About

*Photo courtesy of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau

Aloha and welcome to The Tasty Island!

A blog site of my experiences enjoying the wonderful food of Hawaii, with a focus on Honolulu on the island of Oahu. This includes recipes and reviews of eateries ranging from the neighborhood plate lunch stand to fine dining restaurants.

Comments are welcome and certainly appreciated, provided they are in good taste.

All reviews here are express personal opinions and not paid endorsements. All editorials and photographs are original work of this site, unless otherwise noted.

You are free to use any text copy, photos and/or intellectual content from this site, with or without permission, provided the intent you incorporate and/or display it are within the context and respect of this site, which is all about the GOOD NATURE of FOOD and EATING FOOD. At the same time, it would be nice if you link back to this site for reference to any content resourced from TheTastyIslandHawaii.com.

Mahalo for visiting,
Pomai
____________________________________________

SPAM MUSUBI RATING SYSTEM

The Tasty Island uses an informal rating system based on Hawaii’s very own Spam Musubi icon. Informal, meaning that the “Musubi Grade” isn’t mathematically averaged from total point scores on a set of various criteria, but simply by my overall impression of the restaurant, item or recipe at hand.

There’s undoubtedly other websites out there with the same or similar grade icon. Still, it’s another fun, simple and easy way to identify with visitors that The Tasty Island truly has Hawaii in its heart.

The Tasty Island Spam Musubi Rating System:

(5) Superb. Worthy of repeat visits or purchases. (Broke Da’ Mout’!)
(4) Excellent. Worth another visit or purchase. (Winnahz!)
(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)
(2) Good. I’m glad I tried it. (Ono)
(1) Average. (She Go)

Notice there isn’t any grade below average as I don’t want to go into “bashing” territory here. If an item is included and is below average, I may make a note of it and that’s it. If it’s so bad that it reduces my entire impression of the product or restaurant, then that said place or product will simply not be qualified to be posted on this blogsite.

After all, this isn’t the “yucky” island, it’s The TASTY Island!
____________________________________________

Quick facts about The Tasty Island blog site:

Established: June 8, 2006
Former domain as of 6/08/06: http://tastyisland.wordpress.com; new domain as of 10/17/09: http://www.tastyislandhawaii.com
Food categories: All ethnic flavors (as time permits)
Coverage area: Primarily Oahu, with additions from travels to the neighbor islands of Hawaii
Expected frequency of new posts: Weekly; sometimes more often than that, sometimes a bit longer
Who inspired you to do this? A school teacher
Why do you do this? A) I love to eat; and B) I love to write
Cameras for photographs: Canon Powershot A510 & G7, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 (as of 9/14/08)
Contact: pomai<at>tastyislandhawaii<dot>com

Quick facts about Pomai

Born and raised on Oahu; originally from Kaneohe on da’ Windward side
Currently works, plays and resides in Honolulu
Attached, single male of Portuguese/German/English/Hawaiian ethnicity
Favorite Cuisine: Japanese and Pacific/Hawaii Regional, yet open to the world when it comes to food and life!
Contact: pomai<at>tastyislandhawaii<dot>com

The Tasty Island in the News:

Restaurant-hopping with the Honolulu Advertiser
Driving customer traffic by any means necessary – Honolulu Star Bulletin

63 comments

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Trackback link: http://tastyislandhawaii.com/blog/about/trackback/

Pingback from » Blog of the Week: The Tasty Island on February 5, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Kyle on April 16, 2007 at 5:42 pm

Pomai,
Very nice food blog!

Kyle
(Keith Kamisugi’s “Japanee Bruddah”
Diana C Stanley on May 2, 2007 at 4:54 pm

OMW we have been looking for a place online where we can purchase different spices and foods such as Manapua. What are the chances of you selling online and shipping to the mainland? Great site by the way.
Ryan on May 17, 2007 at 8:25 pm

This a great food blog! Keep up the good work!
Maybe you can do teriayki chicken next.

Mahalo,
Ryan
Kory on May 21, 2007 at 6:59 am

Good job Pomai. Anytime you like go grind lemme know. I’m down.

Aloha,
Kory
Manele on July 19, 2007 at 9:29 pm

What a lovely site you have! I enjoyed several entries and really liked your detailed review of Roy’s Waikiki. Great job!
a hui hou!
Dayton on July 20, 2007 at 9:38 pm

Pomai,

You awesome man! The pictures and stories are great. Keep up the good work. Please visit me at my new snack shop called KC Waffle Dog. I am at the Waikiki Shopping Plaza on the 3rd floor. Take a right off the elevator and keep walking to the back.

Hope to see you soon, thanks for your support,
Dayton
colleen on August 12, 2007 at 4:53 pm

I just wanted to know how I could write an article about Azteca Mexican Restaurant
Aunty Lei on August 17, 2007 at 11:56 pm

Aloha Pomai:

What a great job!!!!!

I enjoyed the fabulous party for Nalani…your description of the food there was right on the button….and the entertainment was great.

Aloha and congratulations for a job well done.

Aunty Lei
P.S. Met you when you were wee-high
heyjosh on October 11, 2007 at 9:09 pm

I can’t find a contact email for you. Please email me at josh[at]joshhaley.com. I have a quick question for you. Thanks brah.
Josh
miund on October 18, 2007 at 12:27 pm

Oh dear, you have successfully made me drool over everything featured in this blog. I read all your posts and I want to book a flight to Hawaii this instant just for the food!

Congratulations on such a great blog! I’ll be dropping by often!
J on October 19, 2007 at 9:42 pm

Pomai,

This is an awesome site.

I’m glad to know/find someone who can celebrate the spam musubi.

I LOVE local; food since I was brought-up on it.

If you share recipes, I would like to give you some of mine. I’m not formally trained (I don’t even have the proper equipment for a truly functional kitchen), I just like good food, and cooking, for me, is a means to an end.

I tried to share on H/T website, but people seem (and maybe it’s just me seeing things from a narrow perspective) to take things personally instead of extending themselves to attempt to understand information and share with others.

I very much enjoyed & appreciated your contributions.

Your stretching info in the diet thread should be a sticky post. I stretch because of a past spinal chord injury, and it reduces spasticity.

….and your input made you the lord of the airshow thread (great shots, Man! Well done) as far as I’m concerned. Maybe you’re just more active in the threads than other members are at the moment, but for all I can see in REAL contributions, I think that you are the heavy one who carrirs the threads.

Your pal,

W/M
J on October 19, 2007 at 9:44 pm

OOps!

I thought this was going into e-mail.
gay on November 13, 2007 at 3:59 am

Came across your site looking for pictures of calamansi. Your pictures are so tempting that I’m drooling already. Wish I could there someday.
Kelly (a.k.a. Ramen Girl) on November 30, 2007 at 4:45 pm

Aloha Pomai,

I just found your site while searching the web for images of the Limited Edition Hawaii SPAM can. I am from Hawaii, born and raised on Oahu and am currently living in London. I am throwing a SPAM party next Friday for a couple of friends and the star attraction of the party will be a platter of SPAM musubi.

I love your site! It made me hungry! Thanks!

Kelly
Steven on February 26, 2008 at 9:39 pm

Your blog is AWESOME! I am now completely starving and want to go back to Hawaii immediately.
j-yo on March 16, 2008 at 10:55 pm

Aloha from da Northwest! Former Oahu girl here enjoying your thoroughly informative posts and wonderful photos. My only complaint about your blog is that it makes my stomach growl.
Cine on March 16, 2008 at 11:58 pm

Love your website. Especially the Spam Musubi ratings…
You should check out MAC 24/7 in Waikiki. Its in the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio. Try one of their Mac Daddy Pancakes. They’re huge! Enough to feed 3 hungry people. Here’s their website if you want to see what they have : http://www.mac247waikiki.com/
Makani on April 14, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Does anyone know…or does anyone still have “Exchange” Juice cans?
You remember that “orange” flavored concentrate that everyones tutu had in the pantry…the song: “exchange goes down,down, down..and a round, round, round….

I’ve been looking for a picture a label, better yet a can. Does anyone know who use to make it?

let me know, mahalo!
Jade Aguiar on April 23, 2008 at 10:56 pm

Our softball girls team Kapaa High School Warriors on the island of Kauai would like to fundraise your sausage’s. How would we go about doing that? Can some one e-mail me a number where the person in charge can let me know about fundraising. We need to fundraise ASAP to go to Oahu for the State’s softball tournament.

Mahalo,
Jade Aguiar
Team Mom
sixmokes on April 26, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Your site rules! Seeing that I cannot get authentic plate lunches in rural Oregon, your blog was a welcome find.

Aloha!
Blazin' Steaks - Windward Mall on May 1, 2008 at 4:36 am

The Blazin’ Steaks in Windward Mall Kaneohe is good but the customer service sucks. There was this young, local girl with piercings on her face who was so very, very rude. Even if they served filet mignon for $6 I wouldn’t go back.
Likris on May 23, 2008 at 7:59 pm

Wow, what an amazing site. Just found it today, it already placed in in my favorites. Thank you for your honesty and great visual pictures. I think a book is in your horizon. Keep on eating and blogging.

Mahalo!!!
George Cabral on July 7, 2008 at 6:23 am

Oh man, you make the mouth water looking at all that ono food. Mahalo for sharing the island taste. I will have to make a point of going to see the Bento Man. My sister’s were raised in that region. When I do get home from Germany every three years we always run by Hawaii Kai and this next time I will be sure to stop in and check out the ono grinds. Next time will be in the summer of 2010 for myself and my wife. Can’t get what you have there but my wife of German decent can whip up some great local dishes here in Germany too. Again, mahalo for the site and information. OK, let me clean off the saliva from the computer screen. \m/
Two2travel on August 2, 2008 at 3:41 pm

I discovered your blog looking for Puka Dog images. I am so impressed with this blog, it is a blog head and shoulders above the rest of it’s kind.
It makes me miss the Islands so much. I am a new subscriber, and will be looking forward to the next adventures! Mahalo for all the hard work put into such a fantastic blog, I will bring attention to it on my StumbleUpon page.
Aloha!
Jan Coello
two2travel
noe on August 14, 2008 at 7:59 pm

If I didn’t know any better , I thought my brother had a hand in this blog. You two should meet! Our family loves to cook and EAT!!!!

Anybody have a macaroni salad recipe the way the okazu-ya’s make? I am a trained chef living on the East Coast and can duplicate just about everything, but haven’t figured out my beloved salad…

Keep up the great work and I stay tuned…..I’m so home sick and hungry.
Ann on August 24, 2008 at 4:11 pm

Pomai,

I’ve been living away from Hawaii for bout 3 years now and miss the food so much!!! I happened upon your website and it brought tears to my eyes! Everything looks so ono! Thanks for the recipes and thanks for the beautiful work you put into this site!
Aloha from St. Louis!
Liane on August 25, 2008 at 6:57 pm

Pomai,

I got linked to your blog via “hapa | hale: modern & fresh finds from hawaii” blog. Oh my, awesome blog with phots that make this local girl living in LA hungry for ono kine’ grindz!! Keep up the good work, I will dreaming of the day I get on that jet again for HNL and my first stop is always Fukuya’s on King Street!

Aloha from LA
tiffini on August 26, 2008 at 10:07 pm

Pomai,

Have you tried the Banana Pancakes at Hannara Restaurant
86-078 Farrington Hwy Suite 101 in Makaha? Would love to see you comments on that place. Heard all the local teachers go there for snack
Mark Schweer on September 2, 2008 at 12:19 am

Hi:

I get to visit the Islands every few months, and some time back across from the McCully Shopping Center there was an Indonesian restaurant. I think it was the called “Bali Indonesia Restaurant”. The last time I was there the building was razed and there was a new building going up.
My question is: Do you have any idea where the restaurant moved? Are there other Indonesian restaurants on the Island?
I am enjoying reading your blog, and hope that you might be able to point me in the right direction. Thanks!
All the best,
Mark Schweer
Nate on September 17, 2008 at 5:27 am

Hi Pomai,

I am a fan of your blog. You write very well and take great pics too. I am inspired by how much detail you put into each post.

May I ask what you do for your day job?
$//\//\ e [+_+]’s avatar$
//\\//\\ e [+_+] on September 29, 2008 at 3:48 pm

wow. you have a great blog and it shows. i’m building my own hawaii blog write now and plan to do a lot of video podcasting. would you be interested in swapping links? anyway i’ve already added your blog to my site if interested my link is http://punkswithaloha.com

keep up the good work.
-Paul
Dana on October 8, 2008 at 6:41 pm

Your blog is fantastic. Thank you for such a great job!!
LN on October 25, 2008 at 4:52 am

What I know about Hawaii I learned from a trip there when I was 7 years old (1978) and from old Five-O reruns (Seasons 1-3 were the best).

What I know about (Asian) cooking I learned from various family, my mom buying me a wok & Chinese cookbooks when I was a teenager, working at a Chinese fast-food joint in Tulsa, Oklahoma (with a muti-ethnic crew, heavy on the Vietnamese), a (native) Japanese girlfriend I should have married, and the internet.

Now, between your blog (for inspiration and recipes), Tony Bourdain proclaiming that he would want Spam Masubi when stoned at 2:00 in the morning, and…

http://alohaworld.com/ono/index.php

I have really embraced Hawaiian cuisine! (When you think about the multi-ethnic influences, the food of Hawaii is one of America’s Creole cuisines.) For feeding my family and I, it has been a godsend.

Affordable, easy, filling, healthy (somewhat). Here in Austin, Texas, we have a good sized Asian community (Viet, Chinese & Korean mostly), so ingredients are no problem.

Thank you SO MUCH for your blog! Don’t quit! Mahalo, brudah!
nannerb on November 27, 2008 at 3:52 pm

i hate you for making me salivate.
ememem on December 10, 2008 at 11:32 pm

Great site, and great reviews, but you’re blog is no longer displaying pics for those running MAC OSX. I am running 10.5.5
lakeshow55 on January 19, 2009 at 2:16 pm

Hey Pomai,

Props to you and you’re blog site man.

I was searching for info. on saimin and stumbled across you’re piece re” “Saimin Survival Kit”. Spent the next 3-4 hours reading various blogs.

Well done.

Lakeshow55
cowcow on January 25, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Hey Pomai,

Wanted to give a shoutout to your blog, very nice pictures and I’ve gotten some great ideas on places to go from your site. Keep it coming!! It is great to see all these Oahu food blogs so that everyone can get ideas

K Den,
cowcow
phhhst on January 31, 2009 at 5:44 am

Just found the blog today. I’m going look around and maybe find our next dinner out.
hilorain on February 21, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Hey Pomai,

just found your blog yesterday (feb. 20, 2009) when I did a search on Queen Street Cafe and came with your dec. 14, 2008 chowdowns reivew. a co-worker was just there and I wanted to know what the ruckus mentioned about that place and thus the search for that store.

but i noticed today you have the same place listed with another write-up on Queen Street Cafe again on jan. 13, 2009 – can’t keep up with you. great job on write-ups of this place.

actually great job on this site – i like your detail description of each item, and thoroughness in covering all items. comments on other things that go with the meal and may not have any bearing on the food itself adds to the correct ambiance.

and posting of prices is most important as we all have our economic limits on food dishes no matter our economic level. even the super wealthy can be seen at popular hole-in-the-wall shops.

i have saved your site in my favorites and will have to catch up on your past posts to see where i am missing some good restaurants to visit.

keep up the good work, and keep blogging…..

hr
bklynhi on February 27, 2009 at 4:14 am

Dear Pomai,

This is THE best Hawaii-based food blog I have ever read!

I have to say that you are doing an absolutely wonderful job – your photos are excellent and your writing is entertaining and very absorbing – please keep up the truly fantastic work. (I was born & raised in Hawaii, but came to NY 10+ years ago to attend law school and never left. This fabulous site is my little “fix” of the one thing I miss most about living in Hawaii…THE FOOD!)

Take care & all the best to you!
Kira on April 2, 2009 at 7:10 pm

Is there any way I can see only the restaurants that you’ve rated 4 and above?
Love your blog!!!
KauKauBoy on May 2, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Great Blog. Thanks!
PakiAloha on May 5, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Started reading this great blog over a year ago. Live in Maryland and love to catch up with the islands through your tasty treats! Consider checking out Boots & Kimo’s in Kailua. The “Mac Nut Sauce” is like crack for foodies! Wow! Worth the airfare alone! Aloha & Mahalo!
Ben on May 19, 2009 at 9:21 pm

My wife and I moved to Oahu a few years ago. I use your blog for reviews and to find the possible next local food destination. Love the entries with plenty of pictures! Keep up the great work!
Marcy on July 12, 2009 at 8:08 am

Greetings Pomai…I knew you were a blessing the moment you walked in my Memphis closet….your name as I mentioned, is so befitting!…A new customer came in yesterday due to the great writing and credibility your site has achieved….Mahalo nui loa…come eat with Mrs. Hog, anytime!
Aloha…you are a hoku!

Marcy
Chelsea on February 16, 2010 at 8:59 am

Pomai,

Your blog is great! Wondering if I can interview you for a marketing assignment? It’ll only take 30 minutes and can be done at your convenience. Please let me know through email.

Thanks,
Chelsea
Emi Hart on March 9, 2010 at 5:23 pm

Hey Pomai!
Awesome blog! I’m the Community Manager for Yelp Honolulu! Stay in touch and please add me to your mailing list if you have one. You should come out to a Yelp event sometime!
Aloha,
Emi
Cassandra on March 29, 2010 at 9:56 am

You have a tasty ono blog! You should tweet it!

Aloha
Kamaka on March 30, 2010 at 11:24 pm

hey Pomai site, are you on twitter? i was looking for a twitter link on your pages

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