Arancino marking third anniversary at The Kahala

Nadine Kam photos
Arancino at The Kahala adds a charcuterie platter, Affetato Misto, to its new menu marking its third anniversary at The Kahala Hotel, to be offered beginning June 1. The platter features bresaola, coppa, prosciutto di Parma, salamino piccante, mortadella, Parmigiano Reggianno and coccoli, or bread dough fritters.

Arancino at The Kahala is entering its third year with the introduction of a new menu beginning June 1. The menu includes new dishes and three degustation menus, priced at $60, $90 and $120. Prices with wine pairings are $84, $123 and $160.

The $60 Menu Selezione starts with a lobster bisque, followed by a choice of Caesar or caprese salad, then a choice of one of three primi dishes: Tagliolini al Ricci di Mare, uni pasta with a white wine-garlic-tomato cream sauce; wagyu Bolognese with housemade pappardelle; or housemade orecchiette with sun-dried tomatoes, broccolini and garlic olive oil.

On the high end, the menu features caviar, followed by crudités and bagna cauda, carpaccio di manzo of A5 Miyazaki wagyu, and delectable raviolone alla fonduta con tartufo fresco, a decadent ravioli with fontina and a center of creamy egg yolk, topped with truffles and a light butter sauce. These dishes are followed by grilled branzino and sous vide beef tenderloin with foie gras and truffle mashed potatoes, fried maitake and truffle sauce.

I swoon over chef Hamamoto's ravioli with creamy egg yolk center, fontina, truffles and butter sauce. Heaven on a plate!

The restaurant had its soft opening at The Kahala Hotel in 2013, followed by official opening date June 18. It initially offered a luxury tasting menu experience that evolved to include several a la carte dishes to give guests much more variety over repeat visits.

In addition to the set menus, the menu now features 34 a la carte selections ranging from pastas to pizzas, plus satisfying entrées ranging from the seafood stew caciucco, to sous vide beef tenderloin, Colorado lamb, A5 Miyazaki wagyu sirloin and pork loin.

The wagyu as served here is exceptional, but I've always had it cooked, never as carpaccio, and during a media tasting I basically inhaled the carpaccio di manzo. Buttery soft, the raw wagyu nearly melts on the tongue. A must for any visit.

Among the stars of the new offerings is the salt-crusted whole branzino for two. For $58, the fish is presented in its salt crust at the table, where it is cut open and the fish served in the form of two fillets accompanied by rosemary potatoes, lemon and herb topping.

And a charcuterie platter of Affetato Misto (at top of page) manages to be a picture- and palate-perfect intro for any meal.
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Arancino at The Kahala is at The Kahala Hotel, 5000 Kahala Ave. Call 380-4400.

Here's a look at more dishes on the new menu:

Carpaccio di Manzo comprises thin-sliced raw Miyazaki wagyu topped with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, arugula and olive oil-lemon dressing.

Trofie al Pesto Genovese combines the housemade twisted pasta with slices of potato, haricots verts and Nalo Farms basil pesto.

Baked Pesce al Sale, a salt-crusted whole branzino, is presented at the table before being opened and individually plated.

Chef Daisuke Hamamoto presents a serving of the moist and tender branzino, served with rosemary potatoes, herb topping and lemon.

Dessert of a passionfruit-mascarpone cheesecake is topped with citrus sorbetto and candy brittle with accents of silver leaf.

Another view of dessert that reminded me of a kokeshi doll.
 
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her food coverage in print in Wednesday's Crave section. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Flowers, foie gras on Arancino at Kahala anniversary summer menu

Nadine Kam photos
Foie gras marinated in cognac and brandy is strewn with a summer’s garden of edible flowers and greenery.

BY NADINE KAM

Flowers are everywhere this summer, and on my Fashion Tribe blog I recently wrote of the season’s best accessory, a living flower crown. Well, Arancino at The Kahala’s executive chef Daisuke Hamamoto takes the same inspiration from nature and applies it to his new plates, draping his insalata Misticanza ($13) with micro greens, herbs and edible flowers, while a new dish of terrina di fegato ($20), foie gras marinated in cognac and brandy, also wears a colorful, eye-catching bouquet of edible greens.

Both are new a la carte offerings introduced this month in celebration of Arancino at The Kahala’s second anniversary. Both dishes are available for lunch and dinner, along with other new dishes of pesce al cartoccio ($32), an elegant mix of seafood, shimeji mushrooms and broccolini steamed in parchment paper with white wine, and Sangiovese wine risotto layered with grilled Muscovy duck, fried leeks and gold leaf ($26).

The restaurant is also offering two new summer tasting menues, one with four courses for $65, and the other comprising five courses for $89.

The new risotto dish is offered as a Primi option on the $65 tasting menu, and the foie gras is one of two antipasti options listed on the $89 tasting menu.

What I like about their tasting menus is that for each course they provide two or three options, knowing that not everybody shares the same food preferences. I certainly have my share of finicky friends.

So on the $65 tasting menu you’ll find antipasti offerings of seafood carpaccio or prosciutto and fruit. For your Primi selection, you’ll have a choice of seafood tagliatelle; tagliolini with white wine, garlic, tomato cream sauce and uni; or the grilled Muscovy duck risotto. All in addition to a choice of lobster bisque or caprese salad, plus dessert of tiramisu or gelato affogato.

On the $89 menu you’ll start with a choice of bagna cauda or lobster bisque, followed by local seafood antipasti or the foie gras dish. Secondi options are grilled seafood, sous vide Colorado lamb or braised short rib with Sangiovese wine reduction. Then choose a Primi plate of Ho Farm cherry tomato tagliatelle, tagliolini with tobiko and calamari in garlic-olive oil sauce, or mixed mushroom risotto, before ending with your choice of the day’s desserts.

Here’s a look at a recent sampling:

Delicate amuse bouche of English pea mousse topped with prosciutto and pea shoot.

One view of the edible garden of seafood and greens that comprise the Misticanza, beautiful bite-size nibbles of grilled scallop and abalone, with calamari, amaebi, uni, tomato, dill, basil, nasturtium leaves, cucumber, and more.

The view from the opposite end of the Misticanza arrangement. It was funny but out of all the ingredients, both my dinner guest and I saved the two pieces of sweet uni for last.

The foie gras at the top of the page was plated with fresh fruit and brioche.

Sangiovese risotto was topped with grilled Muscovy duck, a tangle of lightly fried leeks and crowned with gold leaf.

A new dish of pesce al cartoccio proved simple and delicious, with catch of the day, Manila clams, shimeji mushrooms, broccolini and tomatoes steamed with white wine in parchment.

Light bianco mangiare, a roasted almond panna cotta topped with housemade coconut gelato and coconut granita brought the meal to a close.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Around the world at Kahala

Nadine Kam photos
A view from inside the Plumeria Beach House toward the ocean, al fresco tables and musicians.

The Kahala Hotel & Resorts hosted the second of its "Kahala Restaurants Present: Island Heritage Cuisine" in the Plumeria Beach House on March 12, with an international array of appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts in a buffet reflecting the way various cuisines came together to become island favorites.

The selections are forever linked to Hawaii's history of plantation labor, and the Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese dishes represent the ethnic backgrounds of executive chef Wayne Hirabayashi and his team of chefs. Although the circumstances of our ancestors were trying, what's left is a remarkable food legacy ingrained in our culture.

The amount and array of food offered was so vast that one has to make a tour of the room and come up with a strategy for making the most of the buffet without overdoing it. For me, it meant starting with dishes that I don't see every day, like salt cod-stuffed Portuguese bread and caldo verde, a delicious soup of chorizo, kale and diced potatoes.

Prawns sinigang with New Caledonia prawns, tamarind, squash and eggplant.

I was also tempted by the Philippines section with its old-style prawns sinigang and braised oxtail kare kare. I think a lot of people are still wary about Filipino cuisine so those dishes were barely touched, but they were among the best dishes available that night. Also amazing to me were the amazingly compact Korea bi bim bap, molded musubi style, so the meat and veggie fillings were inside the crisped rice!

Oxtail kare kare, and below, shrimp paste that accompanied the Filipino dishes.

It added up to an educational experience for some of the visitors there, like a tourist in the Japan section, who, studying the hasu, kabocha and assorted tsukemono, asked of one item, what's that?

"Taro," I said. "What's that?" she asked again.

That's something that doesn't require an explanation for locals.

A noodle bar allowed diners to pick their own ingredients for a stir-fry.

The next event, taking place 6:30 to 10 p.m. April 9 will be themed "Buns and Dumplings," with another selection of dishes from around the world, with staples of salads, raw bar, cheese tray and desserts. The cost is $75 plus tax and 20 percent gratuity per adult, and $37.50 plus tax and 20 percent gratuity per child age 4 to 12.

Hasu, or lotus root, in the Japan section of the buffet.

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Here's what will be on the menu on April 9:  

Cold selections: Chinese chicken salad, salmon tofu salad, Waimanalo greens, chopped romaine, tomato mozzarella, domestic and imported cheese platter.

Raw bar: Assorted nigiri sushi; California, spicy ahi, unagi and maki rolls; inari sushi; ahi sashimi; ahi, tako and mussel poke; oysters, crab claws and shrimp on ice.

Buns and dumplings: Vegetable Samosas, fried masa bun with pulled beef cheeks, kalua pig paroshki, duck and mochi rice dumpling with Asian gremolata, imperial scallop soup buns, har gau and vegetarian pot stickers.

Hot pans: Black truffle gnocchi, chicken and dumplings, monk fish dumplings in consommé, and grilled catch with mochi rice lup cheong dumplings.

Carving station: Prime rib of beef au jus with horseradish buns, roast duck and roast pork with buns, and lemon-bacon roast chicken with rosemary buns.

Desserts: Seasonal whole and sliced fruits, ube and coconut ice cream sandwiches, pineapple turnovers, apricot “ravioli” cookies, blueberry panna cotta, chocolate dobash Cake, haupia cake, strawberry Napoleons, Kona coffee profiteroles, stuffed marshmallows, brownies and blondies, and bun pudding with crème Anglaise.

Desserts available March 12 included the resort's specialty Kahalasadas with lilikoi sugar, and above, Portuguese custard cream, chocolate and matcha green tea torte.

Chocolate fans were delighted by jasmine tea-infused pots de creme.

Fixings for halo halo included tapioca pearls, ube, toasted coconut, red beans and cantaloupe.

Fresh fruit was pretty enough to lure those that might normally choose more sinful desserts.