Japanese dishes from LA restaurant featured at Mauna Lani’s Surf Shack along Kohala Coast

Mauna Lani has partnered this summer with Los Angeles restaurant OTOTO to provide eight of its popular dishes at the Surf Shack, a casual dining spot on the Great Lawn of the South Kohala Coast resort.

This partnership, which lasts until Sept. 1, is part of the Auberge Resorts Collection’s continued goal to bring an elevated culinary experience to guests and Big Island residents visiting the resort.

On Friday, a long table was set for dinner on the Great Lawn. Resort leadership was hosting a small number of guests, including five fine dining journalists from Los Angeles, to experience OTOTO dishes paired with different flavors of sake at the Surf Shack.

“Hawai‘i has deep culinary ties to Japan, and we saw an opportunity to celebrate that connection in a fresh, modern way,” said Pete Alles, general manager of Mauna Lani.

Alles said the resort team liked OTOTO’s food and felt they had good casual options that would fit in well at the Surf Shack, which doubles as a place where guests can rent snorkel gear and buy easy-to-eat food at the window. Items already offered feature a spicy grilled chicken sandwiches, a poke wrap, a smash burger and salads.

OTOTO is a James Beard award-winning Japanese bar that combines sake with casual dining. The menu items include a cucumber salad, potato salad, a roasted Okinawan sweet potato, Tebasaki, OTOTO’s fried chicken wings with sesame seeds and Aloha TO Mos Burger, a Japanese style beef burger with housemade chili, a special sauce and sesame bun.

One of the favorite dishes among dinner guests last week was the beer-battered cod Filet-O(TOTO) Fish Sando, inspired by McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish. It costs $27.

“I’m a fan of the McDonald’s version, and I still eat them once in a while,” OTOTO Chef Charles Namba said Monday. “I think they steam the buns, which gives them that warm, soft, pillowy texture, and I wanted to create a restaurant version.”

While he won’t be at Mauna Lani for the duration of the menu, Namba worked with the Surf Shack’s culinary team leading up to the launch of the limited-edition menu. Namba is excited for people to not only enjoy OTOTO’s food, but also get comfortable with sake.

“Sake and a burger on the beach in Hawai‘i? What could be better?” Namba said. “It’s the perfect place to eat this kind of food, other than Echo Park [in Los Angeles].”

Mauna Lani culinary director Michael Arnot said Namba’s visit to the Big Island resort allowed the culinary team at the Surf Shack to get exposure to other styles of cooking and ingredients, including specialty misos, different types of vinegars and yamaimo (Japanese mountain yams).

“It gives them creative juices and gets them engaged,” Arnot said.

The menu is tailored to use many local products, including cabbage, scallions, tomatoes and cucumber in the cucumber salad, the Keiki Cuke Sunomono.

“I think it’s a really fun venture and it brings local community out to enjoy approachable Japanese bites,” Arnot said.

OTOTO recently celebrated its sixth anniversary. Namba, who has been working as a chef for nearly 20 years, said it was one of the LA restaurant’s regulars, who works with the hotel, that came up with the idea that OTOTO and Mauna Lani should partner up.

“For us at Mauna Lani, we’re always trying to elevate and grow from a culinary standpoint,” Alles said. “The exposure that our team gets when we work with outside talent and learning from them, enhances their education.”

Mauna Lani also has re-imagined its Ha’Lani Restaurant and has an award-winning signature oceanfront restaurant, CanoeHouse. Other renowned chefs to partner with Mauna Lani include Nancy Silverton, Andrew Zimmern and culinary talent from sushi restaurants Blue Ribbon and Nami Nori.

Prices on the OTOTO-featured menu vary, with entrees ranging from $21 to $31. The side dishes range from $10 to $19. Click here for more information.