Sweet Home Cafe – Moilili, HI

May19

Sweet Home Cafe needs no introduction, I even have a previous post about them. You should check out their Yelp page, there are currently some mixed reviews. It’s very interesting and I hope they can take any negative reviews and turn it into positives for themselves (barring the fake ones of course). I had a visit about a week ago and it was pretty much a common visit. I was mainly surprised that I didn’t have to wait at all for a seat on a Saturday night and then when I was served dessert before we were done eating and nowhere near the time limit.

We got the House Special this time. For those who wonder what it tastes like, it’s a lot like a Pho broth.

Our stuff dumped in! The broth isn’t bad but healthy herb is still my favorite.

Raw beef

You see the yellow rounds floating in the soup? I tried it during my last visit and it has become a favorite. I think it’s called Egg Tofu – so good. It’s a really soft egg thing…you can’t taste the tofu at all. It almost tastes a bit like chawan mushi in texture…delish.

My dipping sauce! One of many, I never waste though. I don’t wanna go against Auntie, I just return to grab more when I need more. I also use a choke-load of cilantro. Fresh cilantro for the win.

The infamous dessert that was served to me while my mouth was full trying to finish my dinner. This is the exact kind of dessert you cannot be served early, it’s shave ice! We had to rush to finish dinner and eat this…it was rude in my eyes. This was Kristian’s first visit so he was not pleased either.

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Via Gelato – Waialae, HI

May18

Via Gelato has been around for a few while. I think they used to serve their gelato out of a truck and one night after dinner, my friend and I went on a sort of food truck chase. Okay, not so much a chase as we checked our phones and saw that they were not out that night and got disappointed. You know what we don’t have enough of in Hawaii? Dedicated dessert shops that stay open later at night. The Little Oven is awesome but they aren’t exactly consistent with their store hours. So after our very delicious dinner at Dagon, we took a short drive over to Via Gelato. This shop is SO cute and the gelato is amazing. You folks gotta give it a try!

Their display case of gelato. Delicious! I tried a sample of the black sesame, tasted great! I had to try two other flavors though!

I love the look of this shop! How would you describe this type of decor?

My friend’s keiki size gelato, Fierce Chocolate and Coffee. The coffee tastes great! Not too strong and goes great with the chocolate!

My keiki sized gelato. Fierce Chocolate and Cookies in Cream. Both were good! I definitely like the chocolate more so than the cookies in cream. Everything tastes so fresh here. I can’t wait to return and try new flavors! And for those who are fans of waffle cones, they make those fresh daily! 🙂

Until next time Via Gelato!

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Dagon – Moilili, HI

May17

My friend told me about Dagon restaurant a few weeks ago and I just had to try it! They specialize in Burmese cuisine and I have never had it. The pictures on Yelp look amazing so I was very excited to give this place a try. It’s located on South King Street in front of Kokua Market and across the street from 7 Eleven. How was it? I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

It’s “dagon” good! Yes, I went there. I apologize.

Dagon Tea Leaf Salad – $10.99
All the pictures on Yelp are of the Tea Leaf Salad so I was really excited to get it…not realizing the one I ordered would look so different. No regrets though, this salad tasted fantastic. The menu says it’s spicy but it is pretty mild. Here are the pics of the regular tea leaf salad: here and here.

Burmese Samusas – $7.99
These are a lot like samosas, they are filled with flavorful vegetables and deep fried. My friend described this best, it tastes like apple pie but not. Confusing? A bit, but once you taste it – you’ll get what we mean. And what we are trying to say is that there is a lot of nutmeg…but it’s great!

Burmese Beef Curry with Potatoes – $13.99
This dish does not come with rice, it was good but I think it’s a bit overpriced.

Pumpkin Chicken Stew – $13.99
Once again – no rice and I don’t think it’s a great deal. Both curry dishes also contain a lot of oil. I tried a pumpkin from this dish and felt it was undercooked so I wasn’t a big fan.

Burmese Indian Rice – $5.99
Isn’t this dish of rice beautiful? I love all the colors! The rice itself didn’t have any real flavor or spices in it – it’s only when you got a bite of the raisins or any of the other toppings that you would get a new flavor.

Nan Pia Dok – $10.99
Flat flour noodles with a chicken curry sauce and yummy toppings. I loved this dish so much! I wasn’t too impressed when it was first placed at our table…but I mixed it up, took a bite and I was in coconut curry heaven. I love coconut milk so this dish was perfect. What’s great was that the flavor was fairly mild yet not at all bland. If you enjoy coconut curry, give this dish a try!

All in all, it was a great meal! They have almost non-existent parking…but I scored a spot right up front in the street. I really did enjoy the tea salad and my noodle dish a lot. I’d love to go back to this restaurant soon. It was pretty busy in there so the food took a little while to come out. They only had one waitress for the whole restaurant so it was a bit hard to flag her down after or order was taken. Anyhow, please give it a try!

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Gyotaku Restaurant – Pearl City, HI

May16

Another visit to Gyotaku! I got bad service again this time so this isn’t going to be a pleasant post. We were stuffed into the corner so we were forgotten quite a bit – I felt like we were a hassle to the waiter or something. And guess what?? Their kids meals have raised so much in price! I swear it used to be about $6.99 for a kid’s meal which was a great deal. They raised it to over $8 and still serve exactly the same thing. I was not pleased but I was already there. Anyhow, I’ll just share a few pictures of my food and dessert.

I enjoy their Soba and Tempura set. Delicious.

Maki Sushi and Cone Sushi

Tempura – looks a bit shriveled and not appetizing huh? Nothing special.

I love myself some grated daikon and green onions. I need to learn how to make a good soba tsuru.

Zenzai – pretty good. It’s not thick, more soupy. A bit too sweet this time.

Nice warm dessert for a cold dining room!

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Sushi Company – McCully, HI

May14

Sushi Company has been around since 1999 but I only got to try it very recently! I really have no excuse, it’s such a short drive from my workplace but I never had motivation to go. I’ve seen a few pictures pop up on Yelp which makes their food look mighty good and they have great prices so I had to give them a try. So how did it go? The parking lot is a bit awkward but luckily they are the only one open at lunch time so I think they have ample parking. Parking at night? They have the new Izakaya Torae Torae next door so that will definitely be a bit of a nightmare. Sushi Company knows they are in the grab and go business and they adhere to it. I got my order within five minutes of ordering – I thought that was awesome.

Garlic Chicken Bento – $6.40

How was the bento? Not bad. Great price. The chicken was good, not tender but not overly hard so it was fine to eat. I think they cook it ahead of time and keep it heated – there’s no way I could have gotten my bento so quick if they had fried it fresh. What did I notice after eating the bento? MSG attack. They definitely use MSG in their food, my mouth/throat was dry all afternoon.

Spicy Ahi Don – $7.25

I thought the way they make their spicy ahi looks so delicious. I don’t know why, maybe it’s the red fish eggs. How was it? Pretty good. Not the best spicy ahi I have ever had but definitely not bad.

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Mediterraneo Ristorante Italiano – Honolulu, HI

May10

I’ve been to Mediterraneo Ristorante Italiano a few times in the past few years and they never disappoint! Well the food never disappoints. This past visit was a very weird one. I’m not sure if the waitress was new but she was very off-putting. The other waitress was super nice and I think I might recognize her from previous visits. The difference in attitude and service from one to the other was insane. Of course I got the new waitress, she was cold and rude from the start. There were a few funny moments that proved to me that she was consistent with her attitude which helps me to be less mad. She had put up a paper sign on the door that read “opend 5:30.” The main chef and I assume owner came out and asked her what that white piece of paper was on the door, she said she put the sign up so customers know they are open (I guess dining guests inside won’t give you enough hints) and he said I don’t want that piece of paper up there and she totally resisted. It was so uncomfortable to be sitting right there when it happened but he finally told her, just take it down. I don’t blame him – and it made me wonder if she was new. She spent the whole night answering the phone and as the restaurant started filling up, I still heard her tell customers to come in with no reservations and that it would only be a 10-15 minute wait. Oh boy, I kind of wanted to see how that would play out. Anyhow, she also forgot our drink. We eventually kept calling over the other waitress to assist us further…it served as a saving grace for the night I think.

Anyhow, bad service aside – the food was GREAT. Let me share the pictures with you.

Fresh bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I’m not the biggest fan of it but it was just fine.

My dish. I believe I ended up getting the Mare – it was DELICIOUS. The seafood, the sauce, the noodles…all perfection. I pretty much ate this whole thing. No shame…lol.

Ravioli Aragosta – Kristian’s dish. He liked it as well, although he would have appreciated more lobster. Please feel free to add your own feedback. 🙂

Creme Brulee Cheesecake – TO DIE FOR. It was delicious!! We ordered a tiramisu too but they were also out of it (they were out of three things that night and we were there when they opened). But it doesn’t matter, this slice of cheesecake can solve anything.

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Nippon Bento and Catering – Delivery!

May6

Happy boys day! It’s Children’s Day now yeah? I don’t know why it got changed, how come girls get a day? Anyhow, it’s been hot yeah?? Sunday was crazy hot and today was hot too. It’s the vog and the sun just beating down on us. Too hot to handle! Hot weather makes me very lazy. Luckily we have AC at work even though it was broken this morning…other than that – not too bad of a Monday. Hope you are all doing well!

My fried rice post stemmed from the event I am sharing today! Once you see the amount of rice we had, you will understand why fried rice had to be made. Nippon Bento and Catering has become our go-to catering option. They have a pretty good menu, good prices and do free delivery as long as you meet their minimum bento order. When you order catering, you have the option to hire their staff to keep watch on the food and refill as necessary. Let me share with you what we had.

Tossed Garden Salad with Oriental Dressing – the salad looked great on the day of the event. The next day? It was completely brown. Was really such a shame that it went bad so fast.

Lots of Rice! And lots was left over after the event too…

Long Rice – felt like this was almost the easy way out to make long rice. Carrots and some onions thrown in – the sauce is very sweet and strong in sesame oil taste.

Tofu & Eggplant with Oyster Suace

Mochiko Chicken – an okay dish. I honestly find that it’s a real hit or miss with them. They also serve their mochiko chicken with this vinegary sauce which I find unnecessary. (By the way, it was a miss this day)

Vegetable Stir-fry – Pretty good! I enjoy baby corn.

Garlic Ahi – Star of the Show! Okay, this was definitely my favorite dish but the thing is – there was no way this was ahi. I’m okay that it wasn’t ahi because it tasted great. Not sure why they call it ahi – I still loved it. Very meaty and tender, I’m also a sucker for tartar sauce.

All in all? Good stuff! I had to eat the fish – it was too good to pass up. Wish I knew what kind of fish it was though. Sole? Tilapia? Wish I could say…

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Izakaya Torae Torae – Moilili, Hawaii

Apr28

I have been so excited to try Izakaya Torae Torae since they opened up about two months ago! They are located in Moilili on McCully Street – it’s right next door to The Sushi Company and I believe they replaced a pizza place (correct me if I’m wrong). They do have parking stalls in front but it is extremely limited. Our meal was so good last night that I just had to post it up already! And how’s this for fate? A spot opened up as I was pulling in…smack dab right in front of the restaurant. It was meant to be. A warning to everyone, lots of pictures and…I definitely splurged for this meal. I have never tried Otoro before and decided to do so at this meal. No regrets!

Snow Crab and Corn Cream Croquette – $7.50

Lots of pictures of this dish on social media – how was it? I thought it was good, not great. It’s not like I could taste the crab in it so for me, it was just a cream croquette.

Pork Belly Kakuni – $8.95
Oh man, this was a great dish. Includes two good sized pieces of pork belly, daikon and a soft boiled egg. The broth tasted great – favorite meat dish of the night for sure. They have a pork belly kakuni don option – the broth on the rice would be amazing.

Ribeye Steak with Garlic Onion Sauce – $16.50

The garlic onion sauce being poured on…a bit pricey for this dish. I thought it was all right but nothing too special. The meat was tender and cooked to our specifications! I also enjoyed the bean sprouts/cabbage on the bottom, so a good dish all in all.

From left to right: Lanai Sweet Shrimp ($5.95), Hamachi ($2.95) and King Salmon Nigiri ($2.50)
This was Kristian’s selection so I will let him share his comments if he so wishes. 🙂

Shrimp Head! This is the head from the Lanai Sweet Shrimp nigiri, they offer it to you fried up with a slice of lemon. So crispy you can eat the entire head, shell and all!

From left to right: King Salmon ($2.50), Otoro (Market Price, lol), Uni Nigiri ($4.25)

I hadn’t had real salmon until I’ve had it this high quality. The freshness of the salmon, the buttery taste, you just can’t beat it. It was the cheaper option of the nigiri I had so I ordered one more. I think if I return, I would just order like 4 for myself..hahaha

Okay, I know I swore off uni pasta but I certainly didn’t swear off uni nigiri! It was very good – perfectly made. But if I had to choose between this or the salmon, I’ll get the salmon.

Star of the show! Otoro! This is the first time I have ever had this. Words cannot explain the experience. This will probably be one of the few times I have it in my life so I will forever savor it. Hehe…I was afraid to take the leap but am so glad I did. It literally melts in your mouth. I think I’m going to dream of it tonight.

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Alicia’s Market – Kalihi, HI

Apr25

Yes! Another visit to Alicia’s Market and there was no disappointment here. I had to run an errand during my lunch break so I grabbed lunch from here. It was fate because as I pulled up, a parking spot opened up in their lot. I mean, come on! Awesome right? If you would like to see my first post, click here. Here are the pictures from our recent trip!

Spicy Ahi Poke “Bowl”

Look at those big pieces of ahi – no white stringy stuff here. Only the good stuff!

Abalone Salad. My friend got this and let me try it for the first time! It was delicious, so fresh and crunchy.

Two Choice – Regular Plate
It comes with Chinese roast pork, ahi poke of your choice, mac salad, kimchee, and rice!

The mac/potato salad is quite sweet.

Poke!!!

The roast pork this time was winners. Great pieces of pork, I think last time I was disappointed because I got hard and dry pieces.

My friend got to try this place for the first time and she was very happy! She tried different things and thought everything was high quality for good prices. Always happy to share good food places with others. I think I should start a food tour company. 🙂 Happy Friday everyone!

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Japanese Ramen Kai – Ala Moana, HI

Apr19

I’ve talked about Agu Ramen and Hokkaido Santouka Ramen in previous posts: here and here. Japanese Ramen Kai came on the scene around the same time as the other two and I finally got to try it! I gotta say, out of the three, Japanese Ramen Kai is currently my favorite! Let me share some pictures to show you why…

Miso Ramen – $9.00

Look at that char siu…drool…

Goma Tan Tan Ramen – $9.00 plus Aji-tama (shoyu egg) – $1.50

I got the tan tan ramen and I LOVED it. It was delicious. See how thick the broth is? How does it compare to Goma Tei? I definitely think Japanese Ramen Kai is better. You can tell they grind the sesame seeds fresh because there is a bit of grittyness (not in a bad way) in the broth. While the broth looks heavy and thick – I don’t think it plays off that way when you eat it. I would definitely recommend it! The egg was good, not great. Not soft boiled but at least it wasn’t overcooked.

Gyoza – $5.00

Gyoza innard shot. It’s your typical gyoza, nothing special or bad about it.

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!

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