Tsukada Nojo Hawaii – Honolulu, Hawaii

Mar14

Tsukada Nojo Hawaii is a fairly new Japanese restaurant in Hawaii. I love the atmosphere of this restaurant, the decorations, servers, food, etc! They have a little parking lot in front of their restaurant but it is very small and it is shared with a sushi restaurant! So unless you can make it there right when they open, parking is a bit risky. Another plus to this restaurant? You can make reservation on Open Table! I wish all restaurants were on Open Table.

Miyazaki Mango Mojito • $9.00
Miyazaki Mango, Rum, Club soda, Mint
Known for their year-round season, Miyazaki mangoes are flown in to create this unique mojito with freshly muddled mint, citrus and rum

Yum, I’ve been here twice and got this drink both times. It’s delicious and refreshing, I just wish the drink was bigger.

Nikumaki Rice Ball • $3.50
miyazaki region’s comfort food: a pork belly-wrapped rice ball in sweet soy ginger sauce, served on green leaf lettuce, served with teriyaki sauce

Okay, we got this dish both times we came here. The first time the rice balls tasted good, the second time, not so much. The meat wrapped around the rice was too tough and the sauce was too salty.

Grilled Skillet Egg • $6.00
plain omelet

Okay this sounds silly but I LOVE THIS DISH. Why is it called a skillet egg? It actually come out in a cast iron skillet and they flip it onto the plate at your table. The egg is soft…souffle-ish and is seasoned like a dashi tamago. The first time we went, we bought two. This time we could only eat one, would have ordered two if we could.

Bijin Nabe • $40.00
chicken-based collagen soup with zucchini, watermelon radish, tofu, romaine lettuce, chinese cabbage, enoki mushroom, abura-age, green onion, watercress, and tsukune meatball

Doesn’t that look…delicious? Haha, I didn’t know what to expect when this was set at our table. But when it boils down, it is a collagen-rich yet light broth.

The bijin pot comes with some chicken tsukune. We ordered kurobuta pork belly as an add-on for our pot. This was delicious! And like other nabes, you can get rice or noodles to finish off your broth. We went with ramen, it was delicious but we were much too full to eat it all. They have such wonderful dining utensils/plates, I think it’s the little details that count and they think of it! I hope you folks get to try this place out!

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Din Tai Fung – Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Mar12

There aren’t many xiao long bao restaurants in Hawaii, and when I have tried it, I haven’t loved them as much as I thought I would. Din Tai Fung is a big restaurant chain and I have watched countless video features about them! Well, when I got to Hong Kong, I knew I had to give them a try! So here is my experience…

Drunken Chicken in Shaoxing Rice Wine

Oh man, this dish was not good. It tasted like it was only shaoxing rice wine, not just a sauce made with the rice wine. This chicken must have died from alcohol poisoning, the alcohol overpowered everything. We barely ate this dish.

Sautéed Spinach with Supreme Broth and Garlic

My favorite dish of the meal, funny right? A simple vegetable dish sauteed with garlic is one of the ways to my heart. Absolutely recommended.

Noodle with Spicy Sesame and Peanut Sauce

I’m a sucker for noodles. This dish was good but nothing memorable.

Vegetable & Pork Wonton Tossed with Special Sauce

This was probably my second favorite dish of the meal, I love wonton and spicy sauce.

Steamed Black Truffle and Pork Dumplings

Okay this is the funny part of the night. We ordered Xiao Long Bao but totally made a mistake and ordered ALL BLACK TRUFFLE dumplings. It was insanely expensive and my cousin hates truffle so she couldn’t even enjoy it. We were also so full at this point that we couldn’t finish it, you best believe I asked for take out boxes (which they charge for) because I can’t waste truffle and all this food. And I was trying to maneuver between the use of my camera and snapchat so this is the only shot I had of the XLB.

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Ruscello – Ala Moana, HI

Mar7

Ruscello is the restaurant in the new Nordstrom Ala Moana location. I would describe their cuisine as nouveau American cuisine, does that make sense? A mix of different cuisines all on one menu, maybe the pictures will help me in explaining!

Fried Calamari • $11.95
sweet and spicy peppers, jalapeño basil aïoli

This dish was okay, a bit over-fried for my taste. I wouldn’t order it again.

Complimentary Bread with Olive Oil infused with…more olives.

Basil Cucumber Cooler • $11.00
junipero gin, muddled cucumber and basil, fresh lime juice, soda splash

This wasn’t my drink but boy did it look refreshing! My friend enjoyed it quite a bit.

Lanai Cooler • $11.00
chopin vodka, passion fruit, pineapple and fresh lemon juices, vanilla syrup, angostura bitters

My drink! It was delicious and refreshing! Did I question how clean the pineapple leaf was? Yes. Did I still drink it? Yes.

Penne Bolognese • $14.25
spicy italian sausage, roasted red pepper and tomato cream sauce, parmesan cheese

Ginger Crusted Ahi Tuna • $17.95
organic baby greens, cabbage, blistered green beans, red pepper, seasoned wontons, candied ginger, soy glaze, spicy thai basil vinaigrette

I don’t usually order salads but I felt like a salad this day. It was delicious, I loved the freshness of the ahi and how well they seared it. Great dressing too, I would recommend this!

Creme Brulee • $5.75
vanilla bean, caramelized sugar crust, fresh raspberries

Pineapple Brown Butter Cake • $8.25
sweet brown butter glaze, roasted pineapple, buttermilk vanilla sauce, fresh basil

This was my dessert and doesn’t the name and description sounds absolutely delicious? It was awful. This was one of my least favorite desserts in my life, the cake was incredibly dry and dense. The sauce did nothing to help the cake and I left most of it uneaten. It’s such a shame, I would not recommend this dish.

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9 3/4 Cafe – Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Mar5

You best believe that before I went to Hong Kong, I did my fair share of research for places to grind. Well, as you can guess, 9 3/4 Cafe was definitely a non-traditional Hong Kong restaurant to go to. I got really excited because it was pretty new and I love Harry Potter. Well, this place was very hard to find. While we had internet in Hong Kong, the connection was not strong enough and always lagged when we were on Google Maps. It was beyond frustrating…here we are thinking we are going the right direction and suddenly we were so far off the path. Ugh!

This was a late afternoon meal and we both weren’t too hungry so we didn’t order too much. It was a super cute and small restaurant, the only other customers were some high school kids. They were having a ball! I felt too old to play with the props they had available, ah, the regrets!

Gosh, I wish had the drink names available. The first drink was like a blueberry soda type deal and the second one was a neon apple drink! Well I got the blueberry soda because I thought it would be delicious (it wasn’t). I didn’t get to try the apple drink, but I was told it was good. You’re definitely paying for the novelty, it wasn’t great.

Great appetizer. Chicken wings! I thought the preparation, batter and frying was done perfectly. I really wish I had more of an appetite that day to enjoy it!

Salmon Pasta. We shared an entree. It wasn’t terrible but definitely wasn’t great. Would I suggest this restaurant? Maybe to really hardcore Harry Potter fans…but if you’re looking for a great meal, I wouldn’t count on it from this place.

Gotta give it up to them with the decorations though! They really went for it! And another good note, they have English menus available!

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Tangö Contemporary Café – Honolulu, HI

Feb28

Happy New Year! 2 months late…or about 2 weeks late if you follow the lunar year celebrations. I hope you are all doing well! I lost my counter for my blog and I don’t know how to fix it, boy do I have a lot to learn about wordpress and blog maintenance. I’m going to have to give credit where credit is due for this post. Thank you to Arlene for your recent comment, I really appreciate you sticking by and checking in. It really does make a difference because here I am! A little prodding never hurt anyone…and of course thank you to anyone else still checking in on this! I’ll try to set more attainable goals for this blog, I used to put a bit more pressure on myself which burned me out. Maybe I’ll slowly come back around…and I have Hong Kong updates too!

Let’s stick to some local posts for now. Tangö Contemporary Cafe has been one of my favorite restaurants for years now, I have mainly gone for dinner so I can’t speak for the other meals. I have always received great service, great food and enjoy the restaurant’s ambience! There is a parking lot for this restaurant and they offer full validation. Have you been? If not, you should! Judge for yourself with these pictures…

Salmon Board Gravlax – Smoked Salmon Rillette, Roasted Garlic and Herb Labneh, Pickled Cucumber, Rye Bread : $13.00

This was my attempt to make a pretty canape. It didn’t work, haha. I know I didn’t miss my call as a food stylist, or did I? I love salmon so I enjoyed the board. The rye bread wasn’t my favorite, but it was edible. This was one of TWO appetizers we had. We were hungry that night, no regrets. It was funny because later that meal, I saw a lady eat this board as her entree. Good for her, hahaha.

Crab Cake with Spicy Tobiko Aioli : $9.00

Delicious! One of my favorite crab cakes from a restaurant. I really enjoy the spicy tobiko aioli too, it’s just a match made in heaven. Would definitely order this again.

Grilled New York Steak, Kauai Shrimp Garlic Roasted Potato, Peppercorn Demi Glace : $29.00

This wasn’t my dish but my dining companion enjoyed it! The shrimp was nice and fresh (with the heads attached!) and the steak is cooked to your preference.

Slow Roasted Rack of Lamb Garlic with Roasted Potato, Tapenade Demi Glace : $34.00

Okay, this was my entree. Ooooh my, it was so good. The lamb chops were cooked perfectly. It comes with roasted potato but I asked to substitute it with herb polenta which they did. I love their mix of vegetables too! Great dish. One of my go to dishes.

Kona Coffee Ice Cream Cake – Kona Coffee, Vanilla and Italian Chocolate Ice Cream with Chiffon Cake : $7.00

The more pictures I edit for this post, the more convinced I am that I need to come here more often. Simple dessert but they have the best kona coffee ice cream cake I have ever tasted. A nice balance of sweet, the kona coffee taste is smooth with a nice kick of coffee (without the bitterness). Sometimes when desserts include coffee flavor, they add in coffee beans or grinds which I don’t like…luckily this desserts does not. Nice and smooth…and delicious!

 

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Leaving on a Jet Plane…

Dec3

I am finally taking a trip! A well-deserved rest from work and school…and I’m heading off to Hong Kong! The past few months have been interesting, still trying to find my ground. Considering continuing school in spring but seriously lacking the motivation right now. Ah! I got off-track again, so sorry. If there are any readers left, I hope you do bear with me. I’m hoping to do some updates from Hong Kong through Instagram. So if you’re interested in following along, please do check me out at: maybeitsjenny on IG!

I leave you with one of my favorite shots from an airplane ride. I don’t usually get to take pictures on the ride because I always take the aisle seat. Hope you are all doing well!

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Mixed Plate – Office Potluck

Sep22

We had an awesome potluck over the summer at work…and my coworkers really turned it out! Well, they always do but this time…everything was just so onolicious! No specific theme, just bring whatever you want! Here are the pics!

Homemade ume and ebi musubi, taco salad, pasta salad…yum!

Slow cooker mac and cheese!

Yummy pasta with pesto and bacon, delicious!

Homemade Pancit! It has both the egg noodles and the rice noodles…it was so good!! I love myself homecooked pancit and this definitely did not disappoint!

Ham! Yes, a whole ham. It was so good! If I remember correctly, it was done in one of those one pot cookers. The ones that do pressure cooking, slow cooking, etc. I am so hungry as I am writing this post…haha

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Cafe Julia Hawaii – Downtown, HI

Sep18

I recently had a business meeting in downtown and got to try Cafe Julia Hawaii for the first time. It’s a beautiful location so I was excited to try the restaurant! They were pretty busy as expected but we were able to snag a table indoors after a short wait. For those who care, it is an open air restaurant…no air conditioning! It wasn’t awful the day I went…but I could definitely feel discomfort. Let’s get to the food!

Indoor Restaurant Shot – those shelves are full of miniature alcohol bottles! The long table was set-up for a big Japanese tourist group.

Lilikoi Cooler – $6.50 (!)

While this drink was delicious, the price tag was not worth it! It’s non-alcoholic and does not come with refills.

Garlic Furikake Fries – $10

These fries were okay…definitely hit the spot since we were starving. I wouldn’t get them again.

Seafood Risotto – $22.50

Not my dish so I can’t comment to much, my dining companion seemed to enjoy it!

Garlic Ahi – $22.95

One of Cafe Julia’s well known dishes is their loco moco. I didn’t feel like a loco moco this day so I decided to give their garlic ahi a try. I don’t know about you, but for $23 I expected a lot more fish than what I got. The dish was okay, and it’s good that the fish was not overcooked but I was just disappointed by the price of the dish and what you get. As we were finishing our meal, the Japanese tour group came in and they must have ordered a pre-set menu…they all got the loco moco and I instantly regretted my choice! Luckily, I didn’t have to pay for this meal so my Chinese heart wasn’t too hurt. Would I come back to this restaurant? Probably not…but it may be worth a visit at night for dinner…it must be so pretty at night.

 

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Wagaya – Moilili, HI

Sep5

Have I really not posted about Wagaya? Is that possible? Wagaya is definitely in my top 3 ramen spots for Hawaii, if not…number 1! I’ve been going since they opened and they have been consistently good, if not better than before. Their food is delicious, the broth deep in flavor. The only thing they need to up their game in is maybe the char siu…a bit thin. But everything else is so good. It’s a small family business and I really hope you get to try it. Let’s get to the pics!

Yummy…good food is coming. Parking can be scarce so plan ahead! They have a small lot but there is also a lot of street parking.

Homemade Gyoza – $5.95

I enjoy their gyoza, tasty! They have a happy hour special for gyoza but it only counts towards the deep fried ones. It’s too bad, I only like the pan fried ones.

AGEDASHI TOFU – $4.95

Can I just get excited for a little bit? Yes, you can get agedashi tofu anywhere. But this is the best way I’ve had it, seriously. Yes, at a ramen shop. The tofu is fried perfectly, the batter is very thin, light and crispy. Once you pour the sauce onto the tofu, the batter turns almost gelatinous. I know that doesn’t make it sound good…BUT IT ALSO DOES. Because it gets a bit gel-like, the sauce hugs the tofu completely. Hmm…I want to get this for myself next time. No need share. Haha okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit.

Garlic Wagaya Ramen – $12.75

Here is my go to. I get it with regular firm noodles, spice level 3 (they start charging more at level 4, lol). It’s just a perfect serving of ramen, and that soft boiled egg is perfection. I save that for last. 🙂

Hiyashi Tan Tan Men – $11.95

I must confess, this particular week – this was my second visit so I tried the hiyashi noodles for the first time. It is served cold with the sesame dressing on the side. It was nice to try something different but I definitely prefer their ramen. And the ramen comes with a whole egg, so I want the whole egg…so I will get the ramen. Haha, still delicious.

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Mixed Plate

Sep1

Hey guys, I’m thinking Fridays might become a mixed plate post of sorts. I do have random shots throughout my camera so I’ll use Fridays to share them out. It’s already September! That means autumn is upon us…my favorite seasons are autumn and winter so yay! Hope you folks are doing well.

Here is a random meal from Itchy Butt. When you’re hungry, you know you think of Itchy Butts right? Heard about this place for a long time so we finally tried it. We realized that we should have ordered a whole chicken to share rather than get our own half chickens. My Chinese never kick in! The whole chicken is $22 for 18 pieces and the half chicken is $13 for 9 pieces….DOH!

I think we got the spicy and the garlic chicken. The set comes with corn salad, radish, and fried cheese. The fried cheese is like mozzerlla cheese wrapped in a won ton like wrapper and deep fried. If you feel like deep fried food, give them a try. I wasn’t too impressed, I prefer Vons Chicken.

Kulu Kulu! Did you folks ever try that cool ramen cake they had before? I tried to order it but the girl gave me a cold reaction and said that it was only seasonal. Why a cake with no fresh fruit is seasonal? Beats me. I did get to try their lilikoi cheesecake, it was delicious! Although I do like anything lilikoi.

Fresh Salmon Poke on Garlic Hurricane Fries

8 Half Desserts, have you been to their location on Waialae? You walk in and are greeted by the sweetest folks who ask if you want to sample their flavors. AND BOY DO THEY MEAN SAMPLE. No need go Costco. This is the Costco of ice cream, they let you try every single flavor. By the time I’m done, I no even wanna order but then I have to because they just gave me 20 samples. Delicious ice cream. As I was walking through Shirokiya, I noticed they had their own stall! We wanted a quick snack and noticed they served savory food too.

No prices on their menu but I wanted to try the fries. I get to the register to order…they ring it up and it’s almost $17. I wanted for faint. Hahaha but I was in too deep, they already started making it. Was it worth it? $17? No. Did it taste good? Yes. Was the salmon pretty good quality, yes. I still can’t recommend it due to the cost.

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