Do you see my Cafe Lani post below? Let me help you erase that memory and hopefully lure you down the hall to the wonderful restaurant, Rokkaku Hamakatsu. A little Japanese oasis of a restaurant in the hustle and bustle of the Ala Moana mall. I’ve been to Rokkaku once before, years ago. I had a good experience, but I think I was too young to appreciate how wonderful this restaurant was. My only memory was that they have the toilets from Japan and I get a kick out of those. Anyway, I almost feel disrespectful that I could only think about toilets when I thought of this restaurant. That is wrong. Let me show you why…

Peach Sake

I’m not much of an drinker but this drink was really nice. It was on the sweeter side which is probably why I enjoyed it. Very smooth and easy to drink. Too easy to drink. I understand the aesthetics of this presentation but it felt a bit wasteful. They filled my cup up incredibly full so the box containing the cup had at least half an inch of my drink! Oh! I was so tempted to drink out of that box. I can’t stand to waste, but I could see dust particles in the liquid in the box. I had to resist. I wish they would just give me a bigger cup so I didn’t lose that sake…hehe…

Sashimi Platter

Oh my, this was delicious. Maguro, Salmon, Kampachi and Saba (forgive me, I forgot the entire title of this one). I don’t know if I have had kampachi as sashimi before but it was delicious. Reminiscent of hamachi. The saba was delicious too! I wasn’t sure if it would be fishy (as we all know saba to be) but it was so clean in taste. The platter was definitely worth it. Delicious.

Deep fried Baby Octopus – $6.00

As sad as it is to digest anything baby (okay, I wasn’t really sad about it) – this was delicious. Good crispy crust. Great starter.

Holland Cutlet (2 pcs) – $12.00

What is a holland cutlet you ask? It is cheese wrapped in ground pork and deep fried katsu style. The picture in the menu didn’t quite match what we got. As you can see…the cheese kind of…only stayed in one hole? Hahaha, no matter. This was delicious, I enjoyed it. They certainly do great with tempura and katsu, I think I’d like to try their assorted platter next time to try the other tonkatsu dishes.

Grilled Prime Beef Tenderloin Steak – $38

Oh. My. God. This dish was to die for. They have a rib eye option and that’s what I usually go for…never know if tenderloin will be as tender and juicy. This does not disappoint. It’s served on a bed of mashed potatoes and topped with fried garlic chips. It was absolutely mouth watering. The steak was melt in your mouth tender….ahhhhh…I wish I could have it again. The mashed potatoes…eh…tasted a bit like box mix but then again I like box mix (sorry).

I had to show you a slice of the steak. We ordered it medium, I generally like medium rare. I think it came out medium rare and so it was a point for me! So. Good.

Fresh Wasabi Sauce

This was served with the steak. I took a dab at it with my chopstick and whoa, that’s some potent stuff. If you need your sinuses cleared, I found your solution. The sauce was good but it would have overpowered the steak and honestly, the steak did not need anything. In its simplest form, it was perfect.

Is this restaurant kind of pricey? Yes, it is. But the service and food we received was well worth. When you walk into this restaurant, you are so tucked away that you forget you’re in Ala Moana. It’s such a nice ambience inside and the wait staff are very nice and attentive. I highly suggest you try this restaurant! I’d love to return here again soon…once my wallet allows it.

I forgot to take pictures of this but for any of the katsu dishes you get, they give each person a little mortar and pestle bowl full of sesame seeds. You grind the sesame seeds into a paste yourself and then add their homemade katsu sauce to create your dipping sauce. The sauce was pretty good but I don’t know if I’m a huge fan of such a strong sesame taste for my katsu. If you love sesame, you will love this experience though!