If you know me, you know I love my carbs. It’s a curse. No blessings here. Well, the blessing is when I get to eat said carbs. Anyway, Shingen is a cute little restaurant in the same lot as Tori Ton and the old Sweet Home Cafe in Moilili. Now that we’re talking about soba which Shingen is known for, I’m getting a hankering for Inaba. Hmmm…stay tuned.

Ginger Tempura | $4.80

I would never think to order this on my own. It was interesting, I never had gari deep fried tempura style before. Is it something I am yearning for again? Probably not, but it was a nice nibble before dinner!

Seafood Salad with Japanese Style Dressing | $13.80

Isn’t this salad so pretty? Pretty to look at and delicious to eat. We really enjoyed sharing this dish. Would recommend!

Special Dinner Combo | $17.80
Hot Soba + Mini Ahi-Poke Don

Special Dinner Combo | $17.80 + $1.00
Cold Soba (upgrade to Moringa Soba for $1.00) + Mini Tem-Don

The first combo wasn’t mine so I can’t comment too much on it, but it was enjoyed. This was my dish. Very good. I wanted to be fancy and get the moringa soba, the menu says that moringa has over 90 nutrients. I got suckered in. Don’t they sell these in grocery stores? Well, I’ve seen green noodles? All in all, I think this was a good dining experience. I actually came here I think in March so the prices were a bit expensive to me since it was pre-inflation. I think I’m going to have to go to Inaba to do a compare and contrast!

Original Warabi Mochi | $5.80
jelly like confection, made from bracken starch and dipped in kinako (sweet toasted soy bean flour)

Almost forgot to post the dessert! I love warabi mochi lol so no complaints here!

Correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t there a Kikuya in Kaneohe? Yes, I see there is, with a slightly different spelling. Are they sister restaurants? Anyway, I went to the Kalihi Kikuya for dinner on a Friday night and it was pretty okay. I wouldn’t call this high end Japanese but more of a family style restaurant, super fast service. The restaurant was full of Korean waitresses, nothing wrong with that! The hostess was super friendly and the other wait staff were just super hustlers, not the chatty type. The location may not be ideal for most. The parking lot is kind of horrendous and shares the same lot with I don’t know, 10 restaurants? I thought I found a stall in front of the Chinese restaurant and parked when a worker came out asking if I was picking up from them. No, I wasn’t. She said the stall I used was for their pick-up orders only. Okay, I moved my car. There was a cone not in the stall but fronting the stall with no sign. They couldn’t just write a quick piece of paper saying take-out only? The cone was not blocking the stall, I promise.

Anyway, I parked next to the adult store. I didn’t even know we had one in Kalihi, lol.

Combo Dinner Set Sides
edamame, pickled cabbage (pink stuff), tossed salad (with an asian vinegary dressing, good!), miso soup

Combo Dinner 1st Choice | Shrimp Tempura w/Veg.
Two big shrimps, kabocha, green beans

Combo Dinner Set 2nd Choice | Sushi
4 pcs. nigiri, ahi, salmon, tai, tamago

Combo Dinner price is $17.95 for 2 choices and $20.95 for 3 choices. A pretty good deal to me nowadays! The food came out FAST. Just homey Japanese dishes. The sushi was pretty good and the cuts were good!

My brother chose the sushi and the chicken karaage (WHY!). To me, if you gonna pay the same price for the sets – go for the pricier stuff! Not chicken karaage! I tried a piece. It was bland, not enough salt and they don’t serve it with lemon. Wouldn’t get the karaage again.

All in all, it was good! Not too busy, we got seated right away but the restaurant definitely had groups dining in already at 5PM. I bet it gets super busy after my senior citizen dining time. I would definitely dine there again, great to know that such a restaurant exists so close to home. Get plenty restaurants I need to check out in this strip mall.

I used to come Izakaya Torae Torae more often, nothing wrong with them I promise! I guess I’ve been trying other places or just not going out all together. Got another special birthday treat here and boy was it a treat. The experience didn’t start great. We had reservations and were seated first in the restaurant and then we were basically talked to last. They spent all their time seating everyone at their tables and bar…and then took their orders right away? I was getting pretty peeved if I can be honest. I get that restaurants are short staffed but we heard one couple who had a reservation 30 minutes after ours get seated and then HELPED before us. I was actually timing my departure because it was almost 15 minutes at that point and I just couldn’t believe my eyes and ears at everyone else getting service but us. Well, finally she comes to greet us and I am sure I gave out bad vibes. But she turned out to be okay and actually, I think she was the only waitress for the restaurant so I did feel bad for her. And boy oh boy…did prices go up. But that’s the trend everywhere.

Ankimo (Monkfish Liver) | $11.65
served in citrus soy sauce, momiji, oroshi and green onions over cucumber wakame

One of my go-to dishes in Japanese restaurants. I know liver throws a lot of folks off board but I really enjoy this, it’s not a strong liver taste. What do I compare this to? It’s almost like crab miso – it’s hard to explain. I find this dish to be light and refreshing!

Jidori Chicken Karaage | $11.00
free range Jidori chicken battered and deep fried

Good, nothing special. It’s fried chicken, you can’t really go wrong!

Pork Belly Kakuni | $16.85
blackline pork simmered in soy based sauce served with daikon and slow cooked organic egg

This dish took the longest to come out. It was one of the first orders we put in and came out like at the end of the meal. Wouldn’t a dish like this already have been simmering? I guess I don’t know how restaurants work but I doubt pork belly kakuni is fired up at the time of order. Anyway, I listed this as the item because they gave us the wrong order. We actually ordered the pork belly kakuni donburi – they apologized and brought out a bowl of rice. I mean we made out in this deal because we got more meat in the end and paid the cheaper price. Funniest interaction was the waiter asking if we wanted to just keep this dish because if he had to remake the donburi, it would take a long time. WHAT? Would you not just put these pork pieces onto a bowl of rice? Baffled!

Spicy Tuna Tartare | $10.75
wonton bowl with avocado mix. topped with spicy tuna, raw quail egg, green onions, kabayaki sauce, and nori chips

It tastes like it sounds, it’s delicious. I don’t drink but sometimes I wish I was a beer drinker to get the same satisfaction as other beer drinks who eat fried food with their beer. Delish!

King Salmon Sashimi (6 pcs) | $24.00
O-toro Sashimi (6 pcs) | $64.95 (!)

Star of the show is the last picture to end the post. The o-toro….the price!!! Torae Torae still serves the best o-toro on the island, hands down. But this price…I just can’t. It was such a nice birthday treat…unfortunately the o-toro this time was also not as good quality as in the past. But the price hike! Yeah, I think I’ll have to hike it on out of here.

Ending the post with the gifts I received from the same friend who treated me to dinner. Aren’t these presents wrapped so pretty? It is always so heartbreaking to have to tear into these presents because he is a perfectionist at wrapping. No one can beat it!