Tag Archive | Japanese Food

Mugen – Waikiki, HI

Oct27

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!

Wagyu Beef Tartare | $28.00
egg yolk gel, black garlic, potato pave

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.

Toriyama A5 Wagyu (add $25)
maitake, mochi rice, yuzu long pepper soy reduction

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?

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HIGOTO Japanese Eatery – Kaimuki, HI

Oct22

Chan and I were at Kaimuki getting vaccines up the yang (for me anyway) and was here at the perfect time to try HIGOTO Japanese Eatery. By the way, I don’t get any commission for this but if you are in need of vaccines – please do consider going to Longs Kaimuki. My cousin works there and they are very good! Help them out since they also have quotas they have to meet! No wonder she keeps giving me vaccines, but in the end, I’ll assume it is all for my health. I think my body is currently made of more vaccine than water/blood.

Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack. I’ve ordered from Higoto years ago and took the chance to grab lunch here with Chan. They had a line as they always do and they do have a sign on the door that says limit 3 people since it is a small store space. I will tell a story about what happened – and you can see if you would react like me or like Chan (LOL). So we’re patiently waiting in line behind a family of four, when it’s their turn – all four of them go in. Okay, that’s cool. You don’t wanna leave a kid outside by themself. They finish browsing and the parents go up to the register to pay while the two kids come back outside to wait. So at this point, no one is in the bento area browsing so Chan and myself head in to start looking since the other two are already paying. One of the workers comes out and loudly says, we only want 3 people in the store at one time. Nicely but loudly so I was just like okay and let myself out to let Chan browse since he’s never been before. I go back outside and joke to the girl behind me that…wow they strict ah? I wasn’t mad about what happened but Chan was lol. He even says, no brains no business about what they did. How would you have reacted? Technically yes, there was already 2 people in there but they were already done browsing and was just paying…and they let the four of them in before us.

Okay story time over, I’ll post the food. This experience had an effect on Chan’s dining experience.

Ume Shiso Musubi | $2.70

Tuna Mayo & Apple Cucumber Musubi | $2.80

I can’t comment on the other two musubi since I didn’t taste them and I’m sure Chan will just say they were just okay (lol). I’m a sucker for tuna mayo so this was mine. I don’t know what apple cucumber is and also after eating this, don’t need something so special. Regular cucumber would have sufficed. It was good, basic. I would try a different topping next time.

Cheeseburger Musubi | $3.20

Shrimp & Veggie Tendon Bento | $17.80

What I like about their bento is the level of detail and toppings they place in it. I liked the little dish of hijiki, edamame, corn, one cherry tomato, and the lotus root! This particular bento was just okay mainly because the tempura obviously was no longer hot out the fryer so it was just all soggy. I liked that they drizzled tentsuyu on top and also included a small container of it on the side for dipping.

Fish Lovers Bento (w/multigrain rice) | $19.80

This was the bento was the one I wanted to try. A bit pricey but hey that’s the price of things these days and it’s understandable since this was all seafood. The fish contents of this bento differs day to day but my bento included chikuwa, fried white fish, shrimp tempura, butterfish and salmon. This was a nice bento and I liked the multigrain rice.

In the end, when you come here you will be getting some nice bentos to eat. You do have to wait in line and they do not have an online ordering system. I believe you can pre-order through their instagram page and just pay when you pick-up. You also do not have to stand in line when you have a pre-order, just have to peek in and let them know you have a pre-order and they come out to help you. I’ll give my rating for the food based on just the food, we’ll see if Chan gets mad enough to comment on this post.

Spam Musubi Rating:

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Local Boy Sushi – Kaneohe, HI

Oct6

Chan and I’s yearly pilgrimage to Kaneohe to lay flowers for my mother’s memorial day. I appreciate Chan taking time off to come out with me, it’s a nice chill day. We headed to Koolau Times for flowers and I kept looking at the DMV in that lot and remarking how I’ve never seen a more empty DMV. Chan remarked that he’s actually due to renew his driver’s license so on a whim, we decided to go inside and check it out with no appointment. Let me tell you, it was a breeze. The worker warned that anyone who had an appointment would be taken in front of Chan and we said that was fine. Chan was pau with his renewal within like 30 minutes and this was without an appointment. That was crazy awesome!

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to try Local Boy Sushi for a while now and were both STARVING by the time we were pau with the Kaneohe visit and some errands. We were the only customers there at first and then a whole bunch of folks came after! They make the order fresh so be prepared to wait for a bit since it’s a small operation. All in all, I’m glad to have tried it but think I won’t go again. The sushi was alright, nothing special.

Salmon Pack | $17.00
5 pc salmon nigiri, 5 pc smoked salmon

I was craving some salmon this day and this hit the spot. My favorite was the fresh salmon nigiri. The smoked salmon sushi is like…tuna-fied smoked salmon. How do I explain that? Like a salmon dip mixed with corn on top of a sushi. Was a bit odd but also good?

Lava Roll | $14.00
shrimp tempura with avocado, spicy ahi, sweet chili, unagi sauce, green onions

Another good roll! Can’t lose with shrimp tempura smothered with spicy ahi. It was good!

Spicy Pack | $16.00
10 pc spicy ahi

I am a fiend for spicy ahi or spicy tuna. They do it pretty good, nothing special though. I used to love the genki sushi spicy tuna – I haven’t been there long time so I can’t comment on if it is good anymore. I think they drizzled unagi sauce on this too – not sure if that’s needed.

Spam Musubi Rating:

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Mixed Plate Friday

Oct3

Alii Fish Market Weekend Special | Crispy Mochi Mahi Mahi w/Smoked Tsuyu Cold Soba & Spicy Ahi “Lava” Poke | $21.00
cold soba, smoked tsuyu, mari’s garden green salad w/yuzu vinaigrette, “spicy lava sauce,” sumida farms watercress namul

Alii was having this as a special the other weekend and my brother generously treated me to lunch. We placed the order and headed in after doing an errand, they quoted a 30 minute cook time. It took an hour. The parking lot is also horrendous especially during the weekend. If you are pre-ordering easy stuff like musubis/onigiris and just poke – I’m sure your order will be ready quick. If you order a special, I would set aside extra time before heading in to grab it. I don’t think I want to return on a weekend anytime soon.

Oh! And the food! It was good, not great. The mochi mahi mahi was already soggy when I ate it. The tsuyu wasn’t super smoky, nothing I noticed extra. It’s a good plate though, glad I tried it.

Chili Cheese Fries

Mini Cold Ginger Chicken (all rice)

Mini Chicken Katsu Curry

Mini Loco Moco

Everyone keeps raving about the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue at the Manoa Marketplace (when did they stop calling themselves L&L Drive Inn??) so I decided to give it a try. I’ve tried it a few times because thankfully UH has restarted their shuttle service to the Astronomy lot which is behind the marketplace. I can do some farmers market shopping and grab my lunch here. It’s funny because we have L&L Drive Inn on-campus which offers in-app ordering which I like, this location does not allow for app ordering. The one on campus does not serve the full menu so it’s nice to have one near by that does. The yelp reviews are right, the woman up front is very friendly. All the dishes I got were good! I can’t taste the difference between the two locations but I’ll continue coming here anyway.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Sep26

Spicy Peanuts | $17.69

I thought I planned out the perfect Costco trip. I took my car in to get my tires rotated and they gave me a 1.5 – 2 hour time frame. I sat in the food court and read my book for a little bit, then as the last hour crept up, I went in to order my contacts and then do my shopping. Well, I certainly took my time walking the aisles this day. It was also crazy that it was way busier at 3 something than at 5 something. What? Are people not working? Anyway, long shopping trip means I buy stuff I don’t need. This is one of the things…but it’s good! It comes with 3 medium sized packs inside! Kind of spicy – it has like a mala flavor. Oh by the way, it took almost 3 hours for my car to be done. It’s complete madness.

Honolulu Okazuya Company Kettled Cooked Products

I saw these in the frozen section of Don Quijote the other week. Have any of you tried this? I was quite intrigued. Get “naporitan” pasta, teriyaki yaki-udon and yakisoba noodle. These are all fully cooked, just heat and eat kine. It says they are all small batch and kettle cooked – just throw the whole bag in boiling water for 20(!) minutes and then you can serve it up. I wonder how it is. and don’t let the name fool you, it’s actually a Japanese company.

Tangle Garlic Oil Pasta

Yes, the continuing saga. I got the garlic oil version as a cup noodle and tried it at work. It was better than the bulgogi flavor but not great. I followed instructions for water measurement and placed it in the microwave – it completely overflowed into the microwave enough though I barely had water inside. It was okay but not great.

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Recipe: Banana Bread Mochi

Sep17

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

  • 4 large, very ripe bananas (I used 5)
  • 3 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:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
  2. 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.
  3. Add the rest of your wet ingredients – the eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and whole milk.
  4. Whisk your wet ingredients until well incorporated and set aside.
  5. In a medium mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients – the Mochiko flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  6. Mix until combined.
  7. 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.
  8. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and pour your mochi mixture in.
  9. 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.
  • Did not grease the pan, I also used a glass pan
  • Mine was done at 50 minutes

Full Recipe Credit: Kristi’s Kitchen

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Mixed Plate Friday

Sep12

Left: Sesame Garlic Chicken (3rd Pan 2#) | $37.50
fried boneless chicken, sesame garlic glaze, ginger scallion
Right: Fried Noodles (3rd Pan 2.5#) | $27.50

Chan had a lunch order with his office from Alii Fish Market and this was part of the order. I thought the pans were so cute (lol), I never seen this size before. The food was all good, as usual! And I finally tried the yaki onigiri and yes, I now know what the hype is all about. Highly recommend!

Doesn’t this picture look almost like it’s from Japan or something? We were driving down Kapiolani and I glanced out the window while we sat in traffic and saw this. Just felt very Japanese-y, it was really cool to see. Oh! And we’re going to Japan in November! There’s my announcement lol, I’m so excited!!

Happy belated birthday to me! Of course I gotta show off the beautiful flowers and balloons that Chan got me for my birthday. He always makes me feel so special even though I don’t like getting older…especially at this age. I am at Auntie age but I am a-okay with that. I earned that badge. Have a great weekend everyone!

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Okayama Kobo Bakery & Cafe – Ward, HI

Sep8

Okayama Kobo Bakery & Cafe is one of the most popular bakeries in Hawaii right now. They are located downstairs of the Ward Theaters and since Chan and I were in the area for another errand, we decided to line up for when they opened! Yup, even before they opened their doors, they had a line forming – a mix of tourists and locals. Was it worth the hype? Let’s see…

Bakery Box | $1.00 per box

I wasn’t a fan of this. If you want to order a lot of pastries, the only choice in boxes is this option. The box is cute as all heck but you have to pay $1.00 for this box. They do not have plain white boxes for you to load up on. I asked what the other option is and it’s either single pastry size white bags or single serve plastic clear clamshell packages. What?? That was crazy to me. Then he asks if I want a bag at the end of the transaction, that probably means more money so I am good lol.

Top Left: Mentai Salt & Butter Roll | $4.60 each
Right, Salt & Butter Roll | $3.35 each
Bottom Left: Everything Salt & Butter Roll | $3.75 each

The mentai salt and butter roll was one of my favorites of this outing. Though, while I can’t prove it, might have gotten me sick that same day but I’ll just say it didn’t. Good taste, nice balance of salt and butter in the bread. The mentaiko is not only on top of the bread, it’s inside the bread too! Yum, I would get this again.

Matcha Mochi Anpan | $4.95 each
Bottom right: Spicy Curry Pan | $4.95 each
Top Center: Fish Panini
Top Right: Japanini | $4.25 each

Spicy Curry Pan
baked, panko-crusted bread filled with original Japanese style vegetable curry, chili flakes

Curry Pan is one of my favorite pastries of all time. Was it spicy? Yes. Will I admit that it was spicy? No. Chan is too satisfied when I cannot handle spicy because I keep saying I am the spice queen. So yeah, spicy for me, not for him.

Matcha Mochi An-Pan
matcha flavored bun filled with chunky red bean and mochi

I love an-pan and was intrigued by the mochi filling too. How was it? Ehh…I can just eat regular an-pan. The mochi adds nothing but too much carbs – and there was no matcha flavor in the bun (not that I wanted matcha flavor).

Japanini
original panini with shiso leaf, basil pesto, bacon, cheese and tomato

Chan super enjoyed this panini! At first I thought they didn’t give us this pastry because the girl helping us was constantly mishearing all the customers. It was a bit frustrating as we were ordering.

Fish Filet Panini

Another favorite of mine. Well, if you like filet-o-fish from McDonald’s, you would like this. I liked it! I don’t have the price for it because they charged me for two japaninis but I’m thinking maybe I made out in that mistake.

All in all, I enjoyed the pastries we got but it was just a bit too pricey for me. Maybe I’ll bring my own big Tupperware next time cause buying each box was wasteful – not like they’re reusable. Would return again but maybe if I’m in the area.

Spam Musubi Rating:

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Mixed Plate Friday

Aug29

Strawberry Jam and Butter Sauce Packets

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!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Aug22

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.

Kokoro-Tei Omelette Rice | $14.98

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!

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