Okuhara Foods
881 N King Street, Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 848-0581
https://www.okuharafoods.com/
IG: @okuharafoods
Tip: Pre-order a 5 lb bag of Gobo Tempura for $21 on Monday. Pick up is during business hours on Tuesday, when they fry them up.
Neighborhood: Kalihi
History
“In May 1947, Nobuichi "James" Okuhara purchased Aala Delicatessen located on Aala and River Street. His brothers Kiyoshi, Charlie, and Tatsuo soon joined James at the delicatessen and together they converted it into a kamaboko factory.
When they started out, the process for manufacturing kamaboko was very tedious. Production had to start at midnight to ensure the 300 fishcake quota would be met. To create surumi, the principle component of fishcake, the marlin or oio was cut into cubes, thoroughly washed and ground with other ingredients. The surumi would then be scraped onto a board and shaped by hand to achieve the famous half circle shape. They would then load the finished kamaboko onto their only truck at 7:00 a.m. and deliver it to the local supermarkets.
Ten years later, the factory relocated to Kewalo Basin, which enabled them to embrace modern (for the time) machinery and allowed them to expand their offerings to include products imported from Japan and Taiwan. In 1960 the business was incorporated as “Okuhara Foods Inc” and in 1973 the factory was again relocated to the current location on North King Street, where we still manufacture delicious fishcake to this day.”
Source: https://www.okuharafoods.com/our-story
