Itadakimasu! (いただきます!)
I've been eyeing the luscious, fresh negitoro don ネギトロ丼 and kaisen don 海鮮丼 from Totoya Kaimukī, which I've been seeing online since it opened in late 2024, but I keep missing going there because they've always been so crowded, and we didn't want to wait in line. However, as luck would have it, this popular restaurant recently expanded to the Ala Moana neighborhood, so we made a point of stopping by after our exercise session.
As we approached the restaurant, a couple was waiting at the doorway, and we worried we wouldn't be seated right away. When we peeked into the restaurant, we saw just one other couple already seated at the counter, and followed the couple at the door in. We were surprised to get in at a non-busy time, and the cheerful female server provided us with menus while asking whether we wanted any hot or cold beverages in addition to the pitchers of water on the counter. I was ready to order a negitorodon, but my husband wasn't, so she allowed me more time to scan the restaurant and its posters.
If you're wondering what a negitoro don ネギトロ丼 is, the best way I can describe it is "minced or scraped raw fatty tuna on rice." It is a deceptively simple dish, but it is luxurious-tasting because of its main ingredient: raw fatty tuna. The raw fatty tuna is scraped from the skin and bones, unseasoned, and doesn't contain minced vegetables, but its preparation is similar to that of fish tartare. The raw tuna is usually topped with minced green onions for textural contrast. This raw tuna sits atop rice.
Food:
-"Matsu" Negitoro don: the "Matsu" bowl is a combination of the OG negitorodon, which has the followingingredients: tuna, scallops, cucumber, kazunoko, tobiko, green onions, sesame seeds, and 2 pieces of nori + sea urchin + salmon roe. I think because the negitoro was creamy and somewhat mushy, the rice also seemed mushy to me, too. I ordered the raw egg yolk + shoyu ($1.50) to mix and drizzle over my dish, but thinkingabout it, the rice bowl didn't need it, and the yolk + shoyu mixture made the rice even mushier. Still, the fresh, clean-tasting seafood could shine. Our server recommended the miso soup of the day (salmon) for an additional $2.90, which tasted stellar! $34.95
-"Fukuju" Kaisen don: the Fukuju rice bowl's ingredients were what I'd call "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" as it contained: sliced raw tuna, salmon, scallops, lobes of sea urchin, whole red shrimp, salmon roe, Snow crab, tobiko, OG negitoro, seaweed salad, and 2 pieces of nori. This bowl was a combination of a negitoro don and chirashizushi, though not as festively presented as chirashizushi usually is. My husband also added yolk + shoyu for $1.50, but agreed that the mixture made the rice feel mushy. $39.50
Still, it was a lot of food, and we left feeling like a good coma coming on, and were happy to have eaten these rice bowls after working out. Next time, we won't upgrade with yolk + shoyu and will rather consider adding the "Ikura Shower." read more