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The Weekly Eater

By Nadine Kam

Thursday, November 16, 2000


Suekko a
standout
for gyoza

A lot of restaurants around town serve gyoza, but with all the frozen stuff being passed off as fresh, you might just as well stay home with your own supermarket or Costco dumplings and get reacquainted with your stovetop or microwave oven. The quality would be the same.

Suekko stands out because of its handmade gyoza and thick, chewy homemade ramen noodles shaped from wheat flour imported from Asakusa, Japan, where the family business dates back 40 years.


Suekko

Food STARSTARSTAR1/2
Atmosphere STARSTARSTAR
Service STARSTARSTAR1/2
Value STARSTARSTARSTAR

Bullet Address: 802 Kapahulu Ave. at Winam. Park on the street by day; at Go Bananas lot evenings only.
Bullet Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays, 5 to 10:30 p.m. Saturdays and 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays
Bullet Prices: About $15 to $25 for two
Bullet Call: 735-3924


The delicate gyoza wrappers are filled with the family recipe of 20 percent meat (pork and beef) and 80 percent vegetables, including cabbage, won bok and carrots. The dumplings ($3.75) are pan-fried to a golden crisp and are as light as a cloud when you bite into them.

Beyond this traditional gyoza, owners Mie and Kinichi Kayo understand the local penchant for sweets and invented only-in-Hawaii dessert gyoza filled with bananas and milk chocolate from Japan ($3.50), azuki bean paste ($3.50), and a combination of cream cheese and mozzarella ($3.50).

There's also a little sugar in the karaage-style chicken ($5.95) and calamari ($3.75) often available as specials, and in the mini teriyaki beef bowls served in ramen combinations.

Suekko offers ramen basics with its Shoyu, Miso or Tan-tan Ramen, which range from $4.75 to $7.75 depending on other ingredients in your bowl such as char siu, sprouts, kamaboko, corn or choi-sum. The Tan-tan Ramen is the most popular with local crowds who like the strong flavor of sesame paste. In Japan, the shoyu- or miso-flavored broth are favored.

Speaking of strong flavors, garlic fans will find a bowl created just for them in Gali-Gali Ramen ($6.25), with bean sprouts and char siu, topped with crunchy, deep-fried slivers of the pungent bulb. Yummy!

If your tummy needs excitement, the Fire Works Ramen ($7.75) promises to be spicy, although I wasn't in the mood to test it. Ma-po Tofu Ramen ($7.25) and Curry Ramen ($6.75) with hard-boiled egg halves and spinach, make the bowls of noodles seem more like meals.

Much of the time, diners don't have a lot of expectations when it comes to ramen restaurants. They represent a safe bet or last resort when you can't think of any place else to eat. Suekko has the best chance of breaking from the pack and becoming a destination.

Kalei-Tei

A few doors down from Suekko is the new curry restaurant Kalei-Tei. This is the place for those who have graduated from the fast-food Curry House Coco Ichibanya.

The menu is short and simple, with somen, chicken, beef, seafood, mushrooms and fruit stirred into Japanese curries at $6.75 to $9 per dish.

Finish with wine-marinated fruit over ice cream ($4) or a Maccha Float ($3.50) of vanilla ice cream in green tea.

An upright piano stands out in the stark, sand-colored room and some of the patrons have been making use of it, presumably to other guests' enjoyment.


Kalei-Tei is at 808 Kapahulu Ave. Call 734-3868.



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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:

-- excellent;
-- very good, exceeds expectations;
-- average;
-- below average.

To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com



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