If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would definitely be sushi. I realize that’s not entirely fair, considering the infinite variety of sushi that exists, but if I had to choose that’s my answer. Given my affinity for sushi, I’m always on the lookout for new places to try.
I’d heard from a number of people that Nalu in the Marriott at Ka’anapali has excellent sushi. Week after week, eating there was on my list of things to do but somehow I never quite made it. Then last week when some friends were over I finally succeeded in rallying a crowd.
While the rest of my friends ordered wine, I went with something a little more exotic: the Nalu Mojito. A traditional Mojito is made with mint, sugar, lime and rum; Nalu uses all that but spices up its drink with coconut rum instead of the usual plain rum.
After working on our drinks for a bit and asking our friendly server Wendy for suggestions, the four of us were finally ready to order. We went with three of Wendy’s recommendations: the Jaws roll ($15), which is a California roll topped with lightly baked scallops; the Volcano roll ($17), a roll of spicy tuna, cucumber, seared ahi and basil; and finally the Honolua roll ($10), which has tempura shrimp and a crunchy topping. We also opted for a mixed order of Nalu Poke ($15) with tako and ahi, miso soup ($3) and a traditional spicy tuna roll ($8).
As the chef was cutting our sushi we each enjoyed the steaming miso soup. It had just the right blend of miso along with soft pieces of tofu and seaweed.
Since the restaurant was not too crowded this particular evening, it didn’t take very long for our sushi to arrive. All the rolls were delicately crafted and carefully placed on beautiful plates. We passed around the different rolls and poke as each of us created our own sushi platter. While I made sure to sample each creation, I was most excited to try the Volcano and Jaws rolls. My instincts were right regarding the former—it had a delicious tuna filling and a nice cucumber crunch. The fresh center and the scallops on the Jaws roll made it equally delicious.
At this point I decided to take a quick break to ponder my next consumption. Not wanting to become too full too fast, I decided to eliminate the rice and took a few bites of the Nalu poke instead. The tako was thinly sliced and not too chewy while the ahi was cut into the usual small cubes. While I enjoyed the dish overall, I was less impressed with it than I was with the rolls.
My favorite piece of sushi has always been the traditional spicy tuna roll, and it remained so this night. But the most artistic was the Honolua roll, carefully balanced on a delicate platter and surrounded by pieces of fried tempura batter. MTW
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