Tiny Misuzu, Yamagen restaurants offer flavorful fare

By Matthew Gray
Advertiser Restaurant Critic

Satoshi Hiraga prepares chicken at Yamagen Noodle House on King Street. The minuscule restaurant offers a plethora of noodle dishes in an excellent broth. Deborah booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Misuzu looked interesting, and I thought it might be worth trying. But I still had to find Yamagen. Finally, right next to Longs Drugs, looking more like a home than an eatery, I found Yamagen — ready, willing and able to feed me. At that moment, feeling the effects of that "I'm-gonna-eat-soon" relief, I decided to write about both of these spots.

Misuzu

2080 S. King St.

943-1485

Lunch: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

Dinner: 4:30-9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

Misuzu is a small space that fills up early with hungry patrons.

Established in 1983 by Yukio and Kunio Kawamata, this neighborhood restaurant feels like the equivalent of a Japanese roadhouse or diner.æTheir menu is composed of local-style Japanese dishes — nothing too surprising, but wholesome and honest fare.

The crab-salad appetizer ($6.95) was arranged over iceberg lettuce leaves with crunchy cucumber slices and wedges of tomato.æThe crab was real, not imitation as at so many places, and tasted sweet and fresh.æThe salad was dressed in mayonnaise, but thankfully the crab was placed on top.

Other appetizers include 'ahi sashimi ($8.50) and assorted other sashimi ($9.50), along with a dandy little green salad for 75 cents. A dish of tsukemono is only 45 cents.

Fish dishes are served either with miso, or fried, or prepared nitsuke style (a cooking method similar to braising, in which the fish is cooked in broth).æThe fish include 'ahi, saba (mackerel), turbot and salmon, all $6.95, or butterfish ($7.50). They also do steamed mullet ($6.50 and $7.25), which is quite popular.

Another specialty here is sizzling dishes, which come out of the kitchen on hot cast-iron platters.æOne such dish is pork ginger ($6.75): two large chops simply flavored with salt, pepper and ginger — tenderlicious — with bean sprouts on the side.æThe pork eggplant with tofu ($7.50) is a stir-fry, hearty and satisfying.

I would skip the shrimp tempura ($7.50) even though it's very popular. The coating looks great, but it's not a genuine tempura batter and wasn't crunchy despite coming straight from the fryer.æThe unagi (grilled eel) sushi ($2.95 for two pieces) was particularly good, but make sure to ask for wasabi on the side if you order it.

Other dishes on the menu include teriyaki, donburi and more.

All in all, Misuzu is a very local-style Japanese restaurant with low prices and no-frills service.æGood thing the menu is printed in English, because there's definitely a language barrier to overcome if you don't speak Japanese.

Yamagen Noodle House

2210 S. King St.

947-2125

Lunch: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

Dinner: 5:30-9:30 p.m. daily

Don't blink, or you'll easily miss Yamagen. Headed diamondhead on South King Street in McCully-Mo'ili'ili, if you pass Longs, you've gone too far. Look for a dark shoji-like exterior and the name spelled out in weathered wood.

Inside, you can sit at one of the four small tables, or you can choose a covered table out back. This is the epitome of casual.

For 14 years, Yamagen has been cranking out noodle dishes.æYou can get the silky, soft and satisfyingly thick udon noodles in a variety of ways, and, of course, slender soba noodles as well.æThe menu is dominated by noodles in broth with a variety of ingredients. You also can get yaki udon (fried udon, $5.50) with chicken and cabbage, which I really enjoyed.

The broth is a fine blend, tasting of fish, chicken and vegetables.æThey obviously enhance the usual dashi (dried kelp and bonito broth) with fresh ingredients to arrive at this yummy flavor. Zaru ($5.50) are cold udon or soba noodles, refreshing on hot summer days or nights.æAdd another dollar for the hiyashi tanuki, cold noodles with crunchy tempura chips. Many combinations are available from $4.50 to $7.50.æThe nabeyaki, at $7.50, contains chicken, age (fried tofu wrappers), shrimp tempura and pieces of fried mochi.

Donburi (ingredients over rice) bowls are available as well.æYakitori don features teri chicken. There's also oyako don (chicken and egg) and curry chicken (each $6.50).æI enjoyed the katsu curry don ($7) — pork katsu slices and curry over rice. The curry is mild, so you can taste all the flavors.

Yamagen is a nice change of pace from those brightly lit ramen places around town.æ

Here you can relax outside, slurp noodles and watch the world go by.

Reach Matthew Gray at mgray@honoluluadvertiser.com with your comments, questions and suggestions.