One Plus One Drive Inn – Moilili, HI

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!

Kevin’s Kitchen – Honolulu, HI

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!!!

Mixed Plate Friday

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.

Shang Artisan Noodle – Las Vegas, NV

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!

Recipe: Healthy Rotisserie Chicken Cabbage Salad

I saw this recipe on TikTok and it didn’t really have like a full blog recipe for it so I won’t be able to post any credit links. I really wanted to try it because it seemed easy enough and I love using rotisserie chicken breast in salads!

Recipes always sound easier than they are. A lot of chopping and prep work goes into this dish. Chan and I enjoyed it! Nice low carb option for you that is healthy and easy to make!

Rotisserie Chicken Cabbage Salad

Salad Ingredients:

  • 2 C shredded chicken breast (Sam’s or Costco Rotisserie Chicken Breast, all of it)
  • 1 large cabbaged, shredded
  • 2 medium carrots, julienned
  • 5 mini cucumbers, sliced thick matchsticks
  • 1 medium white onion, sliced
  • Pumpkin seeds (or any nuts you prefer), optional topping

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 6 T oyster sauce
  • 4 T soy sauce
  • 1 large lemon, juiced
  • 2 T honey
  • 6-8 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1-2 t grated/minced ginger
  • 2 T sesame oil
  • 4 stalks green onions, sliced

Instructions

  1. Combine dressing ingredients, okay to make ahead. Best overnight!
  2. Combine all salad ingredients except the chicken into a big bowl, top with chicken breast and pour salad dressing over the ingredients (this way the chicken breast soaks up all the dressing goodness first!). Top with nuts if you prefer and serve!

Mixed Plate Friday

OG sign from Kaimuki

Anyone remember this sign? This picture must be like 2 decades old but I was always so amused by this sign. Pidgen but straight and to the point. Just no do em k?

Chinese Chicken Wing Seasoning

Don’t even ask me where I bought this. I forget already but I always saw this on random videos online and it always made the chicken wings look so delicious so I decided to try it. Well all the instructions are in Chinese and Google Translate wasn’t very helpful so I really just improvised. I think I added too much water to the marinade but I let it sit overnight and then baked it in the oven. The taste wasn’t bad! My brother loved it so it’s big kid approved. Would I make it again? Sure! Wish they had English directions haha.

Recipe: Chinese Stuffed Peppers

Another adventure in Chinese cooking with Jenny! Hmm, I must have been too tired to keep track of where I got this recipe. But honestly, I kind of just experimented with different recipes all in one. I was first inspired by Jalna’s post but then got inspired to do the Chinese version (add black beans lol). It came out pretty good for my first try! I would definitely make this again!

Used the bag of mini sweet bell peppers from Sam’s Club, the whole bag.

Ground pork and shrimp mixture. Wondered if I should have maybe minced the shrimp less, made the pieces chunkier.

What a pain in the butt to stuff all these peppers, was worth it though.

Sautéing on both sides…

Chinese Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

You’ll need:

  • 8 large shrimp, shelled, deveined and minced
  • 1 lb. ground pork
  • 10 water chestnuts, minced
  • 4 scallions (half of the greens for the sauce, rest of greens and whites for the stuffing)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 4 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
  • Fresh ground white pepper
  • Bag of mini sweet bell peppers (From Sam’s Club)
  • 1 tablespoon oil (for sauté)

For the sauce:

  • For sauté of sauce:
    • 2 T oil 
    • 6 clove garlic (minced)
    • 3 tablespoon whole fermented Black Beans, washed and smashed
    • 2 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
  • Okay to mix ahead of time:
    • 2 cup chicken stock
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon sugar
    • 2 teaspoon soy sauce
    • 2 teaspoon oyster sauce
    • 2 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed into a slurry with 1 tablespoon water)

Instructions

  1. Use a cleaver or knife to finely mince the shrimp into a very fine paste. This process entails chopping and folding the shrimp paste over and onto itself, and continuing to chop. Transfer the shrimp paste to a bowl.
  2. Chop the scallions. Set aside half of the green portion for the sauce. Add the rest of the chopped scallion to the shrimp, along with 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, and white pepper to taste. Use a fork to beat/whip the shrimp until it is smooth and all the ingredients are well-combined.
  3. Pop the stems off the bell peppers and follow the lines of each pepper to cut into 3-5 segments. Remove the seeds. If using long hot green peppers, just cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
  4. Stuff each pepper segment with the shrimp mixture until the filling is even with the edges of the peppers. You can also trim the ends of the peppers to ensure they are flush and at the same level of the filling. This will make the peppers easier to cook.
  5. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat and place the peppers in the oil, stuffing side down. Cook until they are browned, about 2 minutes. Turn the peppers over to sear the bottoms for another 2 minutes, turning the heat down if they start to get too dark. If using the long hot green peppers or another variety of thin-fleshed pepper, simply transfer them to the serving plate.
  6. If using bell peppers, which have thicker flesh and take longer to cook, add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover, and steam for another 2 minutes, or until the peppers are just tender. Set aside on a serving plate.
  7. It’s time to make the sauce, which only takes a couple minutes. Heat the wok over medium heat and add the oil, garlic and fermented black beans. Stir-fry for a few seconds and add the shaoxing wine. When the wine is bubbly, add the rest of the sauce ingredients (except the cornstarch slurry) and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add the cornstarch slurry gradually until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Stir in the reserved scallions and spoon the sauce over the peppers to serve.

Note to self:

  • Shrimp was not needed and did not seem to add any taste different or texture difference
  • I was a bit iffy about the the 6 minute cook time, it’s a pretty thick pork stuffing. But it worked out well for me because I was not eating it fresh anyway, it would be reheated for meals later. It was perfectly cooked when I reheated and the peppers retained their structure, did not get too mushy.

Recipe Inspiration/Credit: The Woks of Life

Recipe: Steamed Garlic Shrimp on Vermicelli

Another Chinese dish from my childhood, my family used to make this all the time over bean thread noodles. We also played around with chow fun noodles which I like a lot so I decided to go for it! No real recipes online that have it with chow fun so I had to improvise. My friend is constantly telling me to cook from my roots so I do try to. Chan and I both enjoyed it very much! Very time consuming because I had to prep the shrimp quite a bit but it was well worth it in the end.

I’m going to post the recipe below, this is actually from Made with Lau. I love their channel on YouTube because the dad cooks a lot of recipes that are akin to the ones I grew up eating.

The dish right before steaming!!

Steamed Garlic Shrimp on Vermicelli or Chow Fun

  • Main Ingredients
    • 12 oz head-on shrimp (31/40 size) or
      2 lb Jumbo Head-on White Shrimp (5/9 size) – came out to 12 shrimp
  • Vermicelli/Noodle Ingredients
    • 3 oz mung bean vermicelli (2 bundles of LungKuw) or
      4 packages of Sun Noodle brand Chow Fun (6 ounces)
    • 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
    • 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon sugar
    • 2 glass pie plates
  • Garlic Paste Ingredients
    • 1 garlic bulb, smashed and coarsely minced
    • 6 green onions, whites and greens chopped and separated
    • 1.5 inch ginger, minced
    • 3 tablespoon neutral oil
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 2 teaspoon sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
    • 2 teaspoon Oyster Sauce
    • 2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
    • 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
    • 2 teaspoon cornstarch

Step 1: Prep vermicelli

First, soften the mung bean vermicelli (3 oz) by soaking the bundles in warm for 10 minutes.

Use a pair of kitchen shears to cut the vermicelli into shorter pieces. Drain from the water, using your fingers to move the vermicelli around to remove any excess water.

Place the vermicelli on a plate/bowl. Mix the seasoning in well until it’s evenly light brown.

Skip this step if using Sun Noodle Chow Fun noodles, no need to prep the fresh noodles.

Step 2: Prep garlic paste

Smash and peel the garlic. Trim off the hard ends of garlic. Smash the cloves using the back of a cleaver or chef’s knife. Chop the garlic finely into a paste, using different angles to produce even smaller pieces. Set aside in a small bowl.

Slice the green onion into fine pieces. Add the whites to the same bowl as the garlic. 

Set the green parts aside for garnish.

Peel the ginger and cut into thin slices. Cut into strips, then rotate 90 degrees and mince into a paste. Add to the bowl.

Step 3: Heat and season garlic paste

Heat a wok on high. Add the oil and cook for 30 to 40 seconds until it’s smoking.

Pour the oil into the bowl of garlic, green onion whites and ginger.

Season with the rest of the garlic paste ingredients, mix well. 

Step 4: Prep shrimp

Use kitchen shears to cut off the part of the head right behind the eyes. Next, trim off the legs and cut diagonally across the tail (This last step is optional, but you get bonus presentation points if you do it!).

Place the shrimp flat on a cutting board and use a small paring knife to slice through the shell halfway into the interior to make space for the garlic paste. Devein the shrimp. 

Step 5: Stuff shrimp

Add ½  to 1 teaspoon of garlic paste to the back of each shrimp.

(Chef’s Tip: Don’t overstuff the shrimp or else the garlic flavor will overwhelm the delicate sweetness of the shrimp.)

Set on top of the vermicelli in a circular pattern. Dollop any remaining garlic paste across any empty areas in the vermicelli.

Step 6: Steam shrimp

Place a steamer rack inside a wok or pot. Pour in hot water until it just reaches the bottom of the rack. Cover and bring the water to a rolling boil.

Carefully put the dish on the steaming rack, cover, and steam with the heat on high for 6 to 7 minutes, until shrimp meat is firm and opaque and the shell turns red. (This recipe yielded enough to make two glass pie pans worth for me)

Uncover and turn off heat. Garnish with the remaining sliced green onions.

Recipe Credit: Made with Lau

Mixed Plate Friday

Are you a jook with green onions and cilantro on the side type of person? Or are you a green onions and cilantro with a side of jook person?

I am obviously the latter. Add to that a splash of sesame oil, white pepper and preserved duck eggs and I’ll be in heaven. Thanks!

Oldie but goodie and also timely. Chan and I got to attend a UH Men’s Volleyball Fundraiser Dinner a few months ago thanks to Chan’s friend and it was great seeing the team and coach – nice to see them in aloha shirts too. It was a nice night and it’s so great to see them doing so well this season!

Aloha Manapua – Manoa, HI

I am fully aware that this post will be confusing. I title it Aloha Manapua (get online ordering!) but then the store front says Island Manapua. Please bear with me. It looks like Island Manapua was bought out by Honolulu Kitchen who is owned by Regal Foods (right?) and they brand themselves Aloha Manapua (per their website and sticker on the box) but still keep Island Manapua on their storefront (maybe they haven’t had time to change it yet).

In any case, my coworker brought in manapua from here to work twice and I liked it so I wanted to try some of the other food. In the end, I still think U-Choice In is the best baked manapua on island right now. I still have to re-try Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery’s version before I can make the ultimate decision. So much food so little time.

Ginger Fried Chicken w/White Rice | $14.95

Not my plate, but my friend enjoyed it! Nice crispy chicken with the cold ginger chicken sauce. How do you go wrong with that though? Not bad price for this big portion!

Roast Duck & Ginger Chicken w/White Rice Plate | $16.95

This was my plate and ehhh, it was just alright. The chicken is cold (which is expected) but the duck is also cold and I asked the very nice gentleman helping us if there is sauce for the roast duck. He apologized and said there isn’t but he could get me hoisin sauce if I wanted which I declined. I wanted to try the dish as is, how they serve it. I know the side sauce is usually just the drippings of the roast duck but I think it makes a difference. I definitely missed the sauce. The chicken was good, and I liked that I got all dark meat. Not bad but not great, but a good option to have in Manoa.

Pork Hash | $1.85 per piece
Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow) | $1.85 per piece

Chan found a short hair stuck to one of the pork hash…haha? Groce. But its okay, we powered through The pork hash is your typical local style (meaning not dim sum style) pork hash. Good, Chan liked it! The har gow is a pass for us, mushy texture. Nothing great.

Half Moon | $1.85 per piece

This is one of my favorite dim sums of all time. I grew up eating the homemade version of it and this is very similar. I heard him telling another customer it’s vegetarian, main filling is wood ear mushroom and shiitake. I enjoyed this a lot and the skin is nice and soft. I would get this again!

Baked Char Siu Manapua | $3.00 per piece

Prices of manapua is no joke guys. This box of dim sum and my roast duck/chicken plate was $61. I had to do a double take! The char siu manapua is good, nice amount of filling inside. The bread is soft but it’s mushy although we did eat it after refrigeration. I did try it fresh before but it’s not as good at U-Choice. They actually make the manapua and dim sum out in the west side and bring it to the store to sell.

Here’s a legend of the different types of manapua they have. I did not see all these flavors at Aloha Manapua at all. I would say go check them out in person to see what they have, I don’t know if I would trust the inventory control in-person versus their online ordering system.

All in all, I think it’s a nice option to have in Manoa but it’s not the best Chinese food I’ve had.