Gourmet Sangria served with a smile
Josselins Tapas Bar and Grill offers a delightful gourmet experience emphasizing fresh local ingredients. Don’t let the word Tapas fool you. Although Josselins offers premium sangria, the cuisine is Asian fusion with Hawaiian influence, not Spanish. Tapas refers to a succession of small plates. Our favorite way to eat.
We took photos of just a few of the wonderful dishes. You can see the full menu and more photos on the Josselin’s Tapas Bar and Grill website. Our photos were not staged or styled, they are the dishes as served during various visits in July this year. We first discovered Josselin’s July 8th and returned several times that month. Our preference for small plates is obvious.
The Thai Shrimp Bisque has a beautiful combination of flavors but the special joy in this dish is the sensation of discovering shrimp dumplings in the bowl.
Thai Shrimp Bisque, Red Curry, Basil, Corn Puree, Shrimp Dumpling, Orange Kaffir Foam
I lived in Japan for twenty years and I have eaten many pork gyoza. Normally, they are made from ground pork. Replacing the ground pork with kalua style pork creates a special treat. We try to vary what we order when we come here so that we try new dishes, but we always get one order of these. Yum.
Kalua Style Pork Gyoza, Roasted Curry Pineapple Vinaigrette
I don’t usually think of risotto as a refreshing dish, but the peaches included in this delightful creation certainly earn it’s name of Summer Risotto. Outstanding.
Summer Risotto, Peach, Edamame, Eggplant, Zucchini, Tomato, Basil
For goat cheese aficionados
Wasabi Cured Salmon Roll, Goat Cheese, Fennel Salad
How can you not love a dish named Scallop Pillows? It is difficult to adequately capture these in a photograph but they are delicious down to the Drunken Grapes.
Scallop Pillows, Cardamom Coconut Broth, Galangal, Drunken Grapes
Another favorite and another difficult to photograph dish. The challenge? It comes smoking with dry ice. The hamachi (that’s Japanese for yellow tail) had perfect mouth feel every time, never too soft.
Hamachi and Tuna Crudo, Tomato Soffritto, Tomato Jelly
It is easy to get a healthy combination of protein and vegetables at Josselin’s. Each dish, at least the ones we sampled, was light and flavorful. We didn’t get a photo of the organic beet salad with goat cheese fritter and orange vinaigrette but this is also a big winner.
Oven Roasted Asparagus, Apple Smoked Bacon ,”61″ Degree Poached Farm Egg
Pumpkin and Cauliflower Poached Dumpling, Kauai Fresh Corn Broth
The bread is inventive and tasty. The small muffins on this plate were spicy.
Freshly prepared bread and mini rolls
Do you like Sangria? Josselin’s offers two gourmet sangria options nightly with a choice of white or red. I say gourmet because the ingredients are high quality down to the recognizably labeled wine included. Cart delivery brings an Asian influence along with the fun of chatting with the server.
Gourmet White Sangria
Chef Jean Marie Josselin and Andrew Ha have assembled a great staff at this new restaurant. We have enjoyed interacting with everyone we encountered. We look forward to our next visit.
Josselin’s Tapas Bar and Grill is located in a pretty shopping complex that is so new it won’t show up on your iPhone GPS yet. It is called Kukui’ula Shopping Village. You’ll find it at the round-about that leads to Spouting Horn on the South Shore of Kauai.
Open for dinner only. Nightly. 808-742-7117.
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