Tag Archive | Vietnamese Food

Mixed Plate Friday

Jul25

Thịt Nướng | Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers

It’s summer time so you know it’s time to do some BBQ’s! I wanted to try something a little different so I made vietnamese grilled pork skewers! Never tried making skewers like this before…and using fresh lemongrass before but it was a hit! Perfect food to go with some alcohol too. I had to buy a big pork shoulder chunk and slice it thin manually, that was the worst part of this dish. Other than that, it was good!

Salted Turnip

I found this at Don Quijote the other day and got super excited, really happy to see them branching out and getting more obscure Chinese ingredients. I don’t think I have ever bought this before but I think I was taught how to make a pork hash patty long time ago with it from my mom. Here’s to me cooking to my roots!

Look! This is the first time I ever guessed Wordle on the first try! This was my go-to first word everyday. Now that it’s been used, I am so lost without my first word guess! Gotta keep up with my streak!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Jul18

Le’s Banh Mi | Saigon Special | $11.50
Add Roast Pork | $2.00

I know you folks must think I am a paid sponsor for Le’s but I promise I am not. It’s just the best banh mi you will ever have on island okay. They make the bread fresh themselves and it’s not too thick and just the right amount of soft and crunchy. You’re not going to cut up your mouth eating this.

Will you look at that? The innards are glorious, GLORIOUS.

Kevin’s Kitchen Char Siu (1 lb.) | $16.95

Kevin’s Kitchen 1/2 Roast Duck | $20.00

I’ve talked about Kevin’s Kitchen in a previous post but came back here to grab some dishes to complete our home father’s day meal. Just wanted to show you how much char siu comes in one pound – a pretty good amount! And half roast duck, that’s a lot of duck too! Well worth it to me. And yummy!

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The Black Sheep – Las Vegas, NV

Jun16

The Black Sheep is a newish restaurant Chan found online that we tried! This was the meal after Chan finally bounced back from the food poisoning spell so he definitely kept playing it safe. This restaurant is located down by the Durango so I was happy about that too lol.

S. Pellegrino

Chan has been doing a lot of carbonating of drinks lately which got me to realize that I also like plain carbonated water! So instead of alcohol, I downed this whole bottle. Forreal.

Fried Beef Crisps | $9.00
thai chili tajin dust, chili lime sauce

I’m going to assume this is some kind of beef fat? It is deep fried but comes out super airy and crispy not crunchy. My complaint, it was SO salty. Hard to enjoy.

Oxtail Empanadas | $15.00
pickled shallots, lotus root slaw, coriander chimichurri

Pretty good! Not that you can tell it’s oxtail inside but I liked it. One of the better dishes of the night.

Salmon Skin Tacos | $12.00
two salmon skin tacos filled w/salmon tartar, tobiko, anaheim peppers, micro cilantro

Okay, I don’t even remember this dish so either it was junk or I didn’t even eat it. I don’t know how I feel about entire salmon skin being your taco shell. But if that’s your thing, have at it!

Steak Tartare | $14.00
asian pear, egg yolk aioli, beef crisps, pickled thai chili, julienne green onions

I almost forgot what this dish was! They serve their steak tartare on top of the fried beef chips. Heh…like I said, it was salty…

Braised Pork Jowl | $29.00
tumeric flat noodle, chinese broccoli, sesame seed crumble, chili broth

This was good, the pork jowls was of course super soft and tender. Tasted good but nothing special. Another soupy dish I wish I had a bowl of rice for lol.

Special Duck Confit

This one was also just an okay dish, the duck wasn’t spectacular in taste or anything. I enjoyed the couscous and veggies below better. I guess this shows me that I prefer Chinese roast duck above all other preparations.

This restaurant was just okay to me. The service was good but the food was a bit underwhelming.

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Sparrow + Wolf – Las Vegas, Nevada

Jun9

Another visit to Vegas, another success. This is one of the meals Chan and I look forward to most. I lose out the most because we are helped by an awesome sommelier – unfortunately I don’t drink. He did try to include me by giving me a non-alcoholic drink which I enjoyed a lot! It was like a tea infused champagne. Don’t worry, I still got my mocktail! Second visit to Sparrow + Wolf, this restaurant will be a forever visit as long as Nick the sommelier works there. For my first visit, go here. Let’s get to it!

Sage Me From Myself (proofless) | $12.00
cold pressed blueberry, raspberry, pineapple, and fennel bulb
scented with sage and lemon

Delicious as always. $2 more this year but what can you do. Still good!

Peruvian Steelhead Trout | $23.00
ikura roe, koji mango, ninja radish

Nick basically takes care of us all night and orders all the food for us to pair with various drinks. I thought this was salmon but as you can see it is trout! This was good! Such interesting ingredients…

Oysters on the Half Shell | $27.00
cold pressed rhubarb, strawberry, opal basil flower

They really mix the most interesting ingredients to create one dish, and I think I would not order these dishes if I saw it myself on the menu. Good thing Nick knows what he’s doing. I haven’t had a bad dish yet!

Hearts of Palm | $21.00
spring peas, kizami wasabi, cucumber blossom

This was good, very pretty but nothing super special.

Grass Fed Beef Tartare | $22.00
confit egg yolk, grilled ciabatta

Mmm beef tartare, one of my favorites as you know. Good dish!

Steamed Clams | $26.00
green curry, peanuts, thai chili preserve

Oh this was so nice. Nice spicy curry – wish I had a big bowl of rice to sop up all the clams and sauce!

Foie Gras | $28.00
milk bread, pineapple, onion chili compote, mole blanco

Okay, this wasn’t quite as memorable since I had foie gras the day before. But the grilled pineapple added a nice acid to the rich foie gras!

BÁNH CUÔN | $20.00
ground duck, wood ear mushroom, habanero, coconut

Another great dish that I wish I had a bowl of rice for! Nice and spicy, so good!

Lumina Farms Lamb | $46.00
artichoke, saffron, matbucha, almond, vaduovan, lamb jus

I love lamb and this was good, but there was a protein that blew my socks more so below

Charred Broccolini | $16.00
green goddess, black garlic, fines herbes crumb

What a wonderful way to eat broccolini! I loved it! Yet another dish I probably wouldn’t order on my own.

Black Pepper Honey Pork Secreto | $38.00
sweet potato banana puree, peanut nuoc cham

Here’s one of the best dishes of the night! A humble pork dish but the flavors were amazing, still waiting on that bowl of rice lol

Vietnamese Coffee
maracaibo cremeux, coffee ice cream, black okinawa sugar, condensed milk espuma

Yes, we had some room for dessert at the end. Don’t worry, the three of us shared this. It was very nice, I enjoyed this deconstructed take on vietnamese coffee!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Mar7

Lee Kum Kee Sriracha Chili Sauce

This is a very niche post. I really enjoy the chili sauce packets from Panda Express, it’s not like sriracha so I wasn’t sure where I can find it myself. I know Lee Kum Kee makes the chili sauce for Panda Express but I don’t know if it’s then just Panda’s proprietary product you know? I decided to buy this hot sauce in the store even though it has the word sriracha in it and guess what? It’s close enough for me! To me it tastes like the Panda Express chili sauce so woohoo! I gotta buy more bottles now lol.

Holy Grail Donuts (4 pack) | $18.00
From top left; clockwise: Hail Mary (cardamom, rose), Hot Single (local honey, flakey sea salt), Original Sin (real maple, smoked coconut and Hawaii sea salt), Hot Single (again)

After dinner in Ward, I wanted to treat Chan to Holy Grail since he has never tried before! I had to eat the hot single while it was hot because these folks make it fresh! Chan really liked the hail mary, I wasn’t around when he tried the other flavors. I better ask how he liked them not fresh. Pretty pricey at $18 for 4 donuts and of course their register system automatically asks for tip. Sigh. Also FYI, they do not take cash.

Ba-Le Sandwich Shop Phoggie | $14.00
U.S. wagyu beef, house-made “pho” mayo, thai basil, red leaf lettuce, shaved onions, cilantro, fresh jalapeno, pho dipping broth

I’ve loved the Phoggie sandwich for many years but haven’t been able to try it in a while. They sell it here at the UHM campus and also at La Tour Cafe. While I’m sure the La Tour version is fancy, it costs $5 more there than at UHM. I’ll go for UHM! We watched a student order it and ask for extra mayo…what a great tip! What a game changer, this is one messy sandwich to eat especially since you gotta dip it in the pho broth! So delicious, definitely worth the price! My coworker at it two days in a row lol.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Feb28

Island Glazed Assorted Donuts

I’ve been wanting to try Island Glazed for such a long time but they are located out in Aiea and I am never out there so imagine my surprise when we got a special treat surprise at work! And we got a mix of their coolest flavors! So thankful to work with such nice people. They have really interesting flavors like strawberry mango, lihing pineapple, etc. Good donuts! The office ate them up!

Mixed Mushroom Crisps | $8.78

I’ve talked about this brand before because when I went to Korea, the sold their garlic bread potato wedges at Costco and that was GOBBLED up. No garlic bread potato wedges in the U.S. (yet) but I found these mixed mushroom crisps at Sam’s Club! It’s very interesting. Similar to the wedges, the mushrooms are whole but somehow taste hollow? How do I explain that? You bite into it and it’s a bit hard to crunch down onto but it just doesn’t have a solid meaty mushroom structure. Hard to explain, you gotta try it yourself. Interesting taste, strong umami! Give it a try at Sam’s Club while we still have it!

Le’s Banh Mi – Saigon Special add Roast Pork | $11.50 + $2.00

Yes, I went back again (lol) but this time I wanted to show you a cross section of this glorious sandwich. Yummy…

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Mixed Plate Friday

Feb21

Vietnamese Dish

I don’t know what these dishes are called lol. The top I’d like to just called crystal dumplings because I had a variation at a restaurant before but this one was basically filled with a big dried shrimp that has been rehydrated. Definitely needed the dipping sauce for the dumpling. The bottom two pieces, very sticky mochi rice balls. Similar to cha gor if you’ve had it, they are usually filled with a savory filling. This one had a savory filling too but nothing like the cantonese ones I get. It was good and nice to try! Not sure I would try this particular one again…

The next picture is the reason why I wanted to go to Chinatown in the first place. In fact, I may have gotten a red light ticket for this trip. I honestly was in the intersection to turn left and when I reglanced at the light, it was at a full red. The light went so fast that I even question if I ran it but I would never go on a red so let’s see how it goes. Can’t sweat it unless it happens.

Anyway, as usual, I got this craving from TikTok. Nem Chua is a fermented pork or beef dish. Everyone who ate it made it look so scrumptious but a lot of people are put off by the color of this dish – but also put off that this dish starts with raw pork or raw beef and does not get cooked with heat. It is basically fermented so it’s akin to like cured meats like salami. I didn’t let anything deter me.

Nem Chua from New Cholon

Not sure how much these were each – but I paid $5.50 for 4 pieces. I got two beef (top row) and two pork (bottom row). Not sure why the pork ones get more garnish but it’s okay. I made Chan try it with me, he was not too excited but took one for the team.

We tried the beef one first and I actually super enjoyed it. It has a bit of sour sweet taste due to the fermenting but I enjoyed the texture especially with the strips of pork rind mixed in. I saved the pork one for last and eh….I didn’t enjoy it as much as the beef one. The beef one seemed to have a bit more texture in the beef while the pork one is pressed so hard that it’s like a meat block. No real texture. I also decided just to go for the chili pepper on the pork one and I think I stopped existing as a human being for a full 10 minutes while Chan just laughed and shook his head.

I enjoyed trying both but I wouldn’t make a special trip back out just to get it. Maybe if I were in Chinatown, I would definitely pop in to grab a few of the beef ones. Yum!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Feb14

No. (Don’t go shopping hungry)

Remember the huge tree that fell over onto Keeaumoku/Kapiolani during the heavy rains for that ONE day? That was so crazy because I drive there all the time! Freaked me out a bit. I took a picture of it the day after as I was driving there (proof I drive there all the time lol). Isn’t that crazy? And the way it’s planted, I think it might belong to Pacific Guardian. I really hope no one was harmed because that tree looked like it crushed at least 2 cars.

Le’s Banh Mi – Saigon Special add Roast Pork | $11.50 + $2.00

When I say that Le’s Banh Mi is the best on the island, please take me seriously. I don’t think you can get a better banh mi anywhere else. We’ve talked about this. Have you tried them yet? They make their own bread and it’s so soft and light yet crispy. And the toppings, I love their pate and the roast pork is chef’s kiss. I just give them a call before I head in to get it…takes them about 10 minutes and it’s ready when I’m there! This was even good reheated because we couldn’t eat it right away.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Aug9

Fort Street Cafe Pad Thai with Garlic Chicken | $12.45

We did a lunch order in Downtown recently, this wasn’t my dish but man oh man I got to eat a piece of the garlic chicken. They still do it so well. I think the pad thai is a bit sweeter than most, maybe I would just go for the garlic chicken.

Wowsers. I was at Windward Mall and decided to try a beef corndog. This was pricey, I think it came out to about 12 bucks for the hot dog and drink combined but boy oh boy was it good. A freshly fried corndog, I haven’t had that in eons. It was so good. Worth it!

Fukuya Nori Chicken and Cone Sushi

No prices on this because I got to eat it for free! I haven’t had Fukuya in a long time, nori chicken is good as always and the cone sushi is bumboocha! Nori chicken is so good, always worth it to buy outside because prepping and frying this on your own is a major pain.

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Recipe: Thit Kho (Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly with Eggs)

Jul17

I’ve seen Thit Kho up and down social media and usually from Vietnamese folks who were raised eating this so they were I guess tired of being served it? Excuse me! This dish looked delicious to me and I don’t think I’ve seen it on menus here so I knew I had to try to make it myself. The stars aligned for me one day, I saw quail eggs at Costco and got myself the skinless pork belly, game on!

Woohoo! So many eggs…

My first time cooking quail eggs…tried to cook it the least time possible because I knew I would have to cook it additionally in the dish too. No one wants the grey ring of death. I also had to peel all 36 of these mini eggs, heh.

Slice up the pork belly and boil it for a few minutes, helps to “clean” the pork belly!

What is this you ask? It’s a heaping amount of sugar with oil. I had to heat this up over low heat to get it browned up but not burnt, you know? Caramel!

I had to move fast! Once it got browned up, I added the pork belly. Look at the nice color!

Yum, the aromatics. Garlic. Shallots. Thai Chilis. No can go wrong. I should use more shallots in my cooking.

Smelled so good…

Add the eggs in and then let it simmer a bit. Make sure you mix it around good so the eggs get coated in the wonderful caramel sauce too. I didn’t add too much shoyu and salt to this because it asks for so much fish sauce! Recipes ask for coconut soda but I don’t have access to that so I just used coconut water. The dish was super good. I actually followed three different recipes to make this dish so I’ll just link them below!

Recipe inspirations:
Wok & Kin
Cooking Therapy
Simply Recipes

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