Another visit to Murphy’s and whew thank god they are not closing down! There was rumors circulating around that they were but the owner came out and refuted that real quick! I was able to join Chan and his workers for a quick lunch. It was wonderful and we had John as our server and he is just the sweetest server ever. I’ve been to Murphy’s before and have been served by him before and he is consistently the most caring and attentive staff member. It makes a big difference.
Fried Spicy Chicken Wings | $18.00 (full order) served with ranch dressing
One of their specialties – super good. Tastes like homemade ranch dressing too. I forgot to get a picture of the basket of fries we ordered but their fries are super good too. Fried up perfectly.
Irish Dip | $22.50 thin sliced sirloin on baguette with horseradish mayonnaise, served with guinness au jus
Open Face Turkey Sandwich | $21.50 in-house roasted turkey on white or wheat bread, topped with gravy, served with mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and fresh cranberry sauce
I have never tried this but I would love to one day! One look at this dish and you’re like…where’s da sandwich? The bread is hidden underneath all that turkey! One of their most famous dishes.
Gaelic Steak | $29.50 new york steak topped with a green peppercorn sauce, served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables
Chan’s dish! The steak is cooked well and it’s a very nice gravy. The veggies are good and of course the mashed potato is fluffy and buttery, yum!
Fish N’ Chips | $19.50 cod fish and fries served with malt vinegar
When there is fish and chips on the menu, I’m there. Actually this might be sacrilegious but if I could have, I would have subbed the fries for white rice. I’m too Asian. Super good fish and the fries of course I said before is super good!
Another bougie and expensive restaurant review brought to you by Jenny who benefitted from a very generous friend of Chan’s. I will not even post the cost of the meal here but you can easily look up Mugen‘s website and get a sense of it. Very thankful for this dining experience and spending time with friends.
Quick funny story about this night. We didn’t know the parking situation with this restaurant so Chan decided to park at the International Marketplace and walk over. Before we headed to the restaurant, we decided to walk through Target in case we could find something to buy to cover part of the parking validation. This Target location is crazy busy with tourists and the 1st floor is packed full. As we are making our way through, we suddenly hear a loud “excuse me!” behind us coming from an older asian man. Not sure if he was a tourist – either he was local or from the mainland. Anyway, obviously Chan and I stop and he then walks around us. As he is passing us, he loudly screams, GEEZ! Well guess what? I am old now and am no longer patient so I immediately yell back at him, GEEZ WHAT. He doesn’t stop and doesn’t look up, just continues walking away. And get this guys, we weren’t even walking in a tight aisle or anything – it was a huge walkway in Target so he had every chance to get around us without this commotion. He better watch out cause Target’s cameras almost caught this chinese chica “ch-row” hands. Okay onto dinner. 🙂
Pretty centerpiece
Chic Cutlery!
Pinky Promise | $15.00 lychee & guave puree, lemon-lime soda
Mocktail of the night for me. Oh this was so good…so so good.
Amuse Bouche
Nice starter bite for everyone to start off with. I can’t quite remember exactly what it was, like a fish ceviche/poke served atop a brick of crispy rice. It was pretty good!
Bread and Butter
How cute is this bread! It is so teeny tiny but in the best way since there is so much food coming. And look at the butter! It’s a herb butter and strawberry butter in puzzle pieces! Isn’t that so cute. I would take this bread over the Mariposa popovers anytime lol.
Kona Kampachi Starter kupu place nasturtium, green apple ponzu, trout roe
My starter, it was good but nothing special. I got a different starter from Chan so we could taste different ones. I would get his over mine any day!
Scallops chinese black bean & smoked kurobuta ham veloute, trout roe, celery root
Chan’s scallops. Oh these scallops were so meaty and tender and seasoned wonderfully – I loved this dish!
We got this to share for the table. I love beef tartare so I have no complaints here, it was delicious!
Maui Beets pickled mustard seeds, spiced pepitas, sweetland tomme tuille, ko cho jang vinaigrette
Another shared starter, isn’t that tuille so pretty? The beets tasted good, nice huge chunks and sweet. It was good but I prefer a beet salad with goat cheese myself.
Nigiri
The menu was comprised of tasting menu sets, you could get a tasting set with nigiri if you wanted to. I didn’t get that option but here is the sushi it comes with!
Maine Lobster truffle nori risotto, hon shimeji mushroom, parmesan foam
How can you go wrong with lobster? Also, the two choices you had was lobster or shima aji. I think the choice is a no brainer – gotta get the lobster! It was delicious. So so good. One of my favorite dishes of the night.
Not my main dish but I don’t think it was worth the extra price tag. I got to try a piece and when I cut it, it was a bit stringy to cut but the texture was just fine when you chewed it.
Marrunga Marble Lamb brown butter ulu puree, pineapple chimichurri, coconut aji amarillo sauce
I’m going to be honest, I was so stuffed by the time this dish came I couldn’t enjoy fully it. The lamb was good but gamey for those who want to know. Good dish but I was too full to enjoy it.
Koloa Rum Toffee Cake date cake, hawaiian honey yogurt gelato, honey meringue, koloa rum toffee sauce
Isn’t this so pretty? So pretty but not my dessert. If I wasn’t stuffed, I would have tried a taste because it sounds like sticky toffee cake which I love. Well, Chan reported that it wasn’t that good and was nothing like sticky toffee cake so we are good.
Passion Fruit Custard lilikoi gelee, chantilly cream, sable, seasonal fruit
Yet another dessert ruined by me being too full. This was my dessert, I would have enjoyed it if I wasn’t so stuffed. Got a few bites in and it was nice and tart. Seasonal fruit? Sure. There was canned lychee in there so not really fresh seasonal fruit you know?
Chan loves onions so when I saw this recipe for a one-pan caramelized onion pasta – I had to make it!! I don’t know how you folks cook but when I follow someone else’s recipes – I follow it to a T in the beginning. After the first try, I will then know what tweaks I need to do to make it better. Chan’s comment was that there was something a bit off about this dish, when I told him I squeezed an entire lemon into it – he realized that’s what it was. He added a bit of MSG afterwards and liked it. I liked it with and without the MSG – I like that it is a very savory dish and I didn’t miss not having meat in it. It’s a very easy dish to make other than cutting up like 5 onions…the onions and garlic roasts up very nice in the oven for the hour.
Look at all those onions…yes, I cried
Onions with the bulb of garlic and seasonings ready for the oven…
Out of the oven after an hour (stirred it around 30 minutes in)…doesn’t that look great??
One Pan Caramelized Onion Pasta
Ingredients 5 small yellow onions sliced, or 3 large 1 head garlic top sliced off ½ cup sun dried tomatoes chopped 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 1 tbsp paprika 1 tsp dried parsley ½ cup coconut milk 3 cups farfalle pasta cooked 1 handful fresh parsley chopped 1 handful fresh basil chopped 1 lemon juiced
Instructions Preheat the oven to 400F.
To a casserole dish, add the onions, sun dried tomatoes, paprika, salt, pepper and dried parsley. Toss, and then place the whole garlic head in the middle. Drizzle the entire dish with olive oil or the leftover sun dried tomato oil, cover with foil, and then pop in the oven for 1 hour, tossing halfway through. The onions should be caramelized by the time it comes out of the oven.
About 20 minutes before the casserole dish is done, prepare the pasta according to package directions, reserving up to a cup of pasta water.
Remove the garlic from the casserole dish, and when safe to handle, squeeze out the cloves. Add the fresh parsley, basil, lemon juice and coconut milk, along with the cooked pasta and pasta water as needed. Stir and enjoy!
A delayed birthday celebration but no less special. Chan took me to Mariposa for my birthday dinner and I was quite excited! Mariposa is located in Neiman Marcus and from Friday-Sunday, they have a sunset lounge menu and that’s the only menu you can order from. It’s okay, I could have ordered from either menu and have been happy!
Complimentary Popover with Strawberry Butter
I believe they used to only serve the popovers with their lunch menu but I am happy to report they served it to us at dinner. Am I the only one? I don’t see the big deal with these popovers and everytime I get them, they seem to be raw in the middle. Not a huge fan, I wouldn’t mind just some plain bread. Sorry to be a party pooper. The strawberry jam butter is nice but also nothing special.
These fries were it man. So good, fried perfectly and nicely seasoned. The aioli to me is a bit much since the fries are already rich. The ketchup is a good accompaniment to cut into the richness of the cheese, truffle and fried potato! Would order this again.
Braised Pork Belly & Scallops | $26.00 island watercress, lilikoi brown butter, pickled onions
Good, not great. The watercress was awful, super bitter and pretty old looking. Some sad greens. The braised pork was good and the scallops were great! Glad I tried it, probably wouldn’t order it again.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Bruschetta | $24.00 sauteed “super food” mushrooms, brandy green peppercorn sauce, grilled bread, truffle whipped cream
Big disappointment. And you know what? I got myself mixed up, I thought it was going to be the same lion’s head mushroom I got in Korea, I read it wrong. This dish certainly SOUNDS good but it wasn’t. There was something very sour about this dish, not sour as in gone bad but just a sour taste. It wasn’t good. Do not order this.
Lobster Fra Diavolo | $44.00 maine lobster meat, spicy pomodoro sauce, spaghetti pasta
Our main dish! Chan and I split this pasta so this is my serving of it. They offered to split it into two plates and me being the good Chinese girlfriend I am – I asked if there was a charge for that (there isn’t!). This was a delicious dish. I love pasta and love seafood so I knew we couldn’t go wrong. I probably could have downed the entire entree myself, don’t tell Chan.
While we were stuffed with this dinner, I was surprised they didn’t serve a complimentary dessert since we booked it as a birthday reservation. It looks like they used to but we didn’t get anything. It’s okay, the waitress we had was very good so it was a nice dinner.
This is the newest trend in instant noodles from Korea. It’s pasta but not really cause it looked like ramen noodles to me lol. And man I should have known since it said alfredo that due to my previous experience (anything cheesy or creamy in Korean cuisine is sweet), it was sweet. I did not enjoy it. I also added the exact amount of water they told me to add and it came out as like a soup and not like a pasta dish. They tout high protein in these noodles and get other flavors too, give it a try! They sell it at Don Quijote.
Another trend I saw on TikTok – just combining Kraft Mac and Cheese and Shin Ramyun. I didn’t realize I was making this an instant noodle mixed plate today. But yeah, I bought this mac and cheese thing just to try it.
It was definitely better than I expected but you could just make a regular shin ramyun and add sliced cheese on top. I used to put Kraft’s American Cheese on top – that was good and similar to this.
I love banana bread and mochi so why not combine them? I found this recipe on TikTok and was crazy curious about it. It came out good! It tastes like banana bread but not…it has the taste of banana bread but not the texture because well, it uses mochiko! The office enjoyed it and the entire pan was destroyed. 🙂 Recipe credit below!
Banana Bread Mochi
4Â large, very ripe bananas (I used 5)
3Â eggs, room temperature
½ cup salted butter, melted 1 stick
1¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
16 oz Mochiko flour (sweet rice flour) generally 1 box
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
In a large mixing bowl, add your ripe bananas and mash. *Note: I prefer when there are still some clumps in your banana mash because it creates small pockets of concentrated banana flavor and helps your mochi stay moist.
Add the rest of your wet ingredients – the eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and whole milk.
Whisk your wet ingredients until well incorporated and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients – the Mochiko flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Mix until combined.
Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients in batches – add in about 1/3 of your flour mixture to your large mixing bowl, whisk to help incorporate, add the second 1/3 of your flour mixture, whisk to incorporate, and then repeat for the last 1/3 of your flour mixture.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and pour your mochi mixture in.
Place in the oven for about 45 to 50 minutes or until the top of your mochi is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. *Note: Avoid over baking by keeping an eye on your mochi intermittently, and pull the pan from the oven as soon as your mochi turns golden brown.
Notes:
I used 5 bananas because I had 5 bananas haha
I added the mashed bananas at the very end (right before pouring batter into the pan) and folded them in so I could keep the lumps.
I add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in 2-3 batches.
Yes oh yes, I was able to snag a few packets when Don Q had it in stock. Of course it was posted on social media and sold out like crazy. One of my favorite things to eat in Japan is the strawberry and butter sandwiches from the convenience store. It’s made like an uncrustable but it’s not easy to find and not at every combini. This will have to suffice until I find it in Japan again! Pretty good! I would definitely get more if I see it in stock again.
Fin’s Bagel with House-cured Salmon | $17.95 choice of house-cured fish: salmon, ahi, mahi, ono, or smoked fish salad with tomato, onion, cucumber dill, local sprouts, capers and cream cheese (we got roasted garlic cream cheese)
Thank you Chan for treating lol! This was for a meet-up with Kat, it was so nice seeing her and spending some time with her. I know her trips to Hawaii are always busy so I am happy she tries to schedule some time with us! Fin’s Bagels just opened up in downtown a few weeks ago so we wanted to try! We ordered our sandwiches with everything bagel and wow, they are HUGE. I could barely finish half for lunch. So how was it? While they are super generous with the ingredients and cream cheese – I thought it was just okay. I actually found the bagel itself to be too big and too chewy. I also don’t love sprouts so I would get it without the sprouts next time.
Fat Cheeks Hawaii Fish and Fries | $18.50 flaky white fish, battered with our house seasoning and fried crispy on top of fries. served with lemons, tartar sauce, and hot sauce on the side.
I joined in with Chan’s office order one day and finally got to try their version of fish and chips. Oh my gosh, it was SO GOOD. And it was a HUGE portion. 4 big pieces of fish fried to perfection and the fries are good too! Of course I couldn’t finish this, shared with Chan too. I didn’t even realize it came with a container of hot sauce on the side so I didn’t even use it! Ugh! They did find the hot sauce in the bag and thought it belonged to the hot chicken sandwich order but I guess it was for mine! It’s great that they have online ordering and they keep to the time you request. It won’t be ready earlier than that which is a good thing, you’re getting your food fresh!
Notice anything odd about this? I was driving one day and this truck was BEING TOWED through the roads like this. Yup. With all the garbage bags, gardening debris and the garbage can in the back. Nothing flew out at me but then again, we were stuck in traffic. Isn’t that’s crazy?
Trolli Gummi Pop | $8.99
I’m such a silly sucker for trends. I saw this on social media and was intrigued, a gummy worm type textured popsicle? I love gummy worms so I wanted to try this out! They sell this in Safeway and took a while to get here. How was it? Ehhh…it has a weird texture that is a bit flexible for a popsicle but not exactly a gummy worm texture. Wouldn’t recommend it.
I love Kokoro-Tei and have been wanting to try their omelette rice for a very long time. They only have this for a daily special so you have to check their website to know when to order it. First time trying it and I loved it. Love the soft runny omelette and the demi glace sauce over the rice. Great dish! I would definitely order it again! And love their online ordering system – makes everything so easy peasy!
Chan and I met up with some friends at Zippy’s Mililani and it was super nice. Mililani is such a nice neighborhood and the restaurant side was clean and very chill. We were allowed to dine in and stay back to chat without much bother. This is going to be a super short post!
Chili & Cheese Fries | $6.75 golden brown fries topped with our famous chili and shredded cheddar cheese
Appetizer that Chan and I shared. Look, you can never lose with chili, cheese and fries. The cheese came out like this but no worries, it melted as we ate it! Was really good.
Saturday Special Mushroom Chicken
Okay so I didn’t look at the menu closely but in my mind, I expected either chicken katsu or chicken cutlet sliced up and served smothered in mushroom gravy. Heh, this wasn’t it. It was just a hearty chicken and mushroom stew. It tasted fine but I was just a bit disappointed because it wasn’t what I expected. I know better for future!
Zip Min
This is so odd. I am trying to find this item on their website or menus and it’s not available. You can’t order this for take-out? How odd. Anyway, this was Chan’s dish! He said it’s pricey and not really worth it, not as good as he remembers.
The first time I went to Morton’s Steakhouse was YEARS ago…and it was a bad experience. I think we had a special coupon deal for some kind of set meal and the service was just not it. It soured the restaurant for me for years to come. Well, this past week, Chan’s friend from Japan came to visit so we decided to meet up with her here. They are still around so they gotta be good right? Let’s see if they come right on the service this time. They have an elevator that takes you straight up to their restaurant. It’s really odd because while they are on the second floor, there are absolutely no windows. Figure there must be somewhat of a nice view of Ala Moana beach but I guess they didn’t want it.
Orchard Season | $10.00 apple, pineapple, cranberry, lemon, fever-tree ginger ale
You know how I roll, alcohol free! This was delicious, tastes as crisp as it sounds. This name evokes an autumnal feeling – I really liked it!
The State St. | $20.00 woodford reserve bourbon, carpano antica formula vermouth & cherry bitters filtered through jack daniel’s barrel char…wagyu “bacon” candy
Chan’s fancy drink. The description alone is worth the $20 lol. He let me take a sip and boy was it smooth going down. It’s a good drink!
Complimentary Bread
Usually, I like to scarf down bread but I kept my composure this time. I ate only one slice and saved my appetite for the dinner. The bread was nice and warm and soft with very soft butter on the side. Yum!
Where do I find these bombucha size shrimp myself? So meaty and firm (heh) – it was delicious! Perfect cocktail sauce too, really enjoyed this! But I also enjoy the ones from Costco/Sam’s Club lol.
Chef’s Selection of Fresh Oysters | $25.00 half dozen on the 1/2 shell, house-made cocktail sauce, mignonette
I love a good fresh raw oyster – it tastes clean but also like the ocean. This was good! I enjoyed it!
Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes | $15.00 Make it loaded | $4.00
There’s a lot going on with these mashed potatoes, it’s liked a loaded baked potato casserole. It tastes exactly like it sounds and the “bacon” they use are like huge chunks of thick cut bacon!
Creamed Spinach | $15.00
Basic standard cream spinach – classic, nothing to write home about.
Thick Cut Onion Rings | $15.00
Chan has been craving onion rings and here we go! This definitely fulfilled that craving. Good breading on the onion rings and fried just right.
Parmesan & Truffle Matchstick Fries | $14.00
These fries were so good! I’m thinking I should add matchstick to my favorite cuts of fries list.
36 oz. Tomahawk Ribeye | $145.00
Expensive! But no worries, this steak was shared by three people very happily. They almost ate it all! Yum!
This was my entree, figured that since all the steaks were around this price anyway – why not get a good piece of meat and a lobster tail! I shared my lobster with Chan. So for these cuts of steak, I asked for it to be cooked rare. Did they pass the test? No. The steak was basically medium but I just kept it, I hate to send food back – especially steak. It was technically edible but boy was the meat tough to cut and chew. Ruth’s Chris definitely beats them in the quality of the meat and cooking temperature. The lobster was good!
Morton’s Legendary Hot Chocolate Cake | $17.00
So how did they fare with service this time? Incredible. Our waiter was perfect, always checking in on us, making appropriate jokes and serving up some good customer service! He knew that we were meeting up with friends from Japan so he decided to surprise us with this dessert for free! He even gave each of us a scoop of vanilla ice cream with this cake. We weren’t going to order dessert since we were all stuffed but who can resist a free dessert? And I must tell you, this is the best lava cake I have ever had in a restaurant. Super ooey gooey inside but the cake is nice and hot and crispy but soft. Hard to explain, you just gotta try it yourself!
Would I come back? I was disappointed by my steak but maybe I would try a rib-eye next time? Otherwise, it was a good night!
