Honolulu’s best-kept secret
“Thank you for your interest in SOOPER SECRET IZAKAYA! If you’re never dined with us before, we are a tasting/omakase that focuses on seasonal products, but not tied strictly into Japanese or Asian cuisine. We Read More The Sooper Secret Izakaya, a casual dinner at the restaurant in Chinatown, Honolulu, costs $200 per person and is only available at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays. The restaurant is located in one of the popular cocktail bars in Chinatown and can only be accessed via an email confirming reservations. The dinner, which includes nine courses, is served at a cost of $200 and can be ordered at 6 p. m. on Sunday and Monday. The chef, Ricky Goings, who previously worked at The Luana Hotel in Waikiki, has hosted pop-ups twice a week at the venue. The menu includes kabocha beignets stuffed with smoked ahi on a bed of remoulade and Royal Osetra caviar, among other notable dishes.
Published : 4 months ago by Kelli Shiroma Braiotta in Lifestyle
“Thank you for your interest in SOOPER SECRET IZAKAYA! If you’re never dined with us before, we are a tasting/omakase that focuses on seasonal products, but not tied strictly into Japanese or Asian cuisine. We just kinda like to make stuff that we think tastes dope and hope that you will, too! We are loose, casual and personable here, so if you were looking for white tablecloths and matching silverware with an air of pretentiousness, you are going to have a miserable time!”
This started the confirmation email I received for dinner at the Sooper Secret Izakaya (yes, that’s actually the business name). Just from that, I knew I was in for an interesting evening.
This secret izakaya dinner costs $200 per person and is only available at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays. If you do some research on social media, you can probably figure out where it is, but the email to make reservations gives away the location (it’s hidden in one of the popular cocktail bars in Chinatown).
Doors open at 6 p.m., with the actual dinner experience starting around 6:30-ish, according to chef Ricky Goings. Goings’ previous Sooper Secret Izakaya experience was at the Luana Hotel in Waikiki. He helped open The Lei Stand in 2022 and transitioned to doing his izakaya pop-ups twice a week last fall, on days when the cocktail bar was closed.
Once everyone arrives, groups (around 10 seats are available per seating) are taken into a backroom for the dinner. The menu might change slightly, but no less than nine courses are included.
Now, I already know what you’re thinking: “Nine courses for $200?” Yes, it’s not cheap, but you definitely will not be leaving hungry or in need of a second dinner. I think this was the first tasting menu experience where I left with a substantial amount of leftovers (I was full by course five).
Anyway, back to the menu. At first glance, it looks unassuming: “Bennys. Egg salad. Bao. Scallop.” Goings swaps out several dishes now and then, but since the izakaya is only twice a week, he doesn’t do whole menu overhauls.
First up: kabocha beignets stuffed with smoked ahi on a bed of remoulade (as Goings puts it, “For those who don’t know, that’s fancy tartar sauce”) made with dill and lemon juice. The beignets are light, fluffy and stuffed liberally with the savory smoked ahi. It’s love at first bite.
Next comes what turns out to be my favorite dish of the evening: egg salad. This bougie version features dashi tamago on a bed of mentaiko potatoes with Royal Osetra caviar and mini croutons on top. There’s a hint of saffron, but it’s not overwhelming. The contrasting textures make each mouthful different, and the sheer amount of caviar makes the course even more memorable.
A vegetable course in the form of broccolini with garlic chips and spinach-and-tsukudani puree comes next, followed by steamed tako with celery shavings. While I enjoyed the puree, I wished I could swap the veggies for another dashi egg. The tako was slightly chewy — which is great, if you’re a fan of that texture. Since the portion is large, I try a piece then save the rest to take home (yes, you can do that at this tasting). After Goings brings out this dish, he announces it’s being retired, so you’ll get something different in its place.
What comes next turns out to be another favorite of mine: bao, an homage to the izakaya’s Chinatown location. This is an amazing blend of sweet and salty — the soft, light bao is stuffed with mushrooms and whipped havarti cheese, but there’s a sugar coating on the bun’s exterior to give it a slightly sweet aftertaste. 11/10 in my book.
Scallops are one of my seafood favorites, so the next course was pure bliss: succulent Hokkaido scallops with cauliflower puree. The scallops were plump and buttery, and the portion included two of them.
At this point, most people were starting to get full, and there were three more courses to go. “Chik’n” features two pieces of chicken — one “regular” wing, and one stuffed with shrimp mousse. The chicken was fried in cornflakes; each piece was so crunchy with lots of umami flavor. I ate one … and saved the shrimp-stuffed one for lunch the next day.
Takikomi — the final course before dessert — is a toasted rice dish. The koshihikari rice was cooked with dashi and mixed with pickled mustard greens and takuan. It’s nice and smoky with crispy rice bits throughout.
The dessert is listed as “PBnJ” but, of course, it’s anything but simple. This “foie gras peanut butter and jelly sandwich” featured smoked honey pecans and apple cider jam between thin slices of bread that’s dusted with powdered sugar and kinako (from the outside, it reminds me of hotteok, a popular Korean street food). I prefer my desserts to be substantially sweet; since this one leans savory, it wasn’t my favorite, but some of my dinner mates declared it the best thing on the menu. The finale is “seasonal fruit,” which turned out to be a riff on s’mores, in the form of a chocolate marshmallow with salted graham cracker crumbles.
A few things you should know: this dinner takes at least two hours — Goings is a one-man show — so don’t book it if you’re in a rush. The dinner experience also does not accommodate dining restrictions or substitutions, so keep that in mind. Seating is a supper club format — guests at one long table — so be prepared for an evening of interaction. But that’s part of the experience Goings had in mind when he designed this. “It’s all about people enjoying a meal together and getting to know each other,” he says. “We’re basically here for the same reason, so we should explore that.”
On that note: If you haven’t met Goings before, let’s just say you’re in for a lot of laughs. And definitely follow the confirmation email instructions — namely, the line that says, “Stretchy pants highly encouraged … You finna eat!”
Address 1115 Bethel St., Honolulu
Hours 6:30 p.m. Sundays and Mondays
Email reservations Only: [email protected]
Instagram @soopersecretizakaya
Food: ***½
Price: $$$
Ambiance: ***
Service: ***
Parking: Street parking or municipal parking lots
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta’s column focuses on new restaurants and dining experiences across Hawaii. Follow Kelli on Instagram (@kellishiromabraiotta).
Topics: Food & Drink