Have you ever been to Kukui Cafe? They’ve been around since I was a small kid (that’s a long time) though I was never a customer until now. I used to go to Chinese school at Sun Yat Sen school and this restaurant is located right at the edge. I was mainly a customer at a small shop that sold ice cake and sometimes Kent’s Drive In for their fries. There also used to be a little Chinese shop nearby where we would go to buy snacks (remember crushing up the instant ramen packets to eat like chips?), I think the store used to be called Cheung Chau, though they are no longer there. Oh the memories! So how would I characterize Kukui Cafe? I would say they focus on Cantonese or Hong Kong style food. It’s good stuff! Also…probably get MSG so be aware of that. Here’s a few things I got recently.
Singapore Rice Noodles | $12.00
Love these noodles. This one for sure has MSG because I have reacted to it. It’s thin rice noodles seasoned with curry, get shrimp and thin slices of ham in it too. It’s really good.
Beef Brisket Lo Mein | $12.00
Love me some lo mein, sometimes it’s too hot to eat hot soup you know? This is the best of both worlds, I get the beef brisket with the same egg noodles and just enough of the beef brisket sauce to have a great mixed noodle. I really enjoyed this dish too.
Lemon Coke | $4.00
Alright, this was a silly purchase. I mean it’s literally a can of coke with some freshly crushed lemon slices in it. Lemon and Coke is such a great combination though, so refreshing. So anyway, don’t order it, just make it yourself. This was four freaking dollars.
Another thing I love about this place? They make the food real fast. I would say the noodle dish takes 7-10 minutes to make from when you order it. They do phone orders…I park illegally by the river and just dart in to pick it up. I’m sure you can park in the lot with validation but just feels like a lot of hassle to me…haha.
I have been obsessed with Jian Bing for YEARS. Somehow a jian bing video popped up on my YouTube feed once and then I fell into like a vortex of videos. I’ll post some of my favorites at the end of the post. So what is jian bing? I guess the best way I can explain it would be a Chinese street food, a large savory crepe that is used to house a special sauce, won ton cracker, veggies, meat (sometimes), egg, etc. It’s like a Chinese burrito and is very cheap to grab and go with in China for breakfast. Well, it has finally arrived in Hawaii and I was very excited to try it.
Okay, so I picked a very bad time to try it. It was the week a big article was released about it. Bing Bros currently only opens on Saturdays for 4 hours in Salt Lake, at that time, they were still taking pre-orders on their website so I placed one in for three different jian bings to try. I requested for my order to be complete by 11:30 AM and as the time crept closer, it looked like they were going to be slammed. Well, they were. And well, let’s just say I didn’t get my order until about 12:30 PM. Wasn’t terribly happy about that delay but understand since they are new.
Regular Jian Bing | $10.00 egg, romaine lettuce, pickled mustard cabbage, wonton cracker, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, bing sauce, and chili sauce
The Works | $13.00 pork floss, lup cheong, egg, romaine lettuce, pickled mustard cabbage, won ton cracker, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, bing sauce, and chili sauce
Go big or go home right? I sacrificed the look of the jian bing and opened it up for you folks to see. I enjoyed it, how can I not enjoy pork floss and lup cheong? What did I think of the outer crepe? Ehh…perhaps it can’t be helped but the crepe gets very soft and soggy because there is sauce on it. I feel like jian bing needs to be enjoyed fresh off the grill. I also would have liked if the cabbage (there seemed to be regular shredded cabbage too on top of the preserved mustard cabbage ) was at least quickly pickled.
Hawaiian Breakfast | $13.00 spam, two eggs, portuguese sausage, romaine lettuce, pickled mustard cabbage, wonton cracker, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, bing sauce, and chili sauce
Another deluxe model, had to try the Hawaiian one! This was good, couldn’t tell there were two eggs (lol). Very small dices of spam and portuguese sausage. The prices to me is a bit high for what you get. And when I look at the website, their menu is already outdated and I paid $3 bucks more for each deluxe dish. They do have bigger plans for the future so hopefully they will get their orders and execution down, nice for me to try but I am not hankering to go back anytime soon.
Yes, another TikTok recipe. Well, I saw it on TikTok and had to jump onto this person’s Instagram to get the recipe. Ugh…sending me on a wild goose chase. Been wanting to experiment making chili oil kine wontons at home and I found the perfect excuse. When he said this was a Din Tai Fung copycat recipe, I was pretty much sold. I went out and bought the ingredients the very next morning. It was so worth it and while I was planning to wrap a bunch to freeze and enjoy in moderation, somehow we ate it all in one night. That’s a good sign right?
The filling ready to be mixed until gooey and stuffed into wonton wrappers. I barely make wontons from scratch and this convinced me I should do it more often. And do you know, this is the first time I have outright used MSG (ajinomoto)? Seriously. Always had this stigma against MSG due to its bad reputation out there. And it is not just in my mind, when a restaurant uses choke MSG, I am very very thirsty for hours after the meal. Thank god they sell pork all ground up, I had to chop up the shrimp by hand and well, I’m just going to go with I like my shrimp chunky and it’s going in my mouth and not yours okay (not at all defensive right)?
Had a few helpers in the wrapping department, not perfectly shaped nor at all like the recipe asked but it’s okay. I don’t mind eating envelope looking wontons. It doesn’t affect the taste!
Sorry, had to include one last picture of the wontons. Boiled them up and tossed them in the homemade chili vinegar dipping sauce…topped it with fresh cilantro leaves and I was in foodie heaven. I’m already planning for the next batch…wontons are a lot of work to make but boy are they delicious. What is it with pupu sized foods that taste so good yeah?
Spicy Wontons
Ingredients
Wonton Wrappers
50 wonton wrappers (12 oz. package)
Filling
1 lb. ground pork
3/4 lb. shrimp
1/4 cup green onion(white portion)
3 tbsp cilantro stems
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp msg
1/4 cup shaoxing wine
3 cloves grated garlic
1/4 inch grated ginger
1 egg
2 tsp cornstarch
Sauce
1 clove grated garlic
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp black vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp msg
2 to 3 tbsp chili oil
1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
Deshell and roughly mince shrimp. You want the mince to be slightly larger than the ground pork.
Combine all of the filling ingredients and stir making sure to only move in one direction. This helps with myosin development which keeps the meat together.
Take your wonton wrapper and place about a tsp of filling in the center of the wrapper. Use water to bind two ends of the wrapper to create a triangle. Then take two ends of the triangle and bind them together using water.
Boil wontons for 4 to 5 minutes or until they start to float.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix with boiled wontons.
Garnish with the green portion of green onion and cilantro.
I posted a review of Chengdu Taste in 2019 but decided to do an updated post for now! Still a great restaurant and I am sure glad they have adapted to the pandemic. I have ordered take out and dined in during this time and they have a great website (though it seems to be best used on mobile) they are using for both take-out and in-dining, pictures with every menu item! Why all restaurants don’t do this is beyond me. Let’s get to the food!
Flavored Spicy Beef Noodle | $11.99
Tender Chicken with Double Chili Pepper | $16.99
Looks super spicy, is it? I can’t say it is TOO spicy, the chicken is nice and tender like the title says. I mean don’t order this if you can’t handle spicy, just look at the name of the dish! I think it’s delicious.
Special Red Tofu with Intestines and Beef Tripe | $19.99
Ooooh this is a newer dish I tried recently and I loved it. I love intestines and it’s just swimming in hot chili oil goodness. Can you see some other things? Pig’s blood…SPAM…I love this kine dish.
Toothpick Lamb with Cumin | $18.99
One of my favorites, delicious! And yes, there is a toothpick on every single piece of lamb. Do I really need the toothpicks in this dish? No, I would order it to eat without the toothpicks.
Wonton with Red Chili Sauce | $10.99
They have two versions, this one and one with the szechuan numbing pepper sauce. I’ve tried both and I rather keep sensation in my mouth so I order this one.
The next series of photos are how they serve their dishes for take-out! Happy to say their portions remain the same.
Kung Pao Chicken | $15.99
Twice Cooked Pork | $15.99
Spicy Crawfish | $19.99
Toothpick Lamb with Cumin | $18.99
Special Shrimp with Fries | $21.99
Don’t even ask. Let’s just say we have kids in the dining group, hence this order. It was okay but…shrimp and french fries? Hahaha
Chengdu Style Fried Rice | $10.99
I said this in my previous post, this dish is a must order each time I go. I still can’t seem to get a consistent order…sometimes it’s super good and sometimes it’s just alright. What is it?? Anyway, it’s never been bad so that’s why you can order it. Give this place a try!
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
Fry up the spam until crispy
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!
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!
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!
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.
This post is almost worthless, as I write this post, they have permanently closed their doors. I actually came on Friday night for a family dinner not knowing they were closing this weekend, boy was that a wrong decision. My posts always include my truthful rambling, oh boy, get ready for this one.
I arrived at Chinese Cultural Plaza parking lot and was about to pull a ticket but was told by the attendant, “$3.” A bit flustered, I pull out my wallet and pay and she gives me a ticket. She tells me to keep it on the dash and that it is good until 11 pm. I learned later that this is what they do after 5pm. I was meeting my family at the Spicy Pavilion so I head in first and ask for a table. There are a few empty tables but I am informed by the waitress that they are very busy that night because they are closing that weekend so their reservations are full. I am upset but I don’t make a fuss and leave the restaurant. I call my family and ask what they want to do, they finally decide on Hunan Cuisine across the street. My Chinese heart is relieved, I can walk there and take advantage of the parking fee I paid.
So I walk to Hunan, very slow and I get seated right away. Very nice gentleman, he brings out the plates/silverware and a pot of hot tea. I then get a phone call from my family and GUESS WHAT. They said they got to Spicy Pavilion and GOT A TABLE. WHAT THE WHAT. I was very upset at this point because they just turned me away and I am already seated at a new restaurant. They tell me to come over so I have to eat crow and tell the nice man (who is now in the kitchen cooking – very small crew) that I will be leaving and apologize. He is very nice and tells me it’s okay. Oh man, that alone deserves a future visit. I felt awful.
Anyway, I get back to Spicy Pavilion and maybe swung open their door a bit hard (I was mad okay?). I sat down and behaved myself, don’t worry. It looks like our family (six people) got seated at a table for 4, does it take a Chinese to Chinese interaction to score this? Whatever, I got to try them before they closed so I was glad for that at least. Was it worth all the hassle? Let’s take a look…
Deep Fried Potato Salad (Mr. Wong Special) thin strings of potato deep fried and tossed with spices and cilantro
A great starter! Perfectly fried and light crunch – loved the spices and the fresh cilantro tossed in! So good.
Griddle Cooked Shrimp shrimp, onions, bell peppers, and celery
Another great dish, I loved the shrimp. This was cute…this little wok was being warmed with a tea light…great dish! Spicy.
Stir Fried Garlic Green Bean
Great plate of beans. The beans were nice and fresh, not at all old (I’ve had too many of that), perfectly seasoned and cooked.
Fish with Spicy Pickled Vegetables spicy and sour soup based; longli fish filet with pickled cabbage and pickled chilis
Okay, it says spicy and sour soup but this was probably the mildest dish we had. How was it? Eh…sour soups aren’t my jam. It was edible but probably my least favorite dish of the night.
Diced Chicken with Chili Peppers fried diced chicken, dry red chili peppers, onions, bell peppers, and scallions
Meh. This dish was just okay. Nothing special about it, I wouldn’t order it again.
Beef in Hot Chili Oil spicy soup based; sliced beef with bean sprouts and cucumbers drizzled over hot oil
Okay, we ordered too much food. And why did we get basically the same dish but with beef this time? We were kind of full by now so I didn’t eat this one too much. I have the leftovers so let’s see how I feel about it this week, haha.
Pan Fried Jiangxi Noodle jiangxi rice noodle pan fried with ground pork and vegetables
I am a carb queen and was excited to try this noodle. It was delicious! I loved the seasoning (probably MSG, no judgements). I wish it wasn’t brought out so late in the meal, I would have eaten more of it.
Garlic Fried Rice
Such a simple dish, yet such a good dish. This was brought out last (why???) and I knew it would be good. Yes, it was the end of the meal but we devoured it. I would have ordered a take out of it if I wasn’t so mad and also dying of spice. Haha, well we found out they were closing because the father is the cook and his hands/arms hurt from all the cooking. Totally understandable. It was a good restaurant so I do hope they find a new cook one day and reopen. I will be sure to make a reservation next time or not go during their closing weekend.
Just a random post with various eats that won’t make a whole post on it’s own. First off, Whole Foods Market, when Jalna shared about the 2/$5 deal! Thanks so much! Now I check my amazon app all the to check the deals. The pizza was pretty good, the garlic and spinach one was mine. Plenty garlic so I liked it a lot!
Ninja Crispy Chicken Bento | $12.49
Chi Chop is located in the Ala Moana Food Court, not great. The fried chicken is seasoned with quite a bit of five spice powder if that’s your thing. I also think it was quite pricey for $13!
Two Combo Plate (Spicy BBQ Chicken & Fish Jun) | $16.50
Korean Hibiscus BBQ! Oh boy, what a deal. A cute and sweet couple run this shop and the portions are generous! The taste was great and do you see? Two pieces of fried mandoo too! I do have to say, MSG galore, I was thirsty all night!
If you’re an old fut like me, you will remember a Banana Leaf Italian Restaurant in Market City Shopping Center. I was kind of sad when they closed but soon realized the same owners opened up Anytime Cafe. Anytime Cafe has some pasta dishes still but I think their menu most resembles a Hong Kong Cafe which I enjoy a lot! I wouldn’t mind a few more Hong Kong favorites on the menu but I will take what I can! So how was the food?
Iced Tea with Lemon | $4.95
My favorite type of iced tea, Hong Kong style. This was great! And simple syrup is served on the side so you can sweeten your drink to your preference.
Beef Brisket & Tendon | $14.95
Beef Brisket noodles are a Chinese comfort food. This wasn’t my dish but I got to try a bit and they have the seasoning down. I usually eat this dish with a rice noodle but they serve it here with the thin egg/shrimp noodles. I like that type of noodle best so winners on that.
Only in Hawaii will you find an extra cost for the thigh meat!! $2! Did I pay for that? Yes. I am Chinese and I want the juicy dark meat, of course. No shame in my game.
Soup Broth – It has a nice dried shrimp flavor, went great with the set!
The rice is probably my favorite part of the dish. It may look plain here but it is actually cooked with broth and garlic and maybe other seasonings. If they cook it the way I’ve seen on videos, there may be chicken fat involved too. Mmm…
Dipping Sauces! The traditional ginger green onion sauce and oh! A surprise dipping sauce for me! I don’t quite know what it is…a sort of vinegar with chili and garlic sauce? My favorite! My cousin informed me it tastes the same as the sauce they serve with pig trotters in Chinese restaurants and she is right! I need to learn how to make this sauce.
The chicken. How was it? Ehh…a bit of a letdown answer huh? There’s something about the way this chicken was prepared. I wanna say they prepared it like a drunken chicken and I don’t like that. I want Hainan Chicken in it’s purest form, slowly poached in its own broth. I don’t think I would order this dish again but there is definitely many other dishes I would try!
Who doesn’t enjoy beef brisket noodle? If you answered no, you may want to skip this read. I think Lam’s Kitchen serves up some of the best on the island. If you are willing to make the trek out to Chinatown, find your own parking, and wait out the line, give them a try!
Cheong Fun (Look Fun Roll) | $5.50
This meal is major carbo loaded. We couldn’t help ourselves, they serve up such great look fun. The menu is a bit confusing, I just wanted a small portion of it so I tried to get the side order of it which costs $1.00 or $1.50, I honestly don’t now what the difference is. The waitress turned over my menu and pointed at this one for $5.50 so I just said…okay. I guess this is the one you have to get for dine in? I don’t know. It’s fine. It’s delicious. The sauces are on the table, spread some of that peanut sauce and hoisin sauce on top and you are golden. Delish!
Beef Flank & Tendon Look Fun | $8.99
My dining companion does not like tendon so she asked for beef flank only. Well, I’m used to this now but the wait staff always gives pause when she orders it like this. I guess for us Chinese, tendon is like gold! Why say no? Hahaha but everyone has their own tastes right?
Beef Chow Fun (Dry) | $8.99
Why oh why do I get the beef chow fun here? Yes, it’s just such a basic dish but I really enjoy the way they make it. Hard to explain but they have a way of seasoning it…is it the char of the wok they use? It’s a taste I remember from really good chow fun I had back in China so I just eat this right up. Yes, I left the plate CLEAN. Great stuff.