The Weekly Eater

BY NADINE KAM

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AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM A combination plate of salmon shioyaki and tempura pleases the palate and pocketbook at Tempei.

Tempei’s sumptuous salad bar
starts diners off right

There are many who swoon over pork cutlet. I'm not that easy. Pork is just fine without the additional layer of fat.

And yet I found myself won over by nearly the entire menu at Tempei -- not to be confused with tempeh, that textured soy protein prized by vegetarians, or Tempe, a college town where Hawaii residents may be asked to show their passports, as I learned firsthand.

Tempei's specialty is tempura, and I imagine they must have menehune in the kitchen, dabbing and blotting away in the background because the food doesn't leave an oily aftertaste.

The menu is small, but does an excellent job in covering the basics. The chef and much of the crew are alumni of Hanaki, so you've got to figure you're in good hands.

It's said of people that first impressions count and the same holds true with restaurants. My first impression came via the salad bar. It's a great concept. No more of that one-size-fits-all teishoku in which you have to take everything or what little they choose to offer. Not everyone cares for tsukemono or takuan. Here, you have all the options your stomach can handle.

The salad bar comes with any order of a complete meal. The plates you're given measure only 6 inches across so practice your packing skills. (A larger plate is offered if you order the salad bar as a meal for $8.50, which comes with soup and rice.)

As a graduate of many buffets, I think I did a pretty good job because they could have rolled me out the door afterward. I think it was the pumpkin that did it. I love the sweet steamed kabocha. I also neglected the No. 1 rule of buffets, and that is, don't take the potato salad which fills you up with starch. But again, I couldn't resist tasting it and was glad for my lack of willpower.

Neither could I resist a helping of soy beans or a nishime heavy on lotus root and turnips. It was a refreshing change from the usual versions loaded with woody gobo.

Early birds can eat royally between 4:30 and 6 p.m., for about $7 per person without tax and tip. But late comers don't fare badly at all. A la carte entrees start at $8.50. For $10.50 you'll get the salad bar, plus a comfort soup of chubby and chewy udon noodles, plus your choice of broiled eel, butterfish, jumbo shrimp and vegetable tempura, chicken cutlet or fried chicken with Tempei's hot sauce. Pay $12.50 and you can choose two of the above entrees.

At most Japanese restaurants, you'd likely get a portion of butterfish no bigger than a shiso leaf for this sort of price. Here, you get three of the broiled miso fillets, adding up to a local-style portion.

Dishes here are simply prepared, often with little more than a touch of soy, miso or sugar to amplify the flavors of the food without burying them.

As much as I enjoyed the butterfish, I became quickly addicted to the red hot sauce of garlic, miso and shiracha pepper that came with the fried chicken. The sauce also worked well in place of the tonkatsu sauce that accompanied the crisp-tender chicken cutlet. No doubt you will go through hot-sauce withdrawal after leaving the restaurant. No problem. They'll fix you up with a 20-ounce bottle of sauce for $10.

Going back to the restaurant's specialty, you can get various vegetable and seafood (whitefish, squid and jumbo squid) tempura a la carte.

I tried the seaweed tempura (75 cents), expecting ogo, but getting a couple of crisped sheets of sushi nori. I also tried the lotus, but the tempura process didn't add much to the thick root.

Out of curiosity, I sampled the ika butter ($4.75), large pieces of squid quickly sauteed in a mix of butter and shrimp paste, which was OK, but really, food is so plentiful here, you don't need any extra appetizers. If you can't eat much, it's better to hold out for a dessert of shave ice topped with condensed milk and azuki beans.

TEMPEI Sam Sung Plaza, 655 Keeaumoku St. Suite 108 (park toward back) / 941-8773 Food Service Ambience 1/2 Value Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday Cost: About $20 to $30 for two

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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