Domo Arigato, Mr. Robata

Robata Grill Tsukuneya Style introduces Nagoya cuisine to Honolulu

ROBATA GRILL TSUKUNETA STYLE • 1442 University Ave. • 943-0390 • 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., daily

Robata Grill Tsukuneya Style has the coolest looking and most engaging menu I've ever read. With beautiful, precise photos and illustrations and detailed descriptions and histories of its Nagoya-based cuisine, the document is a cross between a travel guidebook and a children's encyclopedia.

It's not only the menu that is exciting at Tsukuneya. The restaurant's interior combines groovy graphics behind the bar with a traditional dining area on a raised wood platform, which is decorated with bamboo and rice-paper screens. The whole space is bathed in a warm orange.

There were so many dishes and it got so complicated that we had to map out our meal on a piece of scratch paper. Part of the problem is that Tsukuneya does so many different things. First, there is the tsukune, a chicken meatball, which is comprised of 30 ingredients and topped with a choice of 20 different seasonings. Next there is robata, tasty morsels that are cooked on the kitchen's charcoal grill. There are also nabes (stews), house-made tofu, rice and noodle dishes and specialty items such as sashimi that you can cook at your table. You can see our dilemma.

We settled on a trio of tsukune, Lightly Salted ($1.50), Wasabi ($1.80) and Garlic ($2), which are formed on small, thick, barbecue sticks. The menu made the time-consuming preparation of these chicken kabobs sound like nothing short of alchemy. The end results were very tender and juicy meatballs, nothing magical, however.

Our trio of robata items included Assorted Vegetable ($5.75), Chicken Wing Seasoned with Konbu ($2.75) and Rice Ball with Shrimp Tempura ($6.50). Of the three, I liked the assorted vegetable, skewers of green onion bottoms and chunky shiitake mushrooms, which were covered by a small pile of bonito flakes. The rice ball with shrimp was just as advertised and tasty, so was the very succulent chicken.

Orange Crush: Robata Grill Tsukuneya Style serves traditional Nagoya cuisine in a contemporary, slightly groovy setting. photo: Jimmy Forrest

Our main entrée was the Paitan Bijin-ni ($20 per person), a rich chicken and vegetable stew that was prepared at our table. It had the usual assortment of vegetables and meat found in most nabes. However, unlike most nabes, it featured chicken tsukune in a white chicken broth, which was rich in collagen. Our menu explained that the milky broth is a favorite of Japanese women, some of whom claim that it keeps their skin taut and youthful. I found the syrupy broth on the bland side, and I couldn't stop thinking about Angelina Jolie as I slurped up the soup with pursed lips.

The In House, Fresh Made Zaru Tofu ($8.50) was wonderful. Eight dollars and 50 cents is an awful lot to pay for three scoops of tofu, but I'd order it again in a heartbeat. It was delicate, like a very tender custard, and it had a clean, slightly creamy flavor. It didn't have any of the chalkiness that I normally associate with tofu.

At meal's end, when all the excitement had died down, we reflected on our little culinary journey. After all that studying and eating, our favorite dishes turned out to be Tsukuneya's simplest, which needed very little explanation. That realization was a surprising, and left me feeling a little provincial. Tsukuneya was exciting for a time, but, all in all, I think I prefer some of my hometown favorites.

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