FORKED UP

IKURA PASTA
CHEZ KENZO BAR & GRILL
1451 S. King St., Honolulu
Phone number (808) 941-2439
website chezkenzo.net

If you’re looking for a place with late-night eats that don’t involve a drive-thru, Chez Kenzo has you covered with a menu that expertly combines Japanese and Italian influences, yielding dishes like Ikura Pasta. It’s a simple, winning combination: salmon roe and nori over al-dente pasta. It’s rare to find a place that can effectively marry both the bar and the grill — but Chez Kenzo makes it happen; it works well as a place to have an nice dinner, and would lend itself just as well to a low-key gathering to grab drinks with a group.

CHICKEN SHAHI KORMA
CAFE MAHARANI
2509 S. King St. Honolulu
Phone number (808) 951-7447
website cafemaharanihawaii.com

Cafe Maharani’s menu boasts that this dish is both a house specialty and was considered a meal for royalty in ancient times, so we had to give this one a try. It features cubes of chicken simmered in a ginger cashew sauce, accented with yogurt, raisins and saffron. That creamy sauce is the star here. Make sure to get a few orders of naan to mop it up with. Be warned, though, that although the spice level is mild, we bit into some sort of piping hot pepper, and it was enough to nearly ruin the deliciousness that had preceded it.

POKE CRUNCH BOWL
PAINA CAFE
1050 Ala Moana Blvd.
Phone number (808) 356-2829
website painacafe.com

So maybe we here at Metro would be happy to die eating spicy ahi, our chopsticks still clutched in our twitching hands. Paina Café’s take on a poke bowl (with a crunchy twist) is pleasant — the tempura flakes and shredded nori harmonize with the teri-glazed rice so beautifully, we probably could’ve just eaten that on its own — but the poke itself is simply average in flavor and quality. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. Perhaps we should’ve gone for some of their cooked food instead? We’ve heard promising things about their kalua pork.