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.
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.
Totoya opened a few months ago with pretty big fanfare, I didn’t dare go because of the long lines! They are a super small shop so unless you lined up early, you would have to stand and wait for the next seating. I came on a random weekday for lunch the other week and luckily for us, even though we came 30 minutes after opening, we scored our two seats! Had more seats open after we sat too…so I guess they aren’t as busy as before. They also opened a second location by Ala Moana.
Totoya specializes in rice bowls – specifically negitoro or kaisen bowls. In other words, if you don’t like raw fish, don’t come here. So was it worth the hype? Check it out!
Nagomi | $22.90 Add Egg yolk shoyu | $1.50 original negitoro, red shrimp, salmon (2pc), scallops, tobiko, nori (2pc) aosa seaweed miso soup
Matsu Negitoro Bowl | $34.90 Add Egg yolk shoyu | $1.50 tuna, scallops, cucumber, kazunoko, green onion, tobiko, nori (2pc), sesame seeds Matsu: luxurious bowl topped with sea urchin and salmon roe aosa seaweed miso soup
Miso Soup
Shoyu Egg Yolk (honestly, not needed)
This was my bowl. Ooh…it’s a lot of food! I liked it the first few bites and then it was just…too much? Too much rice? Too much stuff. I think since it negitoro – it’s also very mushy. We also added the shoyu egg yolk and well, that’s just triple mush lol. It just becomes a bit too much at the end. It was good but nothing I would return for. I think I’d rather go to a sushi restaurant and eat sushi by the piece! If you love negitoro and rice bowls, please have at it!
A visit to Snoopy Museum means a visit to Grandberry Park and our favorite kaiten sushi place, Nihonbashi SUI! Machida and Grandberry Park is such a cute neighborhood, I’ll bet it’s expensive to live here too. If I was rich, I wouldn’t mind living here! Not much to say in this post, just look at al the food we had. We really go crazy at this place. This time, there was no line. We were the first ones there but it did get busy after we started to eat.
Look at this shrimp tempura! The shrimp was HUGE. It was so plump and bouncy – super good!!
One of my all time favorite fish – flounder! It’s so good and tastes so well with shiso leaf. Highly recommend!
Chan has never been to an Ichiran, can you believe it? I don’t know why I brought that up when this post is about Ippudo. I like Ippudo but don’t necessarily come to Ippudo when I visit Japan. This location was located really close to our hotel and I really wanted some ramen and chahan so off we went. How was it? Much better than I remembered! This was also Chan’s first time trying Ippudo and he liked it a lot! In fact, this was the first out of two visits during this trip.
Free sides! Pickled spicy mustard cabbage, bean sprouts, gari and whole garlic cloves! They offer garlic graters to put freshly grated garlic into your ramen. Oh so good!
Gyoza (10 pcs) | ¥470
Chan’s Noodles!
My noodles! I only got half an egg…humph!
Chahan
This is super random but I really enjoy Chinese fried rice made by Japanese ramen shops. Is that random? I super enjoy this version of fried rice, it has a good wok hei flavor and a good amount of MSG. Not many places in Hawaii makes this…or makes it well. Sorry, I must have been hungry and didn’t get a picture of all the menu prices!
The service here is enthusiastic, they get you in and out quickly (which works great for all the business people). I think their broth is deep in flavor and I like that they offer up many different bowls with a variation of toppings. English menu available on their ipads! I would return (and did return).
Chan and I were hanging with his friends and made an impromptu trip out to Kawagoe! Totally unexpected and so awesome because there is a Snoopy Village there! We started off with a warm and nourishing udon meal on this rainy day (the only rainy day of our trip) at Shunkashuto. I think the restaurant is geared towards tourists but it doesn’t matter, it was still so good.
Kakuni (Boiled Pork) | ¥800
Yummy kakuni for the table to share. What can I say? Broke-da-mout tender, fall apart in your mouth kine. Delicious!
Sweet Potato Tempura | ¥420
Yum! So glad they ordered both side dishes because I wanted to get a full set that included these sides but didn’t…and they ordered them as sides anyway. Isn’t life great? LOLOL.
Shrimp Tempura Noodles | ¥1550 classic udon noodle dish topped with deep fried shrimp tempura
I was excited to eat some shrimp tempura with “tick” udon noodles but soon regretted my choice after my fellow dining companions got their meals. Not that my dish was bad, not at all, it’s just that theirs was better!!!
Kakiage Noodles | ¥1380 ukiuki is happy or a delightful noodle dish with kakiage shrimp and veggie fritter kakiage is deep fried shrimp and veggie fritter, which uses a variety of ingredients, such as shrimp, onions, sweet potatoes, carrots and japanese parsley.
The other three including Chan got the kakiage set and damn, take a look at that kakiage. The kakiage we get here in Hawaii looks so sad compared to this. If I knew this is how their kakiage was made, I would have definitely gotten this. Chan let me have a taste and it was so good! Big chunks of vegetables and shrimp – fried light and crispy. Dang. I enjoyed this restaurant a lot!
A visit to Japan is not complete without a visit to Korea Town for some bomb black bean noodles. LOL, I think we had this for our first sit down meal. Hong Kong Hanten 0410 is a restaurant owned by Paik (Baek) Jong Won, he’s one of the judges for the Culinary Class Wars! Excited for the new season starting soon. Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post – this is probably my most favorite jjajangmyeon ever.
Tangsuyuk (Half Size) | ¥980
The half size is perfect to complement our noodle dishes. I think we got the full size last time and it was too much. Gotta have the sweet and sour sauce on the side for dipping – the pork is fried up perfectly crisp.
Gogi Jjamppong | ¥1180
Chan’s jjamppong, his favorite. He got the beef one and it was good. Look at how red the soup is. I tried some of the soup, tasted good!
Jaengban Jajang | ¥2100
KABOOM. Okay, this dish is to serve 2 people. I don’t care. I almost chickened out of ordering it but Chan told me just to go for it. I don’t know why this dish has to be made as 2 servings. Anyway, this is more of a stir-fried version with so much good veggies and seafood. Ahhh…just salivating as I think of this dish. It was super good yet again. Why don’t we have this here in Hawaii?? Gotta wait for my next trip to Japan or Korea to eat this again.
I had a rare chance this day to have a lunch with two of my brothers. I used to go out with all three of them all the time – nowadays, 2 would be a rare outing. Most of the time, I’m with only one of them. It’s a good and bad thing. I surely miss the old days and being around them, my wallet doesn’t miss those days (lol). But another good thing is, it means they are growing and becoming more independent. I think all three brothers are growing up well.
Anyway, I decided to give them a taste of good Japanese food by taking them to i-naba. It’s a double edged sword, I give them a taste of good food and they either don’t appreciate it fully or maybe acquire a taste for it. Ha! Anyway, I really enjoyed it even though my wallet didn’t. It’s okay, another memory to add to their banks.
Tempura Soba | $30.00 2 shrimps, 1 white fish, veggie tempura, and zaru soba
Bara Chirashi Bowl & Soba | $34.00 chopped some kinds of sashimi served over sushi rice. also comes with regular size zaru or kake soba (we chose zaru).
Hana Soba | $36.00 cold broth soba, topped with tororo (grated yam), uni, ikura (salmon roe), green onion, dried seaweed and tamagoyaki. also comes with tempura (shrimp, squid and veggies)
I don’t know if you remember my previous post but the last time I came, I really wanted to try this Hana Soba. They said they were out of uni and could give more ikura which I said no to. I finally got to try it this time!
Miso Soup and Takuan
Mixed Rice
Bleh, not great.
Tempura
Their tempura is always so good. Lightly battered and fried crispy. So so so good.
The star of the show. Did it live up to expectations? Well…I think I’ll go with less is more for soba from here on out. Sure it tasted good but once everything was mixed up together – I couldn’t really taste the different between the tororo and the uni. It just all melded into a cold soba dish with no distinct flavor. The tamagoyaki felt super out of place, it was certainly a choice to add that in. While I was glad to have tried this dish, I would just stick to the plain zaru soba tempura set next time. Less is more as I said.
Another visit to Murphy’s and whew thank god they are not closing down! There was rumors circulating around that they were but the owner came out and refuted that real quick! I was able to join Chan and his workers for a quick lunch. It was wonderful and we had John as our server and he is just the sweetest server ever. I’ve been to Murphy’s before and have been served by him before and he is consistently the most caring and attentive staff member. It makes a big difference.
Fried Spicy Chicken Wings | $18.00 (full order) served with ranch dressing
One of their specialties – super good. Tastes like homemade ranch dressing too. I forgot to get a picture of the basket of fries we ordered but their fries are super good too. Fried up perfectly.
Irish Dip | $22.50 thin sliced sirloin on baguette with horseradish mayonnaise, served with guinness au jus
Open Face Turkey Sandwich | $21.50 in-house roasted turkey on white or wheat bread, topped with gravy, served with mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and fresh cranberry sauce
I have never tried this but I would love to one day! One look at this dish and you’re like…where’s da sandwich? The bread is hidden underneath all that turkey! One of their most famous dishes.
Gaelic Steak | $29.50 new york steak topped with a green peppercorn sauce, served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables
Chan’s dish! The steak is cooked well and it’s a very nice gravy. The veggies are good and of course the mashed potato is fluffy and buttery, yum!
Fish N’ Chips | $19.50 cod fish and fries served with malt vinegar
When there is fish and chips on the menu, I’m there. Actually this might be sacrilegious but if I could have, I would have subbed the fries for white rice. I’m too Asian. Super good fish and the fries of course I said before is super good!
Another bougie and expensive restaurant review brought to you by Jenny who benefitted from a very generous friend of Chan’s. I will not even post the cost of the meal here but you can easily look up Mugen‘s website and get a sense of it. Very thankful for this dining experience and spending time with friends.
Quick funny story about this night. We didn’t know the parking situation with this restaurant so Chan decided to park at the International Marketplace and walk over. Before we headed to the restaurant, we decided to walk through Target in case we could find something to buy to cover part of the parking validation. This Target location is crazy busy with tourists and the 1st floor is packed full. As we are making our way through, we suddenly hear a loud “excuse me!” behind us coming from an older asian man. Not sure if he was a tourist – either he was local or from the mainland. Anyway, obviously Chan and I stop and he then walks around us. As he is passing us, he loudly screams, GEEZ! Well guess what? I am old now and am no longer patient so I immediately yell back at him, GEEZ WHAT. He doesn’t stop and doesn’t look up, just continues walking away. And get this guys, we weren’t even walking in a tight aisle or anything – it was a huge walkway in Target so he had every chance to get around us without this commotion. He better watch out cause Target’s cameras almost caught this chinese chica “ch-row” hands. Okay onto dinner. 🙂
Pretty centerpiece
Chic Cutlery!
Pinky Promise | $15.00 lychee & guave puree, lemon-lime soda
Mocktail of the night for me. Oh this was so good…so so good.
Amuse Bouche
Nice starter bite for everyone to start off with. I can’t quite remember exactly what it was, like a fish ceviche/poke served atop a brick of crispy rice. It was pretty good!
Bread and Butter
How cute is this bread! It is so teeny tiny but in the best way since there is so much food coming. And look at the butter! It’s a herb butter and strawberry butter in puzzle pieces! Isn’t that so cute. I would take this bread over the Mariposa popovers anytime lol.
Kona Kampachi Starter kupu place nasturtium, green apple ponzu, trout roe
My starter, it was good but nothing special. I got a different starter from Chan so we could taste different ones. I would get his over mine any day!
Scallops chinese black bean & smoked kurobuta ham veloute, trout roe, celery root
Chan’s scallops. Oh these scallops were so meaty and tender and seasoned wonderfully – I loved this dish!
We got this to share for the table. I love beef tartare so I have no complaints here, it was delicious!
Maui Beets pickled mustard seeds, spiced pepitas, sweetland tomme tuille, ko cho jang vinaigrette
Another shared starter, isn’t that tuille so pretty? The beets tasted good, nice huge chunks and sweet. It was good but I prefer a beet salad with goat cheese myself.
Nigiri
The menu was comprised of tasting menu sets, you could get a tasting set with nigiri if you wanted to. I didn’t get that option but here is the sushi it comes with!
Maine Lobster truffle nori risotto, hon shimeji mushroom, parmesan foam
How can you go wrong with lobster? Also, the two choices you had was lobster or shima aji. I think the choice is a no brainer – gotta get the lobster! It was delicious. So so good. One of my favorite dishes of the night.
Not my main dish but I don’t think it was worth the extra price tag. I got to try a piece and when I cut it, it was a bit stringy to cut but the texture was just fine when you chewed it.
Marrunga Marble Lamb brown butter ulu puree, pineapple chimichurri, coconut aji amarillo sauce
I’m going to be honest, I was so stuffed by the time this dish came I couldn’t enjoy fully it. The lamb was good but gamey for those who want to know. Good dish but I was too full to enjoy it.
Koloa Rum Toffee Cake date cake, hawaiian honey yogurt gelato, honey meringue, koloa rum toffee sauce
Isn’t this so pretty? So pretty but not my dessert. If I wasn’t stuffed, I would have tried a taste because it sounds like sticky toffee cake which I love. Well, Chan reported that it wasn’t that good and was nothing like sticky toffee cake so we are good.
Passion Fruit Custard lilikoi gelee, chantilly cream, sable, seasonal fruit
Yet another dessert ruined by me being too full. This was my dessert, I would have enjoyed it if I wasn’t so stuffed. Got a few bites in and it was nice and tart. Seasonal fruit? Sure. There was canned lychee in there so not really fresh seasonal fruit you know?
