Archives

ICHIRAN – Harujuku, Japan

May29

I am not a big fan of crowds. But here I was in Harajuku. Why? Well, firstly because of Ikea. And also some other stores I had to go to buy omiyage. Ended the trip with my every Japan trip visit to Ichiran. I know it’s a bit touristy to go and the whole cubicle to yourself dining concept was a bit faddish. To me, it’s just a nice bowl of ramen you can eat quickly and go. You can also purchase a pack to take home, way cheaper than the one in Don Quijote.

Ordering Machine

No worries, there’s always a line and they hand you a foreigner friendly menu to review before you get to the machine. Makes for an easy ordering process. Then you continue to line up to get seated. You can ask to be seated near your companion, just let them know.

Me in my cubicle waiting for my ramen with my lonely egg. Each cubicle has its own water station with cups on top.

While you are waiting for your seat after ordering, you can further specify how salty you want it, how you want the noodles cooked, spice level, etc. Yes, it’s an English form!

My toppings! Yum!

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Tokyo Disneyland

May26

This one is a short post, we didn’t do much here. Actually, I basically ate the mochi balls and left. Sad yeah? I think I either have to go with someone who is super into theme parks or it’s just wasted on me. I’ve been many times. If I were to just walk through the park, I would probably pick DisneySea over Tokyo Disney.

Hot Dog Set | ¥1090

Not the best – I just thought I had to get one more thing before leaving the park. We left before even dinner time and mind you, we ate lunch at a outside restaurant too.

My must get anytime I come to this park, these dang alien mochi balls! I forgot each one is filled with a different flavor, vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. I’ll eat the vanilla one even though I don’t like vanilla haha.

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SEIRYUMON – Ikspiari Mall, Japan

May24

We were starved before we hit up Tokyo Disney so we decided to eat at the Ikspiari Mall before going into the park. Love this mall! We decided to check out SEIRYUMON because we were craving some Taiwanese/Chinese food. It’s going to be a long post but I really enjoyed this meal even if it was tourist trappy.

Egg Drop Soup

Dried Tofu Salad
I know this looks like noodles but it was tofu! It was good!

Dimsum
Bleh

Rice (lol)

Stir-fried Shrimp & Egg with Chili Sauce Lunch Set | ¥1430

This was my lunch set, pretty good price ah? Plenty food! And it’s shrimp! It totally hit the spot, just felt like something tomato-y with rice. Loved it. Well the dimsum was blah but everything else was good!

Another version of dim sum

Crispy Fried Chicken with Sweet & Chili Sauce

Fried Rice with Meat & Seafood | ¥1540

Not my dish, but this was also a set meal. I think the chicken was part of it? I don’t remember, it wasn’t my meal. 🙁

Taiwanese Stir-fried Pea Sprout | ¥1100

I was in dire need of vegetables and always wanted to try pea sprouts. Oh my gosh, hands down my favorite dish of the meal. I would definitely order this again!!

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Gyukatsu Motomura – Ginza, Japan

May22

Hi folks. Sorry for the two week break, I was so tired that I didn’t even have time to tell you folks I needed one break. But it’s okay, cause I barely ate anywhere anyway so I didn’t have much to update. I am going to preschedule some posts because I am going on a trip this week! Sooo excited for the trip and I hope to come back with lots of updates. I’ll be heading up to Seattle and Canada!

Anyway, I’ll finish up some Japan posts. Gyukatsu Motomura was definitely one of my favorite meals in Japan, there was a long line way before dinner time. And is this a good thing? A lot of Koreans in line, lol. Anyway, we had to line up in the freezing cold and the young girl in front of me was wearing like a sexy type school girl outfit so her legs were super exposed. I am cold just remembering that. Gyukatsu serves up a nice piece of meat that has been breaded, flash fried and sliced to your table. You are given a hot plate and you can cook up the slices of meat to your liking!

Menu – you basically just choose the size of meat you want!

Just a quick pic of the cute pepsi drink, I love Japanese bottles.

Sorry I forget what size meat I got, probably like the middle size. If I’m going to eat here, I gonna grind okay? Was delicious! Loved the side dishes, and they are pretty fast once you get seated, just gotta be patient for the line to get in.

Here’s the little hot plate they give you, get one tealight underneath. Watch the video below to watch me completely fail at cooking a slice of meat. You might laugh.

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Mixed Plate Friday

May5

Get this. I was in a mood but still always follow the rules. So I’m driving up Piikoi to go onto the freeway right? And you folks know, the right and left lane people always be trying to cut us rule followers. I don’t let them cut because why should I have to wait forever to get on the freeway while you folks just cut last minute? It is so maddening! Anyway, earlier this morning it happened. This stupid jeep was on the left trying to cut me, we were bumper to bumper at the red light. I was not going to let him in. But he kept moving forward and steering his car like he was just gonna cut anyway.

Well guess what. No. I didn’t let that happen. And as the light turned green and I went gas em, his passenger, some white lady busts out her phone and points it at me out of the window. Yeah! Like she’s trying for record me for not letting them in??? Girl are you crazy. I hope you enjoyed the view of me pissed off in my big black sunglasses I got from my eye surgery. It was obviously a rental car (dumb tourist). I was hopping mad but I ain’t going to engage with them. I just drove off. How rude right??? I almost like her post the video and me find it to tell everyone exactly what happened.

Spicy & Shoyu Ahi Poke Bowl | $12.99

Before the pandemic, Aja used to fill up the cold case with sushi and bibimkooksoo. Still no bibimkooksoo but I did try this poke bowl the other week! Pretty good! Pretty good portion for $12.99 even if it’s a lot of rice.

Homemade Bahn Mi Toast

Haha I’m calling it toast because I didn’t have any french bread. But I just toasted up one slice of bread, shredded Sam’s Club chicken with mayo, made my own carrot/daikon pickle, fresh cilantro and some homemade pickled jalapenos too! It was delicious! The boys loved it too, all three of them! Hard to find dishes that all three enjoy.

Homemade Tuna Pasta Salad

Did I post this before? I just made my own pasta salad one day and used cottage cheese as a base for the dressing to make it healthier. I just needed the wetness of the cottage cheese to make a dressing and for me it works. I added fresh dill too to make it even more flavorful. I forget the recipe already, if you want it, let me know and I can try to type one up and post. I enjoy this dish!

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Lam’s Kitchen- Chinatown, HI

May3

Took a little jaunt over to Chinatown on a Sunday morning to eat a hearty breakfast and walk around the nicely scented (ha!) streets of Chinatown. Being in Chinatown and running into relatives? The odds are pretty big to me but I guess not big enough. I saw two relatives within 5 minutes of each other. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of good fresh seafood. But it was still nice to eat at Lam’s Kitchen! Very efficient place and having online ordering must be making them bank!!

Steamed Won Ton

Oh yum, I love won ton. This isn’t technically listed on the menu so I forget the price already. We just asked for a side order of wonton with no soup. This is what comes out, yum yum yum. They serve it on a bed of greens too!

Beef Flank & Tendon Look Fun | $12.99

Very nice steaming bowl of comfort food. Delicious. This place has AC but I was sweating. I think it was also all the hot sauce I used. The parking is non-existant but if you have a buddy, maybe you can illegally sit on the side and wait while they run in! At least they have online ordering. 🙂

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Uncle’s Chicken – Kalihi, HI

Apr26

When Uncle’s Chicken opened up a while ago, I really wanted to try it. I was intrigued by the whole fried chicken (well it’s a cornish game hen). My initial craving went away so I didn’t try it until last week. They have a supposed website to order online but it didn’t work the entire day so forget that.

Crispy Fried Whole Chicken | $15.95

How was it? Okay. The sauce that comes with it…it’s like a tangy creamy sauce. I’m not raving about this but I didn’t dislike it too you know?

Shrimp Sandwich | $9.25

Another thing we were excited to try. Maybe V would be excited to try it too but ehhh, no need. I tried it so you don’t have to. It’s texture is like fish paste so it’s not like you get any distinct shrimp flavor nor are there any nice morsels of shrimp in there. No can tell what you even eating.

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Bac Nam – Honolulu, HI

Apr24

I’ve done a few postings here and there about Bac Nam but I don’t think I ever did a full post! How can?? Great Vietnamese restaurant, one of my favorites. Though…not for their pho. Sorry! I like their other dishes moreso than the pho so I recommend you coming here if you are not wanting pho. Well you can order the pho but you won’t be trying their best dishes!

Vietnamese Steamed Dumplings | $12.95
marinated shrimp, pork and onions wrapped into a thin layer of tapioca flour dough, then steamed – served with special House fish sauce

It went up one dollar within a few months but still as good as ever. I assume this is homemade, I think it would be hard to reheat this dish from frozen. Tapioca based flour is hard maintain after freezing or even putting in the fridge, delicious!

Crab Curry | $26.95
French Bread | $3.50

Wow, good thing I keep notes on my meals. The curry went up $2.00 and the bread went up 50 cents lol within a few months. Still one of my favorite dishes even though it pains me to pay for the french bread. While I am a huge fan of rice especially with curries, somehow, the bread just works best with this curry. Get plenty Japanese tourists at this restaurant and you know they all order the crab curry. It’s delish!

Side Order Rice | $3.00

Braised Large Prawn | $23.95

Okay, here’s the funny story. They have either entree style of this dish or a rice plate. The rice plate costs $20.95 while the entree costs $23.95…we asked how many prawns come in each dish. The rice plate comes with 2(!) prawns versus the entree which comes with a whopping…3. Well this was my main dish and I wanted to share my prawns but well…I didn’t really just want one freaking prawn for dinner so I went for the prawns entree along with a side of rice. Ridic. Well I ended up only eating one prawn cause I was full from the appetizers anyway. I wouldn’t get this dish again because it’s just not worth it. And if I were to, I’d get the rice plate. Blah! Anyway, tasted good just not worth the price.

Parking, they have a back lot that is a bit horrendous. If you go dinner time, I believe the metered street parking is free from 6PM – you gotta go read the sign.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Apr21

Breakfast Bento | $4.77

Sushi Robot is located outside of the Kaheka Don Quijote – they been there forevers and sell all kinds of good grab and go foods. I got this bento one morning after an early shop. Can’t lose with a $5 meal! And it’s definitely filling. I would get it again!

Okinawan Soba | $13.00 (or $14.00)

Raysam Hawaii is a cute little Okinawan food truck that comes onto the UH Campus! I like to support him when I can, it seems like a one man operation. I enjoyed their handmade omusubi and decided to try their okinawan soba this time. It was delicious! And I love that he serves it separate from the broth, no bloated noodles!

I saw this bag of turtle chips at 711 and couldn’t resist because I love truffle. Bugga was expensive, $6.09 and how is it? Junk brah, no get it. It’s still too sweet and the truffle taste is minimum yet artificial and just tastes like MSG or something. No waste your money.

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SXY Szechuan – Ala Moana, HI

Apr19

It is very hard for me to take a restaurant seriously with a name like SXY Szechuan. Also, how do you even pronounce it? Do I just say sexy szechuan? If you read my blog, you know I have a thing for spicy foods. I love Chengdu Taste with all my heart but we pass by SXY all the time and we decided it was finally time to try it. How was it? Good, but not better than Chengdu. Wouldn’t mind returning to try other dishes but Chengdu still reigns supreme in my heart.

Stir-fried Green Beans | $15.99
with szechuan flavor

Nice dish, nicely seasoned. Love the crispy garlic on top! The reason it tastes so good is probably because they deep fry the beans in oil.

Griddle Pork Intestines | $23.99
with vegetable mix

Super cute presentation. A mini wok! I almost wish they served it with like a mini spatula but we got just a spoon. It also comes with a tealight candle at the bottom keeping the dish warm. There is a similar dish to this at Chengdu and I think it’s better at Chengdu. I guess I like that Chengdu cuts the intestines a bit thicker and I like the meatyness. They cut it thinner here but you may like that because it’s crispier that way! Good flavor. Spiciest dish of the night even though we asked for the same spice level through all.

Spicy Fried Chicken Wings | $17.99

Good dish. Not spicy. Tons of garlic. You can’t lose!

Stir-fried Jiangxi Noodles | $16.99

Boo, junkest dish of the night. Absolutely no flavor, and not at all spicy, forreal. It was so disappointing and this is coming from someone who loves noodles. I would have asked for hot sauce on the side but I didn’t. Blah!

Spicy Pork Dumpling | $12.99

You can order either won tons or dumplings, I wanted something a bit more substantial so I went with the dumpling. It was good!

Lychee Beer | $5.00

Ha! If you know me, you know I don’t drink (don’t make me bring up Suntory) but I was curious about a lychee beer. Well it was super good. Why? Because it just tastes like lychee soda. I could probably down a 6 pack of this. I heard you can find this at Hmart or Don Q so no need spend $5 for one can here.

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