An after work meal at Nico’s is perfect! They have a nice view of the harbor and live music to help soothe you from a day of hard work. I would come here for a good pupu evening – but they serve up great entrees too! Here is what we got…

Virgin Lava Flow

I felt like a drink but without alcohol. This did the trick! Tasted great, and dare I say…I can’t taste much of a difference between both anyway. Maybe I should just stick with the virgin version…

Fried Calamari 

Nicely fried, generous portion!

Poke Sampler

Perhaps the favorite of the night! Three different types of poke, all delicious. Do you see the chunks of fish between the scoops of poke? Gosh I don’t know what they were, I want to guess salmon but they were DELICIOUS. It was a smoked fish…and I would get that again alone…over rice!

Seafood Pasta

Ehhh, it was good. Not great, I wouldn’t get it again.

Furikake Pan Seared Ahi

One of their famous, signature dishes. Perfectly cooked and seasoned, I would definitely recommend this!

 

 

I went from never been to Sansei to going 3-4 times in the last few months. Was it worth it? Um, yeah! It’s pretty dangerous that Sansei also serves the one alcoholic drink I love. Hmm…this is not going down a good road. It’s okay, I know you’re here for the food pics anyhow! My wonderful friend Kristian treated me to the best graduation dinner ever and I will never forget it. 🙂 Thank you Krey! On to the food pics…

Hibiscus Pineapple Cocktail – Cruzan pineapple rum, mint, hibiscus syrup, fresh pineapple, house made lime sour

What does it taste like? Pineapple, hibiscus and oh, I don’t know…a pinch of heaven. If you know me, you know that I don’t usually drink alcohol. Well, I had two of these that night. I wish I could have a non-stop supply if I didn’t have to drive or if it didn’t cost money…haha.

Panko-Crusted Fresh Ahi Sashimi – Island fresh ahi tuna wrapped with arugula and spinach, panko crusted and flash fried, served with a soy wasabi butter sauce

This is one of their award winning dishes! It is very good and highly recommended for you to try.

Salmon Sashimi

What can I say? I love salmon! And I love that they serve it with fresh lemon slices. Is it the best salmon I have ever had? No, but it was still good!

Sansei’s Lobster & Blue Crab Ravioli

I would skip this, skimpy on the portion of ravioli and where is the seafood? The ravioli wasn’t even stuffed full! The sauce was delicious but I don’t think this dish is worth the cost.

Maui Style Teriyaki Beef

I ordered this at least twice in my visits, teriyaki beef is a pretty plain dish but I liked that their beef was sliced thicker. I’m not usually a fan of teriyaki beef because it is usually such thin slices.

DK’s Crab Ramen with Asian Truffle Broth

Another signature award winning dish I would highly recommend you trying. Unfortunately we got this after we got stuffed on all the other food so we couldn’t enjoy this as much. It’s very good.

Ama Ebi Nigiri

One of my favorite sushis is the ama ebi, raw sweet shrimp. Some places don’t fry up the heads for you, why not? That’s one of the best parts! I loved that they gave you rice with the head too…lol. That’s a bit unusual…but hey, I’ll take it! Very good.

 

I had a meeting in downtown last week and jumped at the chance to grab lunch to go! Boy do I miss working in downtown…all the good food is there! It sucks because a lot of the restaurants aren’t open during the weekends and parking can be such a pain/pricey. Silk Road Cafe serves up Uzbekistan food and I have never tried Uzbekistan anything so I was excited to give it a try. I just looked them up on Yelp and realized they are open on Saturdays! Hmmm…that’s got my brain going. Much more open street parking on Saturdays. I can safely say that I really enjoyed my dish so I would recommend you trying it out!

Plov (Osh) – $8.75
Rice pilaf with beef, carrots, chickpeas, and raisins.

I think this dish was okay. I don’t think I would get it again since it’s really mainly just a rice dish, why not try a plate with protein and their awesome rice already? The meat you can see here was dry…I’ve seen other pictures of the dish with slices of beef so it seems to be a bit inconsistent. I’m glad to have tried this dish but wouldn’t order it again.

Tabaka plate – $9.75
Uzbek-style rotisserie chicken thighs

YUM. First impressions, Uzbekistan people like using dill (lol). Do you see the fresh dill on my chicken and the carrots? Oh but it all works so well together. I’m not usually a big fan of carrots but these are some of the best carrots I have tasted. It’s definitely pickled carrots but it’s not sour, has more of a sweet garlicky taste. No raw carrot taste which I like. As I finished off my carrots, I found small red bits. I’m pretty sure it was beets…which explains the sweet flavor! Great!

The salad had a nice simple vinaigrette. The chicken thighs were tender, smoky, delicious. The basmati (?) rice was aromatic and soaked up the juices from the chicken nicely. Yumm…I definitely want to get this dish again.

Senia Restaurant is a newer restaurant run by a super talented local chef. We knew we had to give it a try and definitely were not disappointed. If you want to go, I highly highly suggest making a reservation. They have their reservations online through their website…and my meal was a while back so they now also serve lunch! Here are the pics from our meal…

The Freddie Cocktail

Basil Hayden’s bourbon, chestnut, blood orange and smoke. It was an interesting drink, not the usual fruity fare I go for. They bring the cup with the “ice” cube inside and pour the drink in front of you which includes a bunch of smoke. The drink definitely has a woody taste…glad I tried it. Would I get it again? I don’t know…

“Poke” Cracker

This is probably one of the most photographed dishes. Doesn’t it look amazing? Well it tastes great too.  I gotta be real, we really ordered this to take a great picture but it certainly helps that it was delicious.

Hot-Smoked King Salmon

I don’t know how I can explain this dish, it was wonderful. The fish was cooked perfectly, the vegetables look burnt but they didn’t taste it.

Glazed Pork Belly

This was like our entree to share, since it’s a shared dish for a group. So good. It comes with a green crepe or manoa lettuce for you to make your own wraps. Delicious!

Cake Slice

Chiffon Cake, Yuzu-Meyer Lemon Curd, Whipped White Chocolate. As good as it looks! It was light and tasty.