While I frequent Kuru Kuru Sushi – I have never ordered one of their dons until my last visit. I used to watch as other tables got these mountains of spicy ahi/poke and just sit in envy. I don’t know why I never ordered it, perhaps because if I were to ever eat that I would not be able to eat anything else? Well, this time I had a partner in crime so I ordered it. The taste was great, the photo opp even better. Isn’t it glorious?
Have you ever had Jjajjangmyun? Well if you ever watch Korean dramas, you will inevitably see them order delivery noodles. Then you watch as they stuff their faces with shiny glossy black noodles into their mouth. I’m a huge fan of noodles so it really piqued my interest. I learned that it was considered a Northern Chinese dish and there was this whole Chinese cuisine in Korea! Well I didn’t know where to get these noodles in a restaurant so I found a recipe online and made it myself at home before and I thought it was delicious. They have instant cup noodles of it now and I also learned there are Korean restaurants in Hawaii that are Korean Chinese restaurants and serve these dishes. Is that confusing? I’ll bet it is. Anyhow, one place I go to get this is Eastern Paradise Restaurant. As far as I can tell, this is a Chinese restaurant owned by Chinese people that serves Korean style Northern Chinese food. I’m probably blabbing nothing but wrong information so here’s a picture of what I ate…lol.
Jjajjangmyun – just pour the thick black gravy over the noodles…mix and eat! Delish!
Anytime I’m traveling, I like to check out the Chinatown if possible. San Francisco has a huge Chinatown but I must have fluked out because the dim sum I tried was nothing special. In fact, the dim sum I tried at SF and New York were nothing to write home about – they just made me miss the dim sum at home! The dim sum I have tried in Chicago has been the best I’ve had in the mainland. I actually dined at this same restaurant (Ming Hin) during my last trip and wanted to try a new restaurant so we headed to Chinese restaurant that specialized in main dishes/noodles. Well we got seated right away but was ignored after that. We watched as they seated more and more people and no one even came to see us with a menu. I looked around and caught the eye of the girl behind the counter. She caught my glance and proceeded to do nothing. So…we left and went to Ming Hin. Ming Hin is a huge Chinese restaurant and they’ve got everything down to a science! The wait staff know Mandarin/Cantonese/English and their ordering system is so easy! The menu is all pictures and you just put the number of orders you want with each picture. We need this in Hawaii! Also…the wait staff is incredibly friendly, something Hawaii is also lacking…hehe.
This is kind of like deja vu. I had a pork hash post not too long ago…it’s my favorite dim sum dish. This version was pretty good.
Being the Asian that I am, I made it a point to scope out as many Asian restaurants as I could. As if I don’t get enough Asian food in Hawaii right? The Slurping Turtle was located very close to our hotel so we decided to give them a try one night for dinner. The restaurant was very busy but we were able to score a seat almost immediately! As we were greeted by the waitress, we were informed that a future Top Chef contestant was the chef of this restaurant! How exciting! He even had a special tasting menu but since I was dining with others, I decided to order just noodles. I guess this gives me an excuse to go back to the restaurant next time I return! Let’s take a look at the food shall we?
Cute ah? Sorry for the shiny spot on the menu…
After my cousin’s white coat ceremony at her school, we decided to celebrate at a nice restaurant. After searching through the many restaurants to choose from, we made a reservation at Shaw’s Crab House. Busy busy place so I assume it’s great. I think the food was good but the service was lacking. The waiter seemed disinterested right after we declined drinks. Sorry guys, we don’t all enjoy alcohol. He all but disappeared for the rest of the meal which by the way lasted like half an hour (seriously!). I can say that the food was delivered quickly and it wasn’t too bad to eat. I do think you’re paying for the atmosphere, it’s really too bad the service was poor. We did enjoy the food otherwise.
King crab legs!!
Okay, so I’ve been to Chicago three times now. The first time I went, I went with Kristian and we saw Wow Bao in downtown. We both giggled like school kids at the name and the tagline. Take a look at the cup, can you see it? Yes, there it is. Hot Asian Buns. How can you not laugh at something so silly? My second trip, I couldn’t help but go in and see what the big deal was. Yes, they do specialize in hot buns. This place is awesome, they make the food fast and as far as I can tell…pretty fresh. They also make salads and dumplings. So in my second trip, I totally got hooked on the spicy peanut noodles. HOOKED. I think I went there two or three times in the second trip.
This last trip I was a bit more disciplined. Only once! Spicy Peanut Noodle Salad. It is SO good, I wish we had a Wow Bao here or that I could duplicate that recipe. I was also able to try a seasonal ginger tea which was very refreshing. Here are the pictures!
Noodles, cilantro, cucumber and peanut dressing – there’s nowhere to go wrong with this!!
La Tour Café is a neat eatery on Nimitz right next to Tanaka Saimin. They are under the same ownership as Bale so you know any breads or pastries they make will be good. The first visit I had was when they were fairly new and I was pretty unhappy with my experience. The customer service and food at the time was definitely lacking. This past time, I had a much better experience.
Oh yeah…how can you go wrong…
I don’t think I need to tell people again that Kalihi has the best lunch spots, the only sad thing is that they are usually closed or have limited hours during the weekends. One day, when I was running errands for work – I was able to drop into Alicia’s Market for lunch! Oh my, my food was SO good. I got a mini plate – two choice with poke. How will be this served? They actually used the square mini plate lunch box! And boy was it STUFFED. Check it out!
I told you…
I-naba is a small little gem tucked away on South King Street. I’ve long been a fan of soba so it was only destiny that led me to this restaurant. We came here a bit close to their closing time but was able to get seated anyway. Even though we thought we were a little late, there was still a small stream of customers that came in after us!
I enjoy nice menus…come on in…
With a name like Kiss My Grits, how could you resist not trying it out? Kiss My Grits has been in Manoa for about 2 years now and it’s a welcome restaurant! I like it because we don’t have much Southern food in Hawaii so it was great to see a place open up that was so close to me. You can never go wrong with Fried Chicken…
Why hello…