Happy Birthday to Me!

Aug20

Yay! Sorry, another post about me and my birthday…lol. But I just wanted to finish up the series! Did I share that one of my brothers shares the exact same day for our birthday. That was nice! Also it’s a bit of pressure that I have to treat him well too…I want to be the one to be spoiled! Haha…j/k. Anyway, I had a pretty good birthday. I spent the morning building a Lego set I bought for my brother…those sets can get complicated! One wrong placement and you’re screwed. Check it out.

Kaboom! Nice ah? It took a while because I had to rebuilt it from scratch. These dang toys even break apart pretty easily so I got even madder. Ha!

Anyway, got together with some family and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Izakaya Torae Torae. I’ve been there a few times and posted about them before, I’ll link them at the end of the post. For now, let’s take a look at this visit! It was delicious, as always. We dropped our chopsticks about 3 times – so shame ah.

Hamachi Carpaccio – $13.95
Served on a bed of slivered onions with a truffle oil infused sauce. Delicious!

King Salmon ($3.95 per piece) and Sweet Shrimp Nigiri ($5.50 per piece)

Yes, I’m going to show another picture of the salmon nigiri. Delicious! Of course with the shrimp nigiri, you can get the shrimp head deep fried. Yay!

Tan Shio (Grilled Beef Tongue) – $8.95
This is alright, not great though. I wouldn’t order it again from here – you can get it better elsewhere.

Chirashi Don

Hamburger Cheese Steak – $14.95
This is good but in the end, you are paying $14.95 for a hamburger patty with cheese. I don’t think it’s worth it.

Jidori Chicken Karaage – $6.95
I didn’t get to try this but my family seemed to enjoy it!

King Salmon Sashimi – $13.95
Pricey, I know! It was a total splurge but I was very appreciative! Very delicious. It’s a better deal to get the sashimi over the nigiri.

Dashimaki Tamago – $9.00
I took a leap and asked for this! It’s off the menu and I don’t think they make it every time. Luckily we went pretty early so the restaurant wasn’t too busy yet…so they agreed to make it! You wait a bit longer but I was excited! It’s a nicely cooked tamago which is filled with chunks of unagi and cheese. The cheese threw me off a bit. This dish was good but having it once was enough for me. I like a simpler tamago – sans cheese.

Izakaya Torae Torae Post 1
Izakaya Torae Torae Post 2

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Birthday Eve – 2014

Aug19

My birthday was this past weekend and it was wonderful. I was lucky that it fell in the weekend and got to spend some great time with friends and family and of course grind on some great food. Today, I’m going to share some pictures from my birthday eve day. Please enjoy!

Road to Makapu’u

We made it to the top! What a gorgeous view.

After our hike at the Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail, I had dinner with my friend Kristian. He was generous enough to treat me to a dinner at Le Bistro. I’ve had a few experiences there before and it was all very nice. He made a reservation a week beforehand so we were all set. How did it go? Well…it started off incredibly rocky. We got seated right away, given menus and water cups filled. We spent a few minutes reviewing the menu and were ready to order pretty quick. Then came the waiting. I watched as waiters ran back and forth to several tables around the restaurant while we were being ignored. I knew what time we had arrived and guess what? They left us waiting for 30 damn minutes before a waiter came and greeted us. And what’s worse…he didn’t mention or apologize for the wait at all. I was livid. I mean he really showed up right at the moment I considered walking out with no regrets.

Well, right after we got greeted – service was much better. It took a while for me to uncross my arms and get the bitch look off my face…it must have loosened up 3/4 into his sharing of the daily specials. So anyway, we put our orders in and the food came out reasonably quick afterwards. Here are the pictures.

Mojito for me. It wasn’t great, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Bread with butter. The bread was mini baguettes sliced thin. The bread was okay, it wasn’t crispy and it was at room temperature.

Fricasse Of Shellfish – made up of mussels and clams. Delicious! The sauce was buttery goodness – we got a refill of bread that we quickly used to soak it up. The mussels tasted great, Genki Sushi got nothing on them…lol.

Quartet of Beef

Filet Mignon and Garlic Mashed Potatoes from the Quartet of Beef
Delicious! I got my meat dishes medium rare.

Burger with Foie Gras
Totally un-PC dish but delicious nonetheless.

Ribeye from the Quartet of Beef
Delicious! It comes with a cube of cooked daikon (a bit random) and a fingerling potato (mine was completely burnt)

Short Ribs from the Quartet of Beef
This dish was alright – nothing special. The beef was cooked for a long while but not enough where it was soft and tender…a bit tough.

Surf and Turf Special

Halibut with Lobster – drool….

Miyazaki Tenderloin from Japan
The waiter said it melts in your mouth – and it does! Also melts the money in your wallet…lol. It was so good though!

Spumoni Ice Cream Cake

Complimentary Creme Brulee for the birthday girl (me!)
To get this dessert, you better have no shame cause they gonna sing to you in front of the entire restaurant. I’m Chinese so no worries, free dessert! It was good! The strawberries were sour! My face is scrunching up just thinking about it.

So the service and food after the rocky start did make the meal enjoyable to a point. The lighting got super dark afterwards so I apologize for the bad quality pictures. I have had their lamb in the past and those are my absolute favorite. I wanted to try something new this time and whlie it was pretty good, I would go back to the lamb next time!

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Win-Spuntino – Waialae, HI

Aug10

Win-Spuntino is a brand spanking new restaurant that opened up in the Market City Shopping Center. They are located right by Foodland, above the Thai restaurant. I know what you’re thinking, there’s a two story place there? Yes, there is. Anyhow, this restaurant got an interesting start. The owner of the cell phone shop that was located by Anytime Cafe had to move locations and found they had too much room in the new space so they decided to open the cell phone place along with an Italian restaurant. Interesting starts aside, they serve up some pretty good food! I’ve been waiting for a good priced, good tasting, take-out Italian eatery for a while now. I have a lot of pictures to share in this post because it was an office order. My biggest piece of advice, forgo the sandwiches and garlic bread and go straight for the pasta. That’s the good stuff. Let’s get started shall we? Oh! By the way, I found out that the old Fun Factory space will become a Walgreens. As if that parking lot couldn’t get more congested and junk right? Okay, now on with the pictures and review!

Small Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwich and Salad Combo – $7.75
We had a decent sized order, this is a great deal. Six inch sub along with a small salad – they were nice enough to pack the salad separately to avoid the dressing running into the bread. How was this sandwich? My coworkers didn’t enjoy it. They found that the eggplant wasn’t cooked long enough so the eggplant was a bit too firm/crunchy for their taste. They enjoy their eggplant a bit more cooked/mushy, FYI.

Small Meatball Sandwich and Salad Combo – $7.75
It was all right, nothing special.

Small Chicken Parmigiana Sandwich and Salad Combo – $7.75
It’s okay, would taste better fresh (it was eaten a bit later). Also, they put raw romaine in all their sandwiches. That’s a bit weird and not necessary.

Small Italian Sausage Sandwich and Salad Combo – $7.75
Oh blah. I was really looking forward to this sandwich because…look at the sausage! How awesome does that look? Big chunks of whole sliced sausage. Well I saved this one for dinner since I had pasta for lunch. The bread is terrible. Does not hold up well. The sausage? There was a weird taste to it. Not like spoiled or anything, I just didn’t like this sausage and I like all kinds of sausage. Okay let’s move on with the commentary…

The following salad pictures are the salads that come with the small sandwich combos. Big salads I say!

Pea Salad – it wasn’t mine but it doesn’t look too appetizing to me…peas look a bit mushy as well

Pasta Salad – yes, it’s served on a bed of romaine lettuce. All their salads are…lol

Tomato and Mozzarella – this was my salad. I was all excited for it thinking it would be a lot like a caprese. Hmm…didn’t work that way. The tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese are marinated in a very light balsamic vinegar dressing. The cheese was a bit firmer than I expected and very flavorless – I didn’t enjoy this salad.

Curry Chicken Salad – this is probably the winner of all the salads. If you like a mild curry, you will like this. You must also like raisins. Wish I got this!

Garlic Bread – $3.00
Blah. Not worth it for 3 bucks. You might as well go to Foodland and grab your own loaf to bake up…I have a big issue with their bread in general

Chicken Alfredo and Mushrooms – $9.50

Shrimp Scampi – $11.25
Oh my gosh. I knew what I was getting into when I ordered this. All kinds of good and dangerousness for my body. Shrimp scampi soaking in butter and garlic. They are so generous with shrimp and the sauce was delicious. It was SO good. I would definitely order this again.

Chicken Marsala – $9.50

Chicken Sorrentino – $10.25
Chicken, Eggplant, Cheese, Mushrooms, Butter and Marsala Sauce

Chicken, Bacon and Shrimp Casino – $12.00 (Daily Special)

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce – $7.75
How can you lose with this much pasta and meat for 8 bucks?? This usually comes with Linguini. Their pasta dishes come with linguine by default but spaghetti is also available!

Linguine Meatball – $8.75 (with spaghetti instead)
My coworker kept this dish for dinner (putting it in the fridge of course) and didn’t think the spaghetti held up real well. I wouldn’t mind trying it with linguine.

Anyhow, the pasta dishes were great! They give incredible portions for crazy great prices. I don’t know how they are going to stay in business with these portions and prices. Even though I say this, I will still be disappointed if any of this changes! They are doing great for now, I hope they keep it up!

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Sushi King – Moilili, Hawaii

Aug5

Oh my gosh. People really got whipped into a frenzy over the storms huh? I think I am being a bit too nonchalant about all this. In fact, I need to go to Target for a general shopping trip and am afraid of what I will encounter. I shall report back if it was chaos. I hope you folks are all ready for the storms…and that everyone stays safe. Hopefully when it hits land, it will be much weaker. I’ll try to schedule out my posts as soon as I can to have it all ready. Hope you folks had a good start to the week. I was super tired this morning but coffee really perked me up. I’ve become one of those people. A person that NEEDS coffee. I heard a cup of coffee is good for you. I just need to cut back on the sugar…

Anyway! Just a quick update of a recent late night dinner at Sushi King. They have late night specials that start at 10:30 pm. This is the dish my cousin had for her return night dinner. The Chirashi Special is $15.95. Do I think it’s worth it? Sure, it might be but I think I would prefer getting my sashimi/nigiri fix at other places…

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Hiyashi Ramen – Agu Ramen

Aug4

Hey folks! Hope you are all doing well. I had a rough day today. Been a rough month! But August starts us up new, new month new attitude. I was so tired today. Like just drained. I pulled myself together and went to work. Anyway, I’ll try to update more often! I am so behind in pictures! Let me share a quick update from yet another visit to Agu Ramen. If you read my blog, you know I’ve been there many times. This particular visit, it was all hot outside so I didn’t feel like eating a brothy dish so I went for the Hiyashi Ramen. It was so good! Check it out.

It was so refreshing and delicious. A lot of different ingredients but the dressing really made the dish. It inspired me to make my own cold ramen salad the week after. It didn’t work at all. Hehe..

Kicked Up Fries – meh. Not worth it. They are supposed to be cajun fries, not sure what’s cajun about it. The fries were just salty.

My friend had the Shio Jidori. This is a great alternative to their thick and rich kotteri/tonkotsu options. I like that they offer a lighter chicken broth, it’s definitely something I would try the next time I go!

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Lox of Bagels – Kalihi, HI

Jul31

With a name like Lox of Bagels, how could one resist going?? When I learned of them opening up in Dillingham, I just had to go. I have this terrible thing about not wanting to go backwards in my morning commute and going to Sand Island would be going backwards. Good news for you early birds, their bagel sandwiches are available right when they open…no waiting for lunch time! I didn’t get pictures of it for this post, but I also tried the bagel puffs.I wasn’t a huge fan of bagel puffs, it’s like a sweet manapua but with harder bread. That’s a no thanks from me…sorry. Let me share the breakfast sandwiches!

Breakfast Bagel – Bacon, Egg and Cheese on a Sun-dried Tomato Bagel. Pretty good! Look at that oozy cheese…

Manhattan Delight Bagel Sandwich – I think the pictures say it all. And yes, it tasted as good as it looks!

Chicken Salad Bagel Sandwich – good! I had this for lunch so the bagel was harder than I would have liked. Definitely eat these sandwiches fresh unless you like harder bagels.

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Fook Lam – Chinatown, HI

Jul29

Fook Lam was a 50/50 chance. Why? Any Chinese restaurant that has good ratings on Yelp could be a restaurant that pleases the crowds and not necessarily the Chinese folk. I’ve gotten plenty flack from my friend who insists I take her to authentic Chinese restaurants so the pressure is on. She won’t let me forget a certain Chinese restaurant we went to…which I never claimed was authentic Chinese. Aiya, the pressures of being Chinese. Anyway, I finally got to try Fook Lam out a few weeks ago and I liked it. It’s located in the Chinese Cultural Plaza on the first floor facing River Street. The restaurant is clean and they get plenty good eats. The waitresses are fast and efficient and parking is validated. I haven’t been to Cultural Plaza since kid times so I didn’t realize how nice their parking lot is. I mean compared to the other places I have parked, their parking spaces are spacious! Let’s check out the food shall we?

Shrimp and Chive Dumpling – I prefer the pan fried one to the steamed one

Black Bean Spare Ribs – delish!

Shrimp Dumpling – good!

Seafood Roll – good as always. Always winnas.

Baked Custard Bun – These were fresh out of the oven and heavenly. One of my most favorite sweets…ever.

Siu Mai – I know pork hash isn’t loved by all…but I have always loved it. One of the dining companions commented that the skin on these dim sum dishes were great. Not hard and thick (don’t say it!) – just the right amount of softness.

Deep Fried Shrimp Balls – not bad, not great. I think you pay for the looks…hehe.

Short Ribs Look Fun – I saw this picture repeatedly on Yelp and just had to try it. Eh, it was alright. It wasn’t spectacular. It was just look fun mixed in with spareribs. Nothing special, glad I tried it but I won’t be ordering it again.

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Little Sheep Hot Pot – Ward Center, Hawaii

Jul25

Little Sheep Hot Pot opened up in Ward Center about two months ago. It’s located on the second floor right next to the old Borders (Boy do I miss Borders guys). I was excited to see another hot pot place open up but the reviews soon after opening was not great. I definitely held off of going because of it…bad reviews and long wait times are not my cup of tea. Well I was off during a weekday and decided to check them out for lunch since they are known for having a pretty good lunch deal. It was an okay experience overall with a very bumpy start. We were the second ones in the door and there were a lot of people there. We were one of the first ones to order and can you guess? I watched as every table starting getting their food and my anger grew. Hello. We all order the same thing. Raw sides and a pot of soup, no tell me my soup takes longer to boil. The waiter apologized profusely and said there was a mistake. Okay, fine. Even after the apologies, it took a long while to get my pot of soup and sides. His English wasn’t that great so he kept saying, give me a minute….which sounds rather rude the way he said it. Well, service was pretty good after the food arrived though. The waiter was constantly walking up and down to check in. He could tell I was plenty steamed and when the food got there, I ordered rice. It’s $1.00 per bowl of rice…but they were pretty generous with it. He said, okay I got it. Like insinuating he was giving us the rice on the house because of the crazy slow service (he didn’t – why am I not surprised?). Anyhow, Let’s check out the food!

If you’re looking for a classy decor for hot pots, this place would be it.

Watermelon Juice is worth all the money in the land. This carafe costs $6.95. Incredibly refreshing and tastes like the perfect fresh and sweet watermelon. You can’t beat it!!

My sauces. They have one sauce bar, and it has nothing on Sweet Home Cafe. It’s very simple but do-able. They also have raw cilantro, green onion and garlic. I love that.

$12.95 for the lunch set. It comes with this and a soup of your choice for hot potting. We definitely over ordered…we got two sets so it was two of these!

1/2 order Bean Curd Knots – $2.95
Do you see the texture of this by looking at it? Doesn’t it look like…rubber gloves cut and tied into knots? It looked and felt that way a bit. It didn’t taste like rubber gloves but I gotta say the look and texture threw me off. I wouldn’t order it again.

1/2 Order Watercress – $3.95
A bit pricey but these greens went perfect with the soups we got!

1/2 Order Sausages – $3.75
Pretty good! Tasted a bit like a Chinese version of Longanisa. I enjoyed it.

Pork Belly – $7.95
Look at the presentation of the pork belly. I think that’s included in the price…hehe. Thinly sliced, you gotta really hold onto the meat as you put it in the soup because it shrivels fast and you can lose it real quick.

House Spicy Pot / House Original Pot

Take a look at the spicy pot…can you see what caused our faces to melt?

We ordered extra spicy…do you see it??

This soup was like ALL CHILI PEPPERS. I mean look at it! It was crazy hot! We were dying by the end…I’m surprised I never get a stomachache later that night. Was spicy but good!

I just reviewed my receipt and realized they charged us for a child’s meal too. So I think what they do is they charge your party based on your the number of people…and not just the pots of soup you order. I think that’s pretty junk. We had already ordered two sets that easily could feed 3-4 people, so why did they have to tack on the child’s rate? It wasn’t a big fee ($1.98) but gosh, that was unnecessary. So while the food was alright, I’m not exactly rushing back. Well, maybe they could open a juice bar and sell the watermelon juice…

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Ireh Restaurant, Keeaumoku, HI

Jul23

Ireh Restaurant! Gosh I hadn’t been here in a while and now wonder why! They specialize in vegetarian food but have many other dishes as well! Very healthy Korean cooking, and delicious. I used to come here to eat their topokki or the rabokki. So topokki is the rice cake sticks in the sauce and veggies…they also offer a version that is topped with cheese. Rabokki is the same dish but with ramen noodles added. I love that one. One time, I asked if they could make it rabokki with cheese. They said no. Why? I couldn’t tell yah. I should just bring my own cheese and sprinkle it on top…ha okay I probably won’t.

They are a bit sparse in terms of ban chan. This was it, kimchee and this onion/pepper vinegar pickled side. I like both and I’m fine with the lack of ban chan…although I wouldn’t take this little from other Korean restaurants!

Oh yes, metal silverware is the only way to eat Korean food!

Kimchi Hand Cut Noodle – $11.95
Hand cut noodles, the noodles are made with sesame leaves. You can totally taste it – it was very good!

Bean Noodle – $10.95
This is what I wanted to come for! One of my guilty pleasures is watching mok bang, and one of those people eats this a lot. I was so curious about the taste! This white broth is basically a really thick soy milk. I knew it was going to be a bit bland…but I had to try it at least once.

Sliced cucumber, boiled egg and a light sprinkling of peanuts…and some noodles peeking through!

So how was it? Delicious! Much better than I thought it would be! Yes, the flavor is a bit simple but it has a clean taste. I can see why people would eat this while they are sick, very mild and easy to eat. It has just a slight taste of ground sesame/peanuts. I think the combination of this dish with the kimchi hand cut noodles helped us feel properly full. Give them a try! I also recommend their pan fried dumplings, so delicious! I saw that the price of the dumplings are now $11.95, a bit pricey but give it a try at least once.

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Little Oven – Stars and Stripes Edition

Jul21

The Little Oven opened up on the 4th of July weekend and has been pretty constant since! Get your butt out there to try some desserts before they close again – I warned ya! Anyhow, don’t let this post dissuade you. One bad experience out of many should not be grounds for not trying the place.

Also, my apologies for being lax on the posting. Last week was crazy but luckily I got through it. We had a training on Saturday so I basically worked 6 days…and it was exhausting. I old you know. Haha and yesterday was crazy weather! The high winds, I was scared our roof would be ripped off already! Then the humidity. My god, this weather is terrible. Every time I had to walk out of my office, I felt like the humidity just wrapped around me. I need the rain to come down and push it out! Hope you folks had a good weekend.

Coffee Cake – $4.00
It was my first time trying this and shucks…it was so disappointing. The cake was incredibly dry. The topping tasted fine yeah, the cake was disappointing. Was I expecting something different? Is it because I was supposed to be drinking coffee as I ate this so the cake would be moist? Ah, I don’t know. I wouldn’t get this again though.

Milk and Cookies – $5.00

My friend gave me a bit of a ribbing for this one. Milk and cookies does sound a bit silly huh? I figured since it was homemade cookies made by them, it would be good! Well this was Kristian’s dessert, he didn’t seem pleased. He liked them but they definitely were just…milk and cookies, nothing special.

So many Little Oven posts: click here

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!

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