go somewhere that didn't require reservations and that didn't require us to get dressed up.  Someone suggested Okinawan food, and since it was still early, we ended up here at Sunrise.

As you enter, you can hear the sound of Okinawan music as it fills the room.  The restaurant is small and cozy, with seating for about 25 people.  It was quite busy when we arrived as there were only a couple of tables available.

Besides a few specials listed on a couple of boards behind the sushi bar, the dinner menu is quite short.  Actually, there are 10 different items on the regular menu to chose from.  On the bottom of the single paged menu are the sushi combination dinners.

While snooping around in the condiment tray, which is something that I often do, I noticed this.  Anyone know what it is?  I wanted to open the bottle to smell the contents, but I decided not to.  These actually looked like pickled chili peppers if you ask me.

After placing our orders, the first items to arrive were the tea and some takuan (pickled daikon).

Two of us ordered the sushi combination with Okinawan soba (US$12.00).

Topped with a tender, meaty pork rib, the soup was further garnished by a lone slice of kamaboko (fish cake) and some chopped green onions.  The bowl here was on the small side, but it was full of noodles.  The broth was clear and had a meaty, slightly spicy flavor.  After eating some of the noodles in the bowl, I was surprised to see lots of benishoga (shredded pickled ginger) in the broth.

Here is a close up of the Okinawan soba noodles.  See how the noodles are thick and somewhat flat?  These noodles are usually made using wheat flour instead of buckwheat flour, which is what traditional soba noodles are made from.  These noodles were firm and slightly chewy -- perfectly cooked if you ask me.

(Sorry this one's a little blurry.)

The other two ordered the sushi combination with the special miso soup (US$12.00).

The miso and shrimp flavored broth was garnished with a slice of kamaboko, some chopped green onions and a shrimp head.  After digging through the bowl of soup, we discovered it filled with all sorts of stuff -- bean sprouts, tofu, luncheon meat (!), wakame (seaweed), salmon, daikon and Chinese cabbage.  I'm not sure if I missed anything, but if I did, it's because there was quite a bit in that little bowl of soup.

This was the sushi platter that was served with our combination meals.

It contained three pieces of tekka maki (tuna roll), three pieces of kappa maki (cucumber roll), two pieces maguro (tuna), two pieces hamachi (yellowtail), one piece tako (octopus), one piece unagi (eel), a pile of gari (pickled ginger) and a mound of wasabi.  The fish was fresh, and I felt we were given a nice assortment of sushi.  As always, my favorites were the hamachi and the unagi.

The food here at Sunrise is good, and to some, it's just like homemade.  Even though the portions may seem small, by the time you're done eating, you realize that you're full.  All those things, along with the homey atmosphere, the prompt service and the not-so-usual flavors and dishes, give me enough reasons to keep coming back.

Sunrise Restaurant
525 Kapahulu Avenue
Telephone:  808.737.4118