Tag Archive | Japanese Food

Totoya – Kaimuki, HI

Dec29

Totoya opened a few months ago with pretty big fanfare, I didn’t dare go because of the long lines! They are a super small shop so unless you lined up early, you would have to stand and wait for the next seating. I came on a random weekday for lunch the other week and luckily for us, even though we came 30 minutes after opening, we scored our two seats! Had more seats open after we sat too…so I guess they aren’t as busy as before. They also opened a second location by Ala Moana.

Totoya specializes in rice bowls – specifically negitoro or kaisen bowls. In other words, if you don’t like raw fish, don’t come here. So was it worth the hype? Check it out!

Nagomi | $22.90
Add Egg yolk shoyu | $1.50
original negitoro, red shrimp, salmon (2pc), scallops, tobiko, nori (2pc)
aosa seaweed miso soup

Matsu Negitoro Bowl | $34.90
Add Egg yolk shoyu | $1.50
tuna, scallops, cucumber, kazunoko, green onion, tobiko, nori (2pc), sesame seeds
Matsu: luxurious bowl topped with sea urchin and salmon roe
aosa seaweed miso soup

Miso Soup

Shoyu Egg Yolk (honestly, not needed)

This was my bowl. Ooh…it’s a lot of food! I liked it the first few bites and then it was just…too much? Too much rice? Too much stuff. I think since it negitoro – it’s also very mushy. We also added the shoyu egg yolk and well, that’s just triple mush lol. It just becomes a bit too much at the end. It was good but nothing I would return for. I think I’d rather go to a sushi restaurant and eat sushi by the piece! If you love negitoro and rice bowls, please have at it!

Spam Musubi Rating:

Post Views: 56

Nihonbashi SUI – Machida, Japan

Dec22

A visit to Snoopy Museum means a visit to Grandberry Park and our favorite kaiten sushi place, Nihonbashi SUI! Machida and Grandberry Park is such a cute neighborhood, I’ll bet it’s expensive to live here too. If I was rich, I wouldn’t mind living here! Not much to say in this post, just look at al the food we had. We really go crazy at this place. This time, there was no line. We were the first ones there but it did get busy after we started to eat.

Look at this shrimp tempura! The shrimp was HUGE. It was so plump and bouncy – super good!!

One of my all time favorite fish – flounder! It’s so good and tastes so well with shiso leaf. Highly recommend!

Spam Musubi Rating:

Post Views: 128

Mixed Plate Friday (Japan)

Dec19

Another Hawaii related sighting! Blue Water Shrimp! Did I try it? No. I don’t even eat here when I’m home lol. The prices aren’t horrendous but pretty expensive for Japan.

Grape Sorbet Balls | Cup of Ice | Mitsuya Cider

Yes, yes, yes! This is one of the social media trends I wanted to try the most! Add the sorbet balls to the cup and pour in some mitsuya cider…mix it all up and this is what it looks like. It’s super good, super sweet. I loved the taste of it though! If they ever bring these grape sorbet balls to Hawaii, I suggest you try it!

Post Views: 149

IPPUDO – Gotanda-Higashiguchi, Japan

Dec15

Chan has never been to an Ichiran, can you believe it? I don’t know why I brought that up when this post is about Ippudo. I like Ippudo but don’t necessarily come to Ippudo when I visit Japan. This location was located really close to our hotel and I really wanted some ramen and chahan so off we went. How was it? Much better than I remembered! This was also Chan’s first time trying Ippudo and he liked it a lot! In fact, this was the first out of two visits during this trip.

Free sides! Pickled spicy mustard cabbage, bean sprouts, gari and whole garlic cloves! They offer garlic graters to put freshly grated garlic into your ramen. Oh so good!

Gyoza (10 pcs) | ¥470

Chan’s Noodles!

My noodles! I only got half an egg…humph!

Chahan

This is super random but I really enjoy Chinese fried rice made by Japanese ramen shops. Is that random? I super enjoy this version of fried rice, it has a good wok hei flavor and a good amount of MSG. Not many places in Hawaii makes this…or makes it well. Sorry, I must have been hungry and didn’t get a picture of all the menu prices!

The service here is enthusiastic, they get you in and out quickly (which works great for all the business people). I think their broth is deep in flavor and I like that they offer up many different bowls with a variation of toppings. English menu available on their ipads! I would return (and did return).

Spam Musubi Rating:

Post Views: 173

Mixed Plate Friday (Japan)

Dec12

Saiboku

Saiboku was such a cute town with its pork restaurants and grocery stores! Unfortunately we did not get to try any of the pork products during this trip, we just did a quick walkthrough before heading to a shrine and then off to Kawagoe. I would definitely like to return to try out their products!

Sayama Cha Cola

Chan’s friend got this for us. They were told that this area was known for the sayama cha cola (green tea mixed with cola). I’m not usually a big fan of green tea so I wasn’t too sure about this. Well let me just say, I tried it a few days later in the hotel room and freaking loved it. It wasn’t too sweet and had just the right amount of carbonation. I liked it a lot, Chan didn’t love it as much as me which meant I could have the rest of his bottle. A win is a win.

Time to buy some cloting. LOL, not as much funny Engrish signs this time around.

Post Views: 177

Shunkashuto – Kawagoe, Japan

Dec10

Chan and I were hanging with his friends and made an impromptu trip out to Kawagoe! Totally unexpected and so awesome because there is a Snoopy Village there! We started off with a warm and nourishing udon meal on this rainy day (the only rainy day of our trip) at Shunkashuto. I think the restaurant is geared towards tourists but it doesn’t matter, it was still so good.

Kakuni (Boiled Pork) | ¥800

Yummy kakuni for the table to share. What can I say? Broke-da-mout tender, fall apart in your mouth kine. Delicious!

Sweet Potato Tempura | ¥420

Yum! So glad they ordered both side dishes because I wanted to get a full set that included these sides but didn’t…and they ordered them as sides anyway. Isn’t life great? LOLOL.

Shrimp Tempura Noodles | ¥1550
classic udon noodle dish topped with deep fried shrimp tempura

I was excited to eat some shrimp tempura with “tick” udon noodles but soon regretted my choice after my fellow dining companions got their meals. Not that my dish was bad, not at all, it’s just that theirs was better!!!

Kakiage Noodles | ¥1380
ukiuki is happy or a delightful noodle dish with kakiage shrimp and veggie fritter
kakiage is deep fried shrimp and veggie fritter, which uses a variety of ingredients, such as shrimp, onions, sweet potatoes, carrots and japanese parsley.

The other three including Chan got the kakiage set and damn, take a look at that kakiage. The kakiage we get here in Hawaii looks so sad compared to this. If I knew this is how their kakiage was made, I would have definitely gotten this. Chan let me have a taste and it was so good! Big chunks of vegetables and shrimp – fried light and crispy. Dang. I enjoyed this restaurant a lot!

Spam Musubi Rating:

Post Views: 220

HNL -> NRT – ANA Flight

Dec3

Yes, we splurged for Business Class. If you don’t care to see what Business Class has to offer, please move along. It is pricey but I think can be very worth it for long legs of travel. The ability to lie flat and sleep is priceless.

Amuse
Purple Yam Nicoise Salad
Spam & Caramelized Maui Onion Crostini

Purple Yam Nicoise Salad

Sounds better than it tastes, which is bland

Spam & Caramelized Maui Onion Crostini

So yeah, I’m pretty sure I was eating “raw” spam here. I mean I ate it but…it was basically raw spam. I know it’s not really raw but you know what I mean! It wasn’t too bad lol.

Japanese Cuisine – Washoku

Shusai (Main Dish)
Simmered Sea Bream in Soy-based Sauce | Steamed Rice

The fish was seasoned and cooked well! I enjoyed this!

Miso Soup

Zensai (A Selection of Morsels)
Japanese Omelet, Simmered Runner Bean in Syrup, Grilled Squid with Dried Fish Roe, Deep-fried Fishcake

I enjoyed this zensai very much so, not sure what runner bean is but now I’m curious. Very nice appetizer!

Kobachi (Tasty Tidbits)
Steamed Chicken with Flavored Soy Sauce

Eh, it’s fine.

ANA Original ~Kaoru Fukuoka~ Tonkotsu Style Ramen
a mild tonkotsu style soup paired with thin noodles that complement the soup perfectly. toppings like red pickled ginger and flavored oil are available. please enjoy with your preferred seasoning.

If they offer up a noodle, I gotta try it! Very happy I tried this. Too bad I didn’t get it when we came home too. The flight home felt so much shorter so I didn’t have enough room in my tummy for it.

Noodle Pull!

Yum!

Sandwich Set
Warm Basil Cream Chicken Sandwich | Yogurt with Passion Fruit Jelly

The sandwich was just whatever but the yogurt, oh the yogurt was so good. Felt like the plain yogurt was a thicker texture and the passion fruit jelly was wonderful. I’m going to try to make my own at home.

Post Views: 286

ANA Lounge – Honolulu, HI

Dec1

ANOTHER TRIP MEANS ANOTHER LOUNGE VISIT. Was so excited to go to ANA Lounge. We had seen videos of this lounge and I got all excited that we would be able to board the plane straight from the lounge. Didn’t happen. The opportunity is there but I think it only works for the first flight of the day, no such luck for the second flight. It’s a very nice lounge and offers some good food! Check it out.

Udon!

They have the noodles at the bar ready to scoop into your bowl, you can choose either hot broth or cold broth. These are the only toppings, no protein. It was okay, nothing special.

Curry! (Hawaiian Style)

I guess I should have known that since it was Hawaiian it wouldn’t be good, it wasn’t that good. I prefer Japanese style curry! I wouldn’t get this again.

Acai Bowl, Fresh Fruit, Ham and Egg Sando

The acai bowls are all rock solid frozen, forreal. It barely defrosted as I was eating my food so I couldn’t even enjoy it because I didn’t want to lose a tooth. The sandwich is very good! How come sandwiches always taste better when I don’t make it? Serious question.

Apple Juice

I don’t know what it is about travel, but I only drink apple juice when I am traveling. I enjoy it on the plane and during the trip too. Do I drink apple juice when I’m home? No. Don’t ask me why.

The orange honu ready for us to board!

Post Views: 288

Restaurant i-naba – Honolulu, HI

Nov5

I had a rare chance this day to have a lunch with two of my brothers. I used to go out with all three of them all the time – nowadays, 2 would be a rare outing. Most of the time, I’m with only one of them. It’s a good and bad thing. I surely miss the old days and being around them, my wallet doesn’t miss those days (lol). But another good thing is, it means they are growing and becoming more independent. I think all three brothers are growing up well.

Anyway, I decided to give them a taste of good Japanese food by taking them to i-naba. It’s a double edged sword, I give them a taste of good food and they either don’t appreciate it fully or maybe acquire a taste for it. Ha! Anyway, I really enjoyed it even though my wallet didn’t. It’s okay, another memory to add to their banks.

Tempura Soba | $30.00
2 shrimps, 1 white fish, veggie tempura, and zaru soba

Bara Chirashi Bowl & Soba | $34.00
chopped some kinds of sashimi served over sushi rice. also comes with regular size zaru or kake soba (we chose zaru).

Hana Soba | $36.00
cold broth soba, topped with tororo (grated yam), uni, ikura (salmon roe), green onion, dried seaweed and tamagoyaki. also comes with tempura (shrimp, squid and veggies)

I don’t know if you remember my previous post but the last time I came, I really wanted to try this Hana Soba. They said they were out of uni and could give more ikura which I said no to. I finally got to try it this time!

Miso Soup and Takuan

Mixed Rice

Bleh, not great.

Tempura

Their tempura is always so good. Lightly battered and fried crispy. So so so good.

The star of the show. Did it live up to expectations? Well…I think I’ll go with less is more for soba from here on out. Sure it tasted good but once everything was mixed up together – I couldn’t really taste the different between the tororo and the uni. It just all melded into a cold soba dish with no distinct flavor. The tamagoyaki felt super out of place, it was certainly a choice to add that in. While I was glad to have tried this dish, I would just stick to the plain zaru soba tempura set next time. Less is more as I said.

Spam Musubi Rating:

Post Views: 450

Recipe: Pork Tofu and Watercress Stir Fry

Nov3

I saw this old school recipe online the other day and decided to make it as meal prep for my weekly breakfast. How was it? Good! The only thing is, I make such a huge batch that I get tired of it pretty easily. That’s the thing about meal prepping, I save a lot of money and time but get so tired of the food by day 3 or so. Wish I had the mentality of eating to live rather than living to eat. Hard life (lol). Anyway, I’ll share the recipe below. I think I found this from the Electric Kitchen website. The only thing I changed was to add rehydrated bean thread noodles at the bottom of my container before pouring over the stir-fry to make it a heartier dish and because I’m carb crazy.

Pork Tofu and Watercress Stir Fry

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1 pound lean pork, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup shoyu
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1 medium carrot, sliced
  • 1 (1-inch piece) ginger, crushed
  • 1 (20-ounce) block firm tofu, cubed
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped into 1-inch lengths
  • 1 bunch watercress, chopped into 2-inch lengths

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, heat oil and brown pork.
  2. Add shoyu, water, sugar, onions, carrots and ginger.
  3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Add tofu, green onions and watercress and simmer gently until watercress is wilted.
  5. Salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Serve immediately with rice.

Noods!!!!

Post Views: 496