Mixed Plate Friday

Sushi Robot Breakfast Bento | $4.77

When Sushi Robot first closed down, I was sad! They were a great place to swing by to grab food after my early morning Don Q run for work. Well, they reopened in the mini food court on the side and I was elated! They are open early and serve up super cheap foods.

Richie’s Drive Inn Mini Mushroom Chicken | $10.14

Oh man, to watch Richie’s go down like this is sad. I know they changed ownership recently but I still wanted to give them a chance. My laziness loves that they have a drive thru option even though it’s a hot mess system lol. I decided to give their mushroom chicken a try this day. It’s basically their chicken katsu smothered with mushroom gravy. Was salty and not good. And their mac salad? OH THE BIGGEST HEARTBREAK. They used to have one of the best mac salads around, now they add big chunks of potato and olives? It’s so odd. Did not taste good. Their chili dog plate still seems to be good so I will probably just get my bro that from here on out since that’s his favorite.

Somen Cone Sushi

What is the official name for this dish? I made this for a get-together last week. Was a hit! Family loved it, office loved and the friends loved it! I’ve seen variation of this dish but I made it a little different. It has taegu, ocean salad, imitation crab, cucumbers, tropics dressing, etc. And you can’t forget the fresh sprig of cilatnro on top. What a pain to make, it’s easy to cook up but stuffing over 40 of these? It took like over an hour, my back hurt. Anyways, delicious!

Hangang – Ala Moana, HI

When Hangang first opened, they were touted as a high end Korean BBQ place. The reviews were all over the place, a lot of people complained of the price and service so I laid low. I had the pleasure of trying Hangang for dinner one night with friends and it was delicious! Then I saw Kat and V’s lunch visit and that made me want to return! My coworker loves kalbi and naengmyun so this was the perfect reason to go.

Complimentary Banchan

I only talk about my love of banchan all the dang time and it doesn’t end here. Hangang is giving Frog House a run for their money on the banchan. I loved every dish!!

Cold Noodle Combo with Kalbi | $ 26.95
1 arrowroot cold noodle with short ribs BBQ

LOOK AT THIS. I am salivating look at it. My friend and I actually ordered this combo and a noodle ala carte ($15.95) because we are dainty ladies who shared the kalbi. LOL…nah nah not dainty but it was like the perfect amount of food. And sounds pricey but given the price of kalbi alone nowadays, I think this was a great deal!

They offered to cut it and we accepted. Good thing I got my noodle shot beforehand! Never seen tomato slices in naengmyun before but what was interesting was that the tomato slices are pickled. Very interesting (in a good way). No gray ring of death on the egg yolk. They serve up hot mustard and vinegar on the side which I have never used. Great meal! Would definitely return to try their other lunch specials!

Liliha Bakery – Honolulu, HI

Today’s post is brought to you by the OG Liliha Bakery. For some odd reason, I don’t feel right about going to any other location. Love the old school feel of the original location, a bit sad they aren’t 24 hours anymore but it allows them to be open 7 days a week which is a win. I brought the youngest to Liliha Bakery for a quick breakfast for his first day of high school. What a whirlwind, all three bros are almost adults. It’s a bit sad for me but I’ll make do. Anyway, he said okay to breakfast as we were driving there and when we got there, he said he has a stomachache and didn’t want to eat. No worries, I didn’t blow my top. I packed it up and said you better eat it later or die (lol).

French Toast | $10.95
homemade sweet bread

The untouched french toast. He did end up eating it later so he is still alive, no worries. I don’t know how he liked it but since he ate it all, I assume it was fine.

Famous Butter Roll

Mm…buttered butter roll nicely toasted and served up with their neon jelly. It wasn’t doing it for me that morning, I guess the bread was a bit…drier than I liked. Would have liked more jelly too, look at that small amount.

Two Eggs with Corned Beef Hash | $12.95
choice of ham, bacon, pork sausage, portuguese sausage, hamburger patty, spam, vienna sausage or corned beef hash

I haven’t dined here in a while so I was a bit surprised by the tossed green salad on my breakfast plate. LOL, it was good, they serve it up with a good ranch dressing. Great corned beef hash, love the homemade patty. Great breakfast!

Mixed Plate Friday

Fort Street Cafe Pad Thai with Garlic Chicken | $12.45

We did a lunch order in Downtown recently, this wasn’t my dish but man oh man I got to eat a piece of the garlic chicken. They still do it so well. I think the pad thai is a bit sweeter than most, maybe I would just go for the garlic chicken.

Wowsers. I was at Windward Mall and decided to try a beef corndog. This was pricey, I think it came out to about 12 bucks for the hot dog and drink combined but boy oh boy was it good. A freshly fried corndog, I haven’t had that in eons. It was so good. Worth it!

Fukuya Nori Chicken and Cone Sushi

No prices on this because I got to eat it for free! I haven’t had Fukuya in a long time, nori chicken is good as always and the cone sushi is bumboocha! Nori chicken is so good, always worth it to buy outside because prepping and frying this on your own is a major pain.

Lucky Box Restaurant – Kalihi, HI

Lucky Box Restaurant opened a few months ago in the Waiakamilo Shopping Center. It’s like a local BBQ joint run by Chinese (aren’t they all?). I had a serious hankering for cold ginger chicken this day and Liliha Drive Inn didn’t have it (FOILED) so I went to Lucky Box! Short post ahead.

Pork Chop with Gravy (mini) | $9.99

Ho brah, super salty. If you need one salt lick, get this dish. And the pork chop itself was kind of dry. I wouldn’t get this again.

Cold Ginger Chicken (mini) | $9.89

I didn’t get a picture of the ginger sauce for this. It comes in one of those small dressing containers, looks small but works fine for the dish. If they had given me more, I would have just slathered everything in it. I really enjoyed this dish, it hit the spot and I super appreciated all the dark meat pieces! Yum!

Frog House – Honolulu, HI

I’ve written about Frog House so many times already. It’s always going to be winnas food. You can search for frog house in my old posts but it’s always the same. Oh by the way, I am blogging ahead of time because guess what? I struck gold. I got covid. Oh yes. I don’t know how or who I got it from, I woke up on Sunday with post nasal drip symptoms which is something I get here and there. I felt a bit better Monday morning and got ready to go to work, got to work and on a whim decided to take the covid test. Kapow, positive. Came straight home and decided to test again on another test brand, kapow, positive. So yeah, I’m going a bit stir crazy at home. I am very thankful it has been mild thus far, I haven’t had a fever at all. Dry cough and runny nose. I heard it’s going around again so I hope you folks all stay safe. Let’s hope I get some good antibodies out of this round.

Kimchi Pancake

Complimentary Banchan

The best.

Soft Tofu Stew

Can you just feel the steam and bubbles from this picture? Yum, what a great stew.

Stirfried Octopus with Pork Belly

Chan introduced this dish to me and it has been my favorite ever since. I even got my friend hooked on it. Oh man, if you give me some rice and this dish, I would ch-row down. So good!

Mixed Plate Friday

Knife Cut Noodles

I’ve talked about this a lot already. Knife cut noodles, and this is how I like to eat it. The easy, delicious and lazy way. I cook up the noodles and drain it. I heat up a little bit of oil and add chopped green onions to “pop” it. A real quick fry and then add the noodles back into the pan and add oyster sauce and sriracha, I sometimes add a bit of sweet soy sauce too and that’s it. Toss and serve. It’s like a quick and easy version of indomie (well the flavors of it).

Underwood Ranch Sriracha

Speaking of sriracha, Longs had Underwood Ranch sriracha on sale so I had to try it. You know all the drama with Underwood Ranch right? They used to supply peppers to Huy Fong Foods sriracha but they had a dispute so they no longer supply the peppers for Huy Fong and started making their own to sell. I tried it so you don’t have to. It’s not as good as the original, it’s very vinegary. Too vinegary. No thanks.

Chun Wah Kam Plate | $14.00
one or two choice starch & two choice entrees

Chun Wah Kam still offers up a whopper of a deal for a huge portion. My starches are the ginger chicken fried rice and the Hong Kong Chow Mein (vegetarian). I got the chicken mushroom zucchini stirfry and orange chicken. I would have gotten their veggie stirfry but they didn’t have it today. I am a fan of chicken mushroom zucchini but not of this one. It was a bit salty and the chicken was dry and hard, they either use chicken breast or cooked the heck out of the thigh meat. Sorry to say, Panda’s does that dish better. Their orange chicken is good though and I love their starches!

Dave and Busters – Ward, HI

It’s summer time and you know what that means. Time to find activities for teenage boys to engage in. There isn’t much anymore – and a lot of entertainment options are PRICEY. Well Dave and Busters has a great summer thing going – they offer half price on all the menu items Monday through Thursday if you join their rewards program. I think it might only be until 4PM but I can’t even find it on their website right now so I wonder if that deal ended. But hey if that deal is still on, go on a Wednesday for lunch. Get your food half off and then play games for half off too! Win win!

Service at D&B’s is always a hit or miss. This time was a big miss. It started off fine with our waitress but of course as the meal went on, she disappeared on us. Ugh. As we were winding down on our meal, another staff member approaches me and asks to confirm my D&B’s Rewards points so I give her my phone number to input into her machine. At that point, my waitress comes over and asks her what she’s doing. The other waitress just plays it off and walks back to another table. My waitress then comes to our table and says, this is why you don’t give your phone number to just anyone. WHAT??? I started freaking out because what does she mean??? She got me fully scared but she said that the waitress was actually getting my number so she could apply the half off discount to her table, I guess they didn’t have their own rewards account. The waitress said that shouldn’t affect my own bill, and yes it didn’t but what the heck is going on. She even said that none of the other staff members like that waitress. I got pulled into some work drama there but really didn’t appreciate what happened. Needless to say, the meal was ruined but I got over it. Okay, let’s see the food (lol).

Fries GPT | $11.99
tossed with garlic butter, parm, & truffle dust and served with garlic aioli

Of course this was good. Come on!

All-American Cheeseburger (served with fries) | $15.99
Sub Fries GPT | $3.49
two slices of american cheese topped with fresh lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, & secret sauce on a potato bun

Not my dish but it was devoured. Great looking burger!

Cajun Shrimp Pasta | $23.99
blackened shrimp, jalapeno cheddar sausage & bell peppers tossed in spicy alfredo sauce, topped with shredded parmesan

Good dish. Sauce was a little bit thin so it didn’t cling to the pasta as much as I would have liked. Still tasted good and can’t beat half price!

K&M Drive Inn – Kalihi, HI

I am writing this post with a heavy heart because I know K&M Drive Inn is a new locally owned family business but it wouldn’t be my blog if I wasn’t honest with my own experience. They are located in the same building as Alicia’s Market and I thought their food looked good in pictures and the menu prices? Spectacular! In fact, I was actually considering an office lunch order from them for a training. Something told me that we needed to do a dry run before committing, and good thing we did.

First of all, we wanted to call in our order before heading over so it would be ready when we arrived. It went from the phone ringing non-stop, to the phone ringing shortening (I’m assuming the denial of our call) and then finally, just straight to voicemail. That experience alone did not help me want to trust them with a bigger office order.

When we got there, there were a bunch of people at the window. Good sign right? Sure. I guess an office had put in an order earlier that morning and they all walked down to pay for each plate individually. Oh my. That took…quite a while. Also, the food wasn’t not ready when they requested for it to be ready when they called it in early in the morning! The other office folks were very nice but after I waited out all the payments and finally could order at the window, there was no apologies for the wait or anything. In fact, she seemed like she didn’t even want to help us. Did not feel good.

In the end, I’ll judge the food as is. By taste. None of us were pleased with our dishes…I’ll just share the pics below.

Fry Pork Ribs | $10.95

Not my dish, but was not enjoyed by the diner. Dry and flavorless, the sauce they serve with it was also weird. It’s supposed to be a hot chili sauce but it was just spicy and somehow flavorless too. How do you acheive that??

BBQ Chicken | $10.95

My dish. So I ordered this dish expecting BBQ chicken like you get from other Drive Inns, you know? Just boneless chicken thighs that is grilled. This one was sliced chicken thighs in an American BBQ sauce. It was odd. It didn’t taste bad but when you were expecting something else, it’s a little jarring you know?

HBS (Hamburger Steak) Plate | $10.95

Okay, this person enjoyed the hamburger steak but do you see the garnish? They garnish all their dishes with green onions and cilantro. I find it kind of funny and think people who hate cilantro (which is probably a lot) would not like or expect this addition. So if you don’t like cilantro, make sure you tell them you don’t want it.

Lao Sausage | $13.95

The way their menu is laid out, it looked like lao sausage was a protein option for their chow fun stirfry so that’s what I was trying to order. I was told it was only a plate. Okay, I got the plate. The sausage itself is good and spicy! The sauce, it’s the same sauce as the pork ribs. Spicy yet flavorless. It was so odd. And I am a saucy person (wink) and I just threw it out. What a waste, and I hate wasting but it was that inedible to me.

In the end, a disappointment. Maybe I’ll give them a try again later when they’ve adjusted to running this restaurant. It doesn’t look like they are hurting for business, their prices are great and the food is okay. I just don’t think it’s worth the drive out there for me.

Mixed Plate Friday

Australian Chips | Burger Rings

Australian Chips | Twisties Cheese

My co-worker went to Australia and I asked if she could bring me back some snacks. I am always very curious how other countries do their snacks! Well, I will go ahead and say that the grand ole USA does chips better. I don’t know what the best chips are in Australia, but these are not it. The burger chips, I was so excited! It kind of just tastes like MSG and steak sauce or something. You know? And the twisties? No. It’s like worst Cheetos. I really appreciate the gift and all the way from down under but I just wasn’t a big fan…or maybe I’m just used to American junk food?

Ever heard of oat groats? Me neither. I saw a post on Facebook (uh-oh) and he was mentioning how he wanted to eat less rice so he gave a recipe on how to prepare oat groats with bulgar wheat. I followed it to a T, that recipe didn’t work out. But what I ended up doing the second time was just rinsing these oat groats off, I cooked 2 cups (the rice measuring cups) and filled the water line in my rice cooker to 2.5 cups and there we have it. I don’t mind it! It’s kind of like brown rice but it’s oats…you might find a husk here and there but just spit it out and you’re good to go. I ordered this off amazon because I am not sure where to find it locally. Have you folks tried this before?