A 7-Course All-Natto Dinner Is Coming to Nami Kaze on July 10
Frolic’s annual celebration of Japan’s ripe, stinky bean is back—and it’s open to all natto lovers.
Editor’s note: The Natto Dinner has sold out.
Photo: Credit BJ Rivad
Natto lovers, the feast you’ve been waiting for is here. Our tradition of all-natto dinners returns on Natto Day, July 10, with an elegant seven-course slime fest at Nami Kaze. Chef and owner Jason Peel admits the pungent beans don’t put much of a dent in his wallet, but “I don’t want to be lazy and serve natto on rice,” he says. “It’ll be front and center—over the top, mixed in, in the sauces. For the most part, it’ll be gooey and sticky, yeah.”
First, some background: Natto Day is an actual thing in Japan, birthplace of the notoriously fermented beans, because 7-10 can be read as na-to in Japanese and because the Japanese like puns. Our own natto dinners date back to 2011, when a natto-durian dinner I organized at Izakaya Naru caught the eye of Scott Pang and Greg Sekiya. The two local natto fans were looking for a way to create a Natto Day celebration in Hawai‘i—and an annual tradition was born.
Since then, we’ve had natto dinners all over town: Pig and the Lady, Tokkuri Tei, Koko Head Café, Ethel’s Grill, Torae Torae, Feast, Zigu, Kaimukī Shokudo. These celebrations are open to all, with only one rule: You must love natto. There will be no substitutions.
SEE ALSO: Kampai at the Pier: Nami Kaze Is the Best New Restaurant of 2023
An all-natto dinner will be a first for Nami Kaze. The brunch spot and izakaya opened in 2022 and within months won the Hale ‘Āina Best New Restaurant award and became a semifinalist for the James Beard Awards’ Best New Restaurant in the U.S. Peel already has a natto dish on the menu, which I asked him to include on July 10 as soon as he mentioned its Thai chiles and egg yolk jam—it is the only existing menu item in an otherwise all-original Natto Day feast.
Here’s the course-by-course preview, with a recap of details and a ticket link at the end:
Photo: Credit BJ Rivad
1st: Mrs Cheng’s Soy Milk Panna Cotta | Potato | Natto | Truffle | Uni
“The uni’s on top as a sweetener and creamer, and the natto’s in the sauce,” Peel says. “It’ll be really light on the bottom, then you’ll have little bursts of creaminess from the uni, then you’ll have the heaviness of the natto with the truffle. And I do like to put potato chips on it for texture.”
Photo: Credit BJ Rivad
2nd: Maguro Natto, Nami Kaze style
(Grated Mountain Yam, Wasabi Okra, Natto, Egg Yolk Jam, Soy Gel, Puffed Rice)
“This is okra with kizami (chopped) wasabi with ginger scallion, Thai chiles mixed in with natto on top of that, maguro, egg yolk jam and soy gel. I’ll probably do some puffed rice on top.”
3rd: Local Cabbage | Natto | Gochugaru | Cream Cheese
“We’re working with the GoFarm program, and they’re growing cabbages. So we did a salted cabbage that we charred with a sansho pepper and ginger cream cheese, then a kochugaru vinaigrette with tons of garlic. We’re gonna infuse the natto into the vinaigrette and get the texture of the natto in there. To me, it’s like a kim chee dip, if you want to get nostalgic on it, where you get the creaminess and the roastiness of the cabbage and the smokiness from the natto and the spice from the kochugaru. Everything’s gonna be in your face.”
Photo: Credit BJ Rivad
4th: Clams | Sake | Seaweed | Natto | Onion
“Just a very simple sake-braised clams. I want to extract all the flavor out of natto and reduce that stock down and use that flavor as the base with sake and seaweed, and then get charred onion in there. We’re gonna serve that with [pastry chef Bev Luke’s] bread to dip.”
5th: Kampachi | Ginger | Smoke | Natto | Butter
“Beautiful kampachi from the Big Island. I’m gonna smoke the butter in the natto and serve that over a porridge, with a lot of herbs in there. So it’ll be like a smoked butter natto sauce with some ginger. That’ll balance itself out—the texture of the natto with the soft rice and the kampachi.”
6th: Mountain View Dairy Pork | Natto | Fish Sauce | Roasted Garlic (Cauliflower)
“It’ll be a beautifully glazed roasted pork loin with a huge fat cap. I’ll cook it slow and char it nicely. Pretty much braised and glazed and sticky and unctuous and cutting through the fish sauce caramel that I’m gonna add the natto to. It’s gonna have choke umami in it.”
7th: Nuts | Natto | Fruit | Vanilla
“Bev is gonna do a mixed nut tart. We’ll have a caramel made with natto that’s gonna be laced throughout the nuts and will bake in there, and there’ll be poached fruit and a vanilla cream.”
2024 Natto Day Dinner at Nami Kaze
Where: 1135 N. Nimitz Hwy at Pier 38
When: Wednesday, July 10, seatings every half-hour starting from 5 p.m.
Tickets: $100 a person including food, tax and tip but not drinks
Drinks: Full bar or BYOB with discounted corkage; see below
Sake pairing: Optional flight of 4 paired sakes for $35
Parking: Free at Pier 38 around the restaurant
Drinks are not included, but Nami Kaze has a full bar and is discounting its corkage fees for the Natto Day dinner. If you BYOB, 720-ml sake and wine bottles will have a $20 corkage; the fee for magnums will be $35.
P.S. Also per tradition at our Natto Day dinners, Scott and Greg are planning a short natto group activity that will produce two winners who will be crowned the 2024 Natto Day King and Queen. I can’t tell you what the game will be, but from early descriptions, it sounds hilarious.
