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Katsumidori Sushi Tokyo – Honolulu, HI

Feb9

Back at one of my favorite sushi restaurants, Katsumidori Sushi Tokyo! I used to come every month with my friend so they knew me. I also used to ask for a totally random table which I think amuses them. I still ask for that table anytime I book! I haven’t been here in a while but when I checked in, I still got seated at “my” table so I was ecstatic! I’m hoping just a little bit that it was because they still recognized me lol. Anyway, it used to be super hard to get reservations for this restaurant. You would have to plan at least a month out. Nowadays, it’s quite easy to get a reservation (they’re on Open Table). If you like sushi, I plead that you give this place a chance and go! I don’t want them to close ever! Not that I need to worry too much, the restaurant still had a good number of diners! They are located in the Prince Waikiki Hotel so you don’t have to deal with the craziness of central Waikiki and they offer validated parking. No, I’m not sponsored by them. I’m not sponsored by anyone, I’d like to be given money to eat though. Let’s get it!

Seared Saba (Mackerel) Oshi | $10.30

I love this dish but it is also a very rich dish and very filling. We started with this dish and well it kind of filled me up for the rest of the meal. Still super good but just a fair warning…

Kobore Salmon Roe | $15.40

Deep Fried wrapped Shrimp Cake & Shiso Leaf | $7.45

Another must get dish for me. The title of the dish tells you all you need to know. I sprinkle some fresh lemon juice on it and dip it in a little bit of salt and voila – scrumptious shrimp goodness in my mouth.

The biggest reason we came! They are having a Crab & Shrimp Fair until the end of March 2026!

Red Shrimp Flight | $16.00
(From left to right: Butter Soy Sauce, Regular, Garlic)

This was Chan’s dish, good thing I didn’t order it. It looked good on the poster and I thought it would be cooked but it wasn’t. Chan enjoyed it! I watched in jealousy, hahaha

Ankimo (Monkfish Liver) | $10.00

Another favorite dish of mine. I freaking love ankimo with ponzu sauce. I don’t know what else to say other than that.

Assorted Tempura | $17.05

Great deal. This comes with two pieces of shrimp and a variety of vegetables. It’s fried light and crisp. Mm…man this post is making me want to go back already!

Engawa (Flounder) | $6.60

Engawa is an underrated sushi. I implore you, if you see engawa on the menu – order it and try it. It’s super good.

Scallop (left) | $5.45
Salmon (right) | $3.50

Spicy Tuna Roll (Half) | $9.00

Another one that I like to get. I don’t know why spicy tuna has a hold on me but it does. I enjoyed it and it was nice and spicy. I miss the old times when I used to go Genki Sushi all the time, I thought they had the lock on the best spicy tuna recipe. Hmm…I wonder if I should try them again one day. I’ve been massively disappointed the past few visits though.

Furi Furi Pudding | $7.50

Ehehehehe my favorite dish of the night. If you follow me on IG, you already saw my silly shaking video because this pudding is so BOUNCY. It was super good, like a strawberry milk pudding with chocolate sauce. I may be in the minority but no thank you to nutella and yes please to chocolate sauce all day long. Don’t take away my chocolate!!!!

It was a great visit and meal – hope to return soon!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Feb6

The Only Bean Edamame Beans | $7.98

Trying to find some snacks to chomp on at work that are somewhat healthy for you. Tried this. I’ll be honest, it’s just okay lol. It’s not bad but not great. Do-able. Sam’s Club has it right now if you’re interested.

Jack in the Box Jibbi Set

I never have good luck with limited time collectibles, especially when they are blind boxes! But Chan and I wanted to get all four of these figures (especially the one with the suit and tie) so we had to eat their Double Chicken Supreme Munchie Meals to get them! Guess how many of these meals we had to scarf down to get these 4 charms. FOUR. Yes, you did the math right. We got each charm exactly with the meals we ordered. Miracles! Do we need these charms? No. Was it cool to get all four? Yes. I’m the red spicy one and Chan is the blue icy one LOL.

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Grace’s Inn – Honolulu, HI

Feb2

I either have never tried Grace’s Inn or it’s been over 20 years. Did they open a location in Market City Shopping Center before? By Ben Franklin’s? If so, maybe I’ve tried it but for sure I’ve never tried their Beretania location. I was pleased to see they had online ordering! I picked the wrongest day and time to come, it was a rainy day after work and both Beretania and Keeaumoku was slammed with traffic. As I am patiently driving in my backed up lane, of course another car decides they want to cut in last minute because waiting doesn’t apply to them. They get to the side of me, stop, turn on their blinker and already start coming into my lane. Well guess what? I like to play games too and I drive straight up and don’t let them in. I could care less. The car in back of me ends up letting them in and we both ended up at the same parking lot. It’s all fun times and I didn’t get clobbered. Heh. Anyway, as many people mentioned – the lady at the front counter is oh so sweet. I would return just to be helped by her.

This must be an inside joke thing but I had to ask her how the “every other day” specials worked. Like what day started the day…so I could figure out what every other day would be. LOL, she had a kick showing me the sign. Yeah so the joke is, those specials are available every single day…I think. She showed me the sign so fast. I hope I got that right. Anyway, so how was the food??

Fried Noodles w/Chicken Katsu | $15.50

Chan’s order for dinner, gotta be honest – they could be a little more generous with the amount of noodles to give. Noodles are cheap! It should have been chicken katsu on a BED of noodles! Anyway, the noodles tasted fine – nothing special. The chicken katsu is good, fried crisp and they have a good katsu sauce.

Mixed Plate (Chicken Katsu & Roast Pork) | $17.00
Mac Salad and Kimchi (choice of 2 “salads”)

I read on Yelp that they might have changed ownership in the past few years. I have nothing to compare it to so I can only judge what I ate. The roast pork in the Yelp pictures were thick cuts of pork slathered in gravy. This pork was sliced super thin – the meat was rough and dry. Would not get that again. And yes, they still do put some chow fun under your entree. Since I got the mixed plate with two entrees, both entrees got the chow fun treatment. You no can even see the chow fun so you don’t really get a lot. The mac salad was a bit sweet so it was just alright for me. Kimchi was local kine style, not hot and very vinegary (Mr. Korean did not approve of this).

Side Order Chili Cheese Fries | $6.50

Got a little appetizer to go with our food which allowed me to try their chili. Hm, I actually like their chili! It was nice! And the portion of fries with chili and cheese was good. I would get this again!

All in all, the food was good. Your typical lunch plate fare, would I make a special trip out here again? Not sure on that one. I’m happy to have tried and maybe I’ll come back to try their other dishes. But if I’m going to be at Times Beretania, why not go Kevin’s Kitchen?

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Mixed Plate Friday

Jan30

Look! Another first word win! A miracle! I was so surprised! Now I am stuck without a first word guess again. I don’t know your strategies but I like to choose one word I start with everyday and it’s just a word I like. It sets the pace for the rest of the guesses so I am so lost right now. But woohoo!

Just wanted to show you how much I’m winning at Duolingo. I had to figure out what bakkupakku was from the four images they provided for multiple choice. I mean, they made it pretty hard to figure out but I did it. (LOL)

Elvin’s Bakery (from top left, clockwise): Tiramisu, Mango Mousse Cake (2x), Lychee Mousse, Strawberry Shortcake

It was Chan and I’s anniversary so I got us some special dessert to share! Didn’t want to get a whole cake so I got us some slices at my favorite bakery, Elvin’s! I asked if they were able to write a message for me. They said no. If you know their bakery, they actually just write it on a piece of white chocolate and put on top of the cake. I think it was do-able especially for what I paid but what can you do? The mango mousse cake remains my favorite. This was the first time I tried the lychee mousse, it was okay but nothing special. Just has the lychee flavor (artificial flavor?). I will continue to order the mango mousse for future occasions!

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CINO – Ward, HI

Jan28

Chan and I had a new year’s celebration meal with two dear friends of ours at Cino. Cino is a newish restaurant located at one of those new Ward condominiums (very close to Tonkatsu Kuro). The menu sounded very nice and I was excited to try a new restaurant! Did I jinx myself with the excitement? Perhaps…let’s check it out together.

Yuzu Peach Collins (non-alcoholic) | $10.00

This restaurant seems to be allergic to printing things on menus. I asked if they had any mocktails and this was the only choice so here we are! It was a good drink! Not strong on yuzu taste which is good for me.

1/2 Dozen Oysters | $24.00

No can comment because no can eat!! Damn me and my oyster sensitivity! You know, I did eat one raw oyster in Japan and did just fine. Should I keep testing my resolve? I don’t know…

Beef Tartare | $24.00
Creekstone Farm’s Filet Mignon, Egg Yolk Emulsion, Capers, Tapioca Puff

I apologize for the photograph! I love beef tartare and this was a nice preparation, the tapioca puff was fried light and crispy. Very good dish!

Charcuterie Board | $34.00

Their board is a “chef’s daily special” so we didn’t know what would come on the board. We asked the waitress and she recited it out to us. That’s a lot of information to take in and I can’t remember it all. There were 5 different types of meat, 2 different cheeses and a nice apricot jelly. It was good! This was also where I tasted mortadella for the first time and hmm…not a fan. Not from here anyway.

Rigatoni Bolognese | $29.00
Veal, Beef, Pork, Sofrito

Lamb Shank | $52.00
Seasonal Vegetable Scafata

Got a taste of this, very nice and tender. Had a good gamey taste which I like.

House-Aged Half Roasted Duck | $49.00
Confit Leg, Sauce alla Orange

Felt like some duck and not from Chinatown. It was very nice! I enjoyed the orange glaze with the rich duck. Would I prefer the Chinatown style over this place? Well, probably but it’s nice to branch out!

Pork Chop | $48.00
14 Day Dry-Aged Averna Apple Reduction

This was the shock of the night for me – Chan’s dish but I got to try a piece and it was so good. It was cooked medium so you shouldn’t order this if you are sensitive to pink pork meat. It was super tender and flavorful. We had leftovers but reheated, it wasn’t the same. Once it gets fully cooked, it’s just like any other run of the mill pork. It was good freshly prepared.

Crispy Garlic Potatoes | $16.00
Parmigiano, Parsley

The table enjoyed this dish, I tried a piece and it was good! I’m more of a rice gal.

Mango Panna Cotta with Seasonal Berries | $12.00

Yet another instance where there was no menu! No dessert menu – can you believe it? When the waitress asked if we wanted dessert, we asked to see the menu and poor thing had to recite every single dessert. WHY? Anyway, I decided to try this dish because I wasn’t feeling ice cream or any of the other dishes. I wasn’t expecting much at first but boy was it good. I loved it. I would get this again. If you can see, there’s actually a mango layer in the dessert. The fresh berries offered a perfect offset to the creamy panna cotta.

In the end, the food was good but the restaurant was just okay. It is a very young and trendy restaurant so it was very loud. We were seated by a table of young galpals and they were very loud and vulgar (f-bombs left and right) all night. Made it hard to have any real conversations. Glad to have tried, don’t plan to return anytime soon.

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Lam’s Kitchen – Chinatown, HI

Jan26

Lam’s Kitchen recently reopened after a renovation – I didn’t even know they were closed for renovation! Then again, I don’t make it out to Chinatown all that often. When I was a kid, I dreaded being dragged out to Chinatown with my parents. The smell of urine, the dirtiness (sorry), and just constantly running into people they knew. It would always lead to comments (more like snide remarks) about me so a shopping to trip to Chinatown always felt so much longer than it needed to be. You’d think my dad was running for mayor or something with the amount of people he talked to.

Anyhow, now as an adult going through Chinatown not knowing anyone, I actually find it to be quite joyous. I generally just shop at grocery stores so the large variety of items I can find in Chinatown is delightful. I can get past the smell of urine and not so sanitary conditions lol. Oh sorry, I got off-track. Anyway! Lam’s Kitchen is still in the same exact location, it looks like they just expanded out. It’s a very nice renovation with freezing cold air conditioning.

Beef Flank and Tendon Look Fun (no tendon) | $14.99

My friend doesn’t like tendon so she asks for just beef flank and they are absolutely fine with that request! If I remember correctly, they used to serve this with choy sum but this time it was lettuce. I’m used to Chinese folks serving up cooking lettuce but wanted to let you folks know.

Beef Flank & Tendon Mein | $14.99

I decided to get the same dish but with mein instead of look fun. I was full of regrets, I enjoy the skinny noodles but dang it looked like I got WAY less noodles than my friend did. I learned my lesson! How was the taste? Good as always! Wasn’t too hungry this morning so we didn’t get any side orders.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Jan23

Soon’s Kal-bi Drive-In

Bento Combination Plate | $15.95
BBQ Beef, Fried Chicken, Meat Jhun, Mandoo, Bean Sprouts, Cabbage, and Rice

Soon’s Kal-bi Drive-In has been around for decades – I used to go to school across the street from Salt Lake Shopping Center and the willowing smoke from their kitchen was a signature memory. There is a distinctive taste to their food, it’s hard to explain. It’s not authentic Korean, more of a local style Korean. But somehow, their taste is very distinctive to Soon’s. I’d say if someone fed me their meat jhun and banchan blind folded, I would be able to tell it was from Soon’s.

I got to try it the other week and am happy to report that the taste is all the same. How nostalgic that was. It was a nice treat to get after a Target run. I would definitely return! And for prices nowadays, $16 isn’t bad for all this food!

L&L Hawaiian BBQ Regular BBQ Chicken | $17.25

Uhhh…it’s been a while since I got a regular plate from L&L but does this look worth $18 to you? Especially comparing it to the Soon’s plate, I can’t help but feel cheated. Especially just for BBQ chicken! But heck, I felt like the good ole L&L style BBQ chicken so here we are. Tasted fine, wasn’t worth it.

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Hong Yeon – Moilili, HI

Jan14

Back for another visit to Hong Yeon, if you remember my previous post, I came here when they first opened for their $10 jajjangmyun deal! This time we came back after things have settled in and tried their lunch combos! I think the lunch combos are the best deals in the restaurant, they only have it on weekdays so plan accordingly. Also, the parking lot is junk with limited stalls so I recommend coming early! Let me just say, this restaurant was pretty bustling full of Korean customers. Whew. I wanted them to continue to be busy because I don’t want them to close! The wait staff was a mix of Chinese and Korean folks, that was interesting. It doesn’t matter cause we got great service! Here’s the lunch combos menu.

Daikon, raw onion slices and black bean paste are the required banchan. I don’t make the rules. (Kimchi would have been nice though).

Tangsuyuk (Sweet and Sour Pork)

The combos are either jajjangmyun or jjampong with your choice of side dish. We both chose tangsuyuk as our combo choice. They brought this out first and placed it on the table and I wasn’t sure what was going on. Did they combine our two sides into one and serve it? I say that because it’s a pretty big portion of pork. Guess what? Nope, this was just the first one! They brought out a second one that was the same exact size. Crazy! We both packed up the other plate to go home which fed very satisfied S.O.’s (significant others).

Small Jajjangmyun

When the waitress placed this dish down, she mentioned it’s the small size. I think because the regular size when you order it ala carte is way bigger. I think this is the perfect portion size for a combo!

Jjampong!

I decided to try something different this time and got this. No regrets, it was SO good! Not as spicy as it looks, the broth has great flavor. Lots of seafood too! I was concerned about getting my clothes dirty so I started making a napkin bib when they came around and gave me a disposable bib to wear! Thank god they did, I needed it (lol). Love the thick noodles too. I’ve been to other restaurants where they have split bowls and you can order both the jajjangmyun and jjampong as one! Wish a restaurant here would do that.

Noodle Pull!

Definitely would recommend checking this restaurant out – it’s nice to have another option for Northern Chinese cuisine.

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Yakiniku Like – Ke’eaumoku, HI

Jan7

Yakiniku Like is a newish restaurant near Ala Moana. This is a chain restaurant from Japan and they offer up premium meats at a good value price – they also offer up a smokeless grill environment. I didn’t even know that was part of the restaurant until I was there and I was pleasantly pleased that I didn’t smell of grilled meats when I left! That’s a big plus. They have a lot of great value set menus, the only thing I didn’t like is that you have to pay right when you order. It’s a QR code ordering system (of course it is) so they do not take cash, you have to place your order on your phone and pay right away for them to prepare it and bring to your table. So yeah, you basically have to pay tip before you even get any service. No good. The service was pretty attentive so I was okay with it – I don’t give a huge tip for restaurants that I cook my food myself. Especially this one where they drop the food and that’s it, not like an AYCE where they have to constantly bring you plates and plates of food.

Also, they have a $9.99 special every month which comes with 2 choices of meat, rice, soup and salad. We didn’t go for the special, we wanted to try the other meats!

Beef Lovers Set!! | $19.95
kalbi short plate (100g), misuji (100g), and harami (50g)

Best Duo Set!! | $19.95
kalbi short rib (100g) & pork belly (100g)

We got both sets and shared the meats! I think the beef lovers set is the better deal and for the same price! The quality of the meat is pretty good and the grill cooks pretty fast. We enjoyed our meal! I think it’s worth it and I would return (maybe not soon soon but one day). Their parking lot is junk – get chance if you go super early, if not, good luck with street parking.

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Merriman’s – Honolulu, HI

Jan5

New year means a new meal with one of my nearest and dearest friends. This year, we decided to try a new restaurant (new to me) Merriman’s located in Ward Village. They are open for lunch and dinner but the lunch menu is a better value has has better food (to me). Let’s check it out!

Lilikoi Pop (Zero Proof) | $7.00

Another year, another (non-alcoholic) drink. Yum! Love the sourness of the lilikoi in this drink. The zing comes mostly from the foam sitting up top – it started going down the sides and I absolutely did not lick the cup (I did). Delicious!

Tako & Country Bread | $27.00
octopus “a la escargot,” cognac parsley garlic butter

I didn’t think my friend would want to get this dish since he isn’t an adventurous eater. He reminded me that he’s had real escargot before and yeah it was probably because of me. Anything swimming in garlic and butter will not taste bad. This was good. The octopus was super soft and tender. Delicious!

Fish & Shrimp & Chips | $29.00
hana koa brewing co. ‘breaktime’ beer-battered mahi & wild shrimp, rosemary sea salt fries, malt vinegar aioli, lemon

I was the most excited for this dish. I love me some fish and chips, I didn’t read the menu clearly since I didn’t know it was shrimp too! It comes with two big shrimps and 2 pieces of mahi – perfect to share. A bit disappointed that this was not served with tartar sauce, not a big fan of the malt vinegar aioli. The dish itself wasn’t bad – I just think we got too much fried items and everything was too greasy after a while. Wish they had tartar sauce (yup I’m stuck on that).

Steak Frites | $45.00
black peppercorn crusted prime sirloin, rosemary sea salt fries, herb compound butter

Yup, more fries. Too much fried food! I’ve been wanting to try a good steak frites plate for a long time now. The keyword is good. The steak was tough and hard to chew – it was also overcooked. A very blah dish for me especially for the price. Would not get this again. Need to find a place that makes this dish but with a good cut of meat.

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