Satisfy your yen
Restaurant Hayama

by Carrie Kuwada Phipps

Eighteen years ago, Ken and Mitsuko Yokota visited the west side of Hawai'i Island and fell in love with it. Originally from the town of Hayama (about an hour from Tokyo), the couple set their sights to return to live on Hawai'i Island one day soon. Thus, when the opportunity arose about four and a half years ago, Ken and Mitsuko returned to Kona and Restaurant Hayama was born. Owning and running an (a bar type restaurant serving pupus) in their hometown prepared them for this new endeavor.
Located in Kopiko Plaza, Restaurant Hayama is a Japanese restaurant with a sushi bar. Clean, simple, comfortable and cozy in decor, Hayama serves up some good Japanese food for a rather small establishment. If you love fresh seafood, healthy fare, sushi and sake without the commercial zing of larger Japanese restaurants, sink your ohashi (chopsticks) into some of their offerings.
The restaurant seats about 28 and the sushi bar seats 10. Lunch fare includes noodle dishes such as Yakisoba (stir-fried veggies and chicken with buckwheat noodles), udon and somen, plus donburi (bowls of rice with various toppings) served with miso soup and sushi. Most popular is their Plate Lunch Special, which includes Chicken Tempura with Teri sauce, 2 pieces of cone sushi, salad, rice and miso soup for $6.95.
The dinner menu lists such light, tasty and healthy appetizers such as Hiyayakko (chilled tofu with green onion and ginger), edamame (boiled, blanched and salted soybeans), Hamachi Kama (broiled block of yellowtail), Soft Shell Crab and more. Sushi (a la carte and combination platters), fresh sashimi, Japanese dinners such as Chicken or Beef Teriyaki, Tempura, Unagi Kabayaki (broiled eel with sweetened soy sauce) including salad, rice and miso soup and a number of daily seafood specials are available.
On a recent visit for dinner, Mark and I just had to try their most popular dinner item: the Ultimate Dinner for two ($49.50). This awesome spread included rice, miso soup, 20 pieces of sushi (nigiri and roll) plus a combination of (or choice of) Chicken Teriyaki, Beef Teriyaki and Shrimp and Vegetable tempura.
Our large sushi platter consisted of two to four pieces each of Spicy Ahi, Tempura Roll, Hamachi (rich, buttery yellowtail which is one of my favorites), Ahi, Salmon, Ebi (shrimp), Ika (squid), and California Roll. Fresh and tasty, the cuts of fresh seafood were quite sizable on dainty-sized portions of sushi rice. What I don't like about some sushi restaurants is when they try to cut corners by filling you up with a large amount of sushi and skimp on the seafood. Not so here.
The other large lacquer platter featured the rest of our meal: four medium sized pieces of shrimp and assorted vegetable tempura (including zucchini, carrots, eggplant, broccoli, and sweet potato). Light, crispy and still retaining the fresh flavors of the actual food items, the tempura was perfectly complimented by its dipping sauce. The teriyaki was cooked perfectly, moist and tender and drizzled with the sweet, salty richness of teriyaki sauce. To top it all off, a large bottle of Kirin beer ($7) and an order of hot sake ($7) with our sushi put some very satisfied smiles on our faces. Hayama had a nice list of sake (hot and cold), beer (local and imported), wine, other liquor, soft drinks and great tea. While filling, this ultimate dinner for two didn't leave us feeling uncomfortably stuffed like many heavier American meals usually do.
While I've passed by this little restaurant many times, Restaurant Hayama is now on my map and I'll definitely be back to satisfy my yen for some very decent sushi and other Japanese food! n
Restaurant Hayama
75-5660 Kopiko St. D-1
Kailua-Kona
331-8888
Lunch: T-Sa, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Dinner: M-Sa, 5-9 p.m.
Entrees:
Lunch $6.95-15
Dinner $2.50 (miso soup)-$28; Sushi $5 (nigiri)-$15 (special rolls)
Plastic: MasterCard, VISA, Diner's Club, JCB, Carte Blanc
Parking: Kopiko Plaza lot
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