Counter-clockwise from the back left: Bean Curd (smoked and glazed w/sweet shoyu), Avocado (w/smoked beet aioli, lemon zest), Peppers (Roasted and marinated w/mustard shoyu), Enoki (w/garlic oil, ponzu, citrus), Pickled Mango (w/citrus avocado puree)

In casual conversation after the photo shoot with Rachel, she suggested a few local vegan establishments she really enjoyed so I added a few of them to my list of restaurants to try. When my good friends from San Francisco texted that they’d be in town soon and that they’d love to hang out, I suggested we try one of a few restaurants on the list and they chose Tane Vegan Izakaya! I like trying someplace new to both me and my guests because it becomes a shared new experience that we can all discuss for better or worse, like seeing a movie.

Point Reyes Roll

Marinated eryngii mushroom, avocado, spicy shredded tofu, pickled jalapeño, pickled pineapple, sweet shoyu, habanero sauce

Brussel Sprouts

Agave mustard, wasabi aioli

Konnyaku Ceviche

Tomato, avocado, cucumber, sweet corn, onion, jalapeño, konnyaku ceviche with sweet potato chips

Shizen Shiitake

Fresh shiitake mushrooms stuffed with shredded tofu, matcha salt

Leahi Roll

Smoked beets, cashews, creamy tofu, asparagus, avocado, sweet mustard, orange

Kailua Roll

Ginger shoyu tomato, pickled mango, sweet mustard shoyu, shiso, marinated shiitake, asparagus, wasabi mustard, rice cracker pearls

Ugh… I just lost the last two paragraphs I had typed because of an accidental swipe that closed safari on my iPad that I’m using to type this post. 😭 I had waxed poetic about my favorite dishes, but to summarize: they were all good, so go make your reservations soon! There are many dishes we didn’t try that I’m very curious about as well so I’ll need to return sometime myself. Steven and Kay discovered that Tane has a sister restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission district, Shizen, so they can share the experience when they return home. It was the best “full” feeling I’ve had in a while! Not the “roll me outta here” variety, but the “mmm… I’m satisfied” kine. For the photographers out there who are interested in less fresh hot food and have patient friends but struggle with challenging restaurant ambiance lighting, I purchased two Aputure MC lights from Pro Camera Hawaii for just this scenario. They’re pocketable LED lights designed for photography/videography (CRI 90+) to ensure that colors record properly (particularly in the red channel). For these photos, I have one light mounted on the camera’s hot shoe at 50% to fill in the shadows, and the other held above and behind the dish by my buddy Steven at 100% with an omnibounce attached. This allowed me to achieve a setting of f/5.6, 1/60s, ISO 1600 with the XF 35mm f/1.4 R lens on the X-T4 camera.

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF35mm f/1.4 R: 1/4000s, f/8, ISO200

Before dinner I made an excuse to drive Kay and Steven to a far corner of the island to buy time to catch up with them and show them a few more of my favorite spots.

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF35mm f/1.4 R: 1/1000s, f/2.8, ISO200

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF35mm f/1.4 R: 1/8000s, f/2, ISO200

07.23.2021