12Feb / 2025

Onkee Korean Grill House – Ward Village, HI

Chan’s friend Mai visited Hawaii last week so we got to try Onkee Korean Grill House for the first time! Onkee is super high end as a warning so you won’t be surprised by the prices. They are located in one of those new condos in Ward right by the theaters. The interior and decor was so pretty, very new restaurant so everything is perfect so far.

Banchan – Kimchee

This was good! I thought by looking at it that it wouldn’t be fermented enough, but it was! This is made from regular cabbage versus chinese cabbage.

Banchan – Shredded Daikon

Banchan – Soy Pickled Red Onions

Banchan – Potato Salad

My least favorite kind of potato salad lol. The potatoes are cooked almost al dente, they were kind of hard. Then you add on big chunks of raw carrots and apple slices and I am out of there. No thanks.

Banchan – Seasond Dried Radish Strips

Soysauce Marinated Shrimp | $32.00

This is the dish Chan was looking forward to. Mai enjoyed it too! I really wish I could eat this. Raw shrimp and raw crab call my name but alas, my body doesn’t want to agree. I did try a bit of the shrimp and my mouth said nope. My mouth and throat immediately started getting tingly – I had to put the white flag up and hand the rest over to Chan.

Stir-Fried Squid | $28.00

Good dish! Not as good as Frog House but I think you folks have heard me say Frog House enough. FROG HOUSE! No wok hei, just okay.

Beef Tartare | $32.00

The dish I looked forward to lol. I love beef tartare – manini portion but it tasted really good. Reminds me of the time I was in Korea and went to their Todai and they had this dish on the buffet. Girl, when I tell you I went for broke…I WENT FOR BROKE. Delicious. You mix it up with the shredded cucumber and Korean pear slices! Yum! This is one of the rare times I enjoy fruit in a savory dish.

Combo B | $190.00
Tenderloin, Ribeye, Hanger Steak, Thin Skirt Steak

Expensive but not awful considering it was for 3 people and we were stuffed after this. Nice quality meat, some cuts were better than others (of course) but enjoyable overall.

Very big plus, your waiter/waitress cooks all the meat for you. ANOTHER UPSIDE: I don’t know what kind of ventililation system they have but you will leave your meal not smelling a single bit like smoke. There’s no big hood hovering over your table so I really don’t know how they do it. Must be some way the grill is built but seriously, I couldn’t smell a single scent of Korean BBQ on us from this meal.

Kimchi Stew | $24.00

A little pricey for stew but they do nice chunks of tofu and pork belly in it. Very nice and flavorful soup.

Steamed Rice | $3.00 each

You see that right. We had to pay for rice separately even with all the entrees we ordered. Crazy yeah?

This ends with a bit of a rant and it could have just been an off night for me but this interaction left a sour taste in my mouth. I ordered soda which comes with free refills because I don’t drink alcohol. Well, they serve it in smaller cups so I had to ask for a refill during the meal. Well, as we are nearing the end, with our waters warm – I wanted one last refill to cut into the taste of the meat in my mouth. When the waitress came over, I gave her the cup to ask for the refill and she made a face at me. This is where my childhood trauma may come in but it reminded me of the faces I would get from older Asian women when they were about to say something really mean to me (sorry, that’s just how it is growing up with immigrant relatives) and I got triggered so I gave her a look back but didn’t say anything.

I wonder if she knew then that she pissed me off because for sure the rest of the night I was not even looking at her and my vibe was not good. I just didn’t want to deal with her any longer which is fine since Chan was doing the ordering all night anyway. She certainly didn’t make any face when my dining companions were ordering more beers but I guess it’s all about money. I do wonder if that’s why we got the above slice of cheesecake for free. Whatever. I could be projecting my own emotions at this situation but I usually have a pretty good read on people and it just soured the night for me. In the end, the restaurant was beautiful, the service was good (up until that point) and the food was good. Now, do I think it was worth the price? Ehh…I think I would rather come and check out their lunch specials because you get more bang for your buck. By the way, I’m looking at their menu and they even charge for lettuce to make wraps ($6) and the green onion salad ($9!). This was definitely a splurge of a meal.

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05Feb / 2025

Recipe: Korean Spicy Baby Octopus with Pork Belly

I’ve been ordering Korean Spicy Baby Octopus with Pork Belly at Frog House many times and I absolutely love it. While I can’t recreate the dish with the proper wok hei at home, I think I did pretty good! I made a batch and ate it with Chan. He liked it too! It’s a bit of a hassle recipe so I think I rather go eat it at Frog House lol.

Holy Grail Sauce

Sliced Zucchini and Carrots

Sliced Onions

Baby octopus massaged with flour – this helps to take away the smell

I found this in the frozen seafood section of Hmart – another name for it is webfoot octopus.

Look at how cute it is after parboiling. Almost too cute to eat, not really though, I’ll eat it.

Frying up the pork belly, adding sugar was an interesting step but a good one! Caramelized pork!

Frying up the pork with the onions

Frying up the octopus and onions with the zucchini and carrots – adding the octpus, sauce and green onions…

Voila! Done! Serve it with somen noodles or white rice!

Korean Spicy Baby Octopus with Pork Belly

Ingredients

300 g Pork Belly, thin – 2 inch slices
300 g Webfoot Octopus
100 g Green Onions (sliced angled – 1 inch sticks)
120 g Onion (half onion), sliced thin
50 g Carrot, sliced thin
2 medium zucchinis, sliced thin
20 g chili pepper (optional)
1 T sugar
⅔ C water
Sesame Oil to taste (1 T, more or less to your taste)
2-3 T Flour (to clean octopus)

Sauce Ingredients

3 T Red Pepper Powder (Gochugaru)
2 T Red Pepper Paste (Gochujjang)
4 T Soy Sauce
½ T Oyster Sauce
1 ½ T Corn Syrup
1 ½ T Sugar
25 g Garlic (5-6 cloves)

Directions

Place 2-3 T of flour on the octopus and massage for 1-2 minutes, rinse octopus thoroughly in water and drain.
Combine sauce ingredients and set aside.
Parboil octopus in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and cut octopus into more bite size pieces (in half works fine), set aside.
Cook pork belly in large skillet for 1-2 minutes, add 1 T sugar and continue browning pork belly over medium high heat.
Add onions and cook while stirring for about 1-2 minutes until the onions are nice and browned.
Add ⅔ of the sauce and continue to stirfry for about a minute. Add ⅔ C of water and continue to stir fry for another minute.
Add sliced carrots and zucchini (chili pepper too if you are using it), stirfry for 3-4 minutes until vegetables get a bit tender.
Add octopus, green onions and remaining ⅓ of the sauce and continue to stirfry for 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle on sesame oil right when the dish is complete and mix it in.
Serve with bowls of hot rice or over cooked and drained somen noodles!

Recipe Inspired by: hoon & elen’s today cuisine

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10Jan / 2025

Mixed Plate Friday

Marron & Tiramisu Cream Bread

Were you folks into the Culinary Class Wars craze when the show first premiered? Chan and I was, it was a great show! I am so excited for season 2. I liked Edward Lee but I was actually happy Napoli Matfia won – though I wonder how he would have fared if he had to take part in the tofu challenge. Sorry, are these spoilers? You should have watched it already!

Anyway, one of the dishes Napolia Matfia won was for his chestnut tiramisu recipe where he utilized ingredients from a convenience store. Korea is so smart, they were able to turn it around and create the dishes for sale in their stores real quick. Of course it was always sold out. I never found the tiramisu dessert but found the bread and had to try it!

How was it? Eh, just alright. It’s a very rich and dense chestnut cream in soggy bread. Not great. I wonder if I would have liked the actual tiramisu dessert if I found it. Maybe I should have just tried the cheetos ice cream (lol).

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08Jan / 2025

Jirisan – Hamyang, Korea

We drove up to Jirisan for some scenic pictures. It was beautiful up there, a perfectly crisp Autumn day. I just did some quick research and it’s the second highest mountain in Korea!

The trees were all different autumunal colors and it was gorgeous. Nice and chilly up top too! I don’t know how many mountain pictures you want to see so why not share the cafe we went to there!

Cafe Yodojae

It’s a cute space but not a cafe I would recommend to go to out of your way, just to pop in if you’re already in the area.

Chan’s Drink – I forgot what it is haha

Affogato!

Affogato for me because I love affogato. Did you know that the ice cream has no calories when it’s renamed a coffee drink? Don’t check on that.

Cranberry Nut Bread

I think that’s what this was. I didn’t realize it was a whole freaking loaf of bread haha. I just wanted to try their clotted cream and it sounded like it would go well with this bread. Well the workers were not so friendly and this bread was basically cold. Wish it could have been warmed up a bit because I was trying it with….

English Clotted Cream

I’ve been wanting to try this for ages and it was disappointing. I think it might have been because the bread was cold and doughy. I’m not out there dying to try clotted cream again anytime soon. If anyone likes clotted cream, please tell me how you eat it! I’ve seen it sold at Foodland Farms.

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06Jan / 2025

Hamyang Family Breakfast #2

Yes, you heard it here first folks. Another round of breakfast at the favorite Auntie’s house. I don’t mind SWEATING MY BUTT off for this. Heated floor, home and sofa be damned – we ready for grind! Dare I say…this breakfast might have been better than the first??

Like, even the fried piece of spam as. Although, is fried spam ever bad? I think I like Korean spam more than American spam. I’ll laugh if it’s the same spam lol.

Had to take two pictures to get all the dishes in. Yup, just sliced potatoes fried with spam – freaking good. Simple dishes are always best.

Star dish of the day, stir fry octopus. Man, this trip really awakened my love for octopus. There’s no way to replicate this kind of cooking, I could never find this anywhere else. It tastes as good as it looks folks.

Of course gotta have soup and rice. Gosh, I don’t even know what kind of greens were in this soup. I should ask Chan. There’s my bowl of rice with spam of course. I think the egg omelette had spam too, three spam dishes, no can go wrong! I miss these breakfasts…*sniff*…

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23Dec / 2024

Hamyang Family Dinner #2

Amazing banchan of course. Would you expect anything less?

Could even get all the banchan in one shot! Each banchan was delicious.

Fried Yellow Croaker

Sorry if the eyes freak you out. I’ve always seen this on TV but never had it myself. It’s super good. A bit dangerous since it’s so bony. You really have to be careful when you eat this dish. I guess that’s what makes each morsel taste so good.

Jeju Black Pig

So soft and tender! Delicious.

Miyeokguk (Seaweed Soup with Beef)

Yummy, such a nice warming dish. I know this is traditionally a birthday dish, I don’t think it was anyone’s birthday that night? Anyway, another wonderful dinner. Good times with such a warm and welcoming family, just warms your heart!

I’m going to take a brief break from posting during the holiday week so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2025 and stay safe!

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16Dec / 2024

Hamyang Family Breakfast #1

Breakfast #1 Spread

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that my favorite meals during the trip was cooked by Chan’s Aunt, particularly this Aunt. She invited us to breakfast twice and both times were immaculate. You can tell the dishes were all made with such love, so much variety and so much fresh options. I wish I could eat like this all the time.

I wish I had the names of all the dishes but I don’t, sorry! This was like stirfried sliced meat dish. There was acorn jelly on the table which I wouldn’t surprised if she made that herself from scratch. My favorite on the table was absolutely the sliced octopus. She serves it up with perilla oil and salt basically. This trip is what made me fall in love with perilla oil. Good perilla oil that is.

Yes, I know, it’s just a bowl of rice. Well not just. It of course has some good beans in it, so good. Everything was so good. Insert crying emoji here because I miss this food so much!

Then she served up sliced pears on the little forks. I really felt like I was in a Korean drama. My only complaint? The heat in the apartment! I guess older folks like it warm so not only is their heater on, the floor is heated and the couch was a heated stone. OMG, us “youngins” were dying of heat. I couldn’t stand it and just wanted to walk around outside to enjoy the actual cold weather!

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13Dec / 2024

Mixed Plate Friday

Korean Corn

When we first arrived in Hamyang, it was in the early afternoon so it wasn’t time for lunch or dinner yet. As any Asian does, they start bringing all kine foods to the guest to eat. This was one of them! Simple steamed corn. I have never seen corn like this before but I have to eat it once offered! It was interesting. Waxy and chewy, I was a little confused at first but started to enjoy it afterwards.

Paris Baguette

Hamyang was a small town but they have a lot of the big franchises still. There was a Paris Baguette right by the hotel so we grabbed a quick lunch one day from there. Look at these cute mini hamburgers! The veggies look nice and fresh too. Chan and I enjoyed it! How come our Paris Baguette here doesn’t have this kine!

Before you ask, no I didn’t try it. Sorry, I know I try all kine stuff for you folks on this blog but I had to draw the line. Haha nah, it’s only cause I had access to so much good homecooked food in Hamyang that I didn’t want to waste my stomach space eating this. Curious about the combo, but not enough to eat it. Sorry.

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11Dec / 2024

Hamyang Family Dinner #1

We visited Chan’s mother’s side of the family in Hamyang. We stayed in a local hotel but everyone was basically a 3-5 minute drive for us. It’s a really small town but I loved it. His family are so loving and warm and they all were AMAZING chefs. One of the Aunts owns a restaurant so we got to grind so much good food every night. First night? Hanwoo beef, Korean beef! It’s like eating the wagyu A5 of Korea, they bought the plus plus version of it (aka $$$).

Mushroom Medley – peek that fluff ball! Does anyone know what that mushroom is called??

Here is the fluff ball unfluffed. They just dipped it raw in sesame oil with salt. It was delicious. A bit of a nutty flavor, I really enjoyed it!

HELLO. Look at that marbling. So good. Everyone super enjoyed the dinner. That meat was crazy.

No real dipping sauce needed or seasoning. They chopped up green onions seasoned it with sesame oil and salt and I’m sure other seasoning that we ate with the meat. It was the perfect accompaniment.

End the meal with a simple Doenjang jigae. Nice warm soup to warm up in the increasingly cold weather!

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09Dec / 2024

Train to Busan | Korean Rest Stop!

Everytime we said we had to take a train to busan, Chan would laugh. I think he is imagining me getting eaten by zombies but we’ll talk about that at another time. We took a train out to busan which then became the train to Jinju which is the closest stop to Chan’s family’s hometown of Hamyang.

I got a cute little kimbap/cone sushi pack from the train station for the ride. Was good! Nothing to write home about. I was surprised by the lack of bentos at the huge train station. They have eateries and convenience stores but even the convenience stores don’t have much of a bento selection (if any at all).

Jinju!!

From Jinju, we had to drive out to Hamyang. I forgot the exact distance. Maybe an hour and a half? So yes, Chan had to get his international license and drove in Korea! Rented this big van for all of us to fit in. Very comfortable and nice van. Chan did a great job driving through the countryside. There were a LOT of tight roads in the country side but he navigated through them with ease!

Before we reached Hamyang, we stopped at a Korean rest stop. I was so excited lol.

I love me some Engrish signs. I can assure you, if you bite me I will not love you. Hahaha! I didn’t try their buns so I can’t testify this statement.

The main eatery in the rest stop operates through a ticket ordering system. Order your meal from the machine and wait for your number to be called. Easy peasy!

Bibimbap

Chan and his family got noodles and I went for the rice. No regerts, I love the different vegetables they use! It was delicious.

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Tag Archives: Korean Food

Onkee Korean Grill House – Ward Village, HI

Recipe: Korean Spicy Baby Octopus with Pork Belly

Korean Spicy Baby Octopus with Pork Belly

Mixed Plate Friday

Jirisan – Hamyang, Korea

Hamyang Family Breakfast #2

Hamyang Family Dinner #2

Hamyang Family Breakfast #1

Mixed Plate Friday

Hamyang Family Dinner #1

Train to Busan | Korean Rest Stop!