Finest cooking of Japan and China converge in Kahala

Chef Masao Mori

For nearly 40 years, Plumeria Beach House has been the flagship restaurant of The Kahala Hotel & Resort. Since opening in 1981, the restaurant has specialized in showcasing fresh, local ingredients in an elegant, open-air setting on the edge of the white sands of Kahala. Comfortable and casual, with an ambiance reminiscent of a cozy island home, Plumeria Beach House is an ideal choice for casual dining, quiet meetings and cocktails at sunset.

Over the years, Plumeria Beach House has built a loyal following of local customers with such ongoing events as the seafood buffet on Friday and Saturday evenings, the aromatic curry lunch buffet on Wednesdays and the daily breakfast buffet.

The breathtaking view just out back of the Kahala restaurant

Not the type to rest on its laurels, Plumeria Beach House regularly holds special events in addition to its regular, ongoing favorites. For example, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Friday in September the restaurant will offer an Aloha Friday Plate Lunch Bento ($39) featuring such favorites as ahi poke, rib eye steak, crispy butter mochi with ube coconut sauce and more.

From Wednesday, Sept. 25 to Sunday, Sept. 29, Plumeria Beach House will host the Japan’s Finest Chefs Series. Chef Kenji Imagawa, former head chef at the U.S. Embassy in Japan, and chef Masao Mori of Ashiya Bay Court Club will showcase their culinary artistry in Japanese and Chinese cuisine.

Chef Kenji Imagawa

Imagawa’s diverse menu will feature beef shabu shabu with onions, mizuna, shiitake, carrots and ponzu sauce; sashimi platters consisting of sea bream, ahi and kampachi; and vegetable, prawn, fish and eel tempura. Dessert will be warabi mochi.

Chef Mori’s offerings will include two kinds of Hong Kong-style pork — spicy salt flavor fried pork and fried pork with Hawaiian honey — as well as beef fried rice with garlic, alii mushrooms and Japanese leeks and stir-fried prawns with a signature spicy chili sauce.

This special event will also feature a salad bar, assorted sushi and poke, a buffet offering miso butter fish and steamed crab, and a carving station with Hawaiian salt and rosemary slow roast prime rib, guava smoked Norwegian salmon, and roasted bone marrow with garlic and fresh herbs.

The Japan’s Finest Chefs Series at Plumeria Beach House runs from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sept. 25 to Sept. 29. The cost is $90 per person; $45 for children ages 6-12. Reservations are required.