My In-laws had really enjoyed Lana'i so far….there was something about the freshness of the air, the relaxed vibe, and for us, being about 8 degrees cooler than Oahu. After a nice nap; we awoke and decided to take a short stroll.
Dole Park is basically the center of the city. Most of the businesses line the street around the park. As do buildings like the city's district court.
Let me ask you; have you ever seen a Court House that looks like this?
Soon enough it was time to head off to dinner. Initially, I had wanted to try the Lanai City Bar and Grill which we had tried on our previous visit. I'd heard some really good things about the new Executive Chef. Unfortunately, it was Monday and the restaurant was closed. So, I decided to make dinner reservations at Nobu….yes, Nobu, which opened several months after our previous visit.
We arrived for dinner reservations; the dining area is very nice; with great views of Manele Bay.
Our Servers were excellent; professional and yet quite friendly.
I started with a perfectly decent Pisco Sour; though the Missus lamented the lack of "eggy-richness" like what She's had in Peru.
For pupus we started with the Grilled Shishito with Den Miso ($10) and Edamame with Truffle ($12).
We'd have preferred our shishito peppers with a bit more color to them as they weren't "grilled" enough to develop the deep roasted pepper flavor, nor make them more tender. The peppers had retained too much of the chlorophyllic green flavor. The miso-sugary Den Miso did fairly well on this, but would have been even better had the peppers been roasted/grilled properly.
The Edamame was fine; still very firm and had a light drizzle of truffle oil…..a very light drizzle.
The Whitefish with Dry Miso ($28) was next.
One of Nobu's signature dishes; a firm whitefish is topped with dehydrated miso; olive oil, sliced garlic. The fish was super dry and tough….even for shiromi. The garlic chips make things a bit too bitter and for some reason; the miso powder was very bland.
One of the dishes the Missus, a real mushroom lover, wanted to try was the Crispy Shiitake Salad ($26).
The deep fried mushrooms were really mild in flavor; lacking that sweet-earthiness. The greens were very fresh and lovely, but the dressing had too much rice vinegar for our taste and really over-shadowed the truffle oil in the dressing….you barely knew it was there.
Our favorite item of the evening was the Warm Mushroom Salad($29).
Again; the greens were excellent, crisp, fresh, with a sweet-bitterness. The mushrooms were sautéed to perfection; not overdone, the texture firm yet yielding. There was the perfect balance of seasoning, salt to acid to really bring out the best in the mushrooms.
Our least favorite dish of the night was the Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna ($28).
Man, that rice was hard, not crisp, hard, and the centers; which should give way to some softer-creamier rice was also hard. And this coming from a guy who loves Yaki-onigiri. The scrapings used for the spicy tuna was more fishy than we prefer.
Since there were four of us; I ordered the Black Cod Miso in Butter Lettuce ($9/piece – $36).
This was fine; though the fish wasn't as fatty as I prefer. Still, not bad, mild richness, balanced sweet-umami tones. My MIL agrees with the Missus that they prefer my (based on my Mom's) recipe as this was on the mild side for them.
The last dish was the Pan Seared Opah, Crispy Ong Choy, with Truffle Yuzu Soy ($32). Man, this could have been a winnah! However……
We were forewarned that this was going to come out medium; which made my heart sing. Opah is terrible when over-cooked, making it leathery and dry. When this arrived; well, it had been overcooked, and was so dry. The yuzu-soy; though again very light on the truffle had a nice savory-umami-sour-light sweetness and went quite well with the super tender and almost sweet broccoli; which I'm assuming was local.
In the end; our service was great….which is what made the meal, as the food was uneven and somewhat disappointing; especially at this price-point. The Missus and I have had several meals at different locations of Nobu over the years and for some reason have never been "wow'd" by our meals. Not sure what it is as I've made items (with some adjustments) from a couple of his cookbooks over the years which have turned out well.
Nobu (at the Four Seasons Manele Bay)
1 Manele Bay Rd
Lanai City, HI 96763
Well, at least it was a beautiful night in Lana'i City!
