Ichiriki in Honolulu, HI

My cousin works here and my mom has been talking it up forever. We finally had a chance to go with the weather cooling down a bit. The reason we wanted to go when it is cold is so that we could have their hot pot/nabe in relative comfort. It was very good, if a little expensive.

First off, if you can, make reservations. My mom had made reservations for 7:30 on a Saturday. Good thing because there was a small group waiting outside when we got there and another small group that was told they could expect to get a table around 10. (But then when we left, maybe around 9:30, there were several tables available...)

Second point is that the place is well-decorated. The right side is sort of like Japanese style, where you're sitting at low tables. Instead of having to sit on your knees though, there's room under the table so that it is the same as sitting on a chair. Probably awkward to get in and out in a skirt though. The place just looks nice, has that Japanese ambiance, simple, kind of rustic.

The prices are about $20-$25 per person. If you go after 9:30 though, it is only about $11. (You don't get EVERYTHING you do at the $20 rate, but you get most of it I think.) They have three basic broths: shio (salt), shoyu, and miso. Then there are different variations. I was mostly interested in the spicy versions (spicy shio, spicy shoyu, kim chee miso) and the ginger one which is advertised as being good if you are coming down with a cold. I ordered the spicy shoyu and also tried a little of Kea's kim chee miso and my dad's ginger. I liked all of them but may go with the ginger next time. (I'm a big fan of ginger.)

Depending on which broth you order, you get an assortment of raw meat and veggies to cook in the broth. Everyone got tsukune, a chicken and pork sausage. It comes in bamboo and you have a tool to separate it into meatballs and push it into your broth. My spicy shoyu broth really brought out the sesame oil flavor in the tsukune. The different sets came with ingredients like pork, arabiki, another sausage, chicken, scallop, shrimp, salmon, aburage, shiitake, enoki mushrooms, head cabbage, won bok, arrowroot noodles (kind of like konnyaku) and bean sprouts.

Some members of our party were a little nervous about cooking and eating with the same utensil, especially with the tsukune and other raw pork and chicken, but you know this restaurant would get sued so fast if they had problems. Plus Alton Brown said no one in the U.S. has gotten trichonosis in like 50 years or something. I tend not to worry about those kinds of things although I know some of my friends would not like it. You can probably ask for an extra set of chopsticks if you like.

Overall, it was a really great experience. I think interactive eating is always fun. Some kinds of cook-your-own restaurants can be stressful I think (like yakiniku where one or two people seem to end up in charge of cooking) but I found this one to be low stress.

Kamuela/Waikoloa, Hawai'i

Butter and sweetened condensed milk on toast
One of the culinary highlights of Christmas week in Kamuela was that my mother-in-law introduced me to this wonder. Had it on either bread or a bagel nearly every morning. Sooo yummy. Goes great with coffee.

Some crappy ramen place in Waikoloa
Kea's mom was talking up this ramen place in the King's Shops or Queen's Shops or something like that. It turned out crappy. I was fooled in part by the design of their signage. The typeface was clean and modern and led me to expect something of quality. Should've been tipped off by the fact that it was Chinese-owned though. I don't think I've ever been to a Chinese-owned ramen place. Or if I have, they knew enough to make it look Japanese. This one had shoyu containers on the table that just looked like they didn't belong.

Kea's mom ordered tempura ramen and it was so not tempura! It was more Chinese or Local-style battered and fried shrimp. Maybe even like American style? Whatever it was, it was not tempura.

The gyoza was so junk, like not even worth eating. The filling was like unseasoned meat. Kea's mom also ordered fried scallops in seaweed. When it came it was wrapped in bacon instead--and while the menu had said it was $4, we ended up being charge $14. I didn't know about this until we had left; otherwise I totally would have said something. I can't believe neither Kea nor his mom said anything.

I had the spicy pork ramen. I think it was the best although it had way too much pork. Honestly though, I think ramen is hard to mess up. Even if it is crappy, it still fills you up and has that comforting quality.

Still yet, never going back there.

Pizza place in the Fireside Food Court in Kamuela
Kea and I had spent a few hours at the beach and were starving by the time we got back up to Waimea. After our experience in Waikoloa, I was sort of resigned to the fact that we were not in a metropolis, meaning that there isn't the competition to enforce quality control. There are definitely good places to eat on the Big Island, but it seems it's better to stick to the tried and true. I guess to some extent that's true everywhere... anyway, I think pizza, like ramen, is hard to mess up. We ended up grabbing a special: fountain drink, salad bar, and slice of pizza for about $8. It was a good deal. The pizza was not the best--and only cheese and pepperoni were available--but it was enough to fulfill a pizza craving. The salad bar included some nice greens (probably the mix from Costco) and a decent variety of other toppings (e.g. olives, mushrooms).

Yong's in Kamuela
I was really blown away by Yong's. I had been there before but not for awhile. And I think I've become much more knowledgeable about Korean food in Michigan. Yes, it's strange, but I ate a lot more of it in Michigan. Plus before I would always just get meat jun or barbecue chicken. Since living in Michigan, I've become a total convert to the soups and stews. With the cold weather in Waimea I definitely wanted a hot and spicy soup.

I ordered the Yukgaejang (spicy beef stew) and it was so awesome. Definitely spicy--I've developed a tolerance to spicy food so this didn't burn my mouth, but it did tickle the back of my throat and make me cough. I suppose it's not much to say it's better than the yukgaejang I had in Michigan, but that's the only other place I've had it. For sure, the meat was less fatty than in Michigan.

Kea had meat jun and it even smelled high quality; I've never smelled the nice fried egg on the meat jun before. I think it was fried up really well. Or it could be because most times I eat meat jun that's had to survive the drive home from the restaurant...

Anyway, I think Yong's is my favorite place to eat in Waimea... second only to Kea's mom's house.

Foodventures in Pearlridge

Church's Chicken and Charley's
Kea and I met Jamie, Dave, and their two boys at the food court in Pearlridge Uptown. Had a great time playing with the 2 1/2 year old, who was shy at first, but was soon showing us all his cars. The newborn slept the whole time.

Anyway, Kea was not really in the mood for the stuff at that food court so we ended up splitting a chicken tender meal (with mashed potatoes) from Church's Chicken and a bacon and cheese fries from Charley's. The verdict: Church's Chicken is not as good as Popeye's. Had less batter and not much taste. Charley's bacon and cheese fries, however, we both like better than Jack in the Box potato wedges. It's more crunchy.

Off the Wall
A few hours later we went for second dinner. Thought about trying Kuru Kuru Sushi but they still had a line at 8:30 pm. Ended up around the corner at Off the Wall, a place I'd read good things about in The Honolulu Advertiser. Kea especially was in the mood for sushi and I thought bar food would be a good option for a smaller meal since we had eaten a little earlier.

Anyway, we loved it and think it fulfills a great need in the Pearl City area. The Kuru Kuru overflow should seriously just make their way to Off the Wall; they serve sushi, sashimi, poke--the usual as well as more innovative stuff. We had the Naked Spicy Ahi Poke Musubi. I guess it's naked because there's no nori. It's like four rectangles of rice with poke on top and spicy sauce. So good. Real nice amount of heat. Seriously, though, we were thinking that Off the Wall should make some kind of sign in/on a car and park it right outside Kuru Kuru...

Off the Wall is great as an izakaya style restaurant: you know, drinks and pupus. Seems like there aren't that many of these kinds of places on the Leeward side. They serve entrees as well but Kea said they looked kind of small. And honestly I rather eat pupus--have my rice in sushi form and save room for the good stuff. As for drinks, they serve sake and beer. Looked like they had Budweiser, Bud Light, Kirin, and Heineken on tap. The waitress said they open late-night on Fridays--until 1 and serve a limited pupu menu from 10:00. Speaking of the waitress, she was super friendly, professional, and helpful.

I find that it's easy to spend a lot of money when eating izakaya-style and this is no different. Prices are a little on the steep side (e.g. $8 for four bite-sized pieces of ahi poke musubi) but everything is so good that it's worth it. The place is also well-decorated in contrast to its neighbors; Pearl Kai has a lot of good food but most places don't seem to pay any attention to decor.

Anyway, back to the food. In addition to the sushi and musubi, we also ordered Fukuoka style tonkatsu, which had choi sum wrapped in bacon wrapped in pork. So good. I think this was my favorite thing. We also had shrimp wrapped in bacon; I think both of us are more bacon fans than shrimp fans. It was like eating smoky shrimp. Yum...

Also had pork andagi. This was kind of weird. We were both excited to try it, but ultimately Kea liked it more than I did. The andagi was good. And the pork was ginger-y, which I liked, but I'm not sure if I liked the whole package. It wasn't a sure thing like the tonkatsu. It was interesting, though, something to try at least once if not something to go back to again and again.

Still want to try the bittermelon and the other kinds of pork. Looking forward to going back again!

Milano Freezer in Aiea, HI

This place has been open for a few years in that strip mall by Pearlridge (the one with Tony Roma's) but I never cared to go. Not sure why; probably something about the design didn't appeal to me. I have heard that a couple of friends are fans though and also saw their website featuring their cute logo. Along with the fact that this is one of the few places in Hawai'i to get gelato, these convinced me to give it a try. That and I was getting cabin fever just cruising at home while Kea played poker with his friends. (Still rather stay home by myself than watch him play though.)

Anyway, we ended up at Milano Freezer at 9:45 on a Saturday night. The shop was empty. Even all the parking stalls in front of it were empty! I was worried the place was closed, but the sign said it doesn't close until 11:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

The young woman working was very cheerful. Kea commented that she was the happiest customer service employee he'd ever seen. She offered us samples of as many flavors we wanted. I tried the stracciatella first but was a little disappointed; it was a little on the bland side. I ended up ordering the chili chocolate. I was so excited about this flavor. It was nice and chocolate-y with a little burn afterward. I had it with pineapple and mac nuts on top.

The prices were steep. It ended up being about $11 for mine and Kea combined. (Kea got a medium and we both got toppings, which cost extra.) To be fair, though, the servings were generous. The cups were packed full--so much so that the toppings could barely stick to the top. In the future, Kea and I should probably share--like James and Kristy did with their green tea with mochi.

One thing that confused me was that there was no clear divisions between gelato and frozen yogurt in the display case. So I'm not entirely sure which was which...

Another plus, however, was the packed pints. There was low-fat, dairy-free, sugar-free, and a variety of interesting flavors in each category. Great for those with dietary restrictions. Again, the prices are steep (I believe $7-$10 for the different pre-packed sizes) but they'd be nice for a special occasion.

I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend Milano Freezer without trying out more flavors. I'm still a little undecided about the chili chocolate after having an entire serving. After awhile the burn started to make me think I had a sore throat. And yet, it's so rare to find a spicy chocolate flavor, it's nice to know that's one place I can find it.

Menchie's Mililani Town Center

Finally got to try one of these new frozen yogurt places. Menchie's just opened in Mililani within the past month or so. I think their name sounds weird but oh well. The decor and all their marketing is cute so that helps.

We walk in and along the back wall are the self-serve frozen yogurt machines--just like the kind you see the workers using at TCBY or Dairy Queen. The flavors are paired so that you can get swirled versions too. And the workers will give you little cups so that you can sample some flavors before you choose. We tried chocolate mint, which was good; Kea ended up getting this swirled with strawberry. We tried Cable Car Chocolate (no idea why it's called that--maybe it's supposed to taste like Ghirardelli's?) swirled with vanilla. For some reason that was not good. We tried pistachio swirled with cake batter--and this is what I ended up getting. I think cake batter flavors are getting better; I find it's one of my favorites these days. Peanut butter was also good. I guess they change the flavors out regularly.

Then, to the right of the frozen yogurt is the topping bar. There was hot fudge and caramel; a whole bunch of candies, nuts, cereals, and crumbled cookies; and some fresh fruit (strawberries, bananas, kiwi, lychee), mochi, and other items (e.g. azuki beans). I just went with graham crackers on mine because I wasn't sure what matched with pistachio. Kea went crazy with hot fudge, shredded coconut, some kind of nuts, graham crackers, and who knows what else.

I found it a little stressful trying to decide on flavors and combinations, but I'm weird like that. I also had trouble with the ratio of toppings to yogurt. Need to go back and practice! And I hate that their only size is this huge cup so obviously it encourages you to eat a lot. I was worried about what the price would come out to but it was under $7 for both of us combined so that's not too bad I suppose.

Martini Madness at Indigo and Mei Sum

Indigo has been Kea's and my favorite pau hana spot for several years now. We remember when the draw was $2.75 martinis. Now they're up to $4, but still a pretty good deal. This place used to be totally packed too--it was impossible to get a table or even some counter space to rest your drink. Nowadays, I guess all the kids go to Bar 35.

Bar 35 does have good pizza and a nice selection of beer, but I prefer Indigo. I guess it means I am old. Or I prefer martinis to beer. Or it might have something to do with the ambiance. The "Orient chic" decor of Indigo is pretty gross, but I think I like the way the space is set up better. More versatile seating for different sized groups I think.

Anyway, Indigo now has it's lack of crowds going for it too. We were there on a Friday and it was empty. I was worried that they no longer had Martini Madness, but they do. This means that the free buffet they put out lasts longer. It's not great--mostly salads and other veggie items, but free food is awesome no matter what it is. We also ordered fries--and while the Sriracha ketchup was not as good as in the past, the serving of fries seemed bigger. The fries were also really good--looked and tasted like McDonald's fries.

Here's the run-down on the martinis we had:

• Lychee: Seemed sweeter than in the past. I didn't like it as much as I used to.
• Strawberry Lychee: Our friend Will claimed it tasted the same as the Lychee but this was after he'd had a few.
  
• Lemon Drop: My drink of choice that night.
• Blueberry: Tasted like sour blueberry candy. I would've ordered this if I drank more.
• Razzmatazz: Sour. Others liked it, but I was not a fan.
• Chocolate: Strong. Drink of choice for a few in the group.
• Woo woo: James ordered this twice so I guess it was good.
• En Fuego: Too salty.
  
• Vodka: Kea likes these but mostly orders them for the olives. (I only like the olives.)
• Tony Soprano: Will said it was good, but again, he'd had a few.
• Tropical Splendor: Tastes like juice. This is an old favorite of mine.

One of the reasons we like going to Indigo is so we can walk over to Mei Sum after, eat, and sober up. (This is Kea's favorite part actually.) Although dim sum is supposed to be for breakfast or lunch, Mei Sum serves it all day. My favorite dim sum were the shrimp and chive dumpling and the bean curd roll. I usually like the spinach and scallop dumpling but it was too fishy this time. The chicken and vegetable cake noodle was satisfying, but the chicken didn't look so appetizing--maybe we'll try it with beef next time. Others had the jellyfish--and liked it a lot.

Kamuela, Hawai'i

Here's a report on some of the food we bought in Kamuela last weekend.

Farmer's Market
Crepes: Kea's mom had been talking up the crepes so we made sure to grab one. We got there late, after some ingredients had run out, and we didn't make the best decisions for filling, but it was still good. We had cheese, mushrooms, and Portuguese sausage. I would advise against the mushrooms as they are canned; if I had known, I wouldn't have chosen them. We wanted spinach but they had run out. I think the cheese goes with the crepe perfectly and the Portuguese sausage was too much; next time I would go with lighter fillings because the taste of the crepe is good enough!

Ice pops: I had a coffee and cream ice pop and Kea had a coconut one. I liked mine better. Still yet, I think they need to put less water in their ice pops. I haven't made ice pops in a long time but it seemed this was the problem. I could see ice crystals in it and I think the flavor would have been stronger with less water.

Fried green tomatoes: So good. Who would've thought you'd find fried green tomatoes in Hawai'i? They had whole cherry tomatoes and sliced regular ones. I liked the regular ones for higher batter to fruit ratio. Also some of the cherry tomatoes were too big for me to eat in one bite! (I am a small person with a small mouth.)

Church Row
Also bought kulolo from one of the churches in Church Row. We were so excited for kulolo since it's so hard to find, but one of the pieces we bought was too dry. It was our fault: they told us to pick which one we want and we picked wrong. So choose wisely if you go!

Foodland Bentos
For our drive up Mauna Kea, we picked up some bentos from Foodland. We tried both the teri katsu bento and the ribs. Both had good flavor, but I preferred the katsu. Love the idea of teri katsu so it's already flavored and there's no need for tonkatsu sauce, which could get kind of messy if you are eating with the bento in your lap. The ribs had a funny flavor to me, but maybe I'm just not a ribs person. Kea liked it.