First taste: Yuzen

A new sushi bar in town

By Mari Taketa
Special to Metromix

So a friend e-mails us her brother’s raves about this new place, and that’s enough: we’re so there. Yuzen Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar, Day 7. But … what is it exactly?

In Honolulu, we have a decent pick of izakaya. We can go totally traditional with Nonbei, get contemporary fresh fish artistry at Gaku or handmade tofu and soy specialties at Gazen, go earthy-rustic at Ojiya, try fusion Okinawan at Off the Wall. It’s not even unusual to find restaurant-sushi bar-izakaya combos like Sushi King and Sansei, where the focus is on meals, but it’s easy to go the pupu-style izakaya route.

But the thing is, each of these has an identity. Old style or new-wave, this specialty or that, we know where each player fits into the izakaya pantheon.

So where does Yuzen fit in? That was the running question through the whole evening — that, and of course, how good is it?

Yuzen
1518 Makaloa St.
808-943-0131
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday, Wednesday-Sunday (closed Tuesday)