First, educator LaChanze Thomas is teaching us all about an elegant beachfront spot from
Japanese-inspired seafood.
At her pick, you can bask in the sun at their casual beach bar right on the sand, or you
can spend a romantic evening on their outdoor terrace.
LaChanze says all your senses will be tantalized with their ethereal atmosphere, eclectic entree
selections, and decadent desserts.
It's in Hallandale Beach, and it's called ETARU.
My name is Nigel Marumahoko, and I'm the general manager of ETARU Hallandale.
So ETARU opened in August 2017.
Our menu is contemporary Japanese, so everyone always gets scared when we say contemporary
Japanese.
Of course, we have sushi, but we have a robata grill.
We cook things over open fire, so the black cod is marinated in a yuzu miso.
It's marinated for 24 hours.
72 hours before that, it sits in saltwater, and that's cooked over an open flame, and
that's one of the most popular dishes.
My favorite dish, actually.
We really try to make the plates look as pretty as possible, you know, to the point of where
you actually feel bad eating the food.
Dessert pies look stunning.
You know, so they sit over ice.
We've got flowers that you can eat as well, and everything on the plate is designed to
be eaten, so nothing on the plate is designed to go to waste, in theory.
It's all about the experience here at ETARU, you know?
You do come for the food, of course, you come for the drinks, but you also come for the
whole, overall experience, so it goes from service down to food down to the valet down
to the bartender that greets you.
That's what the atmosphere's about, making sure that when you come in, you have a great
time.
So ETARU is about coming here and experiencing a whole day of events.
If you come here for brunch, you can transition from brunch down to the beach with the family.
You know, it's all about a lifestyle experience, I think.
It's a beautiful atmosphere, right?
Isn't it?
I love it.
It represents everything about South Florida that people love.
It's right on the beach, has a great ambiance.
It's just wonderful, and the food is great to boot.
So I think all three of you ate on the terrace, is that correct?
Yes.
How lovely.
It's quite appealing, hearing the waves...
How lovely.
While you're dining.
It was wonderful.
Okay, so speaking of dining, let's dig right in.
What did you have--
So initially, I had the carpaccio salad, and it was divine.
It was really good.
It was salmon.
The arrangement was lovely, and the sauce that was there, it was just really good.
And then I had the prawns, and they were really great, and they had an aioli sauce to go with
it.
They very tender, you know?
The coating on the outside was just not overbearing.
[Michelle] You had prawns, right?
I had the appetizer, the prawns.
[Michelle] Okay, and what did you think?
It was wonderful.
Oh, just absolutely perfect.
They were nice and light.
Panko on the outside, and it was juicy, pink shrimp on the inside, and they were big.
For the appetizer alone, you got five servings of the prawn.
It was just wonderful.
Hm. Craig?
Well, we did a tasting.
We created our own tasting.
We had the hamachi appetizer, which was fabulous, the brussel sprouts, which were also amazing.
We also tried the sea bass, which was also great.
For me, personally, I enjoyed the cooked food more than the sushi, I think.
The sushi was good, but the actual entrees that we had and shared were amazing.
What else did you have--
I had the New Zealand lamp chops, and they had the hot Korean sauce on them, and they
were just perfectly juicy, medium-rare, just the way I like them, and they were all turned
up in the plate, just flipped up over a little leaf and a white plate, so it was really elegant-looking.
Very, very nice atmosphere, and I had some wild plum sake with it, which was chilled.
[Michelle] Oh, what was that like?
That was just delightful.
It was almost like an aperitif that you would have.
It was a dry sweet.
I mean, it was a little bit of both.
It was really great.
It was delicious.
[Michelle] Nice.
I had the Lotus Blossom, and it was great.
It was like a turn on your lychee martini, and it had a beautiful little orchid petal
inside.
[Michelle] How pretty!
[LaChanze] Beautiful.
You haven't told me about your main course yet.
I had the scallops, and they were great.
Yeah, they were very tender.
They had watercress on top of them with peppers, on a bed of peppers and corn and onions.
It was just wonderful.
You said that you had some citrusy desserts.
Do you remember?
One was an ice cream, and it was in a ball, and it was beautiful presentation, and it
had all different types of fresh fruits that were part of it, and it was amazing.
[Michelle] Nice.
I had two mochi balls, which was the ice cream wrapped in the sweet rice flour, and when
they cut them, they put them each in half, and they put them at diagonals on--
[Michelle] It's good for sharing that way.
[Brenda] Oh, it was wonderful!
On this huge block of ice that was like three inches high, three inches wide and so forth.
[Michelle] Quite the presentation!
Over crushed ice, and then again, on the ice, there was leaves, and then the mochis were
placed there, so they were just delightful.
[Michelle] Wow.
Yeah.
With all the presentation, did you find the food to be very dramatic as your dessert sounded
to me?
Oh, absolutely.
The best place for you, if you eat with your eyes first.
[Michelle] Really?
Really, they do.
Even when they serve the prawns, they had them up in the air with their tails and just
crossing over each other just so delicately.
It was just--
That's really a show.
You know?
You're kind of in dinner theater.
You're sitting and watching the ocean, and it's dramatic.
You have all this beautiful, dramatic food coming to you.
So how are the prices?
I would say moderate.
The dishes are there for sharing, and they explain that to you when you go so everyone
could partake and try different things.
How about location?
Tell me a little bit about the area.
It was a little obscure to find, initially, but once--
Why are you laughing?
Did you have a hard time finding it?
Yeah, my Waze navigation took me around a couple times, and you actually have to go
all the way to the back to get to the valet, and I didn't know that, so we kinda went around
a little bit, but once you got there, it was great.
Well, LaChanze, ETARU was your choice.
Sum it up for us, please.
It is tantalizing.
The view, the presentation.
It's elegant.
It's everything that people find attractive about South Florida.
Craig?
The food is amazing.
The presentations are great, and the service was spectacular.
[Michelle] Brenda?
The food was excellent.
It was just different tastes.
I agree with the word tantalizing because it just piqued your interest to try something
else new and different.
Lovely.
Well, listen to sounds of lapping waves with your next meal at ETARU, located at 111 South
Surf Road in Hallandale Beach.
They're open daily for dinner, as well as lunch on Saturdays and brunch on Sundays.
Reservations are accepted, and the average price for dinner without drinks is about $50.