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Kikuya Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar – Kalihi, HI

Sep26

Correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t there a Kikuya in Kaneohe? Yes, I see there is, with a slightly different spelling. Are they sister restaurants? Anyway, I went to the Kalihi Kikuya for dinner on a Friday night and it was pretty okay. I wouldn’t call this high end Japanese but more of a family style restaurant, super fast service. The restaurant was full of Korean waitresses, nothing wrong with that! The hostess was super friendly and the other wait staff were just super hustlers, not the chatty type. The location may not be ideal for most. The parking lot is kind of horrendous and shares the same lot with I don’t know, 10 restaurants? I thought I found a stall in front of the Chinese restaurant and parked when a worker came out asking if I was picking up from them. No, I wasn’t. She said the stall I used was for their pick-up orders only. Okay, I moved my car. There was a cone not in the stall but fronting the stall with no sign. They couldn’t just write a quick piece of paper saying take-out only? The cone was not blocking the stall, I promise.

Anyway, I parked next to the adult store. I didn’t even know we had one in Kalihi, lol.

Combo Dinner Set Sides
edamame, pickled cabbage (pink stuff), tossed salad (with an asian vinegary dressing, good!), miso soup

Combo Dinner 1st Choice | Shrimp Tempura w/Veg.
Two big shrimps, kabocha, green beans

Combo Dinner Set 2nd Choice | Sushi
4 pcs. nigiri, ahi, salmon, tai, tamago

Combo Dinner price is $17.95 for 2 choices and $20.95 for 3 choices. A pretty good deal to me nowadays! The food came out FAST. Just homey Japanese dishes. The sushi was pretty good and the cuts were good!

My brother chose the sushi and the chicken karaage (WHY!). To me, if you gonna pay the same price for the sets – go for the pricier stuff! Not chicken karaage! I tried a piece. It was bland, not enough salt and they don’t serve it with lemon. Wouldn’t get the karaage again.

All in all, it was good! Not too busy, we got seated right away but the restaurant definitely had groups dining in already at 5PM. I bet it gets super busy after my senior citizen dining time. I would definitely dine there again, great to know that such a restaurant exists so close to home. Get plenty restaurants I need to check out in this strip mall.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Sep23

Just wanted for be fancy…

Yummy soft tofu slathered in goma dressing and chili oil. Delicious!

Vegetable Board | $15.00

Grilled Marinated Vegetables, Quinoa, Avocado, House Pickled Vegetables, Roasted Beets, Grilled Asparagus

I had this over the summer for dinner at Tango Contemporary Cafe. I enjoyed it a lot! But gosh, was I eating healthy or what?

Lunch Bento | $10.00
marinated boneless short ribs, wing dings, kielbasa sausage, shumai, taegu, takuan, fishcake & kimchee

We ordered bentos from Taka’s Box Lunch for an office retreat and I thought the price was pretty good! I was trying to call them all day on a Friday and sent them a message on Instagram with no response. It was a bit frustrating but I finally got a hold of someone on Monday morning and was able to put my order in. I heard they are pretty busy on Fridays so I understand. The orders all worked out and I thought it was pretty good. I like laugh at wing dings and ribs – the “s” makes it sound like you get more than one. You don’t. It’s okay, still worth it.

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Mr. Beast Burger – Honolulu, HI

Sep19

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I am old. Heck if I know who Mr. Beast is but ask any teenager or kid and they all seem to know who he is. I loathe to even look up his details, I am sure he is internet famous but doesn’t seem too terrible in terms of his role modeling for kids. Anyway, he started doing burgers over the pandemic and it was available here. The only thing is, they operate out of ghost kitchens and during the pandemic, you could only order his food through food delivery services. I don’t do those. Well I checked again recently and was pleased to see that they now also allow for pick-ups! If you go to his website, you can pick out the location you want to get yours from. We ordered ours from the Buca di Beppo location in Ward, they have a little pick-up area at the front of the restaurant.

Beast Style Double Burger Combo | $14.49
smashed crispy beef patties with house seasoning, american cheese, pickles, diced white onion, mayo, ketchup and brown mustard on a toasted bun served with your choice of seasoned or Beast style fries and a drink.

I didn’t eat these combos, but the burgers were enjoyed quite nicely. If you got teenager boys to feed, you found a good option.

“Seasoned” fries

I put seasoned in quotation marks because I was told these were not seasoned at all. Salt was added by us. Yeah when I see seasoned on a menu, I expect to see the seasoning. These look just plain and also overcooked.

Beast style fries | +$1.80
loaded with caramelized onions, American cheese, pickles, mayo, ketchup and mustard

When I saw this on the menu, I thought it was like delicious cheesy fries. It’s not. It’s literally what they put on top of a burger onto fries. Weird…right?

Anyway, the burgers were enjoyed. We may return just to try the other burgers they have on the menu. This gets a meh rating from me.

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Kamukura Ramen – Honolulu, HI

Sep12

I was scrolling through Instagram and one of the folks I follow talked about Kamukura Ramen, a new ramen joint that opened up in Ala Moana at the Lanai Food Court. This user is a Japanese chef and mentioned that the fried rice they serve is the closest to the fried rice he has had in Japan ramen shops so you know that got me thinking, wanting, and GETTING it. I came this past weekend at about 11, no long line but definitely had orders already. A good sign was a table next to me had three guys from Japan going for it. I wonder if they liked it.

This blog entry may turn into a…I tried it so you don’t have to because their dishes are kind of pricey. Let’s just say I paid nearly $35 for a ramen combo. It’s hard to feel good about this purchase especially since it is located in a food court, does that sound snobby? I am not used to spending this much for ramen. Well how was it?

Ramen * Gyoza * Drink * Fried Rice Combo | $29.99 + $2.99
white cabbage, pork, roasted pork

Now, this combo is with the most basic ramen they have. If you want to get an upgraded ramen (for example, I wanted the egg – you have to pay the difference). I have to say, all the pictures include nice greens in the bowls but my bowl did not come with chives or green onions and if you wanted to add, you have to pay more. $3.49 to add scallions as a topping? Why I no just go Foodland Farms and buy a bunch and cut it into the ramen myself? Okay sorry for being snippy.

I had to eat this at home and no worries, the integrity was not lost in the dish. They pack the soup separate so I reheated the soup a bit before adding it to the noodles. Here it is in final form. The char siu is very thinly sliced – there is an egg in there!

Here are the noodles, char siu and egg before I added the soup in. The noodles were perfectly cooked. No complaints on that.

The broth before I added it to the noodles. They like their chinese cabbage. I like it too.

Ugh, I thought I got a clear picture of the egg. I didn’t. But you get the idea. It’s perfectly cooked and has the perfect gummy yolk inside, no complaints.

Fried Rice! Okay, I was super excited to try this. It was good, not great. Nothing I would yearn to go back for you know?

Gyoza! To me this was the best part of the meal. They were pretty nicely packed in with filling, tasted like it was made by the restaurant. It comes with a packet of the gyoza dipping sauce. I really enjoyed this!

Final verdict? Well it was good. $35 good? I don’t know. I paid by credit card and of course when they turn the machine around, they ask for tip. I don’t know man, I am doing take out in a food court and I am being charged $35 for this – I wasn’t inclined to tip (sorry!). The upcharges to add just bean sprouts or green onions is crazy to me. I get that costs are high right now but…that high?? It was all good, not great. I feel I can go Wagaya and pay less and get the same if not better food.

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Fun Station – Kaimuki, HI

Sep8

Fun Station – cute name and I assume a play on the word fun. As in a type of noodle in Chinese. When they first opened, they were featured all over because of their “flying noodles.” Yes, we did order one and I will show you pictures! I’m going to be honest, I did not come into this restaurant with high hopes because I thought maybe the noodles were a bit of a kitschy thing and I didn’t think the food would live up to the hype. I am glad I came when the hype died down, so did it live up to the hype? Was it in fact…fun? Sorry, I had to sneak in the pun.

Fun Station is located in the Market City Shopping Center, sandwiched between Donut King and Gina’s Korean BBQ. Hard to miss!

Spicy Beef Look Fun in Soup | $14.85

I don’t know if you can tell from this photo because it looks like just a big giant red glob of stuff but it’s a huge bowl of noodles! It also comes with a look of good stuff in the soup! Tripe, beef, peanuts, etc. Just a lot of the good stuff you would find in I would call Szechuan cooking. The diner quite enjoyed this dish!!!

Crispy Spareribs Bucket Rice | $15.95

This is my dish, I didn’t feel noodle’y so I went for a rice dish. A true behemoth coming out of the kitchen to your table! Crispy spareribs, yes indeed. They bread it and deep fry it before drenching it in a nice savory sauce. There is a veggie medley (corn, peas and carrots) along with broccoli. Not a fan of the medley. And it comes with a LOT of rice. I mean it’s like almost the length of the bucket! One complaint about the rice? I don’t know how to say it but there was like a sweetness running through the rice. It wasn’t the sauce of the dish, it was almost like a sugar water? Pineapple water? I don’t know but I didn’t like it and I don’t know how to explain it if I had to order it again. Well I guess I don’t have to because they serve the spareribs as an appetizer too lol.

Beef Scallion Flying Noodles | $15.75

What a sight to be seen! Hard to explain it. There is a silver rod that comes out of the bowl that has two holes that the chopsticks go into. They then drape the noodles around the chopsticks so it looks like the noodles are flying. It’s pretty neat! You pull out the chopsticks and the noodles fall to the bowl. The waitress then came to remove the rod from the bowl so you can mix and enjoy! This dish was also enjoyed!

There are two different flying noodle dishes, one is signature flying noodles and one is beef scallion flying noodles. I was told the signature flying noodles contained like ground pork and is a bit spicy while the one we ordered has slices of beef and was not spicy. Just an FYI.

Spiced Fried Intestine | $16.25

Another dish people may be turned off by, intestines. But boy oh boy do I love intestines. I love getting a version of this dish from Chengdu but dare I say, I enjoyed it much more here! And I think it might be a bit cheaper too? (Yes, it is. I just checked – about $4 cheaper!). This was delicious, I would absolutely get this again!

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Izakaya Torae Torae – McCully, HI

Sep6

I used to come Izakaya Torae Torae more often, nothing wrong with them I promise! I guess I’ve been trying other places or just not going out all together. Got another special birthday treat here and boy was it a treat. The experience didn’t start great. We had reservations and were seated first in the restaurant and then we were basically talked to last. They spent all their time seating everyone at their tables and bar…and then took their orders right away? I was getting pretty peeved if I can be honest. I get that restaurants are short staffed but we heard one couple who had a reservation 30 minutes after ours get seated and then HELPED before us. I was actually timing my departure because it was almost 15 minutes at that point and I just couldn’t believe my eyes and ears at everyone else getting service but us. Well, finally she comes to greet us and I am sure I gave out bad vibes. But she turned out to be okay and actually, I think she was the only waitress for the restaurant so I did feel bad for her. And boy oh boy…did prices go up. But that’s the trend everywhere.

Ankimo (Monkfish Liver) | $11.65
served in citrus soy sauce, momiji, oroshi and green onions over cucumber wakame

One of my go-to dishes in Japanese restaurants. I know liver throws a lot of folks off board but I really enjoy this, it’s not a strong liver taste. What do I compare this to? It’s almost like crab miso – it’s hard to explain. I find this dish to be light and refreshing!

Jidori Chicken Karaage | $11.00
free range Jidori chicken battered and deep fried

Good, nothing special. It’s fried chicken, you can’t really go wrong!

Pork Belly Kakuni | $16.85
blackline pork simmered in soy based sauce served with daikon and slow cooked organic egg

This dish took the longest to come out. It was one of the first orders we put in and came out like at the end of the meal. Wouldn’t a dish like this already have been simmering? I guess I don’t know how restaurants work but I doubt pork belly kakuni is fired up at the time of order. Anyway, I listed this as the item because they gave us the wrong order. We actually ordered the pork belly kakuni donburi – they apologized and brought out a bowl of rice. I mean we made out in this deal because we got more meat in the end and paid the cheaper price. Funniest interaction was the waiter asking if we wanted to just keep this dish because if he had to remake the donburi, it would take a long time. WHAT? Would you not just put these pork pieces onto a bowl of rice? Baffled!

Spicy Tuna Tartare | $10.75
wonton bowl with avocado mix. topped with spicy tuna, raw quail egg, green onions, kabayaki sauce, and nori chips

It tastes like it sounds, it’s delicious. I don’t drink but sometimes I wish I was a beer drinker to get the same satisfaction as other beer drinks who eat fried food with their beer. Delish!

King Salmon Sashimi (6 pcs) | $24.00
O-toro Sashimi (6 pcs) | $64.95 (!)

Star of the show is the last picture to end the post. The o-toro….the price!!! Torae Torae still serves the best o-toro on the island, hands down. But this price…I just can’t. It was such a nice birthday treat…unfortunately the o-toro this time was also not as good quality as in the past. But the price hike! Yeah, I think I’ll have to hike it on out of here.

Ending the post with the gifts I received from the same friend who treated me to dinner. Aren’t these presents wrapped so pretty? It is always so heartbreaking to have to tear into these presents because he is a perfectionist at wrapping. No one can beat it!

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Imanas Tei – Honolulu, HI

Aug31

Funny storry about Imanas Tei, well it’s embarassing for me but I’ll share it anyway. One of the first times I dined here, I was seated at the sushi bar and absolutely did not know what I was doing. So guess what I did? I placed my freaking purse on the front counter mantle. That mantle piece that the sushi chefs place your pieces of sushi on. Oh my gosh, the sushi chef who scolded me to remove it looked so mad. I will never forget that moment. Also that was probably one of the last times I dined at the actual sushi bar. Hahaha I don’t like sitting at the bars anyway, I don’t want to be watched or feel like I have to converse with the person behind the bar. I am a true introvert.

Anyway, this was a wonderful visit to the restaurant and it was even better because it was a nice birthday treat meal for me. I am always appreciative of my friends. Anyway, Imanas Tei used to be super popular. Not to say they aren’t anymore but it’s definitely easier to get a reservation now. And guess what! They joined the reservations on Yelp so you don’t have to call in to reserve a table anymore. That was a plus for me!

Chinese Cabbage & Grilled Chicken Salad with Japanese Nanami Chili Dressing | $7.00

Another funny story, I asked if this dish was spicy because my dining companion doesn’t like too much spice. I mean it says chili in the title and the waitress told me it’s not spicy (it was). Not super spicy but there was definitely a kick. I really loved this salad, it was delicious and so refreshing. I would get it again!

Maguro Shichimi Yaki | $17.50
pan fried nanami chili coated tuna with miso butter sauce

BY FAR MY FAVORITE DISH OF THE NIGHT. Their menu has so many items and this one definitely gets hidden in the mountains of text. I just so happened to see a picture of this dish on Yelp and went for it. It was so hard to find it on the menu but oh my word it was delicious. You know the 3660 on the Rise Ahi Katsu dish? The sauce on that dish is so good that I wish I had a big bowl of rice with it. Well this is no different. Dang I wish I had a big bowl of rice to eat with this dish. It’s also very buttery rich but…SO GOOD.

Kakiage | $10.50
fried burdock & seafood

This is definitely a dish you will see across the restaurant on almost every table. Perfect dish to nibble on as you down your beers (and I say you because I don’t drink beer) – freshly fried and served to you in a light batter. Pupu hour lover’s dream! (It’s good for non-drinkers too, per me).

Grilled Yamaimo with Natto (special)

Sorry I don’t have a price on this one, it was one of their specials. I love yamaimo and I love natto so where can you go wrong? We were very curious about how it would be served grilled. It also took a while to come out so the anticipation grew. The dish was good but it was cold?? Like from the refrigerator?? So why did it take so long to come out? It tasted great but I guess when I see the word grilled, I expected it to be served hot? It tasted great and I guess I could taste the smokiness from when it was grilled who knows when because it was ice cold. LOL – anyway it was good.

Anyway, it was a great dining experience as always. They always have a good number of servers running around. Their parking lot is horrendous and they share it with another restaurant and massage place. We got there super early so I was able to score a stall. There is street parking around the neighborhood but that’s a bit iffy to me. I guess you could park in the Nijiya market lot and buy something to get validation? Hopefully the rates outside of the validation aren’t too much.

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Jalgachi – Honolulu, HI

Aug24

I am too lazy to look now but I am pretty sure I have posted Jalgachi before. They are still the top makers of bossam in my opinion, if there is a better restaurant out there, please let me know! I came in for lunch about 2 months ago, food was still delicious. Prices have gone up, but where haven’t prices gone up? Their Yelp business hours have not been updated but they are closed on Wednesdays – FYI! We learned the hard way.

Bossam (Steamed Pork with Oyster) | $37.99

Yes, it’s pricey but it’s so worth. I really love that they season the pork so well. The oysters and the mixture beneath? *chef’s kiss* It’s just the perfect dish. Honestly, I could eat this as my entire meal. Not that I should. (Let me live!)

Complimentary Banchan

They used to give you six dishes of banchan – I guess covid has changed things a bit. And it seems like these are the mainstays – they used to vary up the banchans.

Bibimbap (Brunch Special) | $13.99

Actually, my friend and I shared the bossam and bibimbap. It worked out perfectly, we pigged out but didn’t overstuff ourselves. We had two Korean men dining next to us and both of them constantly left their table to go outside to smoke. They really slowly ate and drank…super slowly. Good thing it wasn’t that busy.

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Honey Glazed Hams of Hawaii – Honolulu, HI

Aug22

Honey Glazed Hams of Hawaii is located so close to my work place but I only tried their deli sandwiches for the first time maybe two months ago? Wild right? And guess what? I loved it. Simple deli menu but it really shows you how good quality deli meats can really elevate a sandwich. I’ve always just bought the packaged deli meats in stores, is it worth it to go to their deli counters to get the meats there??

Anyway, this store is also so cute because it’s like a little craft fair in the store! So many cute little products. I hate their parking lot lol so that’s the only caveat. If you come on a weekday during off-peak hours, it’s not too bad!

Turkey Pesto Melt | $9.95
smoked turkey breast, pesto mayo, melted provolone cheese with tomatoes on white bread

I know this sandwich may not look like much but it was packed full of flavor. Oh so good, highly recommend!

Portuguese Bean Soup

I got this with the sandwich as a combo. Would not recommend. I love myself some portuguese bean soup but ho….this was salty! Maybe it was that day? I don’t know. I’m willing to give it one more try but yes, salty. Also I have a coworker who makes the best ever portuguese bean soup so it’s hard for me to like others as much but well…I can tell if something is too salty…

I am posting the menu that was up in the store when I visited but it looks like their prices have gone up so please refer to their website for the most updated prices. I didn’t see the different combos on the website listing so I wanted to post this anyway.

I also tried their Honey Glazed Ham sandwich, sorry I didn’t get a pic of it but that was so good too. Nice thick slices of tender ham. Man, I wanna go back again soon!

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Piggy Smalls – Honolulu, HI

Dec15

I got the chance to return to Piggy Smalls for brunch and oh boy did I jump at the chance! Parking was crazy. Ward has been super busy lately, they’ve been using their space to hold different fairs (like themed craft fairs) so I’ve had to park pretty far up. I guess it’s a good thing for retailers right??

Seasonal Slushy | $5.00

Man oh man, what was this flavor? Okay, I am going to go with POG. Was so nice and refreshing. They change it every month!

Classic Pho French Dip Banh Mi | $17.00
12 hour slow roasted beef brisket, spicy hoisin, thai basil chimichurri, sautéed bean sprouts & onion, toasted la tour baguette, side of our classic beef pho broth for dipping

I absolulely would get this anytime and at any place. In fact, if we didn’t order our second entree – I would have added noodles for $4.00 to the broth. We shared this sandwich and it was good to the last bite. Okay the side salad, why they served us a salad “undressed” is beyond me. How embarassing for the salad (sorry, bad joke) but the salad was wasted because I am not an animal and will not eat plain leaves for pleasure.

Banchan’s Army Stew (Budae Jjigae) | $39.00
vienna sausage, spam, aged kimchi, ramen noodles, american cheese, tofu, microgreens

This was the next dish we shared together. Oh boy, talk about salt bomb yeah? I mean it’s all the meats and they were pretty generous with the meat! I was kind of surprised. Wasn’t a huge fan of the microgreens as the topping but went with it. We were both pretty stuffed from the sandwich already so we could barely finish this. It was good…but for a hipster place you know? I gotta get this dish from a Korean place next time.

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