Zenshu

Got home last night after a long day and decided to head out for a nice Monday night dinner with the wife. I hopped on Yelp and started looking around for some ideas when suddenly I thought “Zenshu!” I headed over to Zenhu’s website and saw that they have a Monday-Saturday happy hour from 5-7pm that features some tasty looking dishes. We were sold on the happy hour and I grabbed my trusty camera and headed out the door.

The name “Zenshu” comes as a combination of two different Japanese words. The owners of Zenshu liked the idea of the word “zen” to represent balance and harmony. The “shu” part comes from the second portion of the Japanese word “Nihon-shu”, which means “sake”. The name is quite appropriate, as the restaurant does feature a selection of sake with a menu filled with many zen-like dishes.

I would describe the decor of Zenshu as “modern zen”. It is very simple yet stylish, featuring main seating area with sushi bar seating. The atmosphere in Zenshu is warm and inviting, which is always nice when you’re about to enjoy a meal with family and friends. A quick mention on parking: After 5pm you can park for free at the First Hawaiian Bank lot about 500 feet down from Zenshu.

The menu at Zenshu features a variety of foods influenced by many Asian cultures. What really wins me over about their menu is that there is, in fact, an entire section dedicated to “Natto Lovers”! Anyone who recognizes the awesomeness of natto enough to put a half-page worth of items featuring it will always get bonus points in my book!

After looking over the menu for a few minutes my wife and I decided on the following dishes:

Okonomiyaki Fries: This item off the Happy Hour menu caught my eye immediately. When it was brought to the table our server described it as “The best okonomiyaki fries you’ll ever have.” While I may never have a chance to compare this dish to another, I can say that it was delicious. The combination of okonomiyaki flavorings such as the Japanese mayo, ginger, and nori went surprisingly well with the crisp fries.

Arabiki Corn Dogs: Yet another Zenshu twist on a familiar dish! The arabiki sausage within the batter provide a nice snap when biting into the corn dogs. The batter was good, but could have been maybe just a little denser for my taste. The shichimi ketchup that accompanied the corn dogs had a slight kick to it, which added a nice accent to the dish’s flavor. Overall a successful dish. This item came from the Happy Hour menu as well.

Erin’s Maguro Natto: Of course I couldn’t help but order something from the “Natto Lovers” section of the menu! This dish is like a natto fan’s dream. A dense combination of maguro, natto, yamaimo, shiso, nori, katsuo bushi, and takuwan, the dish was a very nicely balanced mix of textures and flavors. After mixing in a little wasabi I enjoyed the varying textures along with the sweet/savory flavor combinations.

Boneless Kalbi Kim Chee Fried Rice Loco Moco: Probably one of the longest names on a menu I’ve seen, this bowl of fried rice off the Happy Hour menu features kalbi and kimchee topped with an egg. Not quite a “loco moco” as there is no sauce or gravy to bind the whole dish together, but an awesome presentation nonetheless. The flavors of the dish were good, but the meat was a little tough and hard to chew.

Hamakua “Fungus Among Us” Tempura: My wife and I share a love of mushrooms from shiitake to enoki, so when we saw a mushroom tempura dish we had to order it. Zenshu serves their tempura a little differently from what you might be used to. The plate does have a bowl of the usual tempura sauce, but also comes with three clear shakers of different salts. From front to back in the photo above the shakers contained konbu, goma, and ume salts. I liked the subtle flavor accents of the konbu and ume salts very much with the tempura and the tempura sauce was warm with good flavor as well. The mushrooms were all still moist even after being fried.

Ahi Bibap Roll: The last item we ordered off the Happy Hour menu, the Ahi Bibap Roll is best described as a Korean-style spicy tuna. The fish used in the roll was of good quality, lacking any bad fishy taste. The roll itself was a delicious combination of ahi and Korean-style veggies. The spiciness of the roll came from ko chu jang that was both inside the roll and presented outside for additional spiciness. The roll was quite large and did not skimp on the ahi, and at only $8 on Happy Hour, this was probably one of the best sushi roll values I have ever had.

Our first visit to Zenshu yielded great results. We enjoyed excellent service while enjoying delicious and inventive foods. The happy hour specials are great values and provide a nice selection of dishes to sample the variety of flavor combinations that Zenshu has to offer. I left Zenshu very satisfied and completely full, somewhat thankful I had a small walk ahead of me to the car to work off a few calories.

On my next trip to Zenshu I’ll be sure to try some of their even less-conventional flavor combinations, especially the dishes they have that feature uni (sea urchin)!

Zenshu
477 Kapahulu Ave Honolulu, HI 96815
Phone: (808) 739-7017
http://www.zenshuhawaii.com/