The story below is from our September/October 2019 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Ike’s Kitchen introduces Japanese street food with its unique flavors.
John Park
Ike's Kitchen
When considering how to spend one’s retirement years, lots of ideas bubble to the surface; more traveling or pursuing a beloved hobby. Starting another career isn’t usually one of them. And yet, this is exactly what Hideji ‘Ike’ Aikawa, owner of Ike’s Kitchen, did.
Ike was born in 1951 in Shizuoka, a city on Japan’s main island, Honshu, near Mount Fuji. Ike grew up under the steady presence of Japan’s tallest peak. He also grew up with a father who loved food.
“I lived in the city,” says Ike. “Every night after dinner, my father would take us to the sushi bars around our home. There were lots of little food shops in the city and my father was a bit of a foodie.”
When Ike was 27, he left Japan for South America. He took advantage of a Japanese government farming project to South America. For five years, Ike lived in five different South American countries trying out various farming endeavors. On the side, he cooked in Japanese restaurants, even opening a restaurant with a friend in Chile.
In 1984, Ike received a call from a friend living in Roanoke. The friend was helping the owner of Kabuki restaurant look for new chefs. Ike liked the idea of living in America and moved to Roanoke. He worked at Kabuki for the next 30 years, 29 of them as head chef.
When Ike retired from Kabuki in 2014, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. Ike’s son, Skye, says he became concerned when he saw his dad spending all his time playing Pokémon Go.
“He was so bored,” says the 28-year old graphic designer, both of them laughing at the memory of Ike playing Pokémon Go. “He just seemed like he was wasting away.”
In a stroke of fortuitous timing, Skye was also in a transitional stage with his career, looking to do something different with his graphic design skills. The father-son team decided to combine their skills and open their own eatery; a Japanese restaurant offering foods from Ike’s homeland in their most authentic form.
Ike’s Kitchen is unique from other Japanese-inspired restaurants in the area. With exception of the hibachi (which isn’t authentic to Japan), everything on Ike’s menu is either Japanese street food, or the comfort foods Ike (and subsequently Skye) grew up eating at home. Skye says their menu mimics what one would find in any small restaurant in Japan.
In another stroke of fortuitous timing—for me, anyway—my family traveled to Japan the same month I was working on this article. What Skye says is exactly what we experienced. Everywhere we went—from Kyoto, to Fuji, to Tokyo—small restaurants lined side streets and offered some variation of Ike’s menu.
It was fun to discover Roanoke really does have a tiny piece of Japan embedded in it. Even more fun to discover, was that the flavors are the same. Ike’s Kitchen truly offers authentic Japanese cuisine.
When my family eats at Ike’s, they go straight for the ramen. Ike’s offers three styles of ramen, all filled with complementing protein and vegetable combinations. Customers can also make their own ramen bowl, if they like. I’ve not ventured into building my own ramen bowl yet. For now, I’m enjoying Ike’s combinations, the tonkotsu in particular.
We also enjoy the yakisoba: pan fried noodles with vegetables. I add either chicken or steak with mine. My husband likes his with shrimp. And then there is donburi, or Japanese rice bowls. Ike’s most popular donburi is katsudon: breaded and deep-fried pork belly (called ‘tonkatsu’), egg and onion served with donburi sauce atop the rice. I like katsudon, but I also enjoy Ike’s butadon, the grilled marinated pork version with onions and cabbage.
Finally, we never leave Ike’s without an order of curry. Japanese curry is more mild than Thai curry. It’s also a staple of the Japanese diet. Ike’s curry is especially creamy. Skye contributes this to the amount of time they let it simmer, giving it a rich, creamy flavor.
And of course, no meal is complete at Ike’s Kitchen without some gyoza: pork and chicken dumplings.
Skye says they were surprised at how busy they’ve been from the beginning; especially since they’ve done no formal advertising. Skye credits the high quality of ingredients they insist upon, and his father’s mastery in food prep. He also credits Roanokers for their appreciation of Ike’s Kitchen’s commitment to true Japanese dishes.
“We aren’t trying to be a conglomeration of other things,” says Skye. “We’re just trying to offer an authentic taste of Japan in Roanoke.”
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