Mixed Plate Friday

Jun6

Kamamalu Market Spam Musubi

This is my lesson in…just because it’s on social media doesn’t mean it’s good. This may be a controversial opinion since the ratings on Yelp are so high for this place and their spam musubi but it was not good. It’s just plain spam musubi. The spam I think is full sodium so no thanks already and there is no seasoning to the spam…so what am I missing here? I got the regular and the spam and egg one – both were just whatever. I mean, I make better musubi at home (sorry). Would not recommend.

Toshi’s Delicatessen & Restaurant | $18.70

I’ve expressed my love for Toshi’s in the past and will continue to do so. They have great food and I love that’s it run by hardworking folks but I definitely could not afford to eat here regularly. I’ll just continue to do my random check-ins when I have time and money lol.

This plate includes 2x chow fun, 1x veggie stirfy, 1 shoyu chicken thigh, 1 hot dog (lol). This was almost $20 – whew. But as always, I love the old school wrapping and we just don’t have shops like this anymore. Gotta keep them in business!!

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One Plus One Drive Inn – Moilili, HI

Jun4

One Plus One Drive Inn is a small eatery tucked away by Longs Moilili – not in the most savory area but they are consistent and serve up good food for a good price. We recently ordered a party pack there for an office lunch. Here is their Party Pack C which costs $398 (feeds 28-32).

Medium Pan House Noodle

Good, not great. A bit bland, I definitely needed my hot sauce.

Medium Pan Mochiko Chicken

Good!

Medium Pan BBQ Chicken

Always good, and don’t all drive inn’s have the same recipe for this lol

Medium Pan Teriyaki Steak

Not my thing but I’m sure this was good

40 pieces Fried Shrimp

Really good. The shrimp is cut flat and breaded so nicely. It was light and crispy. They give you a big tub of tartar sauce for this.

Small Pan Macaroni Salad

Basic

Medium Pan Oriental Chicken Salad

This salad looks great but my complaint is that it’s stuffed into this little pan. Wish they would give you this portion but just place it in a bigger pan – it was very very hard for folks to eat from this since the lettuce is buried below. Good otherwise!

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Kevin’s Kitchen – Honolulu, HI

Jun2

Kevin’s Kitchen is the newest Chinese restaurant in town and it’s very popular! They are in the same lot as Times Supermarket on Beretania – right next to Epi-Ya Boulangerie & Patisserie. They specialize in Cantonese/Hong Kong food and are known for their roast meats. Roast Duck? I’m there. There are some really high reviews on Yelp so I had to come! They are a sit-down Chinese restaurant but also offer take-out plates in the back of the restaurant. Just walk into the restaurant and let the staff know that you are there for take-out and they will direct you towards to end where there is a cashier and the roast meat chopping station. They have some great lunch bento specials for a great price – that’s what I’m here for!

First things first, the staff are all pretty calm and nice right now. Even though the restaurant is crazy busy – I didn’t sense any anger, hear any bad mouthing in Chinese, etc. It was a bit chaotic but they didn’t seem frazzled. The restaurant is full of people but a good mix of Chinese people and local folks. The lunch specials are only until 2PM and though their online menu says there is a mini and large size – their menu on display does not show any sizes so it’s basically all the large prices. What am I doing? Let’s get to the food!

One Choice Bento (Roast Duck) | $13.00

$13 bucks for all this roast duck is a freaking commodity. Someone said this was the juiciest and tastiest roast duck they’ve had and well, they’re not wrong. This was really good roast duck. I appreciate the choy sum, abundance of rice with the succulent roast duck. It tastes as good as it looks. Highly recommend!

Char Siu / Roast Pork Bento (Large) | $13.00

I had to sample each roast meat to give a full opinion. I really really enjoy the char siu, the meat was nice and tender that was sweet but not too sweet. I would recommend this. Roast pork is more of Chan’s thing and he mentioned that it was good but not as good as Mei Mei since the skin isn’t as crispy. Caveat is that we did have this not fresh – though I did air-fry the pork to eat. You be the judge!

Roast Duck / Shoyu Chicken Bento (Large) | $15.00

All roast meat plates that come with duck is 2 dollars more, makes total sense to me and I don’t mind it. The shoyu chicken was good, nothing mind blowing but it’s what you expect from Chinese shoyu chicken! Nice anise shoyu flavor, tender pieces of chicken.

If I came back, I would get the char siu and roast duck combo for sure, winnahs!!!

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Mixed Plate Friday

May23

No visit to Vegas is complete without a visit to Ikea (and Trader Joe’s)!

Swedish Meatballs (ftw!)

Breakfast Plate with Pancakes
served with eggs, potatoes and bacon and swedish pancakes and lingonberry jam

Did you know they had breakfast plates? I didn’t! Their pancakes are more like crepes. The jam is also located at the ordering counter and they don’t give it to you automatically so you gotta ask! This was Chan’s breakfast, he liked it fine.

Here’s a picture of a random Chinese take-out I did while playing nurse at the hotel. Thank god we got a hotel that came with a full kitchen and washer and dryer. The kitchen came in very handy. The food was alright, do you see the top right? That’s honey walnut shrimp. It’s like sitting in a mayo soup, it was quite odd. The food was not bad, not great either.

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Shang Artisan Noodle – Las Vegas, NV

May21

Shang Artisan Noodle is one of the restaurants we gotta go to every time we’re in Vegas. The location in the Durango Casino and Resort is the easiest for us since it’s slower and we can gamble afterwards. Durango is probably my favorite casino right now, it’s nice and bright and doesn’t feel too smokey.

Spicy Wonton | $11.85
pork wontons with spicy soy sauce, green onion

Always a great dish. They usually take longer to make this than your noodles, just as a warning.

Shang Beef Noodles (Spicy) | $17.82
beef & chicken broth (brown), braised beef brisket, veggies, green onion

Shang Beef Noodles (Mild) | $17.82

Okay, so I wanted to make big body and order spicy like Chan and started regretting when I was ordering lol. The waitress was very nice and said she can give me the spicy sauce on the side so I can add as much as I want. That’s very nice of her!

LOOK AT THAT. I don’t know if you can tell how big and deep this bowl was but this was like quarter cup of straight chili oil. That’s crazy. I did not use that all lol. I think I will stick to mild next time.

NOODLE PULL!

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Sea Salt Live Sashimi – Las Vegas, NV

May19

Chan found Sea Salt Live Sashimi and we were all excited to try it out! Although, Chan does think this meal is what did him in. Poor thing…there was one item that neither me or his friend ate so he assumed it was that. I wonder if Chan would still go back to this restaurant, you know…I think he would! They were kind of slow the night we went, I hope they get more business so they stay open!

Assorted Banchan

Salad and Dipping Sauce (samjang?)

This salad was like…dressed with soup. It spicy and sweet dressing but there was SO much of it. Salad soup lol.

Cheese Corn

Steamed Egg

Veggie Pancake

Gosh, I gotta ask Chan what this was again. Maybe like a pumpkin soup? Super thick and starchy – super sweet. Never had this served to me mid-meal before.

LA Kalbi

So, I didn’t know how this restaurant worked but since we only got sashimi – I wanted a side dish of something meaty so we got this LA Kalbi, Was good, basic. If I knew what else the meal came with, I would have never ordered this!!

Sashimi Combo (Halibut and Assorted Sashimi)

Raw Abalone

Look at how fancy this is! This was definitely a show. It took quite a while for them to serve up both dishes but I think Chan told me they kill the live seafood and then prepare it. I guess the name of the restaurant makes sense, Live Sashimi. Haha, delicious! Both were stellar, super fresh seafood and great quality.

Rice with Assorted Tobikko

So yeah, these dishes came out way after we were almost done with our sashimi. I was super confused.

Assorted Tempura

We were dying from being so full already…

Soft Tofu Stew

This was the last dish! Man, I kind of wish this was served with the food in the beginning. I really didn’t know what was coming out so this was all crazy. So. Much. Food.

Nurungi (Scorched Rice)

I’m not a fan of this particular dish and honestly I was so full that I didn’t even touch it. Great meal, enjoyed that we had our own booth so we had some privacy. If you come here, be prepared to EAT.

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Mixed Plate Friday – Trader Joe’s Edition

May16

Peanut Udon Noodle Salad

Meh. Just okay, not great.

Lemon Basil Pasta Salad

Not good.

Truffle Mousse Pate

Yes. A million times yes. This one is made with chicken. Since Chan was not feeling well, I ate this entire thing over the course of the trip. Yeah. I did. Ate it with some golden round crackers (think Ritz Crackers). No regrets here. Chan told me probably get this kine in Hawaii but I haven’t tried it locally yet. IT WAS GOOD AND A GOOD PRICE AND I LOVED IT.

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Hell’s Kitchen – Las Vegas, NV

May14

From the last trip, no trip to Vegas is complete for us without a visit to Hell’s Kitchen. Previous post here. Yup, you gotta pay expensive parking to be on the Strip but the food is well worth it. Chan and I both ordered the prix fixe menu – I think next time we should order one prix fixe and just one entree cause it’s too much food!

Hell’s Red Infusion (Mocktail) | $12.95
apple, strawberry, rhubarb puree, simple syrup, fever-tree ginger beer

Mocktails are my treat! Got this last time and this time did not disappoint, delicious!

Steak Tartare | $26.95
piedmontese beef dijon mustard aioli, black truffle caviar, sous vide egg yolk

Another repeat dish. Not the biggest fan of these big triangle crackers haha but I guess it’s just a vehicle to get the beef to your mouth! I like raw beef, I know it’s not everyone’s thing.

Pan Seared Scallops
corn, prosciutto di parma, maitake mushrooms, citrus beurre blanc

I know it says prosciutto but it really just tastes like bacon bits on top of the scallops and I’m saying that in the best way possible. Super crunchy salty bits that off-set the soft and sweet meat of the scallops. Delicious!

Beef Wellington add Foie Gras ($22.95)
potato puree, glazed root vegetables, red wine demi-glace

We went a little bougie with the first sit-down meal and both added foie gras to our dish. Oh boy, was that rich and delicious. As you can see the beef wellington is perfectly cooked as usual. Winners dish but definitely share-able.

Sticky Toffee Pudding
speculoos ice cream

This is probably the star of the show every time and I’m not usually a big dessert person but this beautiful toffee cake…hot and ready for that scoop of speculoos ice cream to melt right into it. Man, Chan and I love this dessert but once again – for future, we should just share it. It’s a lot of food! So the scallops, beef wellington and dessert is part of the lunch prix fixe menu which is $105.95 a person. It’s pricey but a good deal if you were planning to get these dishes anyway. Yummy! Great start!

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In-N-Out – Las Vegas, NV

May12

Been back from Vegas for about a week, it was nice to take a breather. I pre-scheduled 3 weeks worth of blogs and it worked out very nicely. I was super looking forward to this trip, not just for the eating and gambling – but just to get away. I’ve been working non-stop with no vacation since early November. I know that sounds like a spoiled statement but especially after my dad’s health scare, I was just deflated.

Unfortunately, poor Chan came down with food poisoning on this trip. I felt so bad for him! That’s awful enough to go through but for him to go through it during travel…awful. No worries, I played nurse and even drove out on my own in Vegas to get nourishment for us. Gotta love navigation on phones – and thankfully the places I had to go didn’t require jumping onto a freeway lol. I enjoy driving but I guess I feel more comfortable with someone if I’m driving around some place unfamiliar. Vegas is pretty good to drive around – anywhere is better than Hawaii to drive around.

Anyway! The night of our arrival, of course gotta go In-N-Out! Just a short post today.

Double-Double!

Animal Style Fries

Long John Silver’s

LOL – yup we went to Long John Silver’s. I had a hankering for some fried seafood. Namely fried fish and shrimp. This didn’t disappoint! I enjoyed it a lot! Yummy…! Too bad we don’t have this here anymore.

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Mixed Plate Friday

May9

Straub Benioff | Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi

Shucks, I forgot the price! I got this plate during my Dad’s stay and it was a pretty good deal! I think like $14? They give you two big pieces of mahi and you get to choose two sides. The fish had a mayo sauce drizzled on top which helped to combat any dryness. The cafeteria isn’t too bad! Too bad they don’t post menus online.

Kotetsu Chaya Chicken Karaage Plate | $15.50

My brother felt like chicken karaage (random) so one of their dinners consisted of chicken karaage from Kotetsu Chaya, I never tried them myself but I have heard good things. A small Japanese shop run by a sweet couple. I would call in an order early if you can, if not, you gotta wait like 20-30 minutes. Also, they don’t seem to understand the concept of all rice because I tried to get one plate like that for the bro who doesn’t eat mac salad and all three plates were rice and mac salad. Also, they give super manani amount of mac salad! It was kind of wild. They ate it but I don’t think they consider chicken karaage a main meal you know? I also see it as more of an appetizer.

Kotetsu Chaya Garlic French Fries | $6.00

Like I am pretty sure they just gave them a small container of garlic powder to shake into the fries. LOL, so don’t expect nice garlic butter on their garlic fries okay?

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