Michelin Star Chef Sets Up a Tempura Omakase in Honolulu

Photo: Thomas Obungen

In a city where sushi shops have dominated the lineup of new Japanese restaurants, a tempura omakase stands out. It’s not the sort of fried mound of waning crispiness served all at once on a platter. Tempura Ichika presents a chef’s choice meal where each seasonal ingredient is meticulously fried and coursed out one at a time.

Kiyoshi Chikano came to Honolulu to be closer to his native Japan. After spending 16 years rising through the ranks to executive tempura chef at Nadaman Restaurants in Sapporo, he joined the team at Tempura Matsui in New York in 2015. For eight straight years, he helped that restaurant earn a Michelin star. In April, Chikano became the executive chef of Tempura Ichika, bringing his Michelin pedigree to Honolulu. Other than Matsui, Tempura Endo in Los Angeles is the only comparable restaurant stateside.

SEE ALSO: Honolulu’s Omakase Obsession

What feels like a portal to a restaurant in Tokyo’s Ebisu neighborhood, Ichika’s blonde oak interior frames an eight-seat counter that surrounds an open space where Chikano works at a copper-clad frying station. Two tables are tucked out of view for private dining. The warm aromas of sesame and cottonseed oils add to an ambiance that concentrates your focus on the food.

Executive chef Kiyoshi Chikano (left) and sushi chef Ken Kawakami (right). Photo: Thomas Obungen

As of Aug. 1, that food is not just tempura. That’s the day Tempura Ichika debuted the city’s newest sushi omakase. Both offerings are $160 before tax and an 18% service fee. The tempura progression includes sashimi, a starter course, 10 pieces of seasonal tempura, a starch and a dessert finale. The Edomae sushi omakase features a sashimi starter, 12 to 13 nigiri, hot food items and a sweet ending.

I’ve now dined here three times—twice as a media guest and the third time for tempura on my own dime.

SEE ALSO: Best of HONOLULU 2024: Food and Drinks on O‘ahu

The journey to tempura nirvana begins with sashimi, which recently was local ‘ahi and buttery hamachi. This is followed by a warm chawanmushi with sweet Hokkaido murasaki uni and edamame over snow crab ankake sauce with anago suspended in the delicately savory custard. This is a wonderful hint at a meal of more highs.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

You’ll know the main event is about to start when servers place sea and kombu salts, lemon and daikon oroshi in tempura sauce on your lacquer tray. As each piece of tempura arrives, servers relay Chikano’s instructions on which salt or sauce pairs best.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Two sets of kuruma ebi legs fried into the crispiest shrimp chips are always the first course. If you’re drinking, start with something dry and effervescent like a brut Champagne with high acid to counter the tempura. Next comes the actual shrimp, also two times, so you can dip the first in sea salt and second in daikon oroshi with tempura sauce. Shrimp is often one of the coveted pieces in a tempura assortment, but served first at Ichika, it’s a sign that it’s only up from here.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

At a media preview, I try tempura of abalone, snow crab wrapped in shiso leaf, Hokkaido uni wrapped in nori, Okinawan sweet potato batons and chrysanthemum greens. Other pieces that stand out from my most recent visit include delicate belt fish topped with lobes of Hokkaido uni with yuzu kosho, eggplant garnished with the tiniest knob of minced ginger, sansho-pepper-dusted red snapper and luscious Hokkaido scallops with kizami wasabi. Each piece has a veil of batter, just enough to protect it from the dunk in bubbling oil.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

We progress through a parade of fried bites with sips of 2010 Le Montrachet white Burgundy, one of the most coveted and ideal expressions of chardonnay, and a 1999 vintage Chinon Clos Du Chêne Vert from Charles Joguet. These may have been more celebratory wines, but they paired incredibly well with our equally celebratory meal. If you have reservations before Sept. 6, you are welcome to bring your own bottles, corkage-free.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

The two-hour meal concludes with a tendon of tempura over rice, miso soup and pickles. If you were not yet at the edge of contentment, this course gets you there. Dessert, a tiny ball of yuzu sorbet or matcha ice cream, follows, with hot tea. If you want to enjoy each course at your own pace, book the later of the two seatings.

If Chikano’s tempura isn’t your fancy, there’s now the Edomae sushi omakase. Ken Kawakami, an 18-year sushi veteran from Osaka, spent some time in Ginza, Tokyo before coming to Hawai‘i where he spent much of his career behind the counters at Hatsuhana Japanese Restaurant and more recently, Restaurant Suntory.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

His seared nodoguro with yuzu zest and sea salt, ishigaki gai giant clam, amadai snapper and local amaebi all made me sink into my seat. Kawakami blends his own red and rice vinegar to season rice to a darker hue, a hallmark of Edomae sushi. I appreciate Kawakami’s amiable personality; it’s easy to interact with him. Sometimes, a sushi omakase is less enjoyable if you’re not able to understand what you’re eating, but at Ichika, this isn’t an issue.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

For now, there are two nightly seatings for tempura and one seating for sushi. In the future, the offerings will blend slightly as the chefs work together to find their synergy.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

I might not have booked an omakase more than once a year, but having been lucky enough to try three omakase meals since May, I am more inclined to save my dollars to book one seasonally, especially as seafood flavors become richer and more flavorful in the fall and winter months.

Reservations required. Open Tuesday to Sunday 5:30 to 10 p.m., 434 Pi‘ikoi St., (808) 888-0000, ichikahawaii.com, @tempura_ichika