We met with my eldest sister to take care of family business before my upcoming scheduled knee replacement surgery in late July. She suggested having a casual lunch at Waikele's Restaurant Kunio, where she and her late husband often dined since moving to O'ahu from California some twenty years ago. As soon as she mentioned this restaurant, we told her we had eaten there regularly from the late 1980s through the 1990s because we'd often golf at West O'ahu courses with our golf buddies. However, since our and our golf buddies' residences were closer to the 'Aiea and Mānoa neighborhoods, we changed our 19th hole eating and drinking closer to home. Still, her lunch suggestion was appreciated as we fondly remembered the friendly and cozy family atmosphere, delicious authentic or classic Japanese cuisine, and value in West O'ahu.
My sister decided to drive and arrived at the restaurant around 1 p.m. A group of eight people was waiting outside the restaurant, and when we signed into the wait list, we saw how busy the restaurant was. A server called us into the restaurant and seated our threesome with menus in a booth. Our server quickly brought us glasses of iced water and told us she'd return to take our order as she hurried to assist another table. We weren't in a rush and understood she was slammed with other diners seated before us. Besides, waiting gave us more time to decide on our meals, even though my husband and I considered ordering the Lunch Specials. Alas, my sister had other plans. She informed us that she would be treating us to lunch since we had treated her and her other lady friend at Da Seafood Cartel. She also ordered the Funamori Party Boat (feeds 4) $164.99, saying that we're "fellow Chowhounds" who would truly enjoy it with her.
In the past, we have seen the Funamori Party Boat being delivered to other tables, but our golf foursome never ordered it. The server jokingly said, "You must be hungry since you're ordering the party boat." Yes, we were hungry since all three of us had eaten a very light breakfast earlier in the morning. The server returned to the kitchen with three sets of hot miso soup, appetizers, and house salad. Between servicing the other tables, she checked our eating progress and returned to clear our table.
Then came "SHOWTIME!" Our server hefted the nearly 3-foot-long Funamori Party Boat to our table, and other diners gawked as she passed before them. The Funamori Party Boat had a serving area a little better than 30" which was piled high with two lobster tails, ramekins of clarified butter, shrimp, and assorted vegetables tempura, a ramekin of tentsuyu, beef teriyaki, chicken katsu, tonkatsu, a ramekin of katsu sauce, eight pieces of assorted nigiri sushi, and sashimi. As she set the humongous boat on the table, she said she'd be right back with bowls of steamed rice, and several other diners came by to admire our order.
We attacked the Funamori Party Boat like termites infesting a prime piece of pine wood by starting with and finishing the fresh sashimi and made-to-order nigiri sushi. Then, we moved on to the lobster tails with liberal clarified butter dipping. My husband was the first to eat the airy and crunchy crisp shrimp tempura, chicken katsu, and tonkatsu. At the same time, my sister and I dove into the vegetable tempura and beef teriyaki. Before we knew it, we had eaten all the seafood and tempura. We had leftover chicken katsu, tonkatsu, and beef teriyaki, which the server happily boxed for us along with an extra serving of miso soup, appetizers, and rice to take home.
During our feast, we thanked my sister for reminding us about Restaurant Kunio's good food, service, and value. She was glad to see us enjoy this restaurant's specialty and said she had been waiting for some time to order it to share. read more