Weekly Eater Nadine Kam

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Time is money at Kyoto Ohsho

Take time to consider your circumstances before making a trip to Kyoto Ohsho.

Consideration No. 1: How hungry are you?

Kyoto Ohsho Ala Moana Center Ho'okipa Terrace / 949-0040 Food: Service: 1/2 Ambience: 1/2 Value: Hours: 11:30 to last seating at 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5:30 p.m. to last seating at 8:30 p.m. for dinner; daily Dinner Cost:* Adults: $39.80 60+: $32 Ages 6-12: $20 Ages 0-5: Free Lunch Cost:* Adults: $19.80 60+: $16.50 Ages 6-12: $14.50 Ages 0-5: Free

You'll want to make sure you have an appetite if you want to get your nearly $40 worth of food at dinner time.

Consideration No. 2: Are you a big on talking and hanging out?

With a 60-minute limit enforced at lunch, and a 90-minute limit in the evening, that's enough time to stuff your face but not enough for a civilized dinner with conversation.

If you're half of an old married couple who've run out of things to say, the timing might prove to be just right. Food gathering at this Japanese buffet eats up time that might otherwise be spent in silence. But if you want to get together with friends you haven't seen for a while, or need to commiserate with a friend over lost love, go someplace else.

Granted, we live in a short-attention-span society, and dinner in 90 minutes is doable, but imposing a time limit can result in much worrying, rushing and clock-watching, the last thing one expects when pursuing a relaxing end-of-day treat. During lunch I've heard of friends announcing they wouldn't be talking to anybody while making the most of the situation.

The timing ensures turnaround, preventing a few dozen diners from commandeering the place and eating themselves sick.

Another layer of restaurant self-preservation comes in the form of the kami (paper) nabe that is a part of your dinner order. This beef, meatball and vegetable shabu shabu -- which is worth about $18 of your meal price when comparing it with other offerings around town -- is filling in itself and will likely prevent you from filling up on all the sushi and other more costly buffet offerings.

With the shabu shabu, it's like eating two dinners at once, which might be paradise to some but unfortunate for small eaters. I asked about a non-nabe dinner option, but alas, the only option is the $39.80 buffet. (The lunch buffet is $19.80 and features similar items, with miso soup replacing the nabe.) Note discounts in information box.

I DON'T BELIEVE there's any consequence to overstaying the time limit. When I posed the question of staying too late by a minute, a hostess replied, "Then we charge you double," before adding, "Just kidding."

Even so, I wasn't taking any chances and made a dash for the buffet while our server set up the shabu shabu pot. She even started the cooking to save us valuable minutes scooping the ground beef from its bamboo casing and adding vegetables to the pot while we did our hunting and gathering.

Among the choices are oden, teriyaki pork and chicken, sweet-sour pork and salads. Because there was meat in the shabu shabu, I bypassed the meat dishes on the buffet line in favor of two pieces of shrimp tempura, and 3-ounce portions of grilled misoyaki butterfish and salmon, a little drier than ideal due to the circumstances. And I picked up one plate of sushi -- a nigiri trio of amaebi, hamachi and maguro -- intending to come back for a rainbow roll if I remained hungry.

Then it was on to the snow crab legs and sizing up the desserts before beginning to feast. As I suspected, the shabu shabu was filling, so I never made it back for that rainbow roll, opting instead for an avocado cup filled with tobiko.

In addition to the sushi, chawan mushi is one of the prizes of this buffet. The delicate egg custard is served chilled, taking into account our seemingly endless summer.

One trip to the dessert bar, and I was pau. Cheesecake was too heavy a selection, so I opted for a small slice of tiramisu and lingered at the chocolate fountain, where sliced bananas, whole strawberries and marshmallows awaited.

I was stuffed and finished with just minutes to spare, but I didn't feel that I had eaten anywhere near $40 worth of food. And the rainbow roll that got away nagged at me. So if you go, have a strategy from the start; you won't have much time to make a correction.

CORRECTION Monday, January 22, 2007 A revised schedule of prices was posted to this colum to eliminate possible confusion. Please see the applicable Corrections Page for more information.