Romy’s Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp – Kahuku, HI

We decided to play tourists one day during the break and it was great. I love heading up to the North Shore for a change of pace. We had a good breakfast at Sunny Side which I will share in an upcoming post, got some Dole Whip at the Dole Plantation. We even decided to try the world’s biggest maze there. Well I sort of stood in the middle as the rest of them hit all the stations in the maze. I realized my shoes had a hole in them during the maze and it was not pleasant walking on the rocky ground with that hole. Then we capped off the day with my favorite prawns plate at Romy’s.

There are many complaints that can be thrown out about this place but once you understand and know what to expect, they won’t bother you. First, there’s always a long line to order. Second, they say you can call in you order beforehand to avoid waiting. Well, they never answer their phone so don’t even bother. Third, the plates are pricey. Yes, it’s seafood plates, they are not cheap. Fourth, the wait to get your food is lengthy too. So yes, it’s a lot of waiting, then you pay a lot of money and then you wait some more. Know this and expect these things so  you don’t get mad waiting. If you don’t think you can wait, don’t come here. Get plenny shrimp trucks out here.

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150130-04Number 1 – Sauteed Butter Garlic Shrimp Plate
Look at all that garlic. Oh it’s so good.

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150130-02Number 5 Steamed Prawns with Butter Garlic Dipping Sauce (2x)

I am not going to be the person NOT ordering double butter garlic sauces. Ahhh…this is my absolute favorite plate. I think it ranks in the top 5 of my favorite meals on the planet. I just love big prawns. The heads are so delicious and the bodies are so firm and meaty. It’s pricey but worth it in my opinion. I should not have written this post right now, I am so hungry! Wish I had this in front of me right now.

Hong Kong Noodle House – Chinatown, HI

On a rainy day, we decided to have ourselves a nice steaming bowl of noodles. I’ve seen reviews here and there for the Hong Kong Noodle House and was impressed that the owner/chef makes the noodles in house. Then I saw that he uses an old school traditional method and knew I had to get in on this. So we did! It’s a nice place, as other have mentioned, it is very clean. The wait staff is very nice, seems like a family run business.

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Pan Fried Gau Gee – $4.00 – delicious! Homemade! I burned my tongue trying it because it was hot off the pan! The filling was also very juicy…yummy.

150128-01Look Funn in Soup – Combination Stewed Beef and Roast Duck ($7.75)

150128-02Soup Noodle – Combination Fish Balls and Roast Duck ($7.75)

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Soup Noodle – Combination with Won Ton and Roast Duck ($7.75)

This was my bowl. As I mentioned, it very a very nice bowl of noodles. I thought the noodles were good! The roast duck, average. Not the best I’ve had, then again – this is a noodle house. The won ton were good but nothing special. The only reason why I’m not singing praises is because I did get an upset stomach after this meal. I don’t think it was their food though, was probably just me. My dining companions were totally fine after eating their noodles. I guess I was still getting over my sickness this day.

Red Lion Amaryllis

My shop of choice? Target. My mission? Clearance items. I love when major holidays are over because that means all the seasonal items go on sale! I found this awesome red lion amaryllis bulb kit from Target on clearance for $8! I thought having the vase/pot was good enough! I’ve never had a green thumb so I figured I would kill this plant before it bloomed. To my surprise, I have nurtured it to fruition! I planted it around new years and it is currently blooming. It is so beautiful! I can’t believe I nurtured it to this point! I just wanted to share (brag) about it today.

150126-01Wish I took a picture of it when it was just a bulb in the soil. Look at how tall it gets! I am in awe each time I come home from work.

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150126-03Exciting!

150126-04Boom! Beauty shot. Here is the first bloom, isn’t it beautiful??

150126-05I’ll probably share again once the other ones bloom as well!

Izakaya Torae Torae – Moilili, HI

Yes, another visit to Izakaya Torae Torae! Sorry, not sorry. Okay I am sorry for using that phrase though. Another visit, another great meal with great company! I had a great time with my friend here! I actually didn’t take pictures of all the foods! But the ones I didn’t take pictures of were of foods I’ve shared before. Let’s get to the food!

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Hamachi Carpaccio – delicious as always. Served on a bed of thinly sliced onions. The onions are prepared so that there isn’t a raw bite.

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150125-04Pork Belly Kakuni – Sunterra Farm Blackline pork belly simmered in soy based sauce. Delicious! Perfectly poached egg on top of pork belly on top of perfectly cooked rice. Good dish but not a favorite of mine.

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150125-06Dashimaki Tamago – I enjoyed this much more on the second try. It is still filled with cheese and unagi but I think I like it more and more. It is garnished with kewpie mayonnaise, daikon, and green onions. Delicious! Once again, not on the standard menu. You have to request it with the wait staff and they will check to see if it can be made.

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150125-08Lollipop Roll – first time trying it and it was delicious! And look at how beautiful this dish is. You really do feast with your eyes first before all else. I would definitely recommend this dish!

Happy Saturday!

I hope you folks get to go out and have some fun this weekend! I just wanted to share some pictures of Waimanalo Beach Park. This was my first time at this beach and it was fantastic! A nice parking lot, clean beach….and not at all crowded! It was great! I would love to get back here soon.

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Happy Saturday everyone!

Sara’s Cafe – Honolulu, HI

Hello readers! Ah, I was out this past week. We had a three day weekend and here I thought I was going to be super on it and get things done. Well Monday came along and I got really sick. Like, really really sick. It started with a headache (might have been the vog) and led to me (sorry for sharing) vomiting all day. And I didn’t eat anything so I don’t know how it was possible to throw up so much, must have been all the acid in my stomach coming out. It was TERRIBLE. I even had to call in sick on Tuesday to rest up. Glad I did. In fact, I probably could have taken more time off but I have a lot of stuff at work to do. I think I’m still getting over the after effects of Monday.

I hope everyone is doing well! School started again as well and I really do want to be proactive and do things early. I haven’t achieved that yet, but I’ll just make sure I remain timely with my assignments. I also plan to take a trip this Spring so I really really need to plan that out. I’m getting pretty excited about it too!

Anyhow, I’ll try to get some posts up this weekend and get some up for next week too! I had to push this post up because Sara’s Cafe is a brand spanking new restaurant so I wanted to share my experience with everyone. This restaurant replaces Jun Cafe. If you ever head towards Don Quijote on Beretania, I think you’ve seen Jun Cafe’s sign. In fact, the Jun Cafe sign is still up but the restaurant is now Sara’s Cafe. This is a very cute and small restaurant run by ONE woman. It’s very similar to the Angry Korean Lady but also the complete opposite. Sara is a sweetheart and works FAST and she serves you…and you don’t have to fear being yelled at. Hahaha so would I recommend this restaurant over Ah Lang? Um, yes.

When I came to this restaurant, there was a man in front of the garage who told me to park in this 30 minute guest spot. I only spotted two spots! Super tight. This guy parked next to me in a porsche and he was all freaked out that I would hit his car. No worries bra. Nah, I would probably worry if I had one expensive car too. Anyway, I’m not sure how the parking works for this place. When I was leaving, the guy was gone so maybe you can park anywhere in the structure? We were the first customers in the restaurant so we received fast and attentive service. Really small restaurant, big screen TV with a Karaoke set located in the front. When no one is singing, the TV is playing random music videos. While the videos were super random and from different decades, the music was quite enjoyable. Ahhh…enough babbling! Get to the food Jenny! Okay, I will.

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150123-02Korean Chives Pancake – $7.99

Okay, so there isn’t as much chives as Ah Lang. It’s still good! I wouldn’t say it’s great though because I felt like it could have been fried a bit crispier. I also felt that maybe the oil was not hot enough yet so the pancake tasted a bit greasy. Overall, I wouldn’t order this again.

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150123-05Korean Style Hamburger Steak – $11.99

I was looking forward to this very much! I really like meatballs and these are prepared exactly like meatballs. Meatballs are great because they are so luscious and delicious. Well usually. These were good! I would definitely order them again.

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150123-09Steamed Egg – $5.99

I’m a sucker for eggs steamed like this. It’s a homestyle Chinese dish as well so I was glad to see a Korean version. Some may try to compare it to Chawan Mushi but other than it being steamed and containing eggs, they are not at all similar. Chawan mushi is silky while this egg dish is not. This is prepared very similar to the way I’m used to, only there is sesame oil. What Korean dish is complete without sesame oil? It was a pretty good price for this dish so I would order it again!

150123-10Spicy Soft Tofu Stew (Soondubu) – $9.99

Ahhh..this soup was so good. There were three of us so all the food was shared family style. If I was by myself, I’d eat that soup all by myself. She cracks an egg right at the end of cooking so it was perfectly poached with the most perfect yolk. Sara is also very generous with the seafood in this soup! Delicious.

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150123-07Here’s the banchan! It came with our food, very delicious. I’m not sure how she determines how to give banchan. Her menu is made up of plate lunches, ala carte items and then soup sets. So depending on what you order, you will get rice or banchan. If you don’t order these sets, she does offer her banchan and rice for ala carte ordering.

So I showed you exactly what we ordered and based on that, she did serve us this platter of banchan and a rice bowl for each of us. I didn’t want to ask how it would work, figured I would let her decide how to serve. Sara is very sweet, I felt very comfortable in this restaurant. I likened it to eating some good home cooked Korean food. Nothing fancy which is what made the experience nice. I gotta tell you, Sarah was FAST. She served up our dishes in no time. Really great food, I’d love to give this place a try again…soon!

Liliha Bakery – Liliha, HI

Liliha Bakery is a great place for a casual diner meal. There is a new location on Nimitz Highway and I still have not tried that one out. In fact, I feel like it would be like a betrayal to the original location. Just a quick update on a recent meal I had there, it was a much better visit than past visits. The waitresses were very nice! Maybe they were happy from the glow of holidays and impending days off for New Years. I was actually getting agitated at another customer who kept raising his voice at the waitresses. I have no doubt the waitresses could hold their own though, hehe. Well, here’s the food!

150115-01Omelette with Portuguese Sausage – anything tastes good with Portuguese sausage

150115-02Meat Loaf Plate – I am like 99.9% sure the tomato salad really is served with just a big dab of mayonnaise. I still would like it if they could serve it with ranch dressing instead. Nice comfort food, I definitely enjoyed the simplicity of it all. And….who can resist their toasted rolls with their neon jelly??

Fook Lam – Chinatown, HI

I have so much pictures to catch up on! I hope you folks don’t mind, there will be a few posts coming with less detail than I’m used to giving because it has been so long. Hopefully you enjoy looking at pictures of food anyhow (who doesn’t?!). This post is from a previous visit to Fook Lam in Chinatown. I have a detailed post from my first visit there, found here. Let’s check out what I had at this visit!

150113-01Siu Mai – delicious of course. Can’t go wrong with dim sum pork hash.

150113-04Seafood Bundle – one of my favorites. I think it’s all the different elements. The bean curd wrapper, the seafood, the shiitake mushroom – I highly recommend it!

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150113-03Seafood Chow Mein – this is my absolute favorite noodle dish from Chinese restaurants. It invokes memories of childhood parties in Chinese restaurants. I love the seafood gravy and topping, the crispy noodles that are half crispy and soft from the gravy. So much texture and flavor, still one of my favorites of all time. The one here is okay, I think you can see that the vegetables outweigh the seafood.

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150113-06Xiao Long Bao – supposedly one of their signature dishes. I didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t think it was great. I assume you can get it better in China but I was not impressed. The concept behind this dumpling is that you bite into it and release the soup contained in the dumpling as you eat. It’s an interesting way to make dumplings. I’ve never made it before but I assume they just freeze broth and stick it into the dumpling frozen and it melts when you steam the dumplings. They serve these dumplings with a red vinegar sauce. I just think the way these dumplings are made are more interesting than how it tastes. I wouldn’t recommend it from this restaurant.

Jjajangmyeon Challenge – On Dong Chinese Restaurant

My post yesterday wasn’t too detailed, maybe I should have done this all in one post. Ah well! The second challenger is On Dong Chinese Restaurant, there was a line to get into this restaurant when I went. The restaurant was also filled with Koreans (always a good sign). The Korean ladies running the shop were quick and efficient, also friendly! They served us hot tea and brought ice water when we asked. I appreciate this restaurant serving all the side dishes to everyone equally. I’ll explain more with the pictures.

150111-01The kimchee here was okay. Nothing great but not the worst I have had.

150111-02Raw Onion with Black Bean Paste

Okay this is the dish they gave us without asking. I saw this dish on random tables at Eastern Paradise but we were never given this dish or even offered. Not to say I am in love with this or anything. I don’t quite get why people like it. I’m sure that if you asked for it at Eastern Paradise, they will give them to you. They have it ready to go on the side.

150111-03Pickled Radish or Takuan – this was weird. It wasn’t sweet like usual, much more vinegary than I would have liked.

150111-04Potstickers – not as flavorful or generous with the filling. They do give you more pieces but the taste definitely wasn’t as good as Eastern Paradise.

150111-05Mongolian Beef – this is supposedly their signature dish. It was DELICIOUS. I loved it. I also believe there was MSG in it, but it was good nonetheless.

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Look that gloss! Good sign so far. And the very visible chunks of pork and vegetables, all positives on my list.

150111-07So how was it? I thought it was good but I think Eastern Paradise’s jjajangmyeon edges this one out. While this one was good, I feel like Eastern Paradise’s sauce is thicker and deeper in flavor. This one was more watery, I was left with a black bean paste broth after I slurped up the noodles.

I guess the winner for me is Eastern Paradise Restaurant! Everytime I pass by On Dong, they have a line out the door so maybe it’s up to everyone and their own taste buds. I would go to Eastern Paradise just to hear the owner speak four languages. He spoke Mandarin, Korean, Japanese and English fluently the hour I was there. I wonder if he knows any other languages…haha. Give them a try and let me know what you think yourself!

Jjajangmyeon Challenge – Eastern Paradise Restaurant

This weekend, I will be sharing two Northern Chinese restaurants and their jjajangmyeon! For those who are in the Korean drama know, we’ve watched as the stars slurp the deliciously glossy black noodles (usually in anger) in awe. Well I’d say we have two restaurants in Hawaii that compete for the best jjajangmyeon. They are both of course located near Keeaumoku (aka Koreamoku) – how do they measure up? I was able to try both within a week of each other so I will share my thoughts! First up? Eastern Paradise Restaurant – let’s see how it went!

150110-01Kimchee – I like their version! Very flavorful and so crunchy.

150110-02Potstickers

Delicious. You can tell it’s homemade and they are generous with the filling, definitely recommended!

150110-03Jjajangmyeon

The star of the show. My friend tried this for the first time ever with me and she LOVED it. It was thicky, luscious and delicious. I wish I took a picture of it mixed up but I was too busy eating…hehe. I’ll do more comparisons in tomorrow’s review!