The first time I heard of Souza's Fish House was because of the business’s gorgeous sushi cakes. The fresh sashimi roses, high-quality fish and perfectly textured sushi rice had me hooked.
The catering business still offers its signature catering menus — which feature dishes ranging from smoked marlin poke and Ora king salmon poke to spicy ‘ahi on sushi rice and poke nachos — but just opened its new brick and mortar space. If the address sounds familiar, that’s because it was the former home of Kau Kau Grill (now on Sand Island Access Road) in Māpunapuna.
Business owner Ryan Souza says he’s been doing seafood catering for about seven years. He started out by doing sashimi platters, but started offering sushi cakes a few years ago when the trend started.
“I always wanted to have my own place; it’s always been my dream,” he says.
The business’s new daily menu features an assortment of sashimi donburi, specialty donburi, poke bowls/nachos and other specials.
Donburi include white rice, sushi rice or tossed salad, shoyu, ginger, wasabi and takuan, along with two featured sides.
“Each plate comes with two sides that we feel matches the dish,” Souza says.
The Fish House chirashi ($35) is one of the signature dishes. It features a colorful assortment of akami, chutoro, otoro, king salmon, hamachi, ikura and Hokkaido uni.
The Souza Special ($27) is another popular favorite. It’s similar to the Fish House chirashi, but doesn’t include Hokkaido uni. Also popular is the trio ($22), which comes with akami, chutoro, king salmon, zuke ikura and hamachi from Japan.
“We either source local or we get them (our fish) from Japan or New Zealand,” Souza says. “Salmon comes from New Zealand; the bluefin and hamachi come from Japan.
“They (customers) like the Souza Special, but if you like uni, the Fish House chirashi is where it’s at,” he adds. “I made the menu where you can have all bluefin, you can have some bluefin with some salmon, or you can have more variety.”
Customers will also notice a display case featuring a selection of poke for the day. Choose from options like spicy ‘ahi, shoyu ‘ahi, spicy salmon, hurricane ‘ahi and limu-style ‘ahi. Hurricane ‘ahi features spicy ‘ahi with imitation crab. While the most popular flavor depends on the day, Souza says limu-style ʻahi is a customer favorite.
Stay tuned — the business will soon offer hot foods as well.
“People like to eat cooked foods, so I’m going to incorporate that,” he says. “Local foods like smoked meat and kalbi, stuff like that."
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CONTACT
Souza’s Fish House
852 Māpunapuna St., Honolulu
808-476-5609
Instagram: @souzasfishhouse
Open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
