Izakaya Gazen – Kaimuki, HI

Jul17

I’ve had my ups and downs with Izakaya Gazen but am happy to report that all my ups have been in recent visits. I think it was my first visit that I had just a terrible time, mediocre food, INSANELY slow service, etc. I feel like they have now picked up their game and the food and service both are good! We came for a meal the other week and it was a good meal again! Let me share the pictures with you.

Fries with Nori Seasoning and Wasabi Mayo Dip

Here’s the dip. The fries were good! Hot out of the fryer, great dip too! They serve it with some skinny deep fried sticks. Looks like deep fried like spaghetti to me, nothing great. I think it’s a bit too hard to bite into anyhow. They are generous with the fries so I’m good with just the fries.

Cabbage with Ikura and Yogurt Dressing

I don’t think this is one of the more popular salads but it should be! It was delish! My dining companion doesn’t like salad so I had it all to myself. They are quite generous with the ikura…so much so that it was kinda salty at the end since it was all balls (hehe). But it’s a great salad, very refreshing. I’m not a fan of purple cabbage so I picked most of that off but still felt satisfied after eating it!

Our new tradition. We must get salmon nigiri from all the restaurants! How was it? Eh, it was all right. Nothing special, nothing compared to Torae Torae.

Hamachi Nigiri – this was all Kristian. He can put in his two cents but he liked it a lot. He enjoyed it more than the salmon. Looks good ah?

Rib Eye Steak with a Ponzu Sauce

Noodle Omelette! So good! It took a while to come out but was worth the wait! I was super full from the salad so I only took one bite at the restaurant. I had to eat the rest as take-out and it was still delicious! I would definitely recommend it!

Previous Post on Izakaya Gazen

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Tenkaippin Ramen – Kapahulu, HI

Jul15

I got to try Tenkaippin Ramen the other week and boy was it disappointing. It was just sad to see how low it has fallen. First, we got there about 15 minutes after they opened. We were the only customers. The place looks run down and it smells strongly of cleaning liquids. Very strongly. That didn’t bode well for my appetite. The waitress working was very nice which was good. The television was playing their Ultimate Japan show which is really cute…it’s a nice distraction while waiting for your food.

We ordered our usual Kotteri Ramen and got a side of gyoza. How was it? What’s going on?? I feel like they changed the recipe for the worst. Considering this is a ramen chain from Japan, shouldn’t they stick to a consistent flavor? The soup used to have a strong chicken bone marrow taste and it was wonderfully thick. How is it now? Well the soup is still thick but it’s lacking major flavor. I could stand the gritty texture when it tasted like marrow, now it’s a non-descript grittiness that I couldn’t enjoy. The gyoza was fine but gyoza never knocks me off my feet anyway. Let me know when they go back to their old school ways.

Meh.

Pile on the garlic and chili topping, it’s gonna need it.

Kotteri Ramen – $9.05
Kotteri Ramen Set B (Comes with 3 piece Gyoza) – $10.75

My previous post on Tenkaippin can be found: here.

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Ryan’s Grill Happy Hour – Ward Center

Jul9

The last time I went to Ryan’s Grill – it was such a forgettable experience. The service was severely lacking and the food was nothing that I needed to return quickly for. We decided to give Ryan’s Grill a try the other week and it was such a great experience! I am so glad we gave them another chance. Our server was awesome, the food came up in a timely manner and tasted great! Oops, I’ll be honest. I came here twice in 2 weeks because I had to try their happy hour too! This post is for the happy hour. The service for the happy hour was not as good as my dine in experience but I usually expect that…sadly.

Lilikoi Mojito – not part of Happy Hour…and not great. I actually enjoy the liliko mojito at Kincaid’s more (which you would think is the same since they are sister restaurants)

Jamaican Jerk Fries – $5.95
Delicious! Much better than I expected. I’m not sure what qualifies as Jamaican – I felt like the spices were reminiscent of Thanksgiving.

Kobe Sliders – $7.95
Not bad – not great. Not something I would order again.

Kalua Pig Quesadillas – $6.95
Pretty good! The mango salsa is good too…would have been good if we had something to spoon it onto the quesadillas (yes, we did ask…haha)

Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip – $8.95
Delicious!! My favorite appetizer from Ryan’s. The dip is on point and the focaccia bread is nicely seasoned and super soft. Great dish!

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Dim Sum Brunch – Happy Days Seafood Restaurant

Jul5

I hope you all had a great 4th of July! I did a lot of eating and then sleeping. Ha! I joined the gym at work on Thursday, only paid for a month in case I ditch out. Don’t wanna lose out money. Well for someone who hasn’t worked out in a long while, a spinning class wasn’t the best start. I also had a very late lunch and ate too much….I think you guys know where I’m going with this. Long story short, I threw up afterwards. Hahaha..but I am still intending on going back! I enjoyed the class but will try to be better prepared next time. I’d like to at least do simple workouts since I already paid into the membership for a month and I have no excuse since the gym is at work!

Anyhow, not much else to update. Just wanted to share a recent brunch I had at Happy Days. I love myself some dim sum. Always willing to dim sum more. That was a bad joke, I know. Here are the pictures to make up for it.

Black Bean Spare Ribs

Seafood Bundle (includes fish, imitation crab, scallop, shiitake mushroom, and shrimp wrapped in a thin bean curd skin)

Meat Ball – this has a type of green mixed in. I want to say it’s watercress but I am not entirely sure.

Siu Mai

Bean Curd Rolls

Pan Fried Shrimp and Chive Dumpling

Taro Puff

Turnip Cake

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Restaurant Do-ne Japanese Food – Honolulu, HI

Jul3

Restaurant Do-ne Japanese Food is a cute little Japanese restaurant that opened up recently. It’s pretty hard to find if you don’t know where it is, and the parking can be a bit confusing but at least there is parking! You gotta turn into the lot that is located behind the building, just go straight into the lot and park along the back. There are stalls on the side but they are reserved for another business. There is a map of this parking located on their door which is kind of pointless cause you already parked…haha but I digress. It’s a small shop so I went super early to get seated right away. Luckily I did because a big group of Japanese folks came in and took up almost the entire restaurant after us. That’s a good sign of a good restaurant, native Japanese people coming in droves. So how was the food? Delicious! Join me, won’t you?

Salmon Ikura Don Set – $13.50
Doesn’t this look fantastic? What a great deal! And the detail in the side dishes? It makes a big difference I think.

Great quality fish – generous for the price!

Seasoned Tuna Don – my dining companion got the same set but got the seasoned tuna instead. Doesn’t that look great? The ahi is so red and no white stringy things! Delish.

Salad with a delicious dressing! The dressing was onion based and tasted great.

Seasoned eggplant with bonito flakes. Delicious!

Seasoned Kabocha. Good, not great. I believe it was a bit firmer than I would like.

I don’t know the exact name of this but it was agedashi tofu dish. I enjoyed it a lot. It was a great meal! Great service and great food.

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Marukame Udon – Downtown, HI

Jun26

Yay! I got to try the downtown location the other week. For my review of the Waikiki location, click here. I grabbed takeout since I wasn’t staying long and wow! Their takeout is so nice! Although I did wonder how it would work if you wanted to grab tempura. I didn’t see takeout boxes for that so I didn’t grab any. Their bags for takeout are high quality handle bags! Fancy stuff. This time, I tried their special Garlic Chicken Udon Salad.

Udon machine ready to make some fresh noodles

Worker bees working hard to crank the orders out!

Delicious Garlic Chicken Udon Salad!

Since the dish is cold, the noodles are very firm which I like. The dressing works perfectly with this dish too! Give it a try!

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Izakaya Torae Torae Part 2!

Jun24

Yes I went back! And it was so good. I called in late for a seat during a weekend and got seating at the counter. That’s great! I’m fine with that. For the post of my first visit, go here. Let’s get to the post!

Spicy Tuna Don – pretty good. I think it’s not worth it to get something like this here. Spicy tuna is a way to cover up not so good quality ahi – you should just order the good stuff!

Hamachi Carpaccio – delicious! I love the touch of truffle oil. Highly recommended!

Pork Belly Kakuni Bowl – heaven. Last time I came here, we got the small appetizer. This is the full size on rice. SO good. Look at that egg yolk, it’s so orange! Reminds me of Japan.

Kauai Sweet Shrimp – this was the special that night. Deliciuos!

As with any good izakaya, here are the heads fried up for your pleasure. Sorry, I already ate one.

STAR OF THE NIGHT AGAIN. SALMON NIGIRI. King Salmon to be precise. Can’t be beat.

Here’s an awesome reason to sit at the bar. They give you freebies sometimes! I came back from the restroom as he was handing these over. I didn’t hear him initially so I was like, we didn’t order this. He was trying to tell us it was a free sample. So shame. I thanked him gratefully and we tried it! It was a good kimchee roll. I think it had chicken in it too, it was good! Thanks!

Yah, I had to end it with another piece of King Salmon. I just couldn’t help myself!

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Agu’s Savory Parmesan Kotteri Tonkotsu

Jun19

I’ve done too many Agu Ramen posts to count so I’ll just share a new bowl I tried the other day. I wanted to see what the big fuss was about since pictures of this was popping up all over Instagram. How was it? Good! But I didn’t taste a real strong parmesan taste and since the cheese was shaved really thin, it’s not like I was getting nice strands of melted cheese as I slurped noodles. It also costs like 4 dollars more than the regular kotteri tonkotsu so it wasn’t worth it to me. $4 for a sprinkling of cheese? I’ll stick to the regular…thanks.

Hmm…$15.75 versus $11.75, go for the regular. This one is overhyped.

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Mixed Plates

Jun6

Just a quick update of a few plates we had from dinner one night. Got lazy and drove to two different places to pick up dinner to satisfy different appetites.

Two piece Jollibee’s Plate – we got double mash. The little white container contains more gravy…I don’t know what for. The chicken itself is seasoned already so I wouldn’t use the gravy. I got to try a taste of the chicken and I thought it was pretty good! Fried crisp and it had pretty good seasoning in the meat too! I wouldn’t mind trying a plate of my own next time.

Hamburger Steak plate from Richie’s Drive Inn. The first time I’ve tried it here, wasn’t a fan. This time I was. Pretty good! Their mac salad is good too.

Richie’s Chili Dog Plate, it comes with a small soda as well. It looks like they raised the price. It used to be $5 something but now it’s $6, still a great deal if you ask me!

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Duke’s Waikiki – Waikiki, HI

Jun5

This post will be more of a gallery of pictures than a review. I tried to take pictures of Duke’s Waikiki serves during their Lunch Buffet. It’s basically a huge salad bar with hot entrees thrown in. They even have a made to order pasta and panini station. Our office came here to celebrate administrative professionals day and everyone loved it. Great selection of foods and killer view of Waikiki beach…with lots of tourists, hehe. The parking for this place is located in Ohana East hotel so you do have to walk a few blocks to the restaurant but it’s not too bad. Here are the pictures!

Not the best lighting for picture taking. You can’t really tell from this plate but I grabbed a LOT of beets. They have an awesome salad bar with all the toppings you can imagine. Their beets were great because they were freshly cooked and sliced, not from a can! I can eat beets all day long…with ranch dressing. Hahaha…one of my favorite dishes was also the spicy broccoli salad. I don’t think I have a picture of it here but it was perfect. I also liked that they par-boiled the broccoli because I can’t stand raw broccoli. The lunch buffet is only $16.95 – great deal!

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!

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