NattoKun : I <3 Food

My Favorite Sushi Spots

2008-09-01T15:57:00.006-10:00

Hello...is anyone out there? I hope all my readers haven't abandoned me. I can't blame you, as I know I haven't really posted anything for you to read. I still have all the hobbies/projects that I mentioned a few posts ago and I started a few more hobbies/sports (SUP and 6 Man Canoe Paddling), so I am a bit busy. But rest assured I still eat and take a lot of pics.

I get asked often what I think is the "best" sushi bar on Oahu and to that I reply "I don't have a 'best' spot, but a few places that I rotate throughout as they all have different characteristics and do things differently." So here, I am going to list my favorite sushi spots.

Sushi Koh - Although this place isn't in business anymore, I wanted to mention it as a tribute to this great sushi bar of past. I really liked this place because of their Aburi Sake Harami Nigiri, Aburi Hamachi Harami Nigiri, consistently good Engawa and the one and only spot where you could get the OMG delicious Bakudan Koh Donburi. Yoshi always took care of me when I went there. Supposedly he has closed up and moved to the mainland to be closer to his daughter. Click on the below thumbnails to go to my Flickr sets of Sushi Koh.

Past posts of Sushi Koh:

2004-12-30 Sushi Koh
2005-06-10 Sushi Koh
Original Location Sushi Koh Closed
Sushi Koh Reopens
2002-11-xx Sushi Koh
Sushi Koh Really Closes

Sushi Izakaya Gaku - Gaku is great!...if you can manage to get seats. Gaku is very popular and always packed. This place is probably the hot spot of authentic japanese sushi/izakaya's in Hawaii at this very moment. With the Honolulu Advertiser recently reviewing it, it's popularity will only further increase. What I really like to order at Gaku that you can't get elsewhere is their Zuke Ikura and their dried then deep fried fish bones. Some places will fry you the bones of smaller fish, but because they don't dry it first, it never comes out super crispy as it does at Gaku. Of course they also do everything else well. They often have Aji and Hirame. Sometimes you get suprised with Iwashi, Sayori and even Kinmedai. Click on the below thumbnails to go to my Flickr sets of Gaku.

Chiba-Ken - I like Chiba-Ken because of the hours, the atmosphere, the staff and of course the food. On Friday and Saturday they are open 'till 2AM which is good for us night owls. This is the only place on my list that has outdoor seating. Although it only overlooks Ena Road, it is nice to relax with some drinks and good food out in the fresh Hawaiian air. The staff is great, attentive but not overbearing. This is the one place that always gives you that extra something. Whether it be that extra over pour on your sake or some gratis sashimi/sushi. Click on the below thumbnails to go to my Flickr sets of Chiba-Ken.

Sushi Masa - I typically go here for lunch. It is located right across of Sedona in Ward Center. It is very casual but convenient. Don't let the settings fool you though, this place has really good sushi. I like to order the Katsuo Nigiri (w/ Masa's special Ponzu sauce and a garlic chip wrapped by nori), Aji Nigiri (w/ Masa's special Ponzu sauce) and his "lobster" nigiri. Click on the below thumbnail to go to my Flickr set of Sushi Masa.

Yohei/Maguro-Ya - When it comes to sushi I am pretty traditional. Some call me a "Sushi Nazi," as I often refuse to eat at places that serve contemporary sushi. How do I define contemporary sushi? Anything that has dynamite or rainbow in its name or has ingredients involved that aren't usually used in Japanese cuisine. The reason I have been going to Yohei Sushi for almost 15 years now is that they are a blend of old and new and regularly have a great selection of neta (topping). If you sit in front of Kazuto he will make you straight up good traditional sushi. If you sit in front of Ryuji he will make you good progressive sushi. Ryuji can take a base neta that I would normally not order and make it something that I really like. For example, Ika is not something I normally would order, but this Ika Mentaiko Uzura Nigiri is just amazing. Another one of his progressive creations is this Ama Ebi Uni Nigiri. The reason why I have Maguro-Ya listed together with Yohei, is because it is run by Kazuto's brother. They have many similarities such as the fish they carry (I'm assuming they have the same fish broker) and their shari (sushi rice). I haven't visited Maguro-Ya as much as Yohei and there isn't the progressive Ryuji sushi, but it is nonetheless very good. Whether you decide to visit Yohei, Maguro-Ya or both, you won't be dissapointed! Click on the below thumbnails to go to my Flickr sets of Yohei Sushi.

Mitch's Sushi - I have only been here once before, but I just know that this place is a winner from my solo experience. In addition to having amazingly fresh ingredients, the sushi chef went out of the way to bring me out some kimo (entrails/offal) from the back when I mentioned that I love kimo. Also they have ingredients such as Fuka Hire, Live Awabi and Live Ise Ebi, which is generally not seen at sushi bars in Hawaii. Click on the below thumbnail to go to my Flickr set of Mitch's Sushi.

Hanamaru - Recently opened and recently discovered, Hanamaru was instantly a hit with me. On my first visit they actually had Kawahagi, although they didn't have the kimo which is what Kawahagi is really known for. Why them having Kawahagi is a big deal is that I have never had Kawahagi anywhere but in Japan. On my most recent visit there, the sushi chef actually let me pick which Chu Toro slab that I would be getting my Chu Toro Nigiri from (out of 6 different slabs). Every time I have gone they have had Katsuo (Yum!) which I rarely see at sushi bars in Hawaii. Which is quite odd since you can catch Katsuo in Hawaii. They have great prices on their sake and also are one of the few places that I visit that carries Orion beer. Click on the below thumbnail to go to my Flickr set of Hanamaru.

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin

2008-03-05T15:08:00.003-10:00

I have been to TGB a couple times since they opened, but not once did I have their Tokusen Kurobuta Tonkatsu Teishoku. Not until my last visit. And OMG is it good. All of their menu items are good, but geez, the Kurobuta is good! It is worth the $36. The pork has a sweetness to it and it just melts in your mouth. It is fork cutting tender. Plus as it is, TGB has awesome rice which is cooked to perfection (all you can eat) and their goma suri tonkatsu sauce is tasty.

Wanda Adam's review @ The Honolulu Advertiser and her revisit here
Reid's post @ Ono Kine Grindz
Kathy's blurb @ A Passion for Food

We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected...

2008-02-27T14:58:00.002-10:00

I have found out that Sushi Koh has closed down. This came as a shock to my friends and I, as we just visited there at the end of last month. A few weeks ago a group of us were standing outside of Ginza Bairin waiting to be seated and we noticed that the Sushi Koh menu stand wasn't in it's usual location right in the front of the Breakers hotel. This was a night that they are usually open on. So it all makes sense now. Well hopefully they are moving or will reopen soon. :o\

Hisashiburi

2008-01-31T22:18:00.000-10:00

Hi everyone. Happy New Year! I know I haven't posted in a while, but I have been eating! Here are pictures from some meals that I had this week. Click on the pictures to take you to the photo set.

Sushi Koh (鮨好)

2007-09-05T11:37:00.000-10:00

Hey all! Long time... Been busy with a new job and I have other projects going on. I got a couple motorcycles I am building, a new car that I am trying not to modify ;), home renovations and have been surfing a lot. But, anywho, today I will be posting some old pics (Nov. 2002) from one of my favorite sushi spots, Sushi Koh. I last wrote that they moved and I have been there many times since. So without further ado here are the pictures.

Hon-Maguro Ootoro

Engawa

Aburi Sake

Aji

Awabi

Unagi

Sushi Koh Bakudan Koh Donburi

Ajitama Ramen

2007-03-07T19:12:00.000-10:00

On a recent night, while partaking in libations, a friend of mine, who goes by the handle, JiggyRamen, was raving to me about this new ramen place on Kapahulu. Now if you consider his handle choice and the fact that he AND his girlfriend, who stated that she doesn't care for noodles, was raving about this place, it must be good.

I was told it was in the same area as Starbucks and Jamba Juice, to park in the same lot and enter from the back entrance.

Follow the sign and you will find the "back entrance". A couple friends and I arrived right around opening on a Saturday evening. We were the first ones in there, but within half an hour the whole place became occupied. The interior was your typical ramen decor and nothing to write home about. They have a bookcase full of Japanese magazines and comic books. Fyi, the magazine "Fry-Day" has female nudity, so parents and those that might be offended of such, be forewarned. Of course my friends and I were all over it.

If you enter through the front you will be greeted with their sign with some Japanese hiragana that says "kotteri?". Which means, rich/thick. It refers to their broths.

As we reviewed their menu. I noticed that they had tsukemen, which they describe as "Cold Dipping Noodles". I love tsukemen because the noodles don't sit in the hot broth like Ramen, so the texture of it stays consistent through out your whole meal. So for those that haven't had tsukemen before it's like ramen but the noodles are served on the side.

We started off with some gyoza. Since it was early, they allowed us to make a "sampler" gyoza order. Where normally you would order 5 pcs. of either their Shantsai (Cilantro) or Nira (Chives) gyoza, they made one order of 3 pcs. Nira and 2 pcs. Shantsai. When this first arrived, the first thing I noticed was that the gyoza seemed small. They were about 2/3rds the size of your normal gyoza. The Shantsai was ok. I like cilantro, but I don't think it was a good pairing with gyoza. The Nira was good though. I like my gyoza to be juicy and both weren't juicy at all.

Friend K ordered the Shoyu Ramen. I sampled the broth and it was a bit richer than your normal shoyu broth. In the above picture you can see the fat floating around and it is definitely kotteri!

Friend J ordered the Kakuni Ramen. He also added the free chopped garlic option to his order. The broth seemed to be shoyu based. The Kakuni (braised pork belly) was very good. Pork fat rules! It was very tender and flavored well.

Friend C ordered the Goma Miso Tsukemen. I thought that they were a bit skimpy on the sides. There was only like 5 pieces of Menma (Pickled Bamboo Shoots) and a few sprouts. What's up with that? I tasted the broth and it was rich in miso and nutty goma flavor.

I ordered what my friend, JiggyRamen and his gf told me to order. The Spicy Negi Miso Tsukemen. I modified my order with chopped garlic, special garlic oil and chopped round onions. This dish was good but spicy. I was perspiring the whole time I ate it. If that mound of Negi (Green Onion) wasn't on my plate, my dish would have looked like friend C's plate. Again skimpy on the sides.

Overall the place is good. Flavors are rich like their street front sign suggests. Kotteri for sure. The only downside to this place is that the portions are small. Small gyoza, little sides and smaller than average portion of noodles. I will be back but not with a huge appetite.

Ajitama Ramen
617 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
808-737-1399

Lunch: 11:30AM-2:00PM (M-F)
Dinner: 5:30PM-9:30PM (M-Sat.)
Closed on Sundays

Some Local News

2007-03-05T19:02:00.000-10:00

This is old news but, Masu's Massive Plate Lunch closed down last week. I have only eaten there a handful of times, but I always find it sad when unique local eateries close down. I like the diversity and character they bring to our choice of eateries. Read the full story @ The Honolulu Star Bulletin or The Honolulu Advertiser.

On to other news. Big Kahuna's Pizza is moving from it's current location to the Airport Trade Center. Read more about it @ The Honolulu Advertiser.

Well it looks like...

2007-03-02T22:21:00.000-10:00

The Taste of Honolulu is not quite dead after all. The non profit organization, Abilities Unlimited ,will be hosting it this year under the new name, "The Flavors of Honolulu". The Flavors of Honolulu is scheduled to be held from June 29 through July 1 this year.

Read more about it @ The Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Argggh!

2007-02-21T17:17:00.000-10:00

Crap. It was just a few weeks ago, after a nice late evening night cap and dessert, that I was telling my friends that I hope this place never closes down. That it's the only place that I know of that is open till 2AM that serves this level of food. The place is The Bistro at Century Center. And today the Honolulu Star Bulletin has a story announcing it's closing.

The best part of the Honolulu Star Bulletin story is:

"I attribute this to both its asinine AOAO board and its apathetic owners," said Laughton. Within a period of little more than five years, this board has driven away two of Honolulu's finest restaurants while becoming notorious for permitting massage parlors, hookers and drug dealers to operate with relative impunity... I cannot envision any legitimate restaurateur in his right mind following us into this space."

Read the full story here.

CHOCOLATE!

2007-02-07T23:35:00.000-10:00

With Valentine's day coming up and all, I found this cool article on 'the Best V-Day Chocolate'. Or so NPR says. For those thinking of getting your significant other chocolate, check out the article here.

More Japan Bounty

2007-01-31T16:18:00.000-10:00

Here is some more of the things I brought back from Japan.

For you lovers of Natto, I found a gatcha gatcha (capsule toy dispenser) that had Okame Natto charms. I bought 4 and got 4 different ones. There are a total of 8. What's even cooler about these is the fact that they have plastic natto beans, tare (shoyu based seasoning) packet, karashi (mustard) packet and an Okame face inside. You can see them in the second picture below. Apparently you can purchase them online through J-list.

Then at another spot I found a gatcha gatcha with charms of various dissected things. Mainly they had animals, but they had this Maguro (Tuna) one. I so had to have it and on my first and only try I got it. Yes!

From left to right: At Mujirushi, which is apparently is coming to America, I found some Goya chips. I picked up a 99% cocoa chocolate bar, which I am sure is crazy bitter. Lastly is a bag of Unagi bone senbei.

Recently I have been watching Dotch New Cooking Show and on one episode which put Shio Ramen (Salt Based Broth) up against Shoyu Ramen, they used Kuro Mame Shoyu (Black Bean Soy Sauce). That got my curiosity piqued, so I purchased a bottle to bring back home.

When I get to taste the Kuro Mame Shoyu I will hopefully post up a report of it.

Some Japan Bounty

2007-01-29T02:16:00.000-10:00

One cup sake sampler.

Current limited edition Kit-Kat's.

R.I.P. Taste of Honolulu

2006-12-12T19:12:00.000-10:00

Apparently the Taste of Honolulu has grown so big that it's not manageable by the Easter Seals anymore and next year they are not going to hold it. Oh well it was fun while it lasted. Hope you at least went to one.

Read more about it at the Honolulu Advertiser.

Food & Liquor

2006-12-06T21:39:00.000-10:00

I went to Marukai today and this is some of my bounty.

Yakiniku Zipper Pull

2006-11-28T23:28:00.000-10:00

Wow. This is not exactly food, but this is definitely food related. Over in Japan, there is a company that has produced yakiniku zipper pulls. Check it out at Tokyomango.

12 yrs. of Veggies

2006-11-28T23:17:00.000-10:00

Today I read about a 12 year vegetarian breaking her vows and starting to eat meat again on IHEARTBACON.com. Check the pics of her 30 days of pork on Flickr.

Burger Bar @ The Mandalay Bay Resort

2006-11-02T19:35:00.000-10:00

On our third night, while we were strolling about Vegas, my sister called me to remind me about the Burger Bar @ The Mandalay Bay Resort. She had previously told me that I had to check this place out and that they have a Kobe beef burger with shaved black truffles and foie gras. After hearing that I was like, "WOW, I do have to check it out"!

Since it was about that time to eat, we all headed toward The Mandalay Bay Resort. As we eyed over our menus I caught sight of the Kobe/truffle/foie gras burger. But, ouch, it was $60. So this is what I came up with as a nice compromise.

I made a custom burger consisting of a Wyoming buffalo patty, whole wheat bun, mozzarella, pan seared foie gras, black Perigord truffle sauce with a side of sweet potato fries. I chose the buffalo meat, because I though the leanness would go well with the milky mozzarella, rich foie gras and the truffle sauce. And by using the truffle sauce you still get the truffle flavor without having to pay for the actual truffle price. So instead of paying $60, mine was $36.55 including the sweet potato fries. Oh and it was a good call. The combination of flavors were just right. It wasn't too rich. The lean buffalo matched well with the buttery foie gras and creamy mozzarealla. And to top it off, the truffle sauce took it to that next level. The sweet potato fries were a hit too. I enjoyed them and so did my friends.

Among the other things we ordered was a Wyoming buffalo patty, whole wheat bun, "Sin City Beer" caramelized onions, marinated anchovies, mozzarella custom burger with a side of buttermilk onion rings. I had a bite of this and it was good. I should have stuffed one of the onion rings in and it would have been a winner.

Surf & Turf Burger - Black Angus patty, plain bun, grilled half lobster, grilled green asparagus with a side of french fries. I had a bite of this also and I thought that lobster, while being very good, doesn't really match being eaten with hamburger in the same mouthful. Lobster has too delicate of a taste to be muddled with the bold flavors of Angus beef and the likes.

I do recommend going here if you like your burgers, because they sure have a great selection of them. Being able to custom make a burger is great too. Also try the buttermilk zucchini fries and let me know how they are. If you want to see a menu click here (it's a bit outdated though).

The Buffet @ The Bellagio Hotel

2006-11-01T22:54:00.000-10:00

On our second night we went to a buffet. But not just any old buffet. We visited The Buffet, at The Bellagio Hotel.

The best thing about buffets are that when you are hungry, you don't have to wait for your food to be ordered and prepared, you can just go up and dig in. And boy were we hungry. One "problem" with this buffet was that there was much food to choose from. A lot of food. Ok it's not a real problem, but when you're hungry and you're just interested in getting back to your table to partake in your bounty, you don't want to be weighed down with sooo many choices. Hehe.

The choices are many. You got your seafood, meats, breads, pasta, salads, sushi, blah blah, dessert, etc. The list is long. Here are some of items from the buffet that we ate:

Bay Scallop Ceviche, Kobe Beef Sirloin, Rack of Lamb, Beef Wellington, Sake Nigiri and Maguro Nigiri.

Steak Tartare, Spicy Tuna Roll, Sake Nigiri and Maguro Nigiri.

Smoked Salmon, Rack of Lamb and Cocktail Shrimp.

King Crab Legs.

We ate at The Buffet on a Saturday and the price was $34.95 + tax per person. I heard that it is cheaper on weekdays. I dunno for sure though. I also read about a trick where you go and pay the lunch price about half an hour before dinner prices start and hang out until they bring out the dinner items. Voila, you get dinner buffet for lunch buffet prices. Next time I will have to try that. At any rate this was not bad for the money, but bring a hearty appetite so you can get your moneys worth.

Shibuya @ The MGM Grand Hotel - Las Vegas

2006-10-31T21:23:00.000-10:00

A few weeks ago I returned from my first trip ever to Las Vegas. Yes you read that right, I have never been to Vegas until now. So anywho, what were the few things that my friends and I did in Vegas? Eat, shop, gamble, eat and eat more! Oh and lose money. :o( Before going to Vegas I was told to visit Shibuya @ The MGM Grand Hotel and that I would love it. In fact I was told that it's better than Nobu. Not that it matters since I haven't been to either, but I have heard good things about Nobu. So what did we have and what did I think about it? Let's find out.

My friend ordered the Combination Tempura ($20). I might have had one or two pieces of it. I don't remember and I guess that means it wasn't anything outstanding.

Next up was the Toro Tartare accented with Achiote Oil, Beluga Caviar and Gold Leaf ($24). This was pretty good. I couldn't discern any flavor added by the Achiote oil and apparently Achiote is mainly used to add coloring. The salty Beluga caviar and the very rich toro melded perfectly in my mouth.

Kampachi Sashimi with Fresh Yuzu and Black Truffle Oil ($12) was brought to our table next. The crisp and clean flavor of the Kampachi blended well with the tart Yuzu and the very aromatic black truffle oil. I recommend ordering this if you ever visit Shibuya.

Following the delicious Kampachi was the Australian Kobe Beef Tataki ($22). It came garnished with red onions, lemon Tamari soy, tarragon oil and garlic chips. I have never had a bad order of beef tataki anywhere and this place didn't dissapoint. High quality Kobe beef combined with the tart/salty lemon Tamari soy, garlic chips and the herby tarragon oil are a really good combination that takes plain old beef tataki up a notch.

Following all those "fusion" dishes we ordered some sushi. We ordered a bunch of nigiris along with a Niji Roll ($19.50). The Niji roll is made up of crab meat, avocado wrapped in tuna, yellow tail, salmon, fluke, shrimp and eel. I didn't have any of the roll since I usually don't do "rolls". Yea I know that sounds snobby but when it comes to sushi I am. Or so I have been told. :op

The sushi here was good, but nothing great. Prices of the nigiris ranged from $8-11.50. Not that great of a deal when you later read about the really, really good sushi we had a few days after eating at Shibuya.

To finish off our meal we ordered the Warm Chocolate Cake ($10). The chocolate cake is below the rice tuile and the green tea ice cream. In the foreground you have poached lychee. The chocolate cake was good. The green tea ice cream was ok. It wasn't Dave's green tea ice cream which, if anyone from Shibuya is reading this, they should consider using. I didn't know how the lychee fit in to the dish. I couldn't see eating it with the cake since both are really sweet. I dunno.

Even though the sushi wasn't as good as it could have been, my friends and I enjoyed eating at Shibuya. Check it out if you are ever in Vegas. Just make sure you try their more untraditional menu items.

JP Serrato Pasta

2006-10-26T18:18:00.000-10:00

One of my coworkers often goes to JP Serrato Pasta (JPSP) for lunch. As matter of fact it was with him that I went on my first visit to JP Serrato Pasta. The first time I went I had some lunch special that really didn't impress me. But recently another coworker and I, which both of us happen to love the chicken anchovy olio from Assagios, were talking about chicken anchovy olio and the JPSP regular mentioned that JPSP has chicken anchovy olio for about $7. So it was decided that the next day that we had to have JPSP. My coworker and I both ordered the chicken anchovy olio, because we love it, did I mention we like it a lot?

For y'all that haven't had chicken anchovy olio, it is really a simple dish. You combine pan fried crispy chicken simply seasoned with salt and pepper, with minced garlic and anchovies that have been sautéed in olive oil and linguine. Anywho we both thought that it was missing a little something in the flavor department. Maybe a tad bit more anchovies and garlic. Also I thought my noodles could have been cooked a bit more al dente. But all in all it is a great value. And waaay better than paying about the same amount for some boring plate lunch.

Someone got the seafood pasta, but I only got pictures and no comments on it. Sure looks good though. Yum!

Moa Mua Tei (R.I.P.)

2006-10-12T19:47:00.000-10:00

I think these are the only pictures I have of the late Moa Mua Tei (MMT). This was and is the best all you can eat sushi/tempura restaurant I have been to in Hawaii. Back in the day we used to go to this place almost weekly. Visits to MMT tapered off towards the end when their quality and selection went down as they tried earnestly to make profits. I miss this place.

Sushi Bistro

2006-08-31T21:27:00.000-10:00

Last week a couple friends and I paid a visit to Sushi Bistro. This was my first time there and it was pretty good. All the ingredients in the dishes were of good quality and the flavors were well balanced. In addition they had my favorite sake, Hakkaisan for $9.75 a glass. Which is a relative deal. Selection of sushi neta was limited to your usual options. Personally I like neta that you don't usually find elsewhere. Anywho I'm not gonna bore you much more and if you want to read some professional reviews of this place check them out @ the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser.

Dragon Fruit

2006-08-23T01:42:00.000-10:00

The other day I was shopping at Safeway and I stumbled upon some dragon fruit. I have never had it before so I bought one to try.

Reading on how to prepare it I found out it is part of the cactus family. As I cut it open I was greeted by what looks like cookies and cream.

Taste and texture: The meat has the consistency and flavor of pear. The seed remind me of the seeds in a kiwi fruit. All in all nothing to write home about but it was an interesting experience.

Kauai

2006-08-21T00:06:00.000-10:00

I just got back from Kauai. It was a nice relaxing weekend spent with friends and family. Here is some pics of what we ate for dinner tonite.

Supreme with a wheat crust (butter brushed on the crust) from Brick Oven Pizza in Kalaheo and some garlic saute'd prawns.

Oops

2006-08-13T11:33:00.000-10:00

Sorry guys and gals, I accidentally removed perms on most of the pics before I left for my work travel and I only caught it a few days ago. It's all g now.

Travelling

2006-08-09T11:49:00.000-10:00

Welp I am on the road again for work. I was in Santa Monica last week. That was nice. I had sushi a couple nights, ate some korean food in ktown LA, almost had pho one late night (a long story), finally had an animal style burger from In-N-Out Burger and ate at a Japanese izakaya and yakiniku place in Gardena.

Now I am in Knoxville, TN. Interestingly a co-worker told me of a Japanese restaurant/sushi bar run by a Japan native. The place is called Gohan-ya and I found it's address and pictures of it on this fellow blogger's site. I visited there and had some sushi and took out an order of tekka-don and oyako-don. The place wasn't bad for TN but by far doesn't compare to what you can get in Hawaii. Which in turn, of course, doesn't compare to Japan. But I digress. Anyways here are some pics for you to digest.

Sorry about the crappy sushi pics. I forgot my camera when I visited so I only had my cell cam.

Although Gohan-ya is mediocre when you compare it to where I am from I wouldn't hesitate to visit it again when I am next in Knoxville and have a hunger for Japanese food.

More Neo Nabe

2006-07-06T15:20:00.000-10:00

Kim Lehano has done a review on Neo Nabe. You can find the review here @ Oceanic's Around Town site.

Neo Nabe

2006-06-30T11:40:00.000-10:00

Wanda Adams did a review of my friend's restaurant Neo Nabe. Check it out here. I have pics that I will post later.

Sushi Koh!

2006-06-04T23:05:00.000-10:00

I have news that they have reopened across from their old location in a hotel called Breakers. More news to come!

Sushi Masa

2006-04-24T23:55:00.000-10:00

On a recent shopping trip, my friends and I stopped by Sushi Masa in Ward Center for a quick bite to eat. Making an appearance here is Aji, Sake and Suzuki. All was yummy as usual, but Katsuo sadly was MIA.

Giovanni's Shrimp Shack

2006-04-06T23:11:00.000-10:00

On a nice sunny day my friends and I visited the Kahuku prawn farms and look what we found...

Yum!

Sushi Koh (鮨好)

2006-04-04T19:54:00.000-10:00

I heard recently that Sushi Koh closed down. So sad. Sabishii!

Chu Toro, Sake and Mirugai

Hon-Maguro Ootoro and Engawa

Sushi Koh Bakudan Koh Donburi

R.I.P!

More new okashi (お菓子)!

2006-03-30T21:08:00.000-10:00

Family visited from Japan and dropped off some new Pocky and Fran...

(White Chocolate/Macadamia Nut/Green Tea Fran, Kinako Pocky and Kuro Goma Pocky)

Nico's at Pier 38

2006-01-11T15:00:00.000-10:00

Ok here I am and I am alive and kicking. There are many reasons why I haven’t posted in a while. I started racing motorcycles again, work, attempting to have a social life, yada yada yada… So, anyhow I finally visited Nicos back in July and only now I am going to complete my post on it.

It has been a while since I visited so my post will be quite short, not like my posts are long in the first place…

I ordered the grilled marlin with dill butter sauce.

I was a bit disappointed with my choice. I found that the marlin was over cooked and thus ended up very dry. Also the sauce was very bland and flavorless.

My friend ordered the double cheeseburger with French fries. He didn’t feel like eating any seafood (which I feel is sacrilege at a seafood joint), so I suggested the burger because Reid (who committed the same crime) enjoyed his.

He seemed to enjoy it, as I remember, because in no time the burger was gone. Either that or he was very hungry.

I do want to revisit Nicos and try other offerings there to get a better sampling of what they are all about and to see if my experience was just a "off" day for them.

Other reviews:

Reid @ Ono Kine Grindz' review of Nico's at Pier 38
Helen Wu's Honolulu Advertiser review of Nico's at Pier 38
Gail Jennings' Hawaii Diner review of Nico's at Pier 38
Nadine Kam's Honolulu Star-Bulletin review of Nico's at Pier 38

Kiwami Ramen Revisited

2005-09-27T17:36:00.000-10:00

After a decent session of surfing at Waikiki the other week, my friend and I were hungry so I suggested that we go to Kiwami Ramen. My friend hadn’t gone before and I was in the mood for some chashu gohan. My friend ordered the tororo tsukemen and I ordered the medium chashu gohan with an extra ajitsuke tamago.

While waiting for our food I sipped on my Kirin nama and found out that Kiwami’s noodles are made using the owner’s recipe. They are not quite “home made” as they have it made for them using the owner’s recipe. Still, custom made noodles are better than off the shelf noodles.

Our food arrived and boy was it good. I am beginning to like this place more and more. The chashu gohan hit the spot for me and it was just as Reid describes in his review.

This last visit sold me. Whenever I am in the area I will be revisiting.

Kiwami Ramen

2005-09-01T15:02:00.000-10:00

After reading Reid’s review of Kiwami Ramen he had my curiosity piqued. Recently I was in Waikiki with some friends to pick up a gift and I suggested to them that we try Kiwami Ramen.

In Reid’s review, it was the ‘medium charsu rice’ that got my attention. Two slices of chashu, a mound of cubed chashu and to top it off a ajitsuke tamago. So the first thing I ordered was the small chashu rice.

I was a bit disappointed with this dish. The main thing about this dish that disappointed me wasn’t the size of the portion, but the cubes of chashu. They were cold and thus the fat on it was also. Cold fat is never good. I don’t know if they serve it like this for a reason, but it didn’t enhance this dish in anyway that I could think of. Another thing to consider is the price. The small is $2.00 and it is fairly small in portion. The medium is $4.00, but it comes with the sliced chashu and the ajistuke tamago (which is $1.50 on the side alone) in addition to what I would assume is an increase in the size of the portion. On a positive note, the rice was hot so it helped warm up the cold cubes of chashu, which when heated, tasted pretty good and also the hot rice was tasty also.

My friend and I ordered the Goma Miso Tsukemen (胡麻みそつけ麺; Sesame seed and soy bean paste broth with noodles).

Our other friend ordered the Tororo Tsukemen (とろろつけ麺; Grated mountain yam with noodles).

The Goma Miso broth was very tasty. The noodles were pretty good and having them tsukemen style helped a lot with keeping the noodles firm until I finished them all. I still hold Taishoken’s noodles as my gold standard. I tried the Tororo broth and that was tasty also.

If you are ever in the area (Waikiki Shopping Plaza) check this place out. While not quite as good as Taishoken it is pretty good.

What was Hatsune-Ya...

2005-08-15T10:58:00.000-10:00

Thanks to PakePorkChop I found out that there will be a new restaurant called Hakkei opening in the location of the old Hatsune-Ya. Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit Hatsune-Ya while they were open to eat their Okinawan dishes (RAFUTE!!!), but I am definitely looking forward to trying the dishes from Hakkei.

You can read about Hatsune-Ya closing and Hakkei opening here.

Poke Stop

2005-08-12T15:16:00.000-10:00

Last weekend I brought along a friend and finally visited Poke Stop. When you first walk in you are presented with a refrigerated glass case filled with many types of poke.

(Sorry about the glare)

On either side of the poke case you have good selection of pre-packaged bentos, salads, and pupus to choose from.

We looked around for a while and we were finally ready to order. I decided on ordering the fried oyster Po Boy sandwich (6” Kaiser Roll, chopped lettuce and homemade Hawaiian chili pepper remoulade) w/ Puna’s potato salad (the decision to have this sandwich was heavily influenced by Nadine Kam’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin review of Poke Stop) and my friend ordered the Deconstructed Sushi Bowl (Blackened Nairagi, Kim Chee Ahi, Tako, Tobiko, Shrimp, pickled ginger served over sushi rice). We also picked up a small tray of the Kim Chee Kona Crab.

I really enjoyed the Po Boy, which mirrors what Fran said in her Hawaii Diner review and Nadine in her Honolulu Star-Bulletin review. Just as Fran said, Puna’s potato salad is a “refreshing change from the macaroni salad that everyone else serves.” I had a taste of my friend’s sushi bowl and I thought that all the toppings were good but the sushi rice could have used a bit more vinegar and salt. Although it took some work getting to the meat, the Kim Chee Kona Crab was very tasty.

I will most definitely be visiting Poke Stop again. If you haven’t gone yet take a trip down to Waipahu and enjoy some affordable, gourmet seafood. They offer so many items that one visit isn’t enough to cover them all. The day I went they had Crispy Whole Flounder as one of their specials…

Nadine Kam’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin review of Poke Stop
Fran Wilson Magbual’s Hawaii Diner review of Poke Stop

Poke Stop
Waipahu Town Center (next to Sizzlers)
94-050 Farrington Highway, E4
Waipahu, Hawaii 96797
Tel: (808) 676-8100

Moi

2005-08-09T14:51:00.000-10:00

Deep fried with garlic Ponzu sauce...YUM!

Sushi Koh

2005-07-22T17:31:00.000-10:00

The same friend that took me to Honolulu Country Club wanted to go to Sushi Koh before he headed back to Italy. He and I have eaten many times here and we both love it. Yoshi serves up some great aburi and he always has Engawa (縁側; Flounder skirt meat). This time we went we had our usuals but I had something that we never had before, Hirame Kimo (平目肝, Flounder liver). This was awesome. I love kimo so I when he asked if we wanted to try it I quickly said “YES!” Very rich stuff but balances well with the negi and the shari. Sorry for the quality of the pic, it’s a bit blurry.

Here is a pic of one of my new loves, Mirugai (海松貝; Geoduck clam).

Sushi @ Honolulu Country Club

2005-07-19T16:47:00.000-10:00

Recently my friend was back in town and he has an uncle who is a sushi chef at the Honolulu Country Club. He suggested that we go visit him and who am I to object to such a suggestion. This was my first visit to the Honolulu Country Club in quite some time and I was curious to see how sushi at a “country club” could be.

We were served a appetizer of Mirugai (海松貝; Geoduck clam). It was served chopped into cubes with a ponzu style sauce with a hint of mirin.

My friend’s uncle asked what we would like to have first and we both answered “ENGAWA!” Yum!

Next up was Hirame (平目; Flounder).

My friend’s uncle then brought us out a Hamachi Kama (鰤鎌; Yellowtail collar).

He then served us Ika (烏賊; Squid).

And lastly we had Mirugai (海松貝; Geoduck clam).

Everything that night was good especially since I was a bit apprehensive about eating sushi at a “country club”. I’d like to thank my friend for treating me to that delicious meal of sushi and I would like to thank his uncle for his hospitality. Check out my friend’s uncle, John Noboru Yamao @ Honolulu Country Club and tell him that Jupiter sent you.

Ginza Kimuraya

2005-07-07T12:35:00.000-10:00

Well I finally visited one of the places that are on my list of places to (re)visit. My friends and I had just eaten at Taishoken for lunch and after some shopping and such we were looking for somewhere to eat for dinner. We were in the area so we decided to eat at Ginza Kimuraya Kahala Mall (across of Chili’s).

I ordered the Beef Steak a la Moromi. Their menu describes it as “Marinated beef steak with special Moromi (unrefined soy sauce).” This is what I ordered the first time I visited here and I liked it enough to order it again. As you can see from recent posts I love a good steak and for the money this is good. The Moromi adds a nice smoky shoyu flavor to the tender steak. This is served with a side of steamed vegetables, house bread and a choice of soup or salad. I chose the salad and it was meh, but at least it wasn’t smothered with too much unhealthy salad dressing as they do at most places.

My friend ordered the Salmon Misoyaki. He didn’t really care for this. I tried this also and it wasn’t that flavorful.

And my other friend ordered the Ahi Steak & Salad. He really liked this and so did I. The Ahi was seasoned and pan fried to perfection...very flavorful and very juicy.

Afterwards I bought some garlic loaf and some other French bread that I don't remember the name of, but they were very good. Even though my friend's salmon wasn't that great I would recommend coming here for lunch or dinner. Their breads are very good and all their dishes use high quality and fresh ingredients. They also have a bar with beer on tap and many wines to choose from.

Pirikara Tsukemen @ Taishoken

2005-06-23T12:42:00.000-10:00

Taishoken has a new soup called Pirikara for their, oh so delicious noodles. As with all their soups you can get this as tsukemen style or ramen style. Pirikara is a shoyu based broth that has fried ground pork, togarashi (Japanese red pepper), Korean red pepper, ginger and garlic in it. The first time I had it I was sold. It is sooo good and it has just the right amount of spicy kick to it.

Previously my regular order was the Miso Tsukemen but ever since I had the Pirikara I don’t know who Miso is.

Willie G's Seafood and Steak House

2005-06-20T13:00:00.000-10:00

As I arrived in downtown Denver I eyed a bunch of steakhouses. Willie G’s being one of them. I decided to eat there on my last night of my trip.

My waitress first brought out some sourdough bread. When I broke off a piece it was piping hot. This was a good sign that the bread was fresh out of the oven. The bread was served with olive oil and fresh cracked pepper. The Bread had a nice crispy crust and it was soft inside.

The appetizer I ordered arrived next. They were a 1/2 dozen Blue Point oysters on the half shell. I was told that these particular oysters were farm raised in the cold waters of the Delaware Bay. They were served with freshly grated horseradish, cocktail sauce, lime and lemon. It was very fresh with a nice crisp briny flavor.

Next up was my main dish. Now I could have ordered the special which was a cowboy cut 20 oz. dry aged, bone in rib eye steak served with artichoke risotto, but I opted for what I had since I have never had it before. What I ordered was the dry aged 12 oz. buffalo rib eye. It was char broiled to my liking (medium rare) and served with a side of perfectly steamed vegetables (green zucchini, yellow zucchini, carrots, and broccoli) and homemade garlic mash. I also was able to choose between two sauces: béarnaise and rosemary-peppercorn, but I asked for both sauces and they happy obliged. My first bite of this steak was… WOW. It just melted in my mouth. Although I have to say I really couldn’t discern this from beef. The flavor of the rosemary and peppercorn blended with a red wine reduction to make the rosemary-peppercorn sauce which perfectly complimented the steak. I typically go by the belief that a good steak doesn't need a sauce, but I found my buffalo rib eye taking a swim in the rosemary-peppercorn sauce quite often.

This is what I COULD have ordered for dessert (starting at the piece nearest, going counter-clockwise): 6 layer chocolate fudge cake, key lime pie, raspberry-blackberry-strawberry tart, turtle torte with caramel fudge and pecans, NY style cheesecake. I didn’t order any because: 1. I was full and 2. It only takes a little to satiate my sweet tooth so any one portion would have been waaaay too much for me (I usually share desserts).

Makino Chaya Mililani

2005-06-16T09:45:00.000-10:00

OMG I am a filthy whore. Never again. I was curled up in the fetal position in my bathtub while cold water showered down on me afterwards.

En Fuego

2005-06-15T10:32:00.000-10:00

Man I’m really behind on posting. Here is one from almost a month ago. I visited En Fuego in Kapolei and I really enjoyed their plate lunch. I ordered the Hamburger Steak and Garlic Chicken combo with brown rice and mac salad.

You pay a premium here over your average plate lunch but imho it is worth it. I will pay a premium for good food and this place is good. The gravy for the hamburger steak had fresh mushrooms in it, not that typical canned stuff. The garlic chicken was good. Typical local style (sweet, but not too sweet) with a good amount of garlic punch. The brown rice was very moist and not dry. After looking at their website menu there is a ton of stuff that I want to try. The next time I am in that area I will be definitely going to En Fuego.

The Delectable Egg

2005-06-13T09:40:00.000-10:00

Here is another breakfast post from my trip to Denver. This morning a fellow colleague and I ate at The Delectable Egg. I ordered The Godfather omelette.

This was a three egg omelette with Italian sausage and mozzarella smothered with their homemade marinara sauce. It was served with a side of their specialty potatoes and toasted, buttered English muffins. The weather was so nice that morning that we decided to eat out on tables outside. None of the pictures I took depict the weather well, but it was in the 70s, crisp air and not a cloud in the sky. Nice!

Rialto Café

2005-05-26T07:37:00.000-10:00

I was on business travel last week which put me in downtown Denver, Colorado. Rialto Café was located in the hotel that I was staying in and I visited there a couple times. The morning I had breakfast there, I ordered their Prime Rib Hash and Eggs. Now when I ordered this I was envisioning your typical “corn beef hash” hoping it would be served crispy served with my scrambled eggs on the side. But instead I got this.

This was layers of specialty house potatoes, prime rib, grilled peppers and onions and scrambled eggs. This was all covered with a rich hollandaise sauce, chopped tomatoes and green onions. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but the serving was very generous. What a great way to start off a day. Fresh OJ, prime rib, hollandaise…Yum!

Site news: 05/20/05

2005-05-20T19:50:00.000-10:00

Sorry about the images being down for the last few days. My server IP changed while I was gone for a business trip and I was unable to change it until I got home today. All is good now. Also sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't really been going anywhere to eat or making anything blogworthy at home, but I do have a bunch of Japan stuff queued up. Also since I just came back from my business trip I do have a few posts in store from that. Hopefully I will have time to put them up this weekend.

JJ French Pastry

2005-04-27T01:48:00.000-10:00

Great minds do think alike! Coincidentally Reid over at ‘Ono Kine Grindz posted about his visit to JJ French Pastry today and I had it in queue to be posted right after my Toraji post.

Before my recent visit, the last time I visited JJs was when they were located back at Pearl Kai shopping center. That was a looong time ago.

The reason for my recent visit was that they recently started serving a lunch and dinner menu. With menu items such as Baked Tuna Wellington and Fisherman Pot Pie I had to go.

The day I went I brought a friend along and this is what we ordered:

Baked Tuna Wellington,

Pate Chaude,

Lao Pizza,

And we each had a Tiny Pyramid.

Everything was very good. The Wellington and the Chaude were good but a bit on the cold side. If they were served fresh out of the oven then they would have been perfect. The pizza was delicious, highlighted by its crispy crust. I ordered the tiny pyramid because it is so rich that, that amount is all I need to satisfy myself, although I might be lying there. I think I could eat a regular sized one. At any rate I did order a regular sized Chocolate Pyramid and a Frou Frou au Chocolate to take home for my sister at her request. But surprise surprise she didn’t eat it so I got to have it all mwahaha. The chocolate pyramid is to die for and the frou frou is very good also. The frou frou is a white chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries encased by dark chocolate.

I recommend everyone who likes sweets/pastries to try here at least once and now that they have a lunch/dinner menu there are even more reasons to visit.

Yakiniku Toraji Diamondhead

2005-04-26T20:24:00.000-10:00

A few weeks ago I read about Toraji on anytimegrinds’ forums and coincidentally, later that day, I read about it in the Honolulu Advertiser. That same night I was to go out with my sister to dinner so we decided to go to Toraji. Another coincidence occurred while looking for parking, we ran into three of my friends and thus we decided to have dinner together. We arrived at about 8 PM and we were able to get a table for 5 right away even though we had no reservations. Not bad considering the place recently opened up.

One of the first things that struck us as odd about this place was when my friend asked for tea. They brought her out a tea pot and one of those generic Chinese restaurant clear plastic cups. It’s kind of hard to drink hot tea while your hand is burning?!

After ordering some drinks we ordered the following:

The assorted vegetables were a “service” item.

Niku Sashi (肉刺し; Raw Beef Sashimi with Wasabi Sauce). Although the menu states that it comes with wasabi sauce it actually came with a balsamic sauce, garlic ponzu sauce and the wasabi shoyu sauce. The beef that they served us was very tough and not the grade that should be served as sashimi.

Tan 3 Kyoudai (タン3兄弟 (タン, タンスジ, 上タン); Tongue, Mini Tongue, Special Tongue for 2 People). This was good. We ordered it one more time that night, but then again I have never had bad tongue.

Ebi Shio (エビ塩; Big Shrimp with Salt). Cooked shrimp…MEH. Fyi I am not a big cooked shrimp fan. I love shrimp but I rather have it raw, unless you’re talking about shrimp tempura or breaded shrimp, etc.

Harami Tare (ハラミタレ; Beef Outside Skirt Meat with Original Sauce). This was very good. We also ordered this again that night.

Tri Tip Sirloin Shio (トライチップサーロイン塩; Beef Tri Tip Sirloin with Salt). This was also meh.

Chicken Tare (チキンタレ; Chicken with Original Sauce). My friend ordered this as she doesn’t eat much beef. I didn’t have any of this.

Hotate Shio (ホタテ塩; Scallop with Salt). My sister liked this but I thought it was just large frozen scallops. I have had fresh jumbo scallops from Hokkaido before so I guess I am spoiled. It was ordered again that night, but the funny thing is that the second time around they didn't want to give us the red pepper. Aww boo...it made it sooo purty.

Honeyama Tare (ホネヤマタレ; Beef Rib Finger with Original Sauce). This was also pretty good. Their original sauce went well with these juicy cubes of meat.

Toku Kalbi (特カルビ; Premium “Kobe” Kalbi ½ Pound). Ok now this was very disappointing. For $24.75 this was an utter insult. The meat wasn’t marbleized and it was very tough. Not “Kobe” at all. I have had real Kobe, Matsuzaka, Hayama, etc. in Japan so no fooling me here.

Kuro Miso Harami (黒味噌ハラミ; Japanese Dark Miso with Beef Outside Skirt Meat). This was very good. I liked this even more than the harami tare. I guess you can’t go wrong with harami.

Overall this place was so so. I didn’t care for the atmosphere of the main room. Our table was overlooking the beautiful cars driving by on Kapahulu Ave. Also it seemed a bit cramped, although the booths in the back seemed a bit roomier. Also their menu is a bit confusing, not so well organized. I don’t think I can wholeheartedly recommend this place, contrary to Helen Wu’s review of the place. I would say if you want to try Japanese style Korean yakiniku in Hawaii visit Gyu Kaku.

New Combo Menu @ Taishoken

2005-04-15T00:31:00.000-10:00

About a month ago Taishoken started offering a bunch of new combo dishes. For $6.95 you get your choice of: chicken katsu, pork katsu, croquette, gyoza or fried chicken which comes with a small bowl of rice, tsukemono (漬物; Pickled vegetables) and small shoyu ramen (miso+50¢).

This is a pretty good deal considering the other two combos they have are nearly two dollars more for either. So I tried the tonkatsu (豚カツ; Pork cutlet) combo twice and have decided that I will never order it again. The reason being is that the ramen, compared to the tsukemen, is served way hotter and I can't eat it right away. By the time I am able to eat it, the noodles are soft, which I can't stand. Also the miso broth isn't the same as the tsukemen miso broth. I could taste the difference each time I had it. I asked our waiter and he confirmed that they were indeed different. He said that they add a bit of vinegar to the tsukemen miso broth and what a difference it makes. I had the miso tsukemen last time and it was good to be back. So much so that after I finished my regular size noodles I upgraded it to a large order which is twice the amount of noodles as the regular order.

Now if they offered these combos with tsukemen as an option I would get a tonkatsu miso tsukemen combo every time but until then I will be ordering my favorite miso tsukemen.

Here are some pictures of the croquette and tonkatsu combos just to give you an idea of the portions. The meal as a whole is pretty filling considering the “choice” is pretty small.

Shokudo Japanese

2005-04-11T03:32:00.000-10:00

For a while now I have been waiting patiently for Shokudo to open its doors. What got my curiosity piqued about the place was initially its logo. There’s something about a well designed logo that shows that they care about details. Judging from outside and inside they paid attention to the atmosphere of the place very well. We'll have to see about the food.

I went on a Friday night with about 7 friends and considering that it just opened and it was fairly crowded we only had to wait for about 10 minutes before we got seated.

We started our night with an order of the Dekitate Tofu (できたて豆腐; Freshly Made Tofu). This was good. It was very soft and creamy. It was served with a memmi (soy-bonito-mirin based) style sauce, nori (海苔; Dried seaweed), negi (葱; Green onion) and shio (塩; Salt).

And some chilled Hakkaizan Sake (八海山の酒).

Then we had the Mochi Cheese Gratin. Cheese and mochi…what a great combo. The chewy mochi goes great with the melted gooey cheese.

Tori Tsukune (鶏つくね; Baked Minced Chicken) was our next dish. This was probably a serving for about 4 people but we somehow stretched it between the 8 of us. It was very tasty.

Next up was Kushi Katsu (串かつ; Skewered Pork Cutlet). They offer this with Miso or Tonkatsu sauce, but I asked for both on the side and they happily obliged. I love katsu stuff and I enjoyed this dish with the two sauces. The batter was light and crisp and not too oily. The pork, cooked just right, was juicy and tender.

Tori no Karaage Shichimi Tartar Sauce (鶏の唐揚げ七味タルタルソース; Deep Fried Chicken with Spicy Tartar Sauce) was a must order according to my friend. My friend said this was good and this was good. It is really hard to mess up fried foods. Fried chicken plus the mayo based tartar sauce equals a very tasty treat.

We then ordered the Seafood Dynamite. This was your typical scallops, shrimp and other assorted seafood in a mayo based sauce then baked till the top is caramelized. I was never a big fan of this type of dish. This dish was ok.

My friend ordered the Ishiyaki Kajiki Maguro Ninniku Fuumi (石焼かじきマグロにんにく風味; Garlic Marlin Seared on Hot Plate). I was never a big fan of Marlin. But this dish wasn’t bad. The key was not to cook the fish too long since they sliced it pretty thin.

The same friend that recommended the karaage said to order the Ebi-Mayo Roll (エビマヨロール; Deep Fried Shrimp Sushi Roll). Ok those that know me know that I am a big sushi snob. I am very against non traditional sushi. So of course eating this I was going to be biased against it. It wasn’t bad. Your typical “whatever roll” sushi if you are a fan of that stuff.

Next came the Daikon to Tamago to Butakakuni (大根と玉子と豚角煮; Stewed Pork, White Radish and Egg). Now this was the one I was excited about. To me this seems like what Rafute would be like but I have never had it. I was going to try it at Hatsune-ya but being that it closed down I don’t know where else I can try it in Hawaii. This was very tasty. The fatty pork and the refreshing daikon went excellent together. Too bad I had to share it with my friends!

Followed by the Teppan Saikoro Steak (鉄板サイコロステーキ; Diced Beef Steak on Hot Plate). The steak was ok. The few pieces I had were tough. I don’t think I would order this again.

And lastly was the Teppan Gyoza (鉄板餃子; Gyoza on Hot Plate). This was ok also. I have had better gyoza, such as Taishoken’s. Unless you are a gyoza lover I would recommend ordering something else from the menu.

We had Honey Toast for dessert. I first saw this style of “toast” on Kit-N-Kitchen’s menu. Theirs, if I remember correctly, is prepared as garlic butter toast rather than a dessert. It looked good although I have yet to go and eat at Kit-N-Kitchen. Then when I went to Japan this year I had it in Odaiba. This one was even better than the one I had in Japan since it had the ice cream on it. This was a very good way to end the meal.

The overall night was great. Friends, good food, and drinks in a nice spot… you can’t go wrong. Pricing wasn’t bad either. It came out to about $35 per with tips and drinks. Although the food didn't overly excite me I wouldn't mind going back to Shokudo. There are many things on the menu that we didn't get to try and the place is very nice. Anyone want to go?

Reid's Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

2005-04-08T06:28:00.000-10:00

I think I have issues. Reid over at 'Ono Kine Grindz posted his recipe for his Triple Chocolate Cupcakes to participate in last month's IMBB theme. You can check out all the entries here. And since he did I have been thinking about them since. I even dreamt about them this past weekend and I haven't even had them yet! So I suppose I need to make/have them soon. If anyone is reading this and loves to bake and wants to suprise me feel free to do so!

Yohei Sushi

2005-04-04T01:03:00.001-10:00

I <3 (heart; love; not a double scoop of ice cream) sushi. My friend's girl-friend was here in town and loves sushi so we decided to go to one of my top five favorite sushi places on the island. I have been going to Yohei Sushi for over 10 years now. My uncle used to take my sister and I there and I have been going there ever since.

Typically when I make reservations I get seated in front of Ryuji. Here is a picture of him working hard along with Kazuto on the right of him.

We started off our night with some locally caught Mebachi Maguro (目撥鮪; BigEye Tuna). The pieces we were served were chu-toro. Looks can be deceiving, although the pieces doesn't look that fatty they were quite creamy and rich. Nothing compared to oo-toro of course but it was good.

Also from the same Mebachi Maguro, we were served with some of the meat skewered and grilled. I think it was the kama (鎌; Collar) meat.

Next up was Tai (鯛; Snapper) and Shabu (しゃぶ; Parboiled Tuna collar; a Yohei specialty). Both were served with ponzu (ポン酢; Citrus-soy based sauce), negi (葱; Green Onion) and Momiji Oroshi (紅葉下ろし; Grated Radish with crushed Red Pepper).

Next we had Hamachi Zuke (鰤ヅケ; Yellowtail marinated in Shoyu).

In between making us our next sushi we got to munch on some hone senbei (骨せんべい; Fried fish bone – called senbei to refer to its crunchy “senbei” like characteristics). This is really good and I recommend you to try it at least once. Goes great with beer.

Next up was the true Yohei Shabu (しゃぶ; Parboiled Tuna collar; a Yohei specialty). This one was served with their miso-mayo sauce and negi (葱; Green Onion). This is how they usually serve it. This is probably one of my favorite things to order at Yohei. It is just so...OMG when you eat it.

The following picture came out really junk but it is of Ama Ebi with Shiso, Uni and Ikura (甘海老と紫蘇と海胆とイクラ; Sweet Shrimp with Perilla Leaf, Sea Urchin and Salmon Roe). The sweet of the shrimp mixed with the rich and sweet of the uni, salty and creamy of the ikura is just awesome. They also brought out the obligatory deep fried shrimp heads. My friend didn’t want his so I got to have two. :o)

Next on our plate was Sawara Aburi (鰆炙り; Seared/Broiled Spanish Mackerel). I learned that the Hawaiian name for Sawara is Ono.

We then had another Aburi, Toro Aburi (トロ炙り; Seared/Broiled Fatty Tuna). If you ever go to a sushi bar that has anything prepared Aburi style, order it. It really brings out the richness of the fatty fishes. My lucky friend got an extra piece stacked on his nigiri.

Saba Battera (鯖; Box Pressed Mackerel Sushi) was next up. Battera is where the sushi rice is placed in a wooden box and is then pressed down with the Saba on top. I prefer fresh Saba Nigiri but this was still good.

This next one caught me by surprise. Up to now I have tried everything that we were served. Ryuji made us Ika with Mentaiko and Uzura Yolk (墨魚と明太子と鶉卵黄; Squid with Spicy Cod Roe and Quail Egg Yolk). I really don’t care for Ika. It’s not that I can’t stand it, but it just doesn’t do anything for me. I can eat it but I never crave it. But this was good. The Uzura Yolk made it really rich. The Mentaiko added a lot of flavor and there was a lingering after taste that was really complex. I have to order this again.

The next one we had I liked and I didn’t. We had Engawa and Hamachi Tataki (縁側と鰤の叩き; Minced Halibut Skirt and Yellowtail). I liked it because it was very good especially with the Negi (葱; Green Onion) and Shiso (紫蘇; Perilla Leaf) but I didn’t like it because I found out that they used the last of the Engawa to make it. You see, I love Engawa and it is probably my number 1 neta (ねた; Sushi topping). I found this out when I tried to order it later in the night.

The next one we had I call Ryuji’s Sake (鮭; Salmon) Nigiri. He uses the Harami (腹身; Belly meat) of the salmon and then adds Goma (胡麻; Sesame Seed), Ikura (イクラ; Salmon Roe), Kaiwari (貝割; Radish sprout), Katsuobushi (鰹節; Dried Bonito Flakes), Shiso (紫蘇; Perilla Leaf), Yamaimo (山芋; Mountain Yam) and a thin pickled thing that I can’t think of the name at this moment. It’s a refreshing change from always eating just plain Sake.

Our second to last order was Sayori (針魚; Halfbeak). Sayori is a really light and refreshing fish. When I order this at Yohei they always give me the skin wrapped around a skewer which is then grilled.

Lastly we had Ikura (イクラ; Salmon Roe) and Uni (海胆; Sea Urchin). Before I really didn’t care for Ikura or Uni but now I love them both. If you don’t care for either/or you might want to try it at a place that has quality fresh Ikura and/or Uni. The taste disparity between cheap Ikura/Uni and good quality Ikura/Uni is huge.

Everything we had was delicious. Yohei Sushi always has a good selection of fresh fish and ingredients. Service is good and Ryuji and Kazuto always make me feel welcome. I highly recommend this place.

Mr. Frypan

2005-03-27T13:50:00.000-10:00

Kinda funny…In preparation of writing this review I was looking back at Reid's review of Mr. Frypan so I didn't regurgitate anything he already might have mentioned about the place and I just realized that he and I ordered almost the same thing and even our outside shot of the place is almost the exact same. Great minds think alike! Well anyways, on to the review.

The other week I had jury duty which brought me to downtown and thus I was excited that I would be able to enjoy my lunches on those days at many of the great eateries of downtown. The first day I chose Mr. Frypan. I heard about Mr. Frypan many years ago and have wanted to try it since. But generally I don’t like going to downtown and trying to find parking just to go to one place. So now it was finally my chance to eat there. I made friends with a couple jurors and we headed down there on our lunch break. Considering it was 1:00PM it was pretty crowded.

With all the items on the menu I had a hard time choosing. You know how that goes, especially when you are HUNGRY!

Well I ended up ordering the #16 which is the menchi katsu curry (hamburger) and a side piece of croquette.

I was a bit disappointed. The menchi katsu was not fresh. The breading was soggy and the filling didn’t taste quite that fresh. Although right after I ordered, the two juror friends, who ordered the exact same thing as me, got a fresh batch of menchi katsu. The curry itself was a bit bland although I must say that it had that homemade feel to it. I think I just ate there on an ‘off’ day. I can’t recommend this place yet, until I try it again. Although I don’t know when I will be revisiting. There are many other places that have pretty darn good Japanese style katsu and aren’t in downtown. Although I can’t think of one that has menchi katsu which is my favorite.

By the way, on that first day I was chosen to be on the jury and the trial lasted only one day. So that only left me with two places to choose from in downtown for lunch. Mr. Frypan is one and I am ashamed to say where I ate on the second day....HAH

Bakery House Aoki and Aoki Cafe

2005-03-26T19:05:00.000-10:00

My relatives own a bakery and cafe right in front of the Kanazawa Hakkei train station. It is called 8K-Aoki. 8K == Hakkei if you were to read the 8 as they would in Japanese. Kinda cute haha. Anyways here are some pictures of the bakery.

And this is my favorite bread item there. Bacon Epi.

I haven't even come close to eating every one of their bread items and they are always constantly coming out with new items. They also have the sweets in the glass case and also sell senbei and the like.

On the second floor they have a cafe aptly named Cafe Aoki. One morning my friends and I had breakfast there.

I had the omlete

and my two friends had the banana pancakes.

Good stuff.

Menchanko-Tei Waikiki (めんちゃんこ亭)

2005-03-22T18:07:00.000-10:00

Last weekend a bunch of my friends and I visited Menchanko-Tei on the word of Alyyygator saying that I needed to try the Kikuzo ramen there. A couple of my friends had the Kikuzo ramen, two had the Menchanko, two others had the Miso Menchanko and I had the Hakata ramen.

I enjoyed the Hakata broth very much. I have tried the Hakata ramen at Ippudo @ Yokohama Eki and I think that the broth at Ippudo is slightly richer. Also Ippudo has fresh garlic cloves that you can grate into your ramen. Like when I go to Taishoken, I love to have a lot of garlic in my broth when I eat ramen. If Menchanko had garlic as a condiment it would be a nice addition. The noodles were your typical Hakata style noodles, thin, but I wish they were a bit more firm. I guess since I like Taishoken’s noodles so much I compare all to it. Even though it might not be how traditional Hakata is prepared I would rather have Taishoken’s noodles in this and many other broths that I have enjoyed. The aji tsuke tamago was good. The chashu doesn’t meet up to the melt in your mouth goodness of Yotteko-ya’s chashu.

I tried the soup and noodles from my friend’s order of Kikuzo. I am not a big shoyu based broth guy and thus I didn’t get too excited by the Kikuzo. The noodles on the other hand were pretty good. I wouldn’t have minded if my Hakata had the noodles used in the Kikuzo ramen.

I didn’t get to try any of the Menchanko's my friends ordered so I can’t comment about them. One of the two Menchanko's above is the miso one but I can't tell which. So I'll leave it up to you to figure it out.

I would recommend checking this place out. I want to go back again during dinner hours, since many of their items weren’t served during the lunch hours when we went. Some of the items I would like to order next time are the Yuba Motsu Nabe (湯葉牛もつ鍋; Tofu Curd and Beed Tripe hot pot) and the Buta Kaku-ni (豚の角煮; Simmered Pork Cubes)

Ponpoko

2005-03-18T01:14:00.000-10:00

Ponpoko is an izakaya in the town where many of my family live. I first went there a few years ago and have been going every time I visit Japan since then. I like it because of its proximity, atmosphere and of course, food. It is a couple blocks away from my aunty and uncle’s house where I usually stay and because of this proximity I can eat and drink until my heart’s content and not have to worry about how I am getting home.

For those that don’t know what an izakaya is check out this thread @ egullet.org.

The following pictures are what my friend's and I had during two visits to Ponpoko during our trip in January.

Saba Sashimi (鯖刺身; Mackerel), Aji Sashimi - Ikezukuri (鯵刺身活け作り; Horse Mackerel),

Shirako (白子; Sperm Sac), Shirako (白子; Sperm Sac),

Kujira Tatsuta Age (くじら竜田揚; Fried Whale), Kujira Sashimi (くじら刺身; Whale),

Maguro No Butsu Kiri (鮪のぶつ切; Block Cut Tuna), Ponpoko Kohada Special (ぽんぽこ小鰭スペシャル; Gizzard Shad),

Ponpoko Sushi Special (ぽんぽこ　寿司　スペシャル), Karei Karaage (鰈空揚; Fried Flounder),

Fugu Sashimi (河豚刺身; Blowfish), Liver Sashimi (レバー刺身; Beef),

Ama Ebi (甘海老; Sweet Shrimp), Ika No Shiokara (イカの塩辛; Squid),

and Basashi (馬刺; Horse).

Everything we had was good except for the basashi. I have had fresh basashi and it is very good. The basashi we had was of the frozen type and was not as good. This was my first time having shirako. I have always seen it on shows like Burari or Iitabi but didn't try it until this year. It is pretty good. Not as rich as I thought it was going to be. Also I don't know what type of fish this shirako was from.

Ponpoko also has your usual assortment of shochu cocktails, beers, and sake.

If you are ever in the Kanazawa-Hakkei area, check this place out. I am sure you’ll like it. And be sure to go early because it fills up fast. The place seats approximately 23.

Natto (納豆) Spaghetti

2005-03-14T15:35:00.000-10:00

I think I might have a bit of time this week to get some posts up. This is a straggler post from back before I went to Japan. Being that I love natto so much it is only fitting that I have at least one natto post. So here it goes!

I made natto spaghetti for my friend and me waaaay back at the beginning of the year. It is really simple to make. Here is the list of ingredients:

2 "quarters" dry spaghetti
1 package natto
6 strips bacon
1/8 Maui onion
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt

To start off either buy the type of natto that is already chopped up or chop it up your self. Then mix in the mustard and tare (sauce) that comes with it. Place on the side.

Cut up the bacon into ½” pieces and dice up the onion. Toss both in to a fry pan and cook until the bacon is browned. Drain all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.

Cook the spaghetti until it is al dente. Drain the spaghetti and incorporate it well with the bacon, bacon fat and onion. You can season it with salt and pepper at this time. Plate the spaghetti with the natto placed in the center. You can choose to garnish the natto with many of the typical garnishes that go with natto. Some of these garnishes include a raw egg yolk, negi (green onion) and katsuo-bushi (shaved dried bonito). In my pictures I didn’t garnish it with anything. Making this fed my craving for Pietro’s Natto and Crispy Bacon Spaghetti.

Serves 2.

Maccha (抹茶; Green Tea) & Pocky

2005-02-14T19:37:00.000-10:00

Whoa.....been pretty busy since I came back from Japan. Cleaning house, cleaning yard, cleaning cars, working on computers, etc. I will try to start getting the pictures from Japan up soon. Btw it was an awesome vacation as always. :o)

Well for now here are some pictures of some sweets I brought back.

抹茶 (Maccha; Green Tea) Mousse Pocky, 抹茶 (Maccha; Green Tea) Meltykiss and 抹茶 (Maccha; Green Tea) KitKat.

つぶ苺 (Tsubu Ichigo; Bits of Strawberry) Pocky, あずき (Azuki; Red Bean) Mousse Pocky and 抹茶 (Maccha; Green Tea) Mousse Pocky.

On Vacation

2005-01-13T13:47:00.000-10:00

Hi everyone. I am currently in Japan so I will not be posting much. I arrived yesterday and I will be here for a couple weeks. I will make sure that I take alot of pictures of food and post them asap here or when I get back home. Cheers and GOOD EATS!

Oven-fried Potato Chips Recipe Redux

2005-01-10T21:07:00.001-10:00

Ok so I finally got around to making the oh so delicious yet simple recipe for Oven-fried Potato Chips that I seen @ Simply Recipes. I made mines a bit different from how she makes hers. I soaked the sliced potatoes in a sugar and water solution a good hour or two before patting them dry. I have heard somewhere that McDonalds does the same to their fries. I'll have to make some without the soaking step to see if it enhanced the flavor any. I also substituted the butter with E.V.O.O. (Garlic and Black Peppercorn Infused Olive Oil). I seasoned the chips with crushed Hawaiian Rock Salt. On one of the batches I tossed in some finely chopped garlic. The garlic one is definitely the winner combo.

I made this for some friends and it was an instant hit. I will be making these many more times in the future for sure.

Sushi Koh (鮨好)

2005-01-04T20:44:00.000-10:00

Recently my good friend was visiting from The Bay area. He hadn't had good sushi in a while and we decided to visit one of our old favorite sushi restaurants, Sushi Koh. It's been a long time since I have gone there and I was pretty excited to go.

Nameko Oroshi, Engawa,

Aburi Sake, Aburi Hamachi,

Maguro, Shio-Lemon Hirame,

Hirame, Sushi Koh Bakudan Koh Donburi

Yoshi also hooked us up like he usually does with an assortment of other appetizers and also dessert, but I didn’t take any pictures of those. Most of the nigiri's have Yoshi’s own blend of shoyu brushed on top already so you eat it as is. The Engawa here is to die for. It is always consistently good. The Aburi Sake is what blew me away the first time I ate here. The Sake just melts in your mouth and as you can see in the picture it is trying to melt just sitting there. It is soo fatty. Awsome! The Koh Don is awesome. It has many ingredients, but I don’t know if Yoshi would like me to divulge what those are, although if you had it, it is fairly easy to figure out.

This is one of my top 5 sushi restaurants in Hawaii. I can’t wait to go back.

Tenkaippin

2005-01-03T20:45:00.000-10:00

I revisited Tenkaippin on 12/19 and as you can see it is crossed out as one of my places to revisit. This time around I tried the Assari Ramen along with retrying the Kotteri Ramen. Personally I ordered the Tenkaippin Special (Gyoza, Chahan, and Ramen) which was $12.20 with Kotteri being the ramen choice. The special is cheaper ($11.95) if you choose the Assari or Shoyu as the ramen choice. My friend ordered the Assari. I have come to this conclusion. The two broths are very good. The Kotteri is a rich and thick chicken based broth, while the Assari is a light yet flavorful chicken based broth. But the noodles leave something to be desired. The gyoza is uninspiring and so is the chahan (granted I am not a big chahan fan). And if you compare the atmosphere and prices to my favorite ramen place, Taishoken, it really isn’t worth it, imho. I probably won’t be going back. The noodles and the gyoza broke this place.

Assari Ramen (left), Kotteri Ramen (right)

Company Dinner @ Sarento's

2005-01-02T16:58:00.000-10:00

Ok here is another "catch up" post. Last year our company dinner was at Diamond Head Grill. This year it was held at Sarento's. I really appreciate working for a company that doesn’t mind spending the extra money on it's employee's for a good Christmas dinner. Our night started off with a cocktail hour while waiting for the stragglers to trickle in (I was one of them). I had a couple Wet tonics during this time. I was turned on to Wet by my friend chaddychan. It is very good. It isn’t as dry as typical gins and it is infused with pear. Our dinner started off with a choice of one of two appetizers.

I had the House Smoked Salmon “Sandwich” which was garnished with Red Onion, Crème Fraîche and Avruga Caviar.

The other offering was Bruschetta Rustica (Grilled Eggplant, Diced Roma Tomatoes with Garlic Basil & E.V.O.O. Served on Tuscan Bread with Feta Cheese.)

Next up was salad. It was Caesar Alla Sarento's (Baby Romaine, Roasted Garlic Dressing and Ciabatta Croutons.)

We had a choice of 4 Entrées.

Penne Calabrese (Roasted Eggplant, Housemade Sausage, Roma Tomatoes, Broccolini, Garlic, White Wine and Goat Cheese.) Sorry I didn't get a picture of this dish.

Swordfish Portofino (Smoked Lobster Crust, Linguine Aglio Olio, Yuzu Beurre Blanc, and Roasted Beet Vinaigrette.)

Pollo Ripieno (12 oz. Chicken Breast Stuffed with Prosciutto & Fontina. Served with Plack's Lemon Rice and Panzanella Salad.)

Cotolette Capricciosa Durini (Milanese Style Veal Cutlet. Served with Fresh Mozzarella, Roma Tomatoes, Arugula & Truffle Vinaigrette.) This is the one I had.

For dessert we had Tiramisu which I didn’t take a picture of.

It was a very good dinner considering it was a “company dinner”. I can’t wait to see where we have dinner at next year.

Cholos Homestyle Mexican Restaurant

2004-12-28T18:07:00.000-10:00

Ok I finally got my web server up so I can host my own pictures. This was the reason for the slight delay in posting.

Last, last Tuesday after a decent surf session at Puaena Point. My buddy and I went to eat at Cholos Homestyle Mexican Restaurant. This was the first time for both of us there. We have eaten at Diego's Taco Shop @ Pearl City many times and both of us like the carne asada burrito there. So we both ordered the same thing, a carne asada burrito plate. It came with a basic rice pilaf, refried beans and a side of salsa. The burrito was stuffed with a decent amount of beef and had ample amounts of guacamole. I would have preferred more cilantro though. The pilaf, beans and salsa were your standard fare. I would say for the money Diego's wins. Diego's has more beef in their burrito, the meat is tastier and it's nearly half the cost. It was around $12.50 for the plate at Cholos and if I remember correctly the same plate at Diego's is around $7.00. Of course if you compare the settings of the two restaurants they are way different. Cholos is way nicer. Diego's is cheaper and tastier. But it was nice to relax with a nice tall glass of Dos Equis Amber draft and eat after a day in the water.

Good Hawaiian Food

2004-12-21T14:03:00.000-10:00

I am a bit behind on posting here. Been busy with work and tis the season.

I have eaten at many places that serve Hawaiian food but nothing beats home made Hawaiian food. My hanai family makes some pretty good Hawaiian food. Last, last weekend was my Uncle’s birthday party and we had some ono Hawaiian food. Everything was homemade except for the lomi lomi salmon. My favorite is ummm.....everything. I didn't take any pictures of the poi or rice but we had a lot of that also.

We had lomi lomi salmon, kalua pig,

lau lau, luau stew,

chicken long rice and squid luau.

It was a great night spent together with friends and family. Great food, great company. Happy Birthday Uncle Kimo.

If you know of a good place for Hawaiian food please leave a comment and I'll check it out. Thanks.

Oven-fried Potato Chips Recipe

2004-12-16T10:37:00.000-10:00

elise over @ Simply Recipes has posted a recipe for Oven-fried potato chips. It's a very simple recipe and the picture she has up of it just makes me drool. I think I will try making it for some friend that are coming over this weekend.

Read more @ Simply Recipes

Sandwich Islands Deli

2004-12-09T05:46:00.000-10:00

Reid over @ 'Ono Kine Grindz reviewed Sandwich Islands Deli. I like the fact that you can choose between brown or white rice and mac or tossed salad when you order plates. The hamburger steak looks like a winner. I will have to visit this place.

Read more @ 'Ono Kine Grindz.

Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas (Visited on 11/30)

2004-12-09T02:38:00.000-10:00

A few friends and I went to Hiroshi's new restaurant located @ Restaurant Row where Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar used to occupy. The food was excellent and the wine was very good. Master sommelier Chuck Furuya was on hand to recommend what wines would complement our meal.

We started off with the sizzling moi carpaccio and the white truffle panna cotta. What made the carpaccio "sizzling" was that it was topped with hot peanut oil. It was garnished with micro greens drizzled with truffle oil, shredded daikon, tomato chunks and cubes of tofu. This was all sitting in a ponzu sauce. If you have never had moi sashimi or moi "carpaccio", you need to try it. Moi is a very tasty fish cooked, but even tastier raw. The panna cotta had a lobster medallion and prawn topping it.

Next up was a double order of seared sea scallops and foie gras nigiri. The scallops were cooked perfectly and were very sweet. Topped with tobiko and sitting in a cream based sauce they were very good. According to Nadine Kam the sauce is a bacon takana ragout. The foie gras was very good also. The foie gras was drizzled with a unagi style tare.

Following the scallops and foie gras was a double order of the bacon wrapped jumbo prawns and kanpachi sashimi. The prawns were pretty standard fare. The kanpachi was fresh and tasty. It had a "Fukui" salsa of sorts on top, much of the flavors coming from the chopped Kalamanta olives and the chopped wasabi infused takuan.

Finally we had maguro nigiri and sake nigiri. The maguro was topped with a "cold ginger chicken" type of sauce. The sake was miso baked and topped with pickled ginger. Both nigiris were good but they have nothing on the better sushi restaurants in Hawaii. For dessert we had a flourless chocolate cake and a maccha creme brule. I didn't take any pictures of the creme brule because I am not a fan of creme brule, but after having this one I have to reconsider that stance. The creme brules that I have had previously were not too rich, sugary and custardy. This one was rich, creamy with the maccha giving it a very exotic flavor. Very good. I am a big dark/bitter chocolate lover and the cake was a winner. I didn't even touch the ice cream. I just indulged in the chocolate cake.

Somewhere in between all that we also had the shrimp chawanmushi, "bagged" moi and the Kona cold lobster tail. In my excitement to eat I forgot to take pictures of these. Also, I am writing this all from memory, so if there are any errors please point them out. In the future I will take notes so I can write a more accurate review.

Jiraiya Tenmusu

2004-12-07T14:56:00.000-10:00

After our delicious lunch @ Tae's my sister and I went to Ala Moana to do some shopping. While at Shirokiya we saw a stand making Jiraiya Tenmusu. It was where Beard Papa was. Never heard of it but my sister and I are big fans of musubi's with different fillings. So we bought one pack (6 musubi's and some kyarabuki @ $5.99). It was good. The musubi is each stuffed with a shrimp tempura. The musubi is a bit small and a bit pricy, but a good snack nonetheless.

Tae's Teppanyaki Review

2004-12-07T14:28:00.000-10:00

My sister and I arrived at Tae's approximately at noon. She ordered the garlic ribeye steak roll and I ordered the wasabi ribeye steak roll. I forgot to order the garlic rice. Shucks...I guess I will have to go back again :o) For $5.50 including tax you get a ribeye steak roll in your choice of flavors (wasabi, garlic, spicy, teriyaki, salt/pepper) and it comes on a bed of romaine lettuce with two scoops rice and ponzu dipping sauce. This place is definitely a winner.

I have to clarify a few things. First, their hours/days of operation have changed. They no longer have dinner hours, but they are now open on Saturday. So the hours are Mon-Sat 10AM-2PM. Secondly, I remember seeing some posts/articles about Tae's mentioning it has shredded daikon inside the roll, but it is raw shredded potato.

All in all it was good and I can't wait to go again. Next time I won't forget the garlic rice although I wonder if they have it still since it isn't on the menu.

Tae's Teppanyaki Preview

2004-12-07T04:41:00.000-10:00

I first read about Tae's Teppanyaki here. Recently a co-worker and I have been talking a lot about food and during one of our conversations I remembered about this place. I have never eaten there and I am planning on going to Tae's tomorrow with my sis. I will probably order the garlic ribeye steak roll or maybe the garlic/wasabi combo ribeye steak roll that I read about here. Garlic rice sounds good too ($1 extra).

Here is another post/review about the place.