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Mixed Plate Friday

Jan12

Happy Aloha Friday! Since I have a few random pics I can share, let me share them! I also want to share these while they are recent!

Tantan Ramen | $13.50

Tonkatsu Sangi is located in Pioneer Plaza in Downtown. They have ties to the old school Gomaichi so you know their ramen is gonna be good. Sorry I took a picture only after I mixed it all up. They are also very popular for their tonkatsu and nanban chicken! It’s a take-out place, no dine in. Didn’t get to try the tonkatsu but did try the nanban – the nanban is drenched in like a ponzu-ish soy sauce. I think a lot of folks expect the other way, plain fried chicken smothered in tartar sauce so I’m just giving the heads up there. The ramen was good! The broth is rich in flavor but didn’t feel too heavy or greasy. They get pretty busy so I would go earlier in the day to get your food because they also do run out!

Shoyu Butter (Soy Garlic + Butter Sauce) | $12.00 + Extra Pasta | $1.50
Spaghetti, Bacon, Mushroom, Spinach, Nori Katsuobushi flakes

We did a quick lunch order from Mio Pastalogy and Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery (same space/owner/kitchen). I was in a pasta mood and felt like their regular portion was kind of small so I added extra this time. Not too bad for $1.50, it was delicious! I love Japanese fusion Italian food. Mio makes their own pasta daily so you’re eating fresh stuff, never the dry stuff. You can even buy your own pasta to take home and make your own dishes with! My favorite part? You can order and pay online and go pick up when it’s ready!

Bibimbap | $10.00 (tax included)

When do you ever see me commend prices? Holy crap here is one. I went to Palama Supermarket last week to grab some groceries and did a quick glance at their snack bar menu. I wasn’t planning on buying dinner but I can’t pass up a bibimbap and for 10 bucks?? Why not. I ordered it and it was 10 bucks even, no tax – sounds silly but I was even excited about that. Here it is. They even give you a side of kimchi. Great portion and price, man I should come to the snack bar more often. The rest of the menu looked really good value too!!

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Hong Kong Hanten 0410 – Shinjuku, Japan

Jan10

Have you heard of Baek Jong Won before? I’m sure you must have if you follow Korean stuff. If not, he’s a very famous Korean chef and I was so excited to finally try his food! He has a few locations in Japan – not sure why he calls it Hong Kong Hanten 0410 – they serve the Northern Chinese cuisine we see here in Hawaii but Hong Kong is not Northern Chinese (though he loves visiting Hong Kong). Anyway, sorry for the confusing words – let’s get to the food!!!!

Complimentary pickles and raw onions – gotta have em!

Tangsuyuk (Large) | ¥2,600

Looks as good as it tastes! So light and crispy – love when the batter is light. Delicious! We over ordered hehe.

Gogi Jjamppong | ¥1,250

Chan’s dish, he enjoyed it! It was actually spicy so that’s good because he’s Korean and he can handle spice.

Jaengban Jajang | ¥1,950 (serves 2)

I saw this on the menu and had to get it. I don’t know why they only serve this as a 2 servings dish, I wish they offered this just as a single serving? Well it doesn’t matter, I ate it. I was hoping to share it with Chan but let’s be real – I just bodied it myself after he tried it. It was the best jajangmyun I have ever had in my life. I liked this one because it’s all stirfried together and it has all these vegetables and seafood in it. Man, I’m still salivating thinking about this dish. I want to eat it again.

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Seiryumon – Maihama, Japan

Jan8

It is becoming a tradition for me to eat at the Ikspiari Mall either before or after my Tokyo Disney trips. Yes, they are probably rip-off tourist prices here but nothing gets more rip off than Disney – am I right? I just wanted some good ole Taiwanese food so we came to Seiryumon after we were pau with our DisneySea excursion.

If you order a meal set, it comes with egg drop soup and their salad. Those stringy things on top of the salad are like tofu I believe? Really good.

Braised Pork | ¥1,180

Sweet Chili Shrimp with Egg Stir Fry | ¥1,890 (set menu)

Mala Tofu | ¥1,890 (set menu)

Here is the rice but I forgot to take pictures of the vegetables we ordered (you can see them in the back)! I talked about it in my previous post but we also ordered Stir-fried Pea Sprouts but now I’m not sure if it was the same dish as last time. Honestly, they changed their menu a bit since I last visited and I got a little confused. The veggies were good nonetheless!

Krispy Kreme Donuts! There is a Krispy Kreme in the mall so we decided to order some donuts! Aren’t they so cute? The cashier was very sweet and happily encouraging as I went through all my coins to pay. I don’t wanna carry around choke coins! You know what was cool? By the end of the trip, I used up all my coins! Until I got to the dumb airport but that’s another story for another day lol.

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Kitchen Carrot – Nishi-Ogikubo, Japan

Jan3

When I was growing up, KIKU was my daily jam – especially on Saturdays (yes, quite a lively social calendar) but I loved it because Soko Ga Shiritai would show at like 6PM and then right after that show ended, Crayon Shinchan would come on. Then I would get a half hour break to shower before I watched my 8PM Korean drama on KBFD (lol). It’s a core memory for me.

Anyway, my favorite episodes on Soko Ga Shiritai were always their restaurant segments, especially the 1000-yen meals. One restaurant always remained in my memory, Kitchen Carrot. I wish I could find the episode again but it was a small restaurant run by a married couple, the husband was a former butcher so he knew how to get good quality meat at a cheap price which is why they were able to offer cheaper meal sets. They were super popular back then and I remember how tired the wife was (she said it and looked it) but the food…oh the food looked so good. It’s always been on my bucket list to find this restaurant and try it and guess what? I did on this trip! And a double score? We met up with Kat for lunch here! Thank you Kat for making the trek out here to join us for lunch! And oh my gosh, THANK YOU FOR THE OMIYAGE. You really didn’t have to and I loved the bag you gave me and all the goodies inside, I can’t wait to try the Japanese sriracha, you are so generous. And thank god Kat was there because they are not English friendly at this restaurant lol – double thank you!

Small kine research was that the original owners sold this place about a decade back – luckily the new owners are running it pretty much the same!

Looks just like it did in the 90’s! And man, this restaurant is SMALL. We were the first ones in line, well, no line really. But there was a stream of people coming in as we started eating.

Sirloin Steak (200g) | ¥1,750
served with miso soup, rice and coffee/oolong tea or orange juice

This was Kat’s dish! Oh man, it looked so good. I wanted to get hers when I saw it arrive! I’m a sucker for herbed butter, looked like the perfect portion too!

Sutemori Chicken (Hamburg, Chili Pepper Steak, Chicken Saute, Cream Croquette) | ¥1,850

Chan and I ordered the same set, for me, it was go big or go home. I waited over 20 years for this and who knows if I would return! You know what I really wanted? Same dish like this but in the segment, they also had these giant ebi fry. Oh that would have been awesome but this was good too! Can you believe…the chicken (the one with the red sauce on top) was the best part of the dish? The steak was actually bit dry and tough. I think I like everything else over the steak I got. I got the orange juice and absolutely enjoyed my experience.

Just wanted to show you my set up close and the big order of rice it comes with. Kat was good and asked for less rice, no way I was gonna do that. LOL, thank you to Chan and Kat for being part of one of my bucket list items come true!!!

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Takeman – Kanagawa, Japan

Dec29

Chan and I took a train out to Hiratsuka located within Kanagawa (my first time!) to meet up with two of his friends. I will say, the best meals we had during the trip were definitely at restaurants his friends’ (locals!!) chose. We dined in at Takeman and it was a wonderful experience; ambience, excellent service, food, everything was perfect!!! No English menu folks and we were served a set menu…so no real names of dishes here…sorry! It was all so delicious though…

Each of us had our own setting with a unique image – details!

Every dish was delicious and beautifully presented. Thank you to Takao for introducing this restaurant to us! Takao then drove us up to beautiful Komayama Park.

The park had one restaurant and check this out folks…

It was called Aloha Market and they sold Hawaiian plate lunches and specialties including “marasada.” Too bad we just ate lunch, I would have tried something!

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Sandy’s Cafe – Chinatown, HI

Oct18

Chan and I are on the hunt for good Chinese grindz, but specifically, good Chinese breakfast grindz. And ding ding ding, we have a winner! Sandy’s Cafe is located in the Chinese Cultural Plaza so we came in on a Sunday morning for a nice leisurely breakfast. They are also known for roasting their own meats and have been rated pretty high on lists, are they worth the hype?

Lemon Tea (Cold) | $5.00

Gotta start the meal off with a nice freshing Hong Kong style lemon iced tea. If the lemon slices don’t take up half the cup, what are you even doing? (j/k).

Crispy Gau Gee (4 pcs) | $7.00

Fried nice and crisp and packed full of stuffing. Homemade and delicious!

Beef Brisket & Tendon Funn in Soup | $19.00

Chan loves this type of dish so he’s been trying it all over. He likes the one from Lam’s Kitchen a lot but he liked Sandy’s version too! I had a slurp of their soup, very flavorful! Tasted more homey to me, which I like!

Ginger Chicken Sauce Chicken & Roast Duck on Rice | $19.00
Opted for Thigh meat | $2.00 upcharge

So yeah, you read that right. To get the dark meat, you gotta pay TWO DOLLARS. There was a bit of confusion and she came back to confirm if I wanted thigh for both meats. I ain’t going to pay $4! Sorry, but generally duck is good in all parts…especially the breast! I only wanted chicken thigh meat. Yeah they gave me chicken thigh meat with a couple pieces of breast too. I actually originally wanted the char siu and roast duck on rice plate to try their roast meats but they said their char siu wasn’t ready. I think she said it would be ready at 9 or 10. Okay this is a lot of complaining but I actually enjoyed the dish a lot. Even if the waitress got a bit snippy at me when I got confused by her thigh questioning – they are all actually quite nice and the restaurant is nice and clean and bright! We will definitely return but according the sign on their door, they are taking an extended break until about mid-November? Definitely recommend! Though, I still think Asian Mix’s roast duck is betta.

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Tali’s Bagels & Schmear – Honolulu, HI

Oct16

Hi folks. Apologies are in order, life got super busy and I just didn’t have the time, motivation or energy to post. I even had a whole bunch of pictures edited and ready to go but now I look at them and don’t want to. LOL, so I’ll put those pics on the side and start anew here.

Did I ever tell you folks I never learned to swim? So one of my bucket list items was to learn how to swim. My co-worker suggested looking into the Parks and Rec program and what a great idea! It was just in time for the new term and lo and behold, I found the beginner’s courses. I got super excited. I bought swim clothes, goggles and was ready for the courses.

Sorry to say, the excitement soon faded. Everyone in my class were not beginner swimmers, not even close. I was super excited to learn from our instructor because he is so gentle and patient but eventually, he had me learn alone with this younger guy while he taught the others. The first time I had that happen, I thought this is awesome – I get my one on one instruction! Well sorry, but while this younger guy was nice, he was not teaching me anything and seemed bored. So as I did the same thing over and over, I watched as the main instructor was having a ball with the rest of the students. I felt defeated and by the time it happened a second time, I kind of just cried driving home because I felt so isolated and wasn’t learning much.

What can you do when it’s a free course right? I am a bit irritated that all these swimmers are taking up the spots in a beginners course, it feels pretty selfish to me. Folks like me who actually need to learn how to swim gets jipped you know? Sigh. For now, I guess I’ll just watch YouTube videos and practice in Chan’s pool. I don’t know, my shoulders are still junk so it limits me too. Sorry for the boo-hoo’ing but that was part of the reason why I was busy too.

Let’s get to the meat of the post! I checked out Tali’s Bagels & Schmear the other week (omg it was August, I just checked the date) because I had a hankering for some NY style bagels! A bit pricey but I thought they were good all in all?

They are located in Ward Center – it used to be the Mocha Java spot. Man, I heard they are going to tear down Ward Center too. How many condos is too many condos?? I never got over Borders closing haha.

OG NYC w/Everything Bagel | $16.00
acme premium center-cutlox, tomato, red onion, dill, capers, and our classic schmear

How was it? Good. $16 good? I don’t know. I guess I’m not a bagel snob so I can’t tell the difference between a super good bagel versus a basic one. I feel like I could just buy my own bagels and make my own sandwich and put choke more smoked salmon lol.

Aww Zhuga Zhuga w/Classic Bagel | $15.00
slow cooked chicken breast drenched in house-made zhug (cilantro-based hot sauce/middle eastern spices), roasted bell peppers, onions and melted mozzarella

What possessed me to get this? I had no idea what zhug was so I really took a risk to get this one. But you know what? It was delicious! It’s like a slighty spicy pesto sauce, it was a good sandwich! I would get this again if I had to return here. But yeah, I don’t think I’m itching to come back again until I get another bagel craving.

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Ruth’s Chris Steak House – Downtown, HI

Sep11

This is a memory I will never forget. My friend and I went to Ruth’s Chris Steak House at Restaurant Row (now Waterfront Plaza – yes I’m old) for a holiday dinner years ago. Dinner was going swimmingly, all the tables were full with holiday cheer until we hear a big sound. I was horrified to see that a food runner had dropped his tray of food all over a diner. I’m talking like bowls of hot soup. I was mortified for them! Sorry, that’s the memory I had and when I dined here a few weeks ago, I couldn’t shake that memory because all of them were still carrying trays so full of food way high up in the air…I had PTSD! Anyway, the same friend (lol) treated me to a wonderful birthday dinner here! It was amazing, let me share some pics!!!

Complimentary Warmed Bread and Butter. Yes please.

Caesar Salad | $19.00
romaine hearts, parmesan & romano, creamy caesar

No worries, it’s for two portions! My friend actual ate vegetables, birthday miracles do happen (ha!). The salad was delicious! They don’t make it table side in case you were wondering.

Petite Filet & Shrimp | $67.00
8 oz. petite filet with three large shrimp

I used to get the rib eye but now since I have a smaller appetite, the petite was it! Couldn’t resist a little surf and turf action. I’ve learned my lesson in the past and guess what I did? I ordered it rare.

They cooked it right and I was thrilled. And you know what? This is probably one of the best steaks I have ever had in my life. It was cooked perfectly and it was so tender, broke the mouth soft man. So so so good!

Petite Filet + Lobster Tail | $58 + $20
8 oz. of our most tender cut of lean, midwestern beef
lobster tail sizzling with drawn butter

My friend’s meal. YUM. Well I didn’t have any of it but how can you go wrong??

Mac & Cheese | $18.00
cavatappi pasta, white cheddar sauce

They label this as lobster mac and cheese but if you don’t want to be bougie, you can order the mac and cheese plain which is what we did!!

Complimentary Birthday Dessert – Flaming Strawberries

What a spectacle. No worries, they don’t sing to you! And boy does it take a while for the fire to die down. And when it does…the strawberries are all mushy and kind of junk. What a waste of beautiful strawberries! I would take the strawberries with the chocolate sauce, hold the fire!

Creme Brulee | $14.00
vanilla bean custard with raw sugar crust

Chocolate Sin Cake | $13.00
rich flourless cake, ganache, raspberry sauce

My dessert. So rich and decadent. Super good though!

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Sushi Murayama – Ala Moana, HI

Sep6

Chan treated me to a special dinner at Sushi Murayama! I haven’t been there in ages and I am not quite sure how they run the restaurant now, post-pandemic. Other than two other guests, we were the only ones seated at the sushi counter for their omakase. I’m not sure if they are doing their full menu dining in the full restaurant. Chan decided to try the $155 omakase deluxe set and what a treat! It’s 16 pieces of sushi and yes, they were all high quality.

My only complaint? Much. Too. Fast. I don’t think I have ever complained about fast service, but this was…too much. They put down your first piece of sushi right when you sit. They explain each sushi and the origin of it which is good, but basically once you eat the sushi – the next piece is already plopped down. The chef was super attentive and basically waiting for the moment to drop the next dish. I tell you, we could have finished the meal in 15 minutes because it felt that fast paced. For me, that ruined the experience a bit. Chan and I had a super omakase experience in Seattle which felt almost opposite of this. Gotta give your diners time to savor the food they just ate…I can’t remember much about each dish because it was just all too fast. I got full so fast too so I had to take some home. Well, enjoy the pics lol.

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Kan Sushi – Waikiki, HI

Aug30

Am I finally posting a new place pre-social media frenzy? Maybe, maybe not. I am scheduling this out but when I checked out Kan Sushi – it was before it was crazy busy. We came on a weekday for lunch. Kan Sushi is an all you can eat sushi/pupu/korean bbq/noodles restaurant. I mean, they seriously have everything. Here is the link to their current menu. Currently, the lunch price is $29.95 or $35.95 for dinner. The only difference is that select items are only available for the dinner price. But when you dine there during lunch and want to pay the dinner price, you can…and you can order dinner items! To me, the dinner items wasn’t enough for me to want to pay extra so we went for the lunch deal!

Kan Sushi is located in Waikiki in the old Todai/Makino Chaya location. Parking is a bit of a pain in the butt, but it is free for kamaaina! Entrance to parking is on Ena Road, there are signs in the parking with a QR code that you need to scan before heading into the restaurant. Once you’re in the restaurant, you fill out the online form and your waiter/waitress gives you a coupon code to input that gives you I believe 2 hours of free parking. Yes!!! 9/2/23 Parking Update: I am seeing that parking now costs money. It was free when I went to dine.

Nicely renovated!!

Tunapeno (4pcs)
spicy tuna, tuna tataki, jalapeno, spicy mayo, sriracha, soy mustard

Good, not great. I really don’t like their spicy tuna and if you know me, I love spicy tuna. They season it weird and the ahi is basically a paste, no bueno.

Truffle Salmon (2pcs)

Yum. I love truffle! This was good! Each nigiri order comes with 2pcs, I shared this with my friend. Yum!

Snowflake Salmon (2pcs)

Not quite sure why this is called snowflake salmon – I think there is supposed to be a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Do you see any sprinkling of cheese? It was good, but nothing spectacular.

Beef Belly Truffle Fries

No. No. No. No. The fries were soggy and not fried well. Beef belly? It’s basically bulgogi on top. And truffle? Where’s the truffle taste? There was absolutely none.

Bacon Pork Belly (Garlic)

I was happy to see KBBQ on the menu and was relieved when we ordered this that it wasn’t a huge serving. This is a managable size and was good!

Cajun Shrimp Udon Pasta

Okay, don’t hate me but this was probably my favorite dish of the meal. I really enjoyed it! Noodles were cooked well, love cajun seasoning and they were pretty generous with the shrimp. Definitely would get this again!

Tom & Jerry Roll (8pcs)
spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado, salmon, pico de gallo, garlic flake, ponzu

This one was a risky order. 4 of the rolls are topped with pico de gallo, the other 4 are topped with crunchy garlic. The rolls are spicy tuna and shrimp tempura (you already know how I feel about their spicy tuna). You know what? The pico de gallo worked really nicely, added a nice fresh crunch to the dish. The cilantro and onions were wonderful. The pieces with crunchy garlic, not great. This is a risky order because it can really fill you up. I don’t know if I would order this again.

Avocado Ball
krab meat (imitation crab), spicy tuna, poke, crunch, hot sauce, avocado, spicy mayo, eel sauce, tobiko, cheese powder (did not see cheese powder on this either)

Okay, this wasn’t really my dish. It’s so pretty to look at but it is HUGE. Good news? No rice, it’s filled with imitation crab (they called it krab and krab is all over the menu) and chunks of random fish. I was already too full so I couldn’t partake in this but hey, if you like avocado, go for it!

Roly Poly Roll
krab meat, salmon, masago, green onion, eel sauce, soy mustard sauce

Not my dish again, it’s salmon wrapped with you guess it, krab salad. It was alright. OH AND BY THE WAY, THEIR SHOYU AND WASABI is some of the weakest tasting I have ever had. Imagine using watered down low sodium Aloha Shoyu or something. Sneak in your own kikkoman or yamasa packets, the junk shoyu really ruined my eating experience.

All in all though, I would return because the price point is great. This is a good place to go with picky eaters too since it’s not just sushi, you can order all kine food!

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