here in Hawaii, Japanese restaurants are abundant. Izakaya's are also gaining popularity as well, probably due to the fact that everyone loves booze and shared dishes.... after all, that is exactly what an izakaya is all about. trying to find something decent to eat, a few friends and i were attempting to figure out what was in the area. i hopped on my phone and scoured my Yelp app..... out of the handful of restaurants we all were ok with, Gazen came up. one friend had been there frequently and suggested we all go..... SHOOTS DEN. the parking lot is SMALL here, but luckily we found parking right in front. entering the restaurant, there is an up-scale kind of feel because everything around you is handsome wood furnishings. we were seated immediately, and our waitress was very prompt in coming by and attempting to take our order when we had browsed the menu for exactly 9.43 seconds. eventually we settled on the following dishes..... first up, the tofu sampler (up there, looking delicious). it consisted of all fresh tofu, one in a soy milk broth, the next plain (you can season yourself with black pepper and salt flakes), and the last was a black sesame flavor. all were very good. i LOVE fresh tofu. here is the beef tongue. this must have been hand sliced b/c i noticed that each piece had a different thickness. these were very nice quality, and the seasoning was delicious. when it coats the bed of onions underneath, and you eat everything together, the flavors are superb. unfortunately, i could not eat this dish: the beef tataki. i was told however that it was very good. try it yourself, and let me know what i'm missing.... haha :) small simple dishes i find are usually the best. this is the black peppered pork with white garlic sauce. the pork itself is a simple peppered pork cutlet. well seasoned and fine on its own, but the sauce is what really makes this dish stand out. the white garlic sauce is something that everyone at our table was trying to figure out.... is it cream? onion? chili pepper flakes? what else is in there? whatever it was.... it was a hit. this blurry, overly orange picture is the mushroom miso risotto. i did a bad job at judging the lighting in the restaurant, that is why some pictures look clear, and some look like this. this dish, while it had a nice flavor, did not have a good texture. risotto to me is supposed to be a smooth kind of dish. this however was made with brown rice instead of Arborio rice, or short grain white. the brown rice created a texture that was too chewy, and one of my friends remarked that it was very "toothy". indeed... fried chicken is one of my weaknesses. i don't know what it is, but i'm always searching for good fried chicken. at Gazen, theirs are expertly fried and drizzled with "home-made sauce".... it was a teriyaki type sauce with a light vinegar flavor. very nice! this incredibly blurry picture is their Omelette noodle with simmered beef dish. it is fried noodles wrapped in an egg, topped with okonomiyaki style toppings (japanese mayo, seaweed laver, and unagi sauce... it was supposed to have bonito shavings on top, but i guess they forgot those). cutting into it, the beef pieces were not really distributed very well, and i only got one tiny piece of beef - but other than that, this dish was delicious. it is something i would order just for myself! i'm not a huge dessert fan, but, being that this was a new restaurant to me, i figured i should try some..... here is the fried sweet potato mochi with vanilla ice cream and Earl Grey sauce. the mochi was fried up perfect, and paired with the smooth vanilla ice cream, it was definitely a party in my mouth. the Earl Grey sauce was so good, one of my friends picked up the bowl, and drank it down. yeah, its that good. last was the warabi mochi and green tea ice cream. the green tea ice cream was good and smooth too, and if you're not familiar with Warabi mochi, it has a different texture than regular mochi. it is more like Kanten, Yokan or Turkish Delight. they are coated in kinako (yay!) and served with some mashed azuki bean on the side. chewy, sweet and delicious, especially if you put them all up in your mouth at the same time. man..... i'm full. how bout you?
********************************************************* Izakaya Gazen 2840 Kapiolani Boulevard Honolulu, HI 96826 808-737-0230 Operating Hours: SUN - THURS: 5p - 11p FRI - SAT: 5p - 1a http://www.e-k-c.co.jp/tenpo/honolulu-e/
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