Tucked away on a lonely block along Pi’ikoi Street is just one of the many new nabe restaurants that have opened up in the islands over the last few years. Pulling into the parking lot at the rear of the building is a challenge during the restaurant’s busy hours, often times leading patrons on a hunt for precious street parking. If you are one of the lucky few who find an empty stall in the back of the lot, be sure to take down the number of your stall as Ichiriki employees will ask you for it once inside. Unfortunately, the restaurants rear door is used as an exit only, so those hungry patrons looking to sit down must take a short walk around the block toward the front entrance.

Inside Ichiriki Restaurant

A table inside Ichiriki

The walk toward the restaurant’s door takes you down a familiar stretch of Pi’ikoi Street. But one step inside Ichiriki and you are taken from the streets of Honolulu to a cozy little Japanese restaurant. Neat rows of tables with sunken seating run down the right side of the restaurant, while standard western-style tables fill the area to the left. The interior decoration is simple yet very welcoming. Paper lamps, bamboo tree posts and kanji character paintings on the walls all add to the atmosphere of this nabe restaurant. For this outing (my fourth time to Ichiriki recently) we sat at a sunken table. Once you negotiate the seats your feet rest comfortably and your arms are positioned in perfect position for cooking your nabe order. For those of you who have gone so far not knowing what I mean by “nabe“, nabe is a style of Japanese dining where the contents of your meal are prepared in a pot of broth at your table, typically over a portable gas-powered flame. There are different variations of nabe dishes, most of which vary with differences in the type of broth or sauce, and what type of ingredients are cooked.

As I have been to Ichiriki on several occasions before deciding to start Locokinegrindz.com, I decided to go with a very traditional type of nabe dish that I had never tried at this particular restaurant before: shabu shabu. I ordered a shabu shabu meal with US Kobe Beef ($47.95). “Kobe” refers to beef from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle, raised according to strict tradition in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Wagyu cattle are known for their tenderness, flavor, and a well-marbled fattiness that come as a result of the way that the cattle are raised. Often times you will hear that Kobe beef “melts like butter in your mouth”, and in my experience the beef offered at Ichiriki does posses some of this quality. Unfortunately, Ichiriki offers only the US Kobe Beef or “kobe-style” beef which is raised differently from the traditional Japanese raised cows.

Be wary of restaurants that market “Kobe-style” beef on their menus. These cuts of beef are grown domestically in the United States, and although they have great taste at a cheaper price tag, they do not do justice to the taste and tenderness of true Kobe Beef.

Shabu shabu sauces (ponzu, sesame seed, and garnishes)

Shortly after ordering my food, our waiter brought to the table the different sauces for my shabu shabu. These two sauces where a dark, shoyu-citrus based sauce (”ponzu“) and a sesame seed sauce for the beef. Along with these came a dish of chopped green onions and two types of grated radish. The white radish is simply freshly grated radish with nothing added, and the red version is a spicy variation. The green onions and grated radish are meant to be mixed into the ponzu sauce, and being the lover of spicy food that I am, I dumped the entire portion of my spicy radish in.

For anywhere that serves traditional shabu shabu, the sauces mentioned above should be provided. Typically you use the ponzu sauce for everything except the beef, which is dipped into the sesame seed sauce instead. But it’s all a matter of taste, so mix it up and see if you like a different combo!

Ishiyaki Stone

Along with my sauces came an “ishiyaki” stone, which would be used to grill pieces of beef that others at my table had ordered as part of their Yume courses ($60).

Shabu Shabu

Once the other members of the party had finished cooking their first slices of beef on the Ishiyaki stones, the stones were removed and our “nabe” pots were brought to the table. The burners remained on and the broth was brought to a boil as the different plates of ingredients began to arrive. For my shabu shabu order I had one plate of 6 slices of Kobe beef, and a second plate full of other items like noodles, tofu, carrots, mushrooms, chinese cabbage, and chives.

Yume Course Ingredients

The Yume course plates came with similar ingredients, but also included crab legs, scallops, shrimp, and a hollowed out bamboo stick that contained ground pork. Once our pots came to a boil it was time to cook and eat! The broths for both my shabu shabu and the Yume courses are very well prepared and full of flavor. The ingredients provided for cooking are all fresh and well cut for cooking at the table. The freshness of the vegetables add to the taste of the meal, and as they cook they also add to the flavor of the broth, which will become important later in the meal!

Shio Pikari Nabe Broth

Update, April 2008: Since my initial review, Ichiriki’s Shio Pikari nabe has become my favorite broth to order. The ingredients for cooking are the same as in the Yume course pictured above. This broth has a great hint of spiciness, and is my personal favorite as udon broth for the noodle order at the end of the meal. I’d definitely recommend trying this one!

After we had finished with our nabe dishes (which is quite filling I might add), the waiters removed our empty plates and ask us for our noodle orders. With any traditional nabe meal comes an offering of noodles at the end. Normally the noodle of choice is Japanese Udon, but Ichiriki does give you the option of Ramen style noodles as well. Being a group of Japanese folks, we all opted for the traditional choice of udon noodles and waited for our orders. A short time later, plates of noodles are brought out garnished with green onions, and we all quickly immerse the noodles in the broth leftover from our nabe cooking. Once the noodles are heating we scoop them out into separate bowls and enjoy the taste. The noodles themselves are very soft, but the broth is really what shines with this course. Broths for nabe dishes start out tasty all by themselves, but after a full meal’s worth of cooking, the flavors from the meats, vegetables, and seafood come together in the remaining broth to form a spectacular tasting soup for our noodles.

Ujikintoki

Having finished happily slurping down the remainder of our noodles our attention now turns to ordering dessert. The Yume courses all come with Ichiriki’s signature dessert, ujikintoki ($4.95). This dessert was featured in Ichiriki’s booth at the recent “Flavors of Honolulu” event. Having had the dessert before I, too, ordered one for myself. The ujikintoki dessert is a mixture of finely shaved ice flavored with a green tea sauce. The bitterness of the green tea gives way to the dessert’s topping, a mix of mochi balls and red azuki beans. The sweet azuki beans meld perfecty with the bitter green tea shave ice, making for a light and refreshing end to a great meal.

Final thoughts: Having been to Ichiriki several times in the last month or so, I have to say that each time I dined here I was pleased with the restaurant as a whole. The service is friendly, although at times inconsistent depending on whom your waiter is. The overall atmosphere of the restaurant is fitting to the food that it serves, utilizing a simple yet well designed interior. Food quality and taste has yet to disappoint me at Ichiriki. From beginning to end of any meal, it seems that the chefs make quality a top priority in their efforts. All of Ichiriki’s nabe broths are very well prepared, and their signature nabe (the self-named Ichiriki Nabe) is definitely a must try. In closing, if you are looking for a nice place to sit down and enjoy the taste and smells of good Japanese nabe, then Ichiriki should most certainly be on your list of places to try.

Service:		Average +
Food:		Above Average +
Atmosphere:		Above Average
Overall Value:		Above Average

Ichiriki: A Japanese Nabe Restaurant
510 Pi’ikoi Street Honolulu, HI 96817
Phone: 808.589.2299
Monday - Thursday: 5PM to 11PM
Friday -Saturday: 5PM to 12AM
Sunday: 5PM to 10PM

Directions to Ichiriki Restaurant — Simply replace “Honolulu, HI” with your address!

Tags: Hawaii Food, Hawaii Food Review, Japanese Nabe, Ichiriki review, Ichiriki Hawaii review, Ichiriki Hawaii

---

Other Popular Reviews:

Reviews

---

All reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by Locokinegrindz.com writers. Reviews are a reflection of the writer's opinion and are not to be assumed as fact.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Japanese, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.