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Pho Thinh – Moilili, HI

Mar16

Pho Thinh is my absolute favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Hawaii. When my friend first told me about this restaurant, all she could boast about was their cleanliness. Is that a factor for me in dining…eh…not necessarily. We all know Chinese restaurants aren’t the cleanest restaurants but they serve up some good grub. Well this restaurant is not only insanely clean (NO REALLY), check the sauce containers on your table. Not a single crumb or crust on their condiments. Vegetables? Meticulously cleaned vegetables…you can just tell they take pride not only in their food but in the full restaurant experience. They usually close for about a month every year to visit home but they took that trip this year already! So go and try them out! They are located in the same place as Wagaya Ramen. Parking can be a bit difficult but it’s worth it.

Large Combination Pho • $11.50

Do you see that clear broth? Don’t let the light clear broth fool you, it is seasoned just right. No overwhelming spices, just delicious food. Ahh…I’ve been on such a pho kick lately that I just want to come back already!

Bun Rieu • $11.50
Vietnamese Crab & Tomato Noodle Soup

This is a specialty dish they serve only on Fridays and Saturdays. I love it and they make it awesome, the best I’ve had from a restaurant here. There is also curly vegetables that accompany this broth. I don’t know the vegetable, I want to say it’s the stalky part of ong choi that they slice and curl up. Anyone can confirm? Shucks, wish I got a pic of it for you folks.


Pork Banh Mi • $8.50

No shame in my game, I got this sandwich too. Yup. I ate my pho and got this too. To be fair to myself, I only ate half and took the rest home, is that okay? Haha…so this was the second time I got it and I liked it both times even if it was different both times. The pork this time had a char siu red look to the edges…I don’t remember that the first time. I want to say the first time, this sandwich came with cilantro but the second time it didn’t. I really really enjoy cilantro which is why I didn’t enjoy the sandwich as much the second time. They also spread a bit of pate on the sandwich but the taste is quite mild so I enjoyed it. You gotta try it!

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Tsukada Nojo Hawaii – Honolulu, Hawaii

Mar14

Tsukada Nojo Hawaii is a fairly new Japanese restaurant in Hawaii. I love the atmosphere of this restaurant, the decorations, servers, food, etc! They have a little parking lot in front of their restaurant but it is very small and it is shared with a sushi restaurant! So unless you can make it there right when they open, parking is a bit risky. Another plus to this restaurant? You can make reservation on Open Table! I wish all restaurants were on Open Table.

Miyazaki Mango Mojito • $9.00
Miyazaki Mango, Rum, Club soda, Mint
Known for their year-round season, Miyazaki mangoes are flown in to create this unique mojito with freshly muddled mint, citrus and rum

Yum, I’ve been here twice and got this drink both times. It’s delicious and refreshing, I just wish the drink was bigger.

Nikumaki Rice Ball • $3.50
miyazaki region’s comfort food: a pork belly-wrapped rice ball in sweet soy ginger sauce, served on green leaf lettuce, served with teriyaki sauce

Okay, we got this dish both times we came here. The first time the rice balls tasted good, the second time, not so much. The meat wrapped around the rice was too tough and the sauce was too salty.

Grilled Skillet Egg • $6.00
plain omelet

Okay this sounds silly but I LOVE THIS DISH. Why is it called a skillet egg? It actually come out in a cast iron skillet and they flip it onto the plate at your table. The egg is soft…souffle-ish and is seasoned like a dashi tamago. The first time we went, we bought two. This time we could only eat one, would have ordered two if we could.

Bijin Nabe • $40.00
chicken-based collagen soup with zucchini, watermelon radish, tofu, romaine lettuce, chinese cabbage, enoki mushroom, abura-age, green onion, watercress, and tsukune meatball

Doesn’t that look…delicious? Haha, I didn’t know what to expect when this was set at our table. But when it boils down, it is a collagen-rich yet light broth.

The bijin pot comes with some chicken tsukune. We ordered kurobuta pork belly as an add-on for our pot. This was delicious! And like other nabes, you can get rice or noodles to finish off your broth. We went with ramen, it was delicious but we were much too full to eat it all. They have such wonderful dining utensils/plates, I think it’s the little details that count and they think of it! I hope you folks get to try this place out!

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Din Tai Fung – Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Mar12

There aren’t many xiao long bao restaurants in Hawaii, and when I have tried it, I haven’t loved them as much as I thought I would. Din Tai Fung is a big restaurant chain and I have watched countless video features about them! Well, when I got to Hong Kong, I knew I had to give them a try! So here is my experience…

Drunken Chicken in Shaoxing Rice Wine

Oh man, this dish was not good. It tasted like it was only shaoxing rice wine, not just a sauce made with the rice wine. This chicken must have died from alcohol poisoning, the alcohol overpowered everything. We barely ate this dish.

Sautéed Spinach with Supreme Broth and Garlic

My favorite dish of the meal, funny right? A simple vegetable dish sauteed with garlic is one of the ways to my heart. Absolutely recommended.

Noodle with Spicy Sesame and Peanut Sauce

I’m a sucker for noodles. This dish was good but nothing memorable.

Vegetable & Pork Wonton Tossed with Special Sauce

This was probably my second favorite dish of the meal, I love wonton and spicy sauce.

Steamed Black Truffle and Pork Dumplings

Okay this is the funny part of the night. We ordered Xiao Long Bao but totally made a mistake and ordered ALL BLACK TRUFFLE dumplings. It was insanely expensive and my cousin hates truffle so she couldn’t even enjoy it. We were also so full at this point that we couldn’t finish it, you best believe I asked for take out boxes (which they charge for) because I can’t waste truffle and all this food. And I was trying to maneuver between the use of my camera and snapchat so this is the only shot I had of the XLB.

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Ruscello – Ala Moana, HI

Mar7

Ruscello is the restaurant in the new Nordstrom Ala Moana location. I would describe their cuisine as nouveau American cuisine, does that make sense? A mix of different cuisines all on one menu, maybe the pictures will help me in explaining!

Fried Calamari • $11.95
sweet and spicy peppers, jalapeño basil aïoli

This dish was okay, a bit over-fried for my taste. I wouldn’t order it again.

Complimentary Bread with Olive Oil infused with…more olives.

Basil Cucumber Cooler • $11.00
junipero gin, muddled cucumber and basil, fresh lime juice, soda splash

This wasn’t my drink but boy did it look refreshing! My friend enjoyed it quite a bit.

Lanai Cooler • $11.00
chopin vodka, passion fruit, pineapple and fresh lemon juices, vanilla syrup, angostura bitters

My drink! It was delicious and refreshing! Did I question how clean the pineapple leaf was? Yes. Did I still drink it? Yes.

Penne Bolognese • $14.25
spicy italian sausage, roasted red pepper and tomato cream sauce, parmesan cheese

Ginger Crusted Ahi Tuna • $17.95
organic baby greens, cabbage, blistered green beans, red pepper, seasoned wontons, candied ginger, soy glaze, spicy thai basil vinaigrette

I don’t usually order salads but I felt like a salad this day. It was delicious, I loved the freshness of the ahi and how well they seared it. Great dressing too, I would recommend this!

Creme Brulee • $5.75
vanilla bean, caramelized sugar crust, fresh raspberries

Pineapple Brown Butter Cake • $8.25
sweet brown butter glaze, roasted pineapple, buttermilk vanilla sauce, fresh basil

This was my dessert and doesn’t the name and description sounds absolutely delicious? It was awful. This was one of my least favorite desserts in my life, the cake was incredibly dry and dense. The sauce did nothing to help the cake and I left most of it uneaten. It’s such a shame, I would not recommend this dish.

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9 3/4 Cafe – Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Mar5

You best believe that before I went to Hong Kong, I did my fair share of research for places to grind. Well, as you can guess, 9 3/4 Cafe was definitely a non-traditional Hong Kong restaurant to go to. I got really excited because it was pretty new and I love Harry Potter. Well, this place was very hard to find. While we had internet in Hong Kong, the connection was not strong enough and always lagged when we were on Google Maps. It was beyond frustrating…here we are thinking we are going the right direction and suddenly we were so far off the path. Ugh!

This was a late afternoon meal and we both weren’t too hungry so we didn’t order too much. It was a super cute and small restaurant, the only other customers were some high school kids. They were having a ball! I felt too old to play with the props they had available, ah, the regrets!

Gosh, I wish had the drink names available. The first drink was like a blueberry soda type deal and the second one was a neon apple drink! Well I got the blueberry soda because I thought it would be delicious (it wasn’t). I didn’t get to try the apple drink, but I was told it was good. You’re definitely paying for the novelty, it wasn’t great.

Great appetizer. Chicken wings! I thought the preparation, batter and frying was done perfectly. I really wish I had more of an appetite that day to enjoy it!

Salmon Pasta. We shared an entree. It wasn’t terrible but definitely wasn’t great. Would I suggest this restaurant? Maybe to really hardcore Harry Potter fans…but if you’re looking for a great meal, I wouldn’t count on it from this place.

Gotta give it up to them with the decorations though! They really went for it! And another good note, they have English menus available!

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Tangö Contemporary Café – Honolulu, HI

Feb28

Happy New Year! 2 months late…or about 2 weeks late if you follow the lunar year celebrations. I hope you are all doing well! I lost my counter for my blog and I don’t know how to fix it, boy do I have a lot to learn about wordpress and blog maintenance. I’m going to have to give credit where credit is due for this post. Thank you to Arlene for your recent comment, I really appreciate you sticking by and checking in. It really does make a difference because here I am! A little prodding never hurt anyone…and of course thank you to anyone else still checking in on this! I’ll try to set more attainable goals for this blog, I used to put a bit more pressure on myself which burned me out. Maybe I’ll slowly come back around…and I have Hong Kong updates too!

Let’s stick to some local posts for now. Tangö Contemporary Cafe has been one of my favorite restaurants for years now, I have mainly gone for dinner so I can’t speak for the other meals. I have always received great service, great food and enjoy the restaurant’s ambience! There is a parking lot for this restaurant and they offer full validation. Have you been? If not, you should! Judge for yourself with these pictures…

Salmon Board Gravlax – Smoked Salmon Rillette, Roasted Garlic and Herb Labneh, Pickled Cucumber, Rye Bread : $13.00

This was my attempt to make a pretty canape. It didn’t work, haha. I know I didn’t miss my call as a food stylist, or did I? I love salmon so I enjoyed the board. The rye bread wasn’t my favorite, but it was edible. This was one of TWO appetizers we had. We were hungry that night, no regrets. It was funny because later that meal, I saw a lady eat this board as her entree. Good for her, hahaha.

Crab Cake with Spicy Tobiko Aioli : $9.00

Delicious! One of my favorite crab cakes from a restaurant. I really enjoy the spicy tobiko aioli too, it’s just a match made in heaven. Would definitely order this again.

Grilled New York Steak, Kauai Shrimp Garlic Roasted Potato, Peppercorn Demi Glace : $29.00

This wasn’t my dish but my dining companion enjoyed it! The shrimp was nice and fresh (with the heads attached!) and the steak is cooked to your preference.

Slow Roasted Rack of Lamb Garlic with Roasted Potato, Tapenade Demi Glace : $34.00

Okay, this was my entree. Ooooh my, it was so good. The lamb chops were cooked perfectly. It comes with roasted potato but I asked to substitute it with herb polenta which they did. I love their mix of vegetables too! Great dish. One of my go to dishes.

Kona Coffee Ice Cream Cake – Kona Coffee, Vanilla and Italian Chocolate Ice Cream with Chiffon Cake : $7.00

The more pictures I edit for this post, the more convinced I am that I need to come here more often. Simple dessert but they have the best kona coffee ice cream cake I have ever tasted. A nice balance of sweet, the kona coffee taste is smooth with a nice kick of coffee (without the bitterness). Sometimes when desserts include coffee flavor, they add in coffee beans or grinds which I don’t like…luckily this desserts does not. Nice and smooth…and delicious!

 

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Cafe Julia Hawaii – Downtown, HI

Sep18

I recently had a business meeting in downtown and got to try Cafe Julia Hawaii for the first time. It’s a beautiful location so I was excited to try the restaurant! They were pretty busy as expected but we were able to snag a table indoors after a short wait. For those who care, it is an open air restaurant…no air conditioning! It wasn’t awful the day I went…but I could definitely feel discomfort. Let’s get to the food!

Indoor Restaurant Shot – those shelves are full of miniature alcohol bottles! The long table was set-up for a big Japanese tourist group.

Lilikoi Cooler – $6.50 (!)

While this drink was delicious, the price tag was not worth it! It’s non-alcoholic and does not come with refills.

Garlic Furikake Fries – $10

These fries were okay…definitely hit the spot since we were starving. I wouldn’t get them again.

Seafood Risotto – $22.50

Not my dish so I can’t comment to much, my dining companion seemed to enjoy it!

Garlic Ahi – $22.95

One of Cafe Julia’s well known dishes is their loco moco. I didn’t feel like a loco moco this day so I decided to give their garlic ahi a try. I don’t know about you, but for $23 I expected a lot more fish than what I got. The dish was okay, and it’s good that the fish was not overcooked but I was just disappointed by the price of the dish and what you get. As we were finishing our meal, the Japanese tour group came in and they must have ordered a pre-set menu…they all got the loco moco and I instantly regretted my choice! Luckily, I didn’t have to pay for this meal so my Chinese heart wasn’t too hurt. Would I come back to this restaurant? Probably not…but it may be worth a visit at night for dinner…it must be so pretty at night.

 

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Wagaya – Moilili, HI

Sep5

Have I really not posted about Wagaya? Is that possible? Wagaya is definitely in my top 3 ramen spots for Hawaii, if not…number 1! I’ve been going since they opened and they have been consistently good, if not better than before. Their food is delicious, the broth deep in flavor. The only thing they need to up their game in is maybe the char siu…a bit thin. But everything else is so good. It’s a small family business and I really hope you get to try it. Let’s get to the pics!

Yummy…good food is coming. Parking can be scarce so plan ahead! They have a small lot but there is also a lot of street parking.

Homemade Gyoza – $5.95

I enjoy their gyoza, tasty! They have a happy hour special for gyoza but it only counts towards the deep fried ones. It’s too bad, I only like the pan fried ones.

AGEDASHI TOFU – $4.95

Can I just get excited for a little bit? Yes, you can get agedashi tofu anywhere. But this is the best way I’ve had it, seriously. Yes, at a ramen shop. The tofu is fried perfectly, the batter is very thin, light and crispy. Once you pour the sauce onto the tofu, the batter turns almost gelatinous. I know that doesn’t make it sound good…BUT IT ALSO DOES. Because it gets a bit gel-like, the sauce hugs the tofu completely. Hmm…I want to get this for myself next time. No need share. Haha okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit.

Garlic Wagaya Ramen – $12.75

Here is my go to. I get it with regular firm noodles, spice level 3 (they start charging more at level 4, lol). It’s just a perfect serving of ramen, and that soft boiled egg is perfection. I save that for last. 🙂

Hiyashi Tan Tan Men – $11.95

I must confess, this particular week – this was my second visit so I tried the hiyashi noodles for the first time. It is served cold with the sesame dressing on the side. It was nice to try something different but I definitely prefer their ramen. And the ramen comes with a whole egg, so I want the whole egg…so I will get the ramen. Haha, still delicious.

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Tsukiji Shokudo Genchan Waikiki – Waikiki, HI

Aug30

Ah yes. Slowly catching up on my posts but decided to stick a new one in! Tsukiji Shokudo Genchan Waikiki has been open for about a month and I wanted to give it a try. Oh, this place is hard to get to. Waikiki is already a pain but this place has absolutely no parking. One of the worst kept secrets is the Ross Store parking lot. If you know you’re going to buy something from Ross, you can park in their lot for 2 hours FREE. It’s great. We took full advantage, ate dinner, walked over to the International Market Place for dessert, shopped at Ross and got out just in the knick of time!

Tsukiji Shokudo Genchan Waikiki offers a pretty extensive menu: hotpot, sashimi, poke, Japanese pupus, and plenty of specials! If you check out their yelp page, I uploaded pictures of the menu from my visit.

Salmon and Avocado Salad – $10.80

Nice salad with a good dressing. Very generous with the salmon and ikura. The addition of limu is a bit of a headscratcher. I’m not a fan of limu so I’m glad it was just sprinkled on top so I could just remove it. Good salad.

Spicy Karaage – $7.50

Interesting preparation. My dining companion thought it reminded her of Korean chicken from Zippy’s, she’s probably right. It has big chunks of chicken thighs fried with a very light batter tossed in a savory soy sauce. Not spicy at all but I enjoyed it.

Spicy Trio Don Set – $19.98

According to the waitress, the trio of fish varies on the day. During our night, it was ahi, salmon and hamachi (and ikura!). It was good, nicely seasoned! Their sets come with the entree, rice, miso soup, and tsukemono. The tsukemono was interesting, the usual daikon dish and then a Korean seasoned bean sprout side dish.

Special Ahi Don Set – $18.86

Ah, my dish. I should have gotten the trio special above but I didn’t want us both to get the same dish. I was disappointed. Do you notice that it’s basically slices of ahi sashimi? I hardly would call this a special ahi don, I would have expected seasoning. Well, after I was able to dig in further, there was a mound of ahi chunks under the nori that was somewhat seasoned. Still disappointing, I wouldn’t get this dish again.

I think this restaurant was pretty good! I would definitely give them a try again knowing my new parking option. They weren’t too busy but I wonder if it’s because word hasn’t gotten out yet.

 

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Yakitori Hachibei – Chinatown, HI

Aug28

My friend suggested we try Yakitori Hachibei, I saw it on Yelp but people said it was always busy. Well the stars must have aligned for us on this day because we were able to grab a last minute reservation at the bar for dinner. Was it good? Yes. Was it worth the hype…well…I can’t say it’s the best yakitori place in town but it certainly had it’s high points. To the pics!

Cabbage Appetizer – complimentary.

Served raw with a very light dressing. I’m not the biggest fan of raw cabbage so it was okay.

Bacon and Egg Maki (Japanese breakfast stick)

Will you look at that? Just look at it! Sweet tamago encased with bacon, an American dream.

Tare Bara (pork belly dipped in lightly sweet soy sauce)

Pork? Yes, please. Belly? YES, please. Get in my belly. This was delicious. Probably one of our favorites of the night since we ordered it twice.

Goma Salmon (salmon in shoyu sesame sauce)

Good dish, nice chunks of salmon!

Hachibei Tempura Chicken Fingers (chicken fingers done the hachibei way)

This is their version of nanban chicken. My friend doesn’t like tartar sauce so we got it with a different preparation. All the reviews on Yelp say their tartar sauce is good, so give it a try!

Sukiyaki (sukiyaki on a stick…really on a stick)

Stop the presses. MUST TRY DISH IS RIGHT HERE. It really literally is sukiyaki on a stick. The unassuming meat roll is covering up all the fixings that come in sukiyaki. Yup, all the veggies and such are wrapped tightly on this stick with wonderful seasoning. That egg yolk right there? That raw egg yolk? You break that yolk up and dip your sukiyaki in. Heavenly. I loved it. Trust me.

Hachibei Chicken Ramen

We fell into the hype. We saw these bowls being carried out to other diners and had to get one for ourselves. Light chicken ramen served in their custom designed cups? Sure, why not. It was an okay dish. When they say light broth, they mean light broth. Nothing I would return for but it was nice to try once.

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