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Made-to-order sushi rolls. Ramen lunch specials. Sizzling yakitori skewers. When you’re craving authentic Japanese cuisine, few places match the range and quality of McCully Shopping Center. The center's Japanese restaurants all have different specialties, but there's one thing in common: They're so oishii!

Osaka Teppanyaki Kawano

Okonomiyaki comes with pork ($12.50), beef ($13.50) and shrimp ($14.50).

When you’re craving something hot, sizzling and comforting, head to Osaka Teppanyaki Kawano. While the restaurant also offers sushi, teppanyaki and grilled-to-order yakisoba noodles, sukiyaki and okonomiyaki are the house specialties.

Okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese-style pancake. Okonomi translates to “what you want,” while yaki means “grilled,” so basically okonomiyaki means “grill what you like.” In Osaka-style okonomiyaki, a special house recipe flour is mixed with egg and chopped cabbage and grilled in front of you. Layers of pork, beef or shrimp are added before the savory pancake is doused with a tangy sauce, drizzled with Japanese mayo and nori and served piping hot to your table. Tip: Okonomiyaki is equally satisfying with beer or sake.

Sukiyaki is available a la carte ($12.50), with a rice/miso soup set ($14.50) or as part of a teishoku set ($16).

Sukiyaki is a traditional dish of beef, bean curd and vegetables cooked in a cast-iron skillet in a savory-sweet sauce of soy, sake and sugar. The flavorful, thinly sliced beef makes it a hit with locals and tourists.

Bozu Japanese Restaurant

Hamachi carpaccio ($16.50) is one of Bozu’s most popular appetizers.

Nigiri, deep-fried delicacies, chirashi, donburi and makimono sushi rolls are just some of the tantalizing eats you can find at Bozu Japanese Restaurant. The izakaya-style menu is extensive and the choices plentiful, so here's a tip: First-timers won't go wrong with the hamachi carpaccio ($16.50) and the Bozu Special roll ($21.50).

The first is an unctuous, spicy pupu of fresh hamachi, olive oil, jalapenos and tomatoes. The Bozu Special roll, one of the restaurant's most popular, is the signature house roll. It's stuffed generously with fresh seafood and is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palate.

This cozy spot is in the middle of the shopping center's first floor and is as convenient for a quick bite after work as it is for a casual meal with friends. And here's another tip: There's a late-night happy hour.

Bozu Special roll ($21.50) includes tuna, yellowtail, salmon, halibut, crab meat, avocado and cucumbers, and it’s topped with ikura salmon roe.

Carp Dori Hawaii

H.R.set ($19.99) is a pretty awesome home run.

Carp Dori is the yakitori and ramen restaurant that took the place of the former Yotteko-Ya on McCully Shopping Center’s second level. Baseball uniforms and autographs line the walls — an homage to the Hiroshima Carp baseball team. The restaurant is well known for their ramen lunch specials — choose from paitan ramen, tripe ramen, paitan shoyu ramen and more — and grilled-to-order yakitori. Popular choices include beef, cheesy chicken meatballs, chicken wings, pork belly, arabiki sausage, bacon and enoki mushrooms and more.The H.R. or Home Run Set ($19.99) features nine sticks of the chef’s choice.

Also popular is the Value Set ($12.99), which gives diners a good sampling of five skewers: beef, ox tongue, pork belly, chicken and onion, and chicken meatball, plus edamame. No matter what skewers you order — and there’s a lot to choose from — this quirky spot hits it out of the park.

The Value Set's assortment of beef, chicken and pork belly ($12.99, pictured right before it hits the grill) is a customer favorite at Carp Dori.

McCully Shopping Center

1960 Kapiolani Blvd.

McCully

955-7377

https://mccullysc.com/