3660 on the Rise | Waialae, HI

Feb18

Do you folks have the urge to say “why you lie” when you see or say Waialae? Or is that just me? Anyway, 3660 on the Rise recently opened up their dine in again so we wanted to give it a try! Let’s take a look at how it went…

Waialae-Tai
A blend of 3 types of Bacardi, orange curacao, guava juice, limeade, lychee juice

3660 Fruit Punch
Orange, guava, cranberry juices and limeade

I can’t comment on the Waialae-tai but I did get the Fruit Punch. LOL, it tastes only like orange juice with some cranberry juice poured on top. I didn’t even know there was all these other juices until I had to type it out.

Ahi Katsu | $20.50
sashimi-grade ahi wrapped in nori & deep fried medium rare, wasabi-ginger sauce

Hands down, their best dish. Period. Sansei has a similar dish (did they knock it off from 3660?), anyway we shared this as an appetizer but I think I would order it again just as my entrée. It’s SO good. The sauce for the dish is like crack, I could lick it up with more rice.

New York Steak Alaea | $41.00
pan seared with garlic, hawaiian salt and butter, crisp onions

Duet of Fire Roasted Long Island Duck | $39.00
fire roasted duck breast with lilikoi coulis over stir fry of season vegetable & crisp duck leg with a pan seared chinese taro cake, pineapple plum compote

Guys, the duck was my dish and I was super excited for it. I was a bit disappointed though. So sad, which side would you guess tastes better? I was placing my bets on the right side. Who doesn’t love a tender duck breast? Ah, wasn’t a fan of it…and the lilikoi sauce was too sweet for the duck. I actually enjoyed the crisp duck leg more, the seasoning and the meat! The meat was actually quite tender even though it looks dry in appearance.

Warm Chocolate Soufflé Cake | $11.00
warm cake with a melted chocolate center, topped with vanilla ice cream, mocha sauce

My dessert! Okay so like, I know that it says mocha sauce but it looked like melted ice cream. Kind of funny. Was it good? Sure, nothing spectacular though.

Mile High Waialae Pie | $12.00
layers of haagen dazs vanilla & coffee ice cream, macadamia brittle, caramel & chocolate sauces

This picture does not do this pie justice. It really is a mile high piece, I don’t think anyone could ever finish this in one seating…it should definitely be a shared dessert. My companion could not finish the dessert and I told him, just take home the brittle! The waiter said he should take the whole slice home…and kind of hard to say no yeah? So he did. It didn’t work out (ice cream soup?). Rest in piece (get it?).

Anyway, with COVID precautions, they are now using their party rooms for the restaurant dine in. Plenty of space between tables so no worries there. I think they use the main restaurant as a staging area for take-out. The wait staff there are super nice and on it. Great experience, would definitely return again…gotta support local!

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La Birria – Aiea, Hawaii

Feb15

These Birria Tacos have been all the rage in the food trend world for a few months now. When La Birria opened up their food truck in Pearlridge, I knew I had to try it! The tacos looked so good and the dipping sauce, it made me so curious! So we made the trek out there and stood in a socially distanced line (took about an hour I think!) because we really checked it out during peak popularity. No online ordering but once you got up to the front of the line, it was pretty quick and easy to order with the nice worker. Then you gotta wait for the food, they are churning it out!

Let’s first take a look at the menu.

12 Pack Birria Queso Tacos | $45.00 (!)

Birria Queso Pack (3 tacos) | $12.00

We had a few folks trying this so I needed a few extra tacos but certainly not another 12 pack! So how was it? I hate to be the party pooper but it was just…okay. Nothing special about this taco. I felt like the dipping sauce lacked depth and flavor, would have loved it to have more of a concentrated taste to it since the tacos themselves were a bit bland. Would have loved a bit more cilantro and maybe some red onions to add a nice kick.

Birria Saimin | $12.00

Okay so since I was all excited for the broth, I had to try their twist on saimin! Well like I said, the broth is just okay so the saimin was also just okay. Was it worth $12? No. I wouldn’t order that again.

Gotta do the noodle pull!

Anyway, they are still super popular and actually opened a second truck in Kakaako! Maybe they have improved by now? I’m not sure, I did get this many months ago and since they were selling out so fast everyday…I always wondered how well they could properly marinate the meat for the broth. I wish them well since I am always down to support local, hope they have staying power when this food trend bubble pops. Maybe they can be like the new bubble tea (that trend will never die).

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Recipe: Hokkaido Milk Bread

Feb10

Here I am. First recipe post after talking about healthy stuff and I am posting about bread. I just had to, Jalna has been posting about making bread so how could I forget my bread making adventures a few months ago? Remember when yeast was harder to find than clorox wipes? Well, somehow I found out Elvin’s Bakery was selling both bread flour and instant yeast, it was fate. I watched many videos of people making Hokkaido milk bread and I just had to try it myself. My first try? Complete failure, I had to throw it out. Then I got the hang of it…biggest difference? Measuring ingredients in grams and using a kitchen scale. I’ll post the recipe and then some step by step photographs…hang with me to the end…for the most satisfying bread pull (well satisfying for me).

Hokkaido Milk Bread

Makes one bread in a 5×9 inch loaf pan

Tang Zhong:
35 g (1/4 cup) Bread Flour
175 g (3/4 cup) Water

Prepare the Tang Zhong:
1. In a non-stick pan combine bread flour and water.
2. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until the mixture thickens into a pudding-like consistency, or reach 65°C-150°F.
3. Transfer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool down at room temperature.
4. You can use it when cool down or, better, refrigerate it overnight: use it at room temperature!

Milk Bread:
Bread Flour 340 g (2+2/3 cup)
Salt 3 g (1/2 teaspoon)
Sugar 30 g (2 tablespoons)
Active Dry Yeast 5 g (1+1/4 teaspoon)
1 Medium Egg (about 40 g), room temperature
Whole Milk, lukewarm, 140 g (1/2 cup+1 tablespoon) – microwaved for 1 minute
Tang Zhong (about 155 g)
Unsalted Butter, cubed and softened at room temperature, 40 g (3 tablespoons)
Extra bread flour for the working surface
1 Medium Egg and 1 T Whole Milk mix for brushing the top

Prepare the Milk Bread:
1. In a large bowl mix flour and salt.
2. Add sugar, dry yeast and combine.
3. Add the egg (beaten), lukewarm milk and start to combine with a spatula.
4. Add the Tang Zhong and combine with a spatula until reach a very sticky dough.
5. Add the butter (room temperature) and combine with a spatula.
6. Sprinkle the work surface with at least 3 tbsp of flour and start to knead the dough with your hands; if you have a stand mixer you can use it, since the dough is pretty sticky.
7. Incorporate a little flour until knead the dough, but don’t add too much flour: the dough have to remain very soft and slightly sticky*

*NOTE: The consistency of your dough may vary depending of your flour. If your dough seems too wet, you can add up to 1-3 tbsp more flour until the dough comes together but consider that this is a pretty sticky dough. You can use your scraper instead of your hands to help you kneading.

8. Knead for about 15 minutes or until the dough will be smooth and elastic.
9. Form into a ball, place it in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
10. Let it rise in a warm place** for about 45 minutes or until triple in size: the dough will be ready when you poke it and it will maintain its shape.

** I preheated oven on 170°F (lowest my oven would go), turned it off after 5 minutes. Placed dough to rise in the warm oven, opened the oven door after 10 minutes because I was afraid it would be too hot in there.

11. Transfer the dough over a silicone pastry mat or a floured surface and split it into 3 equal pieces.
12. Roll each piece into a ball and cover every ball with plastic wrap.
13. Use a rolling pin and roll one piece into a long oval shape.
14. Fold the right third of the oval over the middle, then fold the left third of the oval over the middle.
15. Turn the packet and roll it into a rectangular shape.
16. Roll the rectangular from the bottom to get a fat roll.
17. Cover the roll with plastic wrap and repeat with the other 2 pieces of dough.
18. Arrange the 3 rolls of dough into a greased 11,5×22,5 cm – 4,5×9 inch loaf pan. (I have a 5 x 9 and it worked fine)
19. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until the dough reaches the rim of the loaf pan.
20. Brush the top with beaten egg + milk.
21. Bake in a preheated static oven at 350°F for 25 minutes.
22. Cool down for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool down on a wire rack
23. You can store the bread into a paper bag and place the paper bag into a plastic bag for about 1 week.

Recipe from: How Tasty

I actually make this the day before and chill it in the fridge.

Butter diced into cubes and weighed exactly, ready to go!

Arm workout done, now it is time to rise…

Measure the dough into three equal parts and start the rolling and folding…fold up!

Gotta do this three times and line them up in your bread tin! Ready for the last proof…

Kaboom! Proofed, ready for egg wash and the oven!

WATCH MY BREAD PULL…!

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Welcome Back

Feb8

*A puzzle I started during the pandemic that I definitely finished*
*(no, I didn’t).*

How’s that? I just welcomed myself back and this isn’t even a full post. How are you folks doing out there? I know it’s been a long time – and I hope you are all taking care during this neverending pandemic. I am trying to hold on as well. I do have to be honest before I continue, I’ve been dealing with some health things these past few months and I’ve really been through the wringer. Not to worry, nothing life threatening (well let’s not make it life threatening).

Anyway, in a bid to take better care of myself – I’ve been playing around with recipes to eat better. I’m trying to make realistic changes in my life so that I can keep to this lifestyle versus fad diets that are bound to fail. The past 3 months or so have been the lowest so I definitely lost all motivation to do much of anything…but I’d like to say I am turning the corner a bit.

Anyway, I haven’t stopped eating…that’s the point of this post! Yes, I try to eat healthy during the week but I still try to eat some ono food on the weekends. Got plenty of recipes to post and of course good eats. For those who have stuck around and are reading this post, thank you. I just bought a new laptop so I should be able to post easier and more frequently. Take care guys…new post soon!

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Panya Bistro – Honolulu, HI

May1

Panya Bistro was my last meal before the lockdown. Well last sit-down meal in a restaurant and even though it was pre-lockdown, I was already feeling a bit uneasy eating in the restaurant. I am also a little regretful that I didn’t order my usual, Laksa! But…while their laksa is good, it’s also very expensive and I can get the same dish for half the price at Papa’s Cafe! Let’s get to the food shall we?

Black Pepper Pork Chop | $18.00
Upgrade to Egg Fried Rice | $5.00 (I think!)
*fried pork chop with Spicy black pepper sauce*

This wasn’t my dish but it looks good ah? Remember how I talked about simple fried rice being best? It looks like this fried rice follows what I talked about, just egg, rice and seasoning. But $5.00 to substitute it from white rice?? Hard pass from me on that.

Indonesian Fried Rice | $20.00
*with chicken topped with eggs and green peas*

This dish is what veered me off the laksa. I’ve been into Indonesian food (indomie anyone?) so I wanted to try this dish. By the way, why don’t we have an Indonesian restaurant in Hawaii? Not just Indonesian dishes in Chinese restaurants, INDONESIAN RESTAURANT. Ah sorry, how was it? Good, not great. And surprisingly spicier than I expected. I wouldn’t order it again.

My lemon crunch cake quest continues. How was it? Ehh…more cream than I’d like. I guess I still like Macaroni Grill’s lemon cake most.

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Recipe: Fried Garlic Fried Rice

Apr29

That title is not a a mistake. I am making fried garlic…fried rice. I love the taste of fried garlic and decided to play it up with fried rice one day. I’ve come to the conclusion as of late that simple fried rice is the best. Enough with throwing everything you have into the fried rice. One of my favorite fried rice dishes is just egg and rice tossed together and seasoned with some salt. That’s it. Anyway, this isn’t much of a recipe. I don’t have detailed notes but if there is interest, I can try to type some instructions up.

Garlic is always the star of the show

Spam (optional)

Scrambled 4 eggs until about 80% done

Here comes the best part. Make sure the heat is on medium low, add oil and the garlic. It will take a while to get there but you have to make sure the heat remains low so the garlic fries up not burns up.

Golden morsels of goodness

Add the rice! Look at it…just look at it!!

Add the eggs and begin the breakdown…

Mm hmm mm hmm!

Oh yes. I learned from another recipe that if you want to add sheen to the fried rice, you add just a bit of oil at the end and fry it together. Oh this fried rice was delicious, if you enjoy garlic. It reminded me of the garlic served with the garlic shrimp plates from the North Shore. No need shrimp for me, I could have done without the spam myself but it’s good either way!

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Fort Street Café – Honolulu, HI

Apr27

When I used to work in downtown, I would always walk down Fort Street Mall for goodies. I remember Aloha Sushi used to be in the high rise where you would get your passport (both are gone I think). I’d grab a piroscki from Rada’s Piroscki from their original location, mind you. I’m sad to say that on my rare visit back to downtown, it was just not the same…and it tasted like they used the same oil from where I ate a decade ago lol.

Ah sorry for the tangent, I don’t quite recall if Fort Street Café was around when I worked downtown. But boy am I glad I found them since. We’ve had a few lunch orders here. I recommend the garlic chicken with pad thai and panang curry! Delicious. We used them to cater an office gathering earlier this year, I wish I took better notes on what sized pans we ordered. I will say we either got the Medium or Large. Here’s a link to their catering menu, it’s from 2019 but the prices were still the same for me this year.

I have never ordered spring rolls for catering before but can I say that I was pleasantly surprised? I’m pretty sure we got the medium order and look at this presentation! It was delicious too. I would say it was worth it!

You can’t go wrong with garlic so this dish can’t lose! (It didn’t).

Fancy fancy with shrimp but we were ordering garlic chicken on its own so we went for the shrimp. Delicious.

It’s vegetables. Enuff said.

Mmmm panang curry. I love the peanut-y base curry. I could just eat copious amounts of rice with this curry. Like I don’t even need the innards, just the sauce and rice.

So yes, it was a great choice for catering. One thing to consider, how to pick food up. It definitely was a two person operation, one driver who pulls over illegally (somewhere, anywhere close by!). I was the runner and ran into the restaurant to make payment and they had it all ready to go. I had to make several trips back and forth…and fort street mall isn’t the cleanest or safest…haha. It’s okay, worked out okay and we got the food!

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Mixed Plate

Apr24

Gotta have posts like this here and there, I don’t always fully capture my meal so you will have to get it in bits and pieces. 🙂

Romano’s Macaroni Grill
Mama’s Trio | $25.95
*chicken parmesan, lasagna bolognese, fettuccine alfredo*

Is Mama trying to kill you? Yes, I think so. This wasn’t my dish but look at this…hefty portions of hefty dishes. It was not finished, had to be packed up to take home. No waste!

Romano’s Macaroni Grill
Shrimp Scampi | $24.95
*sauteed jumbo shrimp, capellini, garlic, rosemary butter, roma tomatoes*

Yeah, I had the shrimp scampi again. So wot? Like fight? Nah, getting it a second time means it was good ah? Was good.

Little Sheep Hot Pot
Half & Half Pot | Original & Spicy

I can’t say I was super impressed when they first opened, I was still a huge fan of Sweet Home Cafe. Well sorry to say, well not really sorry, but I basically only go to Little Sheep now. Love their sauce bar and now they have all you can eat deals for lunch and dinner. Service is hit or miss (you better be willing to flag anyone and everyone down to help you). Delish!

Ja Gal Chi Restaurant
Bossam | $30.99
*steamed pork with oysters*

Gosh, can anyone help me? There used to be the most bomb bossam restaurant by Ala Moana, it was located where Dowon Chinese Restaurant is now. They specialized in Bossam and it was soo good but alas, like most businesses, the owners decided to retire and they closed for good.

Anyway, I don’t think a lot of Korean restaurants offer this but Ja Gal Chi does and boy oh boy was it a treat. I mean look at it, of course it was a treat. They give you kimchee and the little salted shrimp sauce too. It’s just heaven.

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Pancakes & Waffles BLD – Kalihi, HI

Apr22

Pancakes & Waffles has been around for quite a while. I remember a long time ago, when I came back from an international trip, I asked my ride to take me there to eat. I just had to grind on some pocho sausage, eggs and rice. Don’t worry, I treated her to breakfast too. Anyway, can you believe that I had not tried their fried chicken and waffles until this past visit? The audacity.

Fried Rice Special | $8.25
*fried rice, 2 eggs, choice of bacon, link, spam, or portuguese sausage*

Your basic special. Nothing great about it but nothing to complain about either.

Grilled Cheese Benedict with Avocado Fries | $11.45
*choice of white or wheat bread grilled cheese sandwich, topped with a perfectly poached egg and covered in creamy hollandaise sauce*

Seasonal menu item! I only saw the sign near the door, it wasn’t even on their menu when you go up to order. I didn’t actually get this myself but it was gobbled up!

Honey Butter Chicken & Waffles (3 pcs) | $12.95
*crispy fried chicken thighs on a golden waffle*

The star of the show. Here it is guys. We got our own entrees but got this to share. Well, four people sharing this plate was JUST NOT ENOUGH. Yes, I had to order another plate. We loved the chicken, delicious! Nicely seasoned and so crispy. The waffle, nice to have it there but I don’t need it. I just need the chicken! Highly recommend the chicken. Actually, I think the second one we got was a fried chicken plate because we just wanted the chicken and not the waffle…haha

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Recipe: French Onion Bac’n Spinach Dip (Vegan!)

Apr20

I think I have mentioned this before, I have a vegan worker in my office and it has helped me to push my limits in cooking! I really enjoy feeding people and always try to make dishes that everyone can eat. Well, here is a recipe that was totally sparked through curiosity. I can make choke vegan baked goods but I wanted to serve up a savory dish. So I got the idea for this dip and served it up with crackers/ruffles chips.

How did it go? Surprisingly well, the office folks certainly ate it up. What did I think? Ehhh…I gotta say, I am not a fan of the “fake” bacon bits and to me, that taste overpowers in this dish. I think if I tinkered around with this recipe, I could find a dip I like. Minus the bacon bits…and minus the french onion soup mix. I know I know, that’s not selling this huh? I think the recipe for the sour cream is solid so that’s a good start. Heck, I even give you the recipe for two different vegan sour creams! See below…

First recipe uses raw cashews, gotta be raw!

Gotta soak the cashews at least 4 hours so it’s soft enough for the blender

2nd sour cream uses silken tofu as a base…

Started with the cashew sour cream and one mix packet

Added a cup of cooked spinach, water squeezed out

Then I got loopy because it was late at night and didn’t know what I would do with a whole thing of silken tofu sour cream and threw it in…oops

Which then led me to adding another soup packet since I had so much sour cream now…

French Onion Bac’n Spinach Dip (Vegan!)

Ingredients:

32 oz. Vegan Sour Cream (Two recipe versions following this recipe)

1 C chopped spinach and squeezed (heaping cup).

2.2 ounces McCormick Bac’n Bits (bottle sold is 4.4 ounces, I used half a bottle)

2 packets Lipton Recipe Secrets Soup & Dip Mix Onion (usually two packets come in a box)

Directions:

Mix the sour cream and soup mixes together until blended (by hand). Add spinach and bacon to mix. Best served chilled.

Notes:

Spinach – I used fresh but one package of frozen chopped spinach would be fine. Thaw out the spinach and squeeze out additional water!

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe 1

1.5 c raw cashews (soaked 4 hours)

3/4 c water

1.5 T lemon juice

1.5 t apple cider vinegar

1/2 t salt

1/2 t Dijon mustard

Blend all ingredients in blender until creamy, scraping down sides of blender as needed. Produced about 2 cups of sour cream (16 oz.)

Note: My taste preference is for the cashew sour cream.

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe 2

1 package 12 oz. Silken Tofu (soft)

1.5 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1-2 Tbsp. water to get to the desired consistency

Blend all ingredients in blender until creamy, scraping down sides of blender as needed. Use in recipes such as Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff, or serve on baked potatoes, tacos, or enchiladas. Produced about 2 cups of sour cream (16 oz.)

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!