Diner A and yours truly hit-up Ethel’s Grill once again last, last Aloha Friday (not this past Friday, but the one before it), with Diner A craving to try their Miso Saimin.

This, after tasting their most EXCELLENT complimentary Miso Soup. Which, while you may take Miso Soup for granted, Ethel’s take on it is simply INCREDIBLE. Definitely one of the best Miso Soups he or I have tasted on Oahu in recent memory, regardless of caliber the Japanese restaurant it’s been served at.

Ethel’s Miso Soup just has that magical “it” factor. That “Umami” factor, which if you ask me, is CLAMS. Yes, clams. I can’t confirm that, but that’s my presumption. Their Miso Soup also has bits of tofu (or egg?) floating in it, which gives it this fantastic texture and added “oomph” like only good ‘ole home cookin’ has.

Getting right to it, “oomph” is the operative word of the day, as here we have Ethel’s Miso Saimin, served in a bowl of gargantuan scale…

Ethel’s Grill – Miso Saimin. $5

Holy Sumo Saimin, Batman! Look at the size of this thing! I swear, this took up almost 1/4th of the real estate of our small table in the corner of the restaurant. Specifically, the bowl measured 11″ in diameter, which if you take out your tape measure or ruler, you’ll see exactly how massive this bowl o’ noodle soup is.

All that for just $5? Incredible! Plus, not only do you get this, but it also includes Ethel’s simple-yet-delicious complimentary house salad with Parsley-Dijon dressing…

Ethel’s Grill – House Salad with Parsley-Dijon Dressing. $ complimentary with entrees.

Wow, what a deal! No wonder this place is always packed.

Here’s another angle of Diner A’s Miso Saimin, shown to scale with a standard pair of hashi…

For toppings we have several slices of ham, luncheon meat, Kamaboko (the pink and white thing, which is a fish cake), egg (in two styles) and sliced green onion. Just about perfect. The only thing missing is Charsiu, which personally I think is one of the definitive toppings every saimin should have.

So how is it? Sample some, cuz…

I tried the broth, and you know what? It doesn’t taste the same as the house Miso Soup, but more like Japanese Miso Ramen broth — oh, say, like the one made by Sun Noodle. Completely different than Ethel’s amazing house Miso Soup.

Most notably different is that they add Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese red pepper flakes), which totally changes the flavor profile.

All-in-all it’s a tasty “miso” broth, but not really what Diner A was expecting or hoped for. What he (and I would have) really wanted was their most EXCELLENT house Miso Soup broth with Saimin noodles and toppings in it. Simple as that — no more, no less.

Speaking of saimin noodles, let’s check it..

The noodles — sourced from Oahu Noodle Factory — are very thin like Angel Hair Pasta and cooked on the softer side. Which I suppose I shouldn’t complain, as that’s how many saimin shops serve saimin, unlike authentic Japanese Ramen noodles, which are ideally served a bit firmer. A plus for the thin saimin noodles is that they hold more broth (and its flavor) as you slurp them up.

What’s interesting is this Miso Saimin has two types of eggs in it: “dropped”, meaning it appeared they added that type of egg in raw and let the hot broth cook it right in the pot. …

and an omelet…

Summing it up, Diner A gives Ethel’s Miso Saimin 3 SPAM Musubi, noting (and I’m noting as well) that it could have been a 5 had they not added the Shichimi Togarashi, but served the exact same broth they use for their incredible house Miso Soup. Next time he or I will certainly request that.

On to the next dish, not knowing just how MASSIVE this bowl of Miso Saimin would be, Diner A ordered a Teriyaki Burger to accompany it…

Ethel’s Grill – Teriyaki Burger. $2.75

Well, I don’t think I need to tell you that this turned out being overkill and over the top, yet incredibly, “skinny” Diner A finished everything. Amazing.

As for the burger, he said it was very good. The house-made patty was juicy inside with a tasty seared crust on the outside, yet the Teri’ sauce needed a little more “oomph” (like the Miso Soup has). Overall 2 SPAM Musubi.

Speaking of Miso Soup, here it is, which was included with my Fresh Akule entree, along with a drink…

Ethel’s Grill – Complimentary house Miso Soup and Drink (Fruit Punch in the case)

Here you can kinda’ see the bits and pieces of tofu (or egg?) floating in the broth…

So oishii-ono-broke da’ mout’ winnahz! 5 SPAM Musubi, easy! Throw in some Japanese black baby clams and it would be a 10! And if your order doesn’t include Miso Soup, you can add it on for just 75 cents for the small (shown) or $1.50 for the large. What a deal! I swear, it’s worth the drive from Waianae or Hawaii Kai (how’s that for contrast?) into town just for this. I promise.

My fresh Akule also included Ethel’s House Salad with Parsley-Dijon Dressing, shown earlier in this post. Good stuff. Love that dressing.

Now for my main attraction, the Fresh Akule, a.k.a. Bigeye Scad…

Ethel’s Grill – Fresh Akule with Celery Vinegar. $9.75

According to the ‘daily specials’ menu hanging in front, this is served with Celery Vinegar…

It tasted like regular white vinegar mixed with a little mirin and enhanced with grated celery, yet it didn’t “scream” celery in flavor. Personally I would have preferred Ponzu (citrus flavored soy sauce), and in retrospect, what I should have done was add some shoyu to this sauce.

Let’s have another look at the Fresh Akule, which is simply cleaned and butterflied whole, then pan-fried until the skin is crispy…

Look at all that Akule meat cooked on the bone. You know this is gonna’ be good! Let’s sample some…

Oh man, so tender and juicy, it just flakes right off with little effort on my part. Flavor-wise, I only wish they had seasoned it more. As is it was rather plain. Let’s see if the Celery Vinegar does the trick…

Oh yeah, the tang from the vinegar definitely kicks it up several notches. As I said earlier, what I really should have done was added shoyu either to the vinegar or right on the Akule.

As for the skin, I think they should have been more liberal with the flour dredge, as there wasn’t much substance to it, nor was their much seasoning. Essentially it tasted like they took the Akule, dropped it quickly in flour (that wasn’t seasoned enough) and then threw it in the pan. It needed more TLC in the prep. Otherwise it was cooked to perfection. One thing I love about having fish served whole is you get to eat the eyeball!…

Om-nom-nom-nom. Nothin’ like some good fish eyeballs. lol Seriously though, good stuff!

Here you see all that tender and juicy meat and crispy skin easily pulled right off the Akule bone…

Whatever you do, if you order the Akule, make sure to pick-out them sharp pin bones, which is the only drawback of eating small coastal reef fish like this.

No question Ethel’s Fresh Akule is some good eats. More seasoning in the flour dredge and this would have easily been a 4 or 5, while the Celery Vinegar also needed some shoyu for that  extra “oomph”. As is, I give Ethel’s Fresh (fried) Akule a very solid 3 SPAM Musubi.

What I need to return to Ethel’s for is their Pig’s Feet Soup…

Another popular item I always see on other folks’ tables here is the Jumbo Rib Steak.  Of course, just about everyone orders Ethel’s famous Tataki Sashimi, which no doubt is another fantastic value, considering the quality and portion.

Good home style cookin’ and great value is what draws a consisent crowd into this hole-in-the-wall gem that is Ethel’s…

Ethel’s Grill
232 Kalihi Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
(808) 847-6467

Business hours:
Mon-Sat. 5:30am to 2:00pm

Ethel’s Grill Menu (<click to download/view PDF)

The Tasty Island Rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Return to Ethel’s Grill – The Tasty Island
• Kalihi Kai Eats: Ethel’s Grill – The Tasty Island
• Ethel’s Grill – ‘Ono Kine Grindz
• Ethel’s Grill serves sumotori-sized portions – The Honolulu Advertiser
• Cheap Eats:  Ethel’s Grill – KHNL NBC NEWS 8 Honolulu
• Hungry chefs head to Ethel’s Grill – The Honolulu Advertiser
• Ethel’s Grill – Yelp user reviews

Last weekend my girlfriend and I hit-up Ross on Koreamoku street looking for accent throw pillows for our new sectional sofa (which they didn’t have anything we were interested in), where afterwards we conveniently drove across Kanunu street to have lunch at Like Like Drive Inn. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and I heard some good and some not-so-good impressions of the place. My late father used to come here often, giving praise about their breakfast dishes. While my girlfriend and her gang visited here on several occasions recently and were far less than impressed with their late night, graveyard shift grubs. Which possibly could have been a blunder on their late night, graveyard shift cook running the kitchen at this 24-hour diner.

Well, we shall find find out today during this late afternoon lunch whether they live up to all the hype and old school heritage that is Like Like Drive Inn.

As always, first lets check out the place…

Like Like Drive Inn is located on the corner of Kanunu and Keeaumoku street, or what the locals like to call “Koreamoku Street” due to many Korean bars and Korean-owned businesses along this busy corridor near Ala Moana Center. One of their neighbors is Soribol, a popular Korean Yakiniku restaurant, which by the way, occupies the original Honolulu Shakey’s Pizza. Soribol recently painted the exterior of their restaurant this hideous lime green color, but that’s another story for another day. Another notable neighbor would be Walmart and Sam’s Club right across the street.

While Like Like Drive Inn may appear tiny and unassuming from the outside of the strip mall they’re in, upon entering you’ll find a clean, updated, quite expansive space with multiple dining rooms to sit at…

Where is everyone? Here…

That’s a lot of seats! You could throw a huge party here, no problem. Spock da’ green river and fruit punch machine behind the counter. Classic diner fare right there. Also notice da’ “aunty” waitress. All the waitresses have that stereotypical “aunty” look. Someone you think of as your own mom. I love that!

Here’s the wife and husband founders of Like Like Drive Inn, Alice and James Nako…

Sorry about that blurry photo, but as you can kinda’ see, the original Like Like Drive Inn used the same neon sign they still have up today. Classic to da’ max! While the original building looked more like a residential wooden home structure. Apparently the restaurant biz’ is in the blood, as, come to find out, Alice Nako is the older sister of Agnes Asato, the founder of the now-gone KC Drive Inn, famous for the waffle dog and chocolate-peanut butter “Ono Ono Shake”.

Let’s check out their menu, which to note as confirmed by our server, is effective 24 hours of the day and night…

Wow, that’s a lot to think about, and a lot for the kitchen to prep’ for, 24 hours a day on top of that!

A telling tale of any restaurant is the array of condiments they have stationed at each table, where here you can clearly see it’s a local style diner…

You did notice on that classic neon Like Like Drive Inn sign out front that it proudly advertises ‘SAIMIN’ on it, right? Well, that’s exactly what I ordered…

Like Like Drive Inn “Local Favorites” -- Saimin. $6.10

The best thing I could find that would go good with my saimin was a side of fries (yeah,  I know, very creative)…

Like Like Drive Inn side order -- French Fries. $3.35

My girlfriend also kept it simple, opting for their Hot Roast Beef Sandwich…

Like Like Drive Inn “Special Sandwiches” -- Hot Roast Beef Sandwich. $9.00

For the life of me, I don’t know why I missed her requesting to substitute mashed potatoes — which this was supposed to come with — for fries. Had I caught that, I wouldn’t have ordered a side of fries myself and got something else. Now we have too much fries. Oh well, at least we’re gauranteed to walk out with a full stomach. lol

My first question is, “how is the gravy?”…

Da’ buggah is “tick” (thick). It tastes somewhat “meaty”, while also having a hint of sage and thyme in its flavor profile. Very nice. I could see this making one fantastic Loco Moco, which is another of their “Local Favorites” dishes. It also works out great as a gravy dip for fries…

Let’s have a taste of that Hot Roast Beef Sandwich…

Now here’s where they dropped the ball twice. First of all, my girlfriend explicitly requested that they TOAST the bread, where as you can see, it arrived NOT toasted. Secondly, the menu clearly says Hot Roast Beef Sandwich. How did it arrive at the table? Not hot, but more like room temp’. What the? Not being the type to complain, she just went with it as is. Personally I would have sent it back. Fortunately that excellent gravy made up for the mistakes and it turned out being a 3 SPAM Musubi meal for her, noting that the roast beef was flavorful and tender, while the accompanying thick-cut fries were deep-fried to perfection and salted just right.

Now my song and dance with this bowl of saimin, starting with a mindful observation of it, along with a deep thought of the meaning of life, then an initial sip of the broth…

Right off the bat, it’s very “shrimpy”. That’s almost all I taste is shrimp, and not much in the form of dashinomoto. I’m guessing they make this with just shrimp heads and  perhaps some kombu, with maybe a dash of shoyu and that’s it. It’s not intense either, but rather mild, where more shoyu and perhaps pepper would certainly help it out.

Let’s try the saimin noodles…

As usual, the ever great Sun Noodle Factory is the source of these wiggly wonders, and I must say, it was cooked perfectly al dente. They were also very “starchy”, which is actually how saimin noodles should taste, regardless of my bias for the flavor of the more “egg-like” Japanese Ramen noodles.  Very good saimin noodles here.

Let’s sample the Charsiu now…

Very good, being tender and very “charsiu-ee” and “pork-ee” in flavor and not bland at all. Wow, lot’s of “ee” emphasizing going on here. lol.

Only one slice of Kamaboko (fish cake), yet at least they cut da’ buggah “tick” (thick)…

And it wasn’t soggy or slimy either, but firm and fresh-tasting. Sometimes I take a whole roll (or block or whatever you call it) of Kamaboko, slice it thinly and eat it “sashimi style” on a bed of cabbage with choke wasabi and shoyu dipping sauce. I call that my “poor man’s sashimi”. I tell you, it hits da’ spot!

Speaking of dipping sauce, like all good saimin shops do, Like Like Drive Inn serves theirs with a side dish of Coleman’s mustard, where you mix with shoyu and dip your noodles and saimin topping in for an extra kick of flavor…

Mix ‘n dip..

Oh yeah, now there’s the money right there, baby. The Coleman’s Mustard and Shoyu sauce gave this saimin the life it needed, as the broth alone wasn’t enough at least for my palate. The dipping sauce is what makes it complete, and with that I give Like Like Drive Inn’s Saimin 2 SPAM Musubi, which is “good”. While the noodles were cooked perfectly and the charsiu was as good as it gets, the all-important saimin BROTH from Like Like didn’t meet my expectations. As of this writing, I still stand by Zippy’s Zip Min as being the best Saimin in town I’ve had yet in recent memory.

For dessert, my girlfriend made room for some Banana Pie…

Like Like Drive Inn dessert -- Banana Pie. $3.30

What’s interesting is this tasted exactly like an apple pie, except instead of apples, it has sweet and tender chunks of bananas in it. It has that same gelatinous, cinnamon-flavored glaze the fruit is carried in, while I must note, the nicely-browned, buttery and crispy, flaky crust is KILL-ER.

Excellent, excellent crust on this pie, and in my book, when they ace the crust, they aced the cake… or pie that is, and with that, I give Like Like Drive Inn’s Banana Pie a solid 4 SPAM Musubi. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would have really hit the spot with this, but it was absolutely scrumptious as is. Yum!

Like Like Drive Inn
745 Keeaumoku Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96814

Tel. (808) 941-2515

Business hours: Open 24 hours daily

The Tasty Island rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Like Like Drive -- Yelp user reviews

P.S., Here’s a fun video to dance to…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c2OfAzDTI

This past Saturday me, my girlfriend and a couple friends of ours wanted to have lunch at California Rock ‘N Sushi, but having not checked the hours online or calling ahead, we were disappointed upon arriving there to discover they were CLOSED! What the heck? How can a restaurant be closed for lunch on the weekend?! My gang, save for me, all work in the food and beverage industry and  don’t understand that, but whatevahz. There’s certainly plenty other fish in the restaurant sea that we were more than happy to give our business to.

So we ended up a block up Ward Avenue across the street over at Asahi Grill, a.k.a. Kapiolani Coffee Shop. Asahi Grill is a casual, affordable, family-friendly, localized Japanese restaurant open for breakfast lunch and dinner. Think of it as a diner with an asian twist and that’s pretty much what you’ll find here (Triple D oughta’ pay them a visit next time).

Getting right to it, the Pork Chops hit home with childhood memories for Diner J, so he decided on giving that a spin…

Asahi Grill – Two Pork Chops with two scoops rice and one scoop mac’ salad. $8.75

Hey, why not? When you’re gonna’ have comfort food, have it right and go all the way. Therefore, accompanying his Pork Chops was a side of fries…

With so much to choose on the menu, Diner CV becamed stumped on what to choose and ultimately played it safe, ordering the small bowl of Kapiolani Coffee Shop’s signature dish, the Oxtail Soup…

Asahi Grill – Small Oxtail Soup (includes side of rice) $10.50

Thinking just soup might not be enough, Diner CV also ordered a Teriyaki burger and fries to go along with it…

Asahi Grill – Teriyaki Burger & Fries. $5.00

See, we’re here for comfort food, not Jenny Craig. lol

My girlfriend Diner EDC chose what I would have chosen, had I not chose what I chose, which is the Grilled Salmon and Shrimp Tempura Combo…

Asahi Grill – Grilled Salmon and Shrimp Tempura combo (includes miso soup). $14.95

The included Miso Soup (with somen noodles in it) and Tentsuyu (Tempura dipping sauce)…

Asahi Grill – Miso Soup (with somen noodles) and Tentsuyu (included with Japanese lunch and dinner entrees)

Finally, continuing my ramen and saimin kick, on this visit yours truly decided to try their Oxtail Ramen, which was actually more like Oxtail Saimin…

Asahi Grill – Oxtail Ramen (actually more like Oxtail Saimin) $8.95

Let’s have a closer look at my Oxtail Saimin, which is what I’m going to call it from now on…

Plenty of Chinese Parsley and Green Onion, which is always nice and certainly brings plenty of added flavor and texture to the party. The server tells me the broth is the same broth as their famous Oxtail Soup, so I’m down with that. Let’s try it…

Well this definitely ain’t no Japanese ramen broth, nor is it local style samin broth. It is what is, which is Oxtail soup broth, and a mighty fine one at that. I still say The Alley Restaurant in Aiea Bowl and Pho Bistro 2 s-s-s-slightly makes a better Oxtail Soup, but KCC’s is certainly up there in the top three. What makes this saimin is the noodles added in it…

As seems to be the case at most restaurants on Oahu, Sun Noodle is the supplier here, which in this case as confirmed by my server aren’t ramen noodles, but saimin noodles. And they were cooked perfectly, not being “saimin-soggy” at all, but still retaining good chew to it. And there’s no question Sun Noodle has the right recipe when it comes to flavor.

What’s nice is these saimin noodles actually compliment the oxtail soup and don’t detract from it. The broth is too mild to flavor the noodles, but if you slurp noodles and sip broth consecutively, they both taste really ono together. I’m diggin’ this bowl of Oxtail Saimin. It works. In fact, it works even better than the one at New Violet’s Grill, thanks to KCC’s far superior Oxtail Soup it’s based on.

Let’s try some oxtail…

You know what comes next, right? Oh yeah, dip ‘dat buggah in da’ grated gingah and shoyu sauce…

Notice a piece of meat pulled right off that bone. Also notice soft, melting marrow in the center of the bone. That’s flavor town right there, baby. Add to that the powerful, piercing flavor of the fresh grated ginger and shoyu that really brings out the beef and you have flavor CITY my friends! So broke da’ mout’ ono, I’m drooling just writing about it here.

And I thought since the Oxtail Saimin is considerably cheaper at $8.95 than the Oxtail Soup ($10.50 small and $12.95 regular) that they would skimp on Oxtails, but was happy to discover they included 5 oxtails in it. Five! Check out this giant piece…

You know you want that. I sure do, again. Someone needs to can or package frozen Oxtail Soup so folks like me can buy some for having any time of day.

Summing it up, Kapiolani Coffee Shop’s (c/o Asahi Grill) Oxtail Saimin was fantastic and priced right, easily deserving 4 SPAM Musubi. Highly recommended. Would I call it the best saimin on the island? No I wouldn’t. But I would call it one of the best Oxtail soups on the island that happens to have excellent saimin noodles in it.

As for the pork chops, oxtail soup, teriyaki burger, fries and shrimp tempura ‘n grilled salmon combo’, everyone was very satisfied with their food, giving an overall 4 SPAM Musubi on every dish, except the Teriyaki burger, which gets a 3. I got to try a slice of Diner J’s pork chops and thought that was fantastic. Simply pan-fried with just salt and pepper, yet it was very tasty and tender. Dip ‘em in ketchup, ’nuff. Ono just like that.

Service was also quick and friendly, with our entire order arriving within 10 minutes of being placed and water glasses kept topped throughout the meal. The only challenge was parking, as their small lot was full when we arrived around 2pm, so we ended parking down the street and walking up.

Asahi Grill
515 Ward Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii

Tel. (808) 593-2800

Business Hours:
Monday – Friday 6:30am to 10:00pm
Saturday 6:30am to 11:00pm
Sunday 6:30am to 10:00pm

Breakfast Menu
Lunch Menu
Kapiolani Coffee Shop Specialties Menu

The Tasty Island rating:

(4) Excellent. Worth another visit or purchase.

Related links:
• Oxtail Soup at Asahi Grill – The Tasty Island
• Asahi Grill – Yelp user reviews

Several Fridays ago we decided to have breakfast for lunch at the new Pancakes & Waffles in City Square Shopping Center in the heart of Kapalama, Kalihi, a.k.a. “The center of Hawaii’s food  universe”, a.k.a. “God’s Country”. I for one LOVE breakfast food and can eat it any time of day. Portuguese Sausage, Eggs and Rice for dinner? Shoots, hook me up! Breakfast Cereal for a midnight snack? Make me a bowl, please.

As always, first let’s check the place out…

Pancakes & Waffles is located in the stand-alone strip building on the makai (ocean side) end of City Square Shopping Center, across from Young’s Fish Market, Utage and Sugoi’s.

Apparently the word is out, as several fellow Yelpers mentioned this place being packed with a crowd on their visits. Which held true, as when we arrived, every table had been taken, yet thankfully one group had just left and we scored a place to sit.

There’s seating throughout the establishment that’s on a first come, first serve basis…

The way the “system” works here is you go up to the service counter and place your order, to which you are given a number in a table stand. From here you find a table (or preferably have someone hold one for you while you take the order) and place the number on your table. A food runner will then bring your order to your table when it comes out. Fountain drinks are self-serve, while they also have refrigerated bottled beverages, hot coffee, tea and cocoa.

Without further ado, here’s the menu (click image to enlarge to full legible size)…

Must say, that’s quite a spread. What’s interesting is the variety of ethnic options, including Portuguese Vinha D’alhos (Vee’na Doash), Japanese Azuki and Korean Kal Bi. Then they throw in the Southern twist with Fried Chicken and Waffles. Gotta’ love that! In fact, in hindsight, I wish I had ordered that, which I’ll get to in a bit.

Getting to our order on this first time visit, Diner A decided to try their Fried Rice Loco Moco…

Pancakes & Waffles – Fried Rice Loco Moco: Brown gravy all over homemade hamburger patty and delicious fried rice, then topped with two over-easy eggs. $6.95

Here’s a peek beneath the egg at the burger patty…

Diner E decided to try their Hamburger Patty and Eggs, which includes a short stack of Pancakes, while backing that up with a side order of fried rice…

Pancakes & Waffles – Hamburger Patty and Eggs with Short Stack of Pancakes and side order of Fried Rice.

Wow, I’m energized for the day just looking at all that! Either that, or ready to fall back asleep. lol

Here’s a closer look at each dish…

Finally, yours truly decided to try the P&W Special…

Pancakes & Waffles – P&W Special: Three egg omelet with ham, Portuguese sausage, tomato, onion, bell pepper, mushroom, potato, cheese and hollandaise sauce. Serve with short stack pancakes. $8.95

Talk about everything, including the kitchen sink! What swooned me was the mushrooms and the hollandaise sauce. Can’t go wrong with those two ingredients sharing the same plate!

Three egg omelet? Check. More eggs in the form of egg yolks and butter made into a sauce and poured on those three eggs? Triple bypass surgery check…

Let’s peek beneath the hood…

Aaaahhh…oooooohhhh…aaaaaahhhh, ooey-gooey, melting cheese all over that. This has got to be good. Upon trying it though, I found it a little over the top, which shouldn’t be a surprise. There’s really just too much going on here. No question very tasty, but simply over the top. Also, the Hollandaise sauce wasn’t anything spectacular, not tasting particularly buttery or rich, but more just adding thickness to the overall texture of the complex omelet ingredients. While I think the ham and Portuguese sausage was overkill as far as meats are concerned, as they sort of canceled each other out. Either one or the other would have been better.

Still, don’t get me wrong, overall it was a delicious omelet, and I’ll give it a very good 2 SPAM Musubi (equivalent to 7 out of 10 stars).

Now let’s try the pancakes, which are included with the omelet as one of the starch options to either rice, toast or home fries…

A side cup of aerated butter is brought along with each order of pancakes, while artificial Maple syrup (Mrs. Butterworth type) is provided in a squeeze bottle at each table.

Eh, they’re OK, but not the greatest pancakes in I’ve ever tasted. They’re not as fluffy and delicate as I had hoped, but a little more dense and chewy. Not on the extreme bad side, but enough to notice that. From what I hear, the benchmark pancake place is Liliha Bakery, which I have yet to try and confirm that claim. Still, this is a decent pancake and certainly a good value, considering you get three with your eggs and choice of meat or other accompaniments.

What I wish I had ordered in retrospect after observing those around me was the Honey Buttered Fried Chicken and Waffle. With that you get three HUGE HONKIN’ pieces of fried chicken on a waffle and smothered with Honey Butter Sauce. I tell you, it looked soooo ono! EVERYONE (4 people) on a table across from us had ordered that, so it’s gotta’ be good. Next time fo’ sho!

As for Diner E’s plate, he pretty much enjoyed everything enough to give his “Saimin Kaukau approved” 3 SPAM Musubi rating…

He noted the fried rice flavor was spot-on, but the rice was a bit undercooked and stiff.  Yet he still enjoyed it enough to finish all of it, which says it all.

Finally, Diner A really, really enjoyed his Loco Moco, noting the brown gravy was “onolicious”, with plenty of depth and character, while his Fried Rice was cooked more thoroughly than Diner E’s was…

He also gave a big thumbs-up to the homemade burger patty, noting the nicely seared edges and moist, yet thoroughly cooked doneness of the beefy-tasting ground beef, thank you very much. With that, he gives his Fried Rice Loco Moco a resounding 4 SPAM Musubi, adding that he’s eager to bring his family here one weekend for breakfast or brunch.

Pancakes & Waffles
1284 Kalani Street
Suite D100
Honolulu, Hawaii  96817

Tel. (808) 877-7770

Business hours: 6:30am to 2:30pm daily

Pancakes & Waffles menu (<—download PDF document; 1 page)

The Tasty Island rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase.

Going from one extreme example of the dish with the Oxtail Saimin from Violet’s Grill, we find ourselves at the other side of that spectrum with Saimin from McDonald’s.

Yes my friends, you heard right, McDonald’s Saimin. In fact, three people double-took me when I told them I had saimin from McDonald’s for lunch. “Since when did they sell saimin?” is what most of them asked. Actually, as far as I can remember, come to think about it.

According to Wikipedia (yeah, I dig real deep for information, don’t I?), there’s quite an interesting story behind McDonald’s Saimin which goes like this: “[Foodland founder and first Hawaii McDonald's owner Maurice] Sullivan invited executives from McDonald’s corporation, including owner business tycoon Ray Kroc,  for dinner at two family-owned, “hole-in-the-wall” saimin stands in Honolulu. They ate at Washington Saimin and Boulevard Saimin. That night, Sullivan convinced Kroc to expand McDonald’s menu for the first time in its corporate history to include a local “ethnic” food. Researchers worked extensively with Washington Saimin to develop a recipe for McDonald’s Hawaii. Sullivan secured deals with a local saimin noodle factory, fishcake supplier and a Japanese company, Ajinomoto, to manufacture a special soup base.”

If this is true, then it looks like all those McDonald’s out there in the world serving the likes of McOz Burgers, McAloo Tikka Burgers, Maharaja Macs and other region-specific ethnic specialties can thank Boulevard Saimin and the late Washington Saimin for the corporation’s open-minded philosophy when it comes to their menu.

Saimin isn’t the only regional ethnic specialty for McDonald’s Hawaii either, as there’s been a number of experiments and mainstays. The Taro, Haupia and Mango Pie were all great, while there’s no denying that McDonald’s Hawaii breakfast menu item — McDonald’s Portuguese Sausage, Eggs and Rice — is here to stay for the long run. Good stuff!

Yet we’re here for McDonald’s apparently ambiguous Saimin, where for this, of all their numerous locations around the island, I chose the restaurant in Hawaii Kai Shopping center (Safeway, Longs, The Shack) to hook me up…

In case you still don’t believe me, ‘Saimin’ is right there in black and white on the menu board…

Probably the reason many folks don’t realize saimin is on the menu is that their eyes are too fixated on the french fries. While for those who don’t even know what ‘Saimin’ is is, they must be thinking “What are Saimin French Fries?”. lol

While I couldn’t get an exact size of the container from any of McDonald’s employees, including the manager, it’s pretty big, where I’m guessing at least 24 fluid ounces, yet possibly larger than that….

The McDonald’s Hawaii logo is neat, yet it would have been nice if it said ‘McSaimin’ or simply ‘McDonald’s Saimin’. A pair of chopsticks intertwined between the Golden Arches also would be a nice ethnic touch to the logo.

While I’m on a marketing roll, since fast food joints embrace the combo and value meal menu concept, another thing McDonald’s Hawaii might want to consider is creating a ‘Saimin Value Meal’, which would include a regular or teriyaki burger and/or fries, which is a combination popular with the locals. So popular, Zippy’s has a similar Saimin, Teri Beef Sandwich and Drink combo’ on their menu.

Currently McDonald’s is promoting their 1/3 Pound Angus Burgers, where one of them is a Teriyaki Angus Burger, but that was way too much burger for me on this sitting.

So I created my very own McDonald’s “Saimin Value Meal”, adding a McDouble Burger (2 regular patties and 1 slice cheese) and small fries off their Dollar Menu…

McDonald’s unofficial ‘Saimin Value Meal’: Saimin ($2.89), McDouble Burger ($1)and Small Fries ($1). $4.89 total. (drink purchased elsewhere).

Like the ready-to-serve S&S and Okahara store-bought brands, McDonald’s Saimin looks to be preassembled and kept refrigerated until time of service. Simply add piping hot water, stir in broth packet and serve.

Now looking at the broth, I’m a little concerned, as it appears rather “light”…

In here, you have the standard saimin garnishes, including Kamaboko (fishcake; the pink and white “swirly” thing), Nori (roasted seaweed), Charsiu (Chinese roasted pork; red colored) and tamago (egg omelet).

After a moment of reflection (as if any fast food deserves that), I go in for a sip of the broth…

See how light that looks? Well not surprisingly it tasted light, as in watery. Very watered down. Too watered down. As if they took one of the Ajinomoto packets intended to make one bowl and made five bowls out of that. The flavor profile has a subtle hint of shrimp and dashi, with shrimp being more pronounced than dashi. Yet like I said, way, way too watered down. Almost like I was eating plain noodles in boiled water. I tried stirring it, thinking maybe the dashinomoto wasn’t mixed thoroughly, but that didn’t help.  Shrimp-flavored hot water is the best way I can describe this worst example of saimin broth I’ve had in recent memory.

Let’s try the noodles…

A little soggy and heavily starchy. Essentially it tasted like “institution” noodles; something you’d get a school cafeteria or perhaps a prison. Definitely not what I’d expect from a true Saimin stand, which is supposedly where this recipe came from.

The very thin slice of kamaboko was also soggy, which was a bit weird, while the charsiu was tough and bland; yet I suppose that toughness was a plus in contrast to the texture of the noodles. The sliced egg omelet strips were also soggy and bland, continuing to detract and not help this sad bowl of saimin out at all.

This saimin was so “sad” I only could eat half of it, throwing the rest out. I hate to waste food, but I just couldn’t take any more of the “shrimp water” flavor of the broth and starchy-soggy, characterless noodles. Not good. So not good.

With that, McDonald’s Saimin doesn’t even make 1 SPAM Musubi, heading into MINUS territory. Either I just had a “lemon”, or they need to seriously reevaluate their Washington and Boulevard Saimin-sourced recipe.

As for the McDouble, it’s actually quite tasty and satisfying. The single slice of melted cheese is what makes it. I do notice though that it’s quite SALTY. To be exact, the McDouble packs in a whopping 390 calories, 19 grams of total fat, 8 grams saturated fat (42% of the daily value) and 920 milligrams of sodium (38% of the daily value). Wow. Of course that’s to be expected of cheap, processed food, which I try to keep to a minimum; emphasize TRY.

What can I say about McDonald’s Fries. Of all the fast food chains, in my opinion, they’re THE BEST. See, so I always have something nice to say, as with the bad (saimin), there’s always the good (burger and fries).

And to be fair, perhaps when I return to McDonald’s I’ll give the saimin a second chance and try it again to reinforce my findings.

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P.S. Going from hot (saimin) to cold,  check out my brand new “Costco-sized” refrigerator…

GE® ENERGY STAR® 25.4 Cu. Ft. Side-By-Side Refrigerator with Dispenser #GSHS5KGXSS

In the middle of renovating my kitchen, this was the perfect time to take advantage of the Hawaii Energy “Trade Up for Cool Cash” $250 rebate. The rules are to purchase a new Energy Star-qualified refrigerator in-store model at any Hawaii retailer between May 24 and June 24, 2010. With that, as you would imagine, refrigerator sales in Hawaii were brisk during this time period and the rebate forms ran out much sooner than the June 24th deadline, along with the money allocated for the rebate program.

In order for the rebate to be valid, the delivery company must stamp the form (see box on the bottom right), stating that they delivered the new Energy Star refrigerator and hauled away your old “clunker”. So yes, this was another form of “cash for clunkers”.

And boy was my old refrigerator a CLUNKER! It certainly wasn’t big enough for my weekly Costco and KCC Farmers’ Market runs, but now I got 25.4 cubic feet of space, baby! Well, of course that’s not the BIGGEST you can get, but it’s big enough for my current needs and a considerable upgrade in every sense from what it’s replacing.

Here’s a look inside…

On the refrigerator side there’s dual level lighting, 2-stack drawer freshness center, spill-proof slide out shelves, gallon size door storage and a convenient in-the-door beverage can holder.

What I like most is the side-by-side design, compared to my old refrigerator’s freezer-on-the-top style. I don’t care much for the new French Door style with the freezer on the bottom. I prefer having the multi-level shelves in the freezer the side-by-side design affords.

On the freezer door is the filtered water and crushed or cubed ice dispenser…

Here you can check the actual temperature, which is recommended to be set at 0ºF for the freezer and 37ºF for the refrigerator, or you can adjust it colder or warmer to your liking. I’m keeping it at default for maximum energy efficiency and life expectancy of the unit.

Here’s an angle view, where you can see beautiful sheen of the Stainless Steel doors…

While some stainless steels can be magnetic, this is the type that isn’t. What this is, is GORGEOUS. The quality of the brushed stainless stamping that makes up the doors’ exterior skin is first-rate and virtually FLAWLESS, and the included Cera Bryte® Stainless Steel polish really brings out its lustre and beauty. The curved extruded stainless steel handles area also an industrial work of art, as is the stainless steel bezel surrounding the ice and water dispenser.

The sides and top of the cabinet are regular steel, painted in a glossy light gray enamel to somewhat match the stainless steel door fronts. It’s here you can stick your magnets, provided the sides are exposed, which it will only be on one side in my kitchen layout.

According to the US Government Energy Guide label attached to it, this model consumes an estimated 578 kilowatts of electricity per year with a $62 per year estimated operating cost (depending on local utility rates). That’s certainly much cheaper than my air conditioner!  Perhaps from now on when  I need to cool off I’ll go hang out in my new fridge. lol

It also runs exceptionally quiet, with only a mute fan sound.

Free delivery, free haul-away, 10% off Energy Star discount, plus Hawaii Energy “Trade Up for Cool Cash” $250 rebate  and low power consumption sounds like a good deal to me.

Now to find the GE stainless steel free-standing range and microhood to match. I know Sears got ‘em, but I’m gonna’ shop around some more.

Back in February of this year, fellow Oahu food blogger Edward Morita wrote a contributing story for Metromix in the late Honolulu Advertiser titled “Who Makes the Best Saimin?“. Well, anytime you involve food with the badge “the best” tagged to it, it’s almost certain to stir up a debate.

That said, here’s the results of Edward’s Saimin comparo’:

“We initially thought rating saimin would be difficult, but as we ate our way across town, we found that the characteristics of the dashi and type of noodles made every bowl unique. Here are our picks of the island’s best saimin.

No. 7 – Old Saimin House: The dashi is on the light side and the factory-bought noodles yield a bowl of saimin similar to that of S&S saimin, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you grew up on S&S like we did.

No. 6 – Shiro’s Saimin Haven: A local favorite with a well-known history, and by far, the biggest saimin menu you’ll find anywhere.

No. 5 – Palace Saimin: No frills with eight menu items. The limited hours make it always busy, but the BBQ stick makes it worth the wait.

No. 4 – Shige’s Saimin Stand: The noodles are made in-house; they made the best fried saimin.

No. 3 – Boulevard Saimin: Best dashi and won ton. Soon to be moving to a new location on Nimitz Highway.

No. 2 – Nakai Saimin: Also uses homemade noodles; our pick for best saimin restaurant.

No.1 – New Violet’s Grill: Deceptively deep bowls. Our pick for best bowl of saimin on Oahu.”

OK, while I have 100% respect for Ed’s expertise and opinion, I have several beefs with this. First of all, he didn’t include a “wildcard”, which would be none other than McDonald’s Saimin. Yes, McDonald’s Saimin. Secondly, he left out Zippy’s Zip Min. The nerve! Lastly, or number one for that matter, he crowned Violet’s Grill’s Oxtail Saimin as “The Best Saimin”.

The reason I have a problem with Violet’s Oxtail Saimin being chosen as “the best”, is the unfair advantage it has over its competition for the very fact that it has LOADS of Oxtails in it. I mean how can you beat that? That’s like comparing a Mustang Shelby GT500 with a jacked-up V-8, tranny and suspension to a bare bones rent-a-car Mustang V-6 model with maybe perhaps a convertible top. Ya’ know?

I mean, Oxtails compared to wontons and charsiu? The latter don’t stand a chance unless they’re REALLY, REALLY good, or the oxtails aren’t done right. Or at least theoretically in my mind before even tasting it, I’m thinking the oxtails will automatically send it over the top.

As far as restaurant choices, there’s certainly a good bowl of saimin to be found at many more restaurants than the seven Ed listed. Ethel’s Grill, Ichiben, Forty Niner Restaurant, Like Like Drive Inn and Liliha Bakery, just to name a few. Of course this is only to mention Oahu eateries, yet I must at least tip my hat to Hamura’s on Kauai, Sam Sato’s on Maui and Nori’s in Hilo on the Big Island.

Well, surely time and space was limited for Ed’s story, and not to discount his efforts, I took him up on his crowning jewel, Violet’s Grill’s Oxtail Saimin, and went to check for myself if this could really be the “Saimin of all Saimins”. The noodle of all noodles, the broth of all broths, along with the toppings of all toppings that would have me walking out the restaurant a changed man. Enlighted, and perhaps becoming a Saimin Demigod.

So here I am at Violet’s Grill, an old school Okinawan-meets-local food eatery in Kapalama, Kalihi (the center of Hawaii’s food universe, a.k.a. “God’s Country”) to sample “The Best Saimin”, their Oxtail Saimin.

Their Oxtail Saimin will set you back $14.95, plus tax and tip, which is quite the chunk ‘o change to pay for saimin by any standard. Yet this IS oxtail saimin after all, and I suppose the price is justified, considering it comes as a complete meal, including a drink, salad, cabbage tsukemono and ice cream or sherbet dessert.

Arriving first at the table is my Green River drink…

Ah yes, the classic lime-flavored Green River. Remember that? Talk about “old school”! That along with the faux wood formica-covered decor at Violet’s will instantly transport you right back to the 70′s…

Arriving next on the table is the salad…

This is simply sliced cabbage for the most part, along with romaine lettuce and carrots, served with their house dressing, which tastes like a cross between French and Thousand Islands. As simple as it sounds, what makes this actually quite outstanding, is that it’s served ICE COLD, so it has this very refreshing and crispy bite to it. Especially the cabbage. Quite nice, actually! A very solid 3 SPAM Musubi on their house salad.

Then out comes the accompaniments for the Oxtail Saimin, which includes the all-important grated ginger, cabbage tsukemono and a bowl to discard your oxtail bones….

Now, as thunder and lightning strikes above, “The Bowl” has cometh….

New Violet’s Grill – Oxtail Saimin. $14.95 (includes drink, salad and dessert)

Add the shoyu to the grated ginger and we’re ready to dig in…

Anyhow, let’s start this tasting session the right way by first observing the bowl. I’ll do this on a spiritual level like I do with Japanese Ramen.

There’s certainly a generous helping of Chinese Parsley (Cilantro) on there, which I love. Good sign so far.

OK, first let’s try the broth…

I asked my server/sister of the owner how the broth was made, and surprisingly she divulged quite a bit! She said there isn’t any star anise in it, which is typical of local style oxtail soup, while there is some dashi, but most of its flavor comes from the long simmering of the oxtails themselves, which is exactly how it tasted. It didn’t taste like saimin broth at all, but more like a toned-down oxtail soup broth. When I say toned down, I mean in comparison to the ULTIMATE bowl of oxtail soup I had at both Pho Bistro 2 and The Alley Restaurant at Aiea Bowl.

Now let’s try the noodles…

Like most of the ramen shops around town, Violet’s sources their noodles from my favorite, the one, the only Sun Noodle Factory. With that, the noodles were cooked perfectly, being more on the firm side than the soggy side, which some saimin places seem to prefer making it the latter way.

OK, time to put my carnivorous hat on and eat some oxtail…

Flavorful, succulent and fall-off-the-marrow-ee-bone tender? Check, check and triple check. Now  here’s where oxtails get kicked up notches beyond mankind…

That’s right my friends, you dip da’ buggah’ in da’ grated ginger and shoyu sauce. Whooooo da’ winnahz! I swear, you could dip your shoe in this stuff and it’d probably taste great.

Seriously though, that simple-yet-magical combination of shoyu and the intense ginger flavor really emphasizes the “umami factor” of the oxtails. We’re talking serious “Umami-liciousness”. So, so good. Om nom nom nom nom NOM!

As mentioned earlier, $14.95 is a hefty price for saimin by most standards, yet for that, they certainly don’t skimp on portions of oxtails…

That sure is a heaping helping of succulent, fall-off-the-bones oxtail meat. In fact it was so tender, I had a tough time transferring them from one bowl to the other without falling off my chopsticks. Of course I did this just for this photo, then put the oxtails back in the soup. They need to be there for the flavor!

Also in the swimming in the bowl were strips of Konnyaku and slices of Shiitake Mushrooms, which the mushrooms contributed somewhat to the flavor of the broth.

So the bottom line here is that this tasted more like a very good bowl of Oxtail Soup that so happens to also have saimin noodles in it, than a “jacked-up”, excellent bowl of saimin that has oxtails in it.

Honestly for me, the oxtails doesn’t match with the saimin, and takes away from it more than adds to it. You suddenly forget it’s saimin and your brain focuses almost entirely on gnawing on the oxtails one by one. Yet don’t get me wrong, they were mighty fine pieces of oxtail, in one pretty good soup, that again, just so happens to have saimin noodles in it. While overall, I’m not so fond of the beef being the foundation of the saimin broth, where normally it’s either pork or seafood. For me that’s just plain weird.

As it turns out, as far for the sake of this being saimin, the oxtails became more of a disadvantage than an asset, no pun intended.

That said, I give Violet’s Grill’s Oxtail Saimin 3 SPAM Musubi. It’s a very good Oxtail Soup with Saimin noodles in it.

I still say as of this writing, of all places, Zippy’s Zip Min is THE BEST saimin on Oahu. It’s saimin to the core. Local all the way, with the perfect broth (that TASTES like saimin broth) and noodles, along with an incredibly delicious array of simple-yet-proven toppings that compliment the overall dish. All at a price that makes saimin what it should be: cheap, comforting and delicious.

Zippy’s Zip Min – A signature favorite! Special menu recipe with noodles, wun tun, breaded shrimp, choi sum, fish cake, dried seaweed, egg, sweet pork and green onion. $8.25

Good God, I could SO go for a bowl of that right about now. Looks sooo ono.

While I wasn’t “blown away” by Violet’s Grill’s Oxtail Saimin (a.k.a. Oxtail Soup with Saimin noodles in it), I was certainly AMAZED by their INCREDIBLE Okinawan Pig’s Feet Soup…

Violet’s Grill – Okinawan Pig’s Feet Soup

Good Lord, I could SO go for a bowl of that right about now as well! Om nom nom nom nom nom NOM!

Rounding out the complete Oxtail Saimin meal at Violet’s Grill, I’m brought my Rainbow Sherbet dessert….

I tell ya’, this place sure knows how to transport you back in time, as I haven’t had Rainbow Sherbet in AGES! I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a candy stand in there that sold Astro Pops and Horlicks Malted Candy Tablets. Remember those? Classics! Well anyhow, the sherbet was certainly a nice and cool ending to a hot soup lunch.

New Violet’s Grill
Kapalama Shopping Center (across the street from City Square)
1210 Dillingham Blvd.
Honolulu, Hawaii  96817

Tel. 841-8535

www.NewVioletsGrill.com

Business hours:
Open daily 6am to 10pm

The Tasty Island rating (on Oxtail Saimin):

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Who makes the best saimin? – Honolulu Advertiser/Metromix
• Kalihi Eats: New Violet’s Grill – The Tasty Island
• Time for Zip Min – The Tasty Island

P.S. Diner A just eMailed me these photos of a car he sighted in a parking lot with  SPAM vanity license plates!…

Now that is AWESOME. I wonder how many people have offered this person money to transfer the name over at the DMV to their cars. What’s kinda’ funny is the Hello Kitty sticker on the side. It’s rather disturbing, actually. lol What I would do is put the word “Musubi” in the bottom part of the license plate frame.

Happy Father’s Day

I did some grocery shopping at Foodland Farms (their new surname) in Aina Haina last weekend, where in the meat department, I came across a tray of chicken parts named “Island Chicken Hekka”. Which struck me on several fronts: first that it’s been a while since I’ve last had Chicken Hekka; and second that, well, that’s quite a specialized cut!

I mean, what supermarkets beyond Hawaii would you find cuts of chicken designated specifically for Chicken Hekka? California? Doubt it. New York? No way.

What’s more odd, is that this tray of “Island Chicken Hekka” (looks like they crossed-off “Island” because the chicken isn’t locally produced) is simply randomly-cut pieces from various parts of the bird, including the wing, breast, back and wherevahz.

Which must mean whoever is the manager or butcher of Foodland Farms’ meat department is basing this off their own personal Chicken Hekka recipe. Where at this point you might be asking, “What the heck is Chicken Hekka?”

Well, doing some quick “Google Fu’ing”, according to the late and great Honolulu Star Bulletin, “Hekka is a sukiyaki-type dish of plantation origin that consists of chicken and vegetables.” Sounds about right. I highly doubt anyone in China, Japan, the Philippines or Portugal have heard of “Chicken Hekka”. Heck, it just may have been named “Chicken Hekka” by the very meaning of “Chicken with whatever the HECK else thrown in with it”.

Really, it is though. Take a look at this recipe, courtesy of Sam Choy:

Chicken Hekka
Sam Choy

• 2-1/2 pounds chicken thighs or breasts, cut into strips
• 3 tablespoons macadamia nut oil
• 1/2 finger ginger, minced
• 2 cans bamboo shoots, sliced
• 1 bunch green onions, cut saimin-style
• 1 round onion, cut in half moon slices
• 3 medium carrots, julienned
• 1 package pre-sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 3 stalks celery, julienned
• 1/2 bundle watercress, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 block tofu, cut in 1-inch cubes
• 5 bundles of bean thread

Marinade:
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup macadamia nut oil
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 tablespoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

Sauce:
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken broth

Combine marinade ingredients and marinate chicken for 30 minutes. Slice vegetables, mix and set aside. Blend sauce ingredients and set aside. Brown chicken in marinade and 3 tablespoons of macadamia nut oil to which you have added the half finger of minced ginger. Add all vegetables and cook for 1 minute. Add sauce and bean threads and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.

That’s certainly lots o’ stuff in there.

Now check out my mother’s recipe:

Hilo Style Chicken Hekka (can use beef too!)
Mom

• 2 lbs. boneless chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 bunch watercress, roughly chopped
• 1 large round onion, sliced
• Green onion, chopped for garnish
• 1 block tofu, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1 can bamboo shoots (5.5 oz.)
• 1 can mushrooms (4.5 oz.), reserve liquid
• 2 bunches bean thread noodles (long rice)
• 1/3 cup shoyu
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup beer
• 1 tsp. salt

Heat oil in deep pan or wok, then add chicken, shoyu, sugar, beer, mushroom liquid and salt. When chicken is cooked through, add tofu, watercress, sliced onion, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and bean thread noodles and cook until until bean thread noodles are al dente. Garnish with green onions, then serve with hot rice.

I’ll make this recipe later after my kitchen is finished with its renovation, which is currently under way.

Cuts for Chicken Hekka? Check. Yet there’s other asian-inspired specialized cuts of meat in our local supermarket as well. At Don Quijote and Marukai, you’ll find boneless pork chops cut thin and labeled for Tonkatsu. For beef, of course we have short ribs labeled for Teriyaki and Kal Bi. There’s also very thin cuts of beef labeled for Sukiyaki…

What I have yet to see here in Hawaii supermarkets is beef labeled specifically for Beef Bourguignon, Daube or Stroganoff. All three of which sounds good right about now!

This past Aloha Friday (yesterday), Diner A and I ran an errand in the airport area, where for lunch, we decided to check out the grindz at Byron’s Drive-In.  This place has been a landmark here for decades, where interestingly, come to find out,  is the last remaining in the legacy of  restaurateur Andrew Wong, who has since passed…

Here’s the takeout menu, which includes most selections, except for a few more “specials” and miscellaneous goodies posted on the window in front…

Byron’s Drive-In’ daily specials for June 2010…

Also for your convenience, here’s a download link for the PDF of Byron’s Drive-In’s current menu (2 pages).

While I admittedly haven’t eaten here for some time now, it always amazes me how crowded the place gets every time I drive by, and today was no exception…

It got even more crowded than that after I snapped that photo.

There’s ample seating…

and games, too!…

So anyhow, getting to our “Grindz of the Day”, Diner A decided to sample “Byron’s Mix”…

Byron’s Drive-In – “Byron’s Mix: Teriyaki Beef, Teriyaki Chicken, Chow Mein Noodles, Mac’ Salad and Rice. $8.75

The verdict? Diner A gives it 3 SPAM Musubi, noting the tasty sauce and tasty charred edges on the meats. Oh-right!

I decided to sample one of their “signature” items, the Avocado Deluxe Burger and Onion Rings….

Byron’s Drive-In – Avocado Deluxe Burger ($5.25) and Onion Rings ($2.25)

Notice the classic “local style” mustard-mayo’ sauce just oozing over the edge of the bun bottom. Oh-right!

A better angle…

As always, the cutaway view…

The verdict? The thick slices of avocado were fresh and perfectly ripened, and added a nice “fattening” component to the already fattening burger patty. lol While the crunchy, zesty slice of white onion and acidic tomato added great contrast to them “fattening” stuffs. Then you have more fat comin’ at ya’ in the form of the mustard-mayo’ sauce. Can’t go wrong with that! While the ketchup on the top part of the bun brought it all together.

Complaints would be the bun, which could have been a little fresher, as it tasted like “2 day old bun” lol, while they also didn’t toast the insides, which is a critical factor (that it IS toasted) in how I judge a burger. Also, the burger patty was cooked on a flat top griddle (ugh), yet thankfully wasn’t dried out and still had decent moisture in it, while the crust was, well, FRIED.  Overall nothing really in and of itself worthy to write home or here about.

Yet that “local style” mustard-mayo’ sauce — which can make car bumpers taste good — along with the combination of ketchup, fresh veggies and avocado made it an overall very satisfying burger experience. Enough to give it 3 SPAM Musubi.

As for the Onion Rings, very nice. It had a Fish ‘n Chips type batter that’s airy inside and lightly crispy on the outside. The onions itself were regular whites, being not notably sweet, yet adequately flavorful to stick out within the batter. 3 SPAM Musubi for their Onion Rings as well.

I was gonna’ order their ‘Spicy Ahi Casserole’, which they tout as being a famous dish from the late ‘n great Andy Wong’s Orson’s Restaurant, but changed my mind at the last minute, preferring something more “sandwich-ee”. The Spicy Ahi Casserole was described as being baked with celery, onion and mayonnaise. No cheese? As odd as it may sound, tuna and cheese can be very good friends!

Anyhow, what was interesting was that, along with mostly blue and white collar workers waiting  in line, mixed in the crowd were also a group of mainland tourists who looked like they just off the plane. What a way to start your Hawaii vacation: grab a plate lunch at Byron’s Drive-In! Guy and the “Triple D” folks really should consider this place on their next Hawaii visit. Classic.

Next up we have an Okazuya plate that Diner “Uchinanchu” E picked up early yesterday morning from Toshi’s Delicatessen in Kalihi, a.k.a. God’s Country, a.k.a. “The Center of Hawaii’s Food Universe”. lol But in this case, what’s just as important as the food itself , is how it’s presented! You may recall several months ago, I did a write-up titled “Plate Lunch Presentation 101″, where I explained the various modern and old school methods used to pack a plate lunch.

I for one appreciate and prefer “old school” methods, and thankfully Toshi’s Delicatessen is one of the few remaining that adheres to the practice of wrapping their ROUND PAPER PLATE in BUTCHER PAPER…

It’s like a wrapped gift of oishiliciousness.

Now we shall commence with the unveiling…

Ooooh…aaaahhhhhh….ooooohhh…aaaahhhhhh.

Unwrapping that, we have this…

What the? Balut? Hah? Oh, oops, sorry, wrong pic. LOL!

In this next “sequence”, notice the parchment paper liner. Part of the “romance” of this part is pulling it off, where you get some of the food stuck to it…

This is the part when, if no one is looking, you put the parchment paper up to your mouth and try and nibble off every last piece of shoyu long rice noodle stickin’ to it. lol

Finally, presenting Toshi’s Shoyu Chicken, Chow Funn, Shoyu Long Rice and Nori Musubi Okazuya plate…

Toshi’s Delicatessen (Okazuya) – Shoyu Chicken, Shoyu Long Rice, Chow Funn and Nori Musubi. $6

The verdict? Diner “Saimin Kaukau” E gives it 3 SPAM Musubi, which would be the equivalent of 4 or 5 SPAM Musubi for you and I. I must say, he gave me a sample of the chow funn to try and it is TOTALLY ONO. I hate to admit it, but this might just beat the reigning champ, St. Louis Delicatessen (Okazuya). I think Toshi’s has even more flavor, yet remains subtle enough to remain silent, yet effective, if you know what I mean.

Well, that’s it for today’s Grindz of the Day. Toodles!

If there’s one thing that’s almost a given in the restaurant industry, it would be that if a start-up burger joint is successful, chances are highly likely it will eventually turn into a chain.

McDonald’s opened its first location by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California in 1940. Thanks to the enterprising spirit of the late and great Ray Kroc, who became their first franchisee and eventually bought the two brothers out, Today McDonald’s has over 31,000 restaurants in over 119 countries.

Right here on Oahu, Teddy’s, Kua Aina and The Shack are another example of some locally-owned burger joints that have geographically spread their beefy wings. In fact, Teddy’s Bigger Burgers will be opening yet another location on Beretania street near University avenue in June.

Which leads us here today to the brand new H & T Burgers, who, just yesterday, opened a second location in Don Quijote’s “food court” area fronting the store on Kaheka street. This, now being their second location from their original restaurant in Windward Mall in Kaneohe.

Without further ado, let’s check out the menu board…

There’s an open kitchen behind a glass window where you can watch your burger being prepared. Yet I was rather disappointed to find my pet peeve cooking device as their primary tool of the trade, the venerable flat top griddle…

As long as nothing on the menu says “Barbecue” or BBQ” (which there wasn’t), I guess it’s OK. I think you know who I’m refering to in that regard.

I’ve heard H & T are known to make a mighty fine Teriyaki Burger, so I chose just that, going for the Teri-Burger Combo Meal #1…

H& T Burgers – Teri-Burger Combo Meal. $5.97

The prices are certainly reasonable. A Teri-Burger (SIC with the hyphen). Sold ala carte, the Teri-Burger is $3.27, while the fries are $2.25.

Let’s zoom in for a better look…

I know this is more photos than necessary to depict a burger and fries, but what the heck, as it’s all I got to work with, so please bear with me. lol

Nicely colored Teriyaki sauce glazing the burger patty there. The patty shape itself looks like their house-made, not pre-fab. So far, so good.

Let’s peek under the hood…

As expected coming off a flat top griddle (essentially a huge frying “pan”), this patty doesn’t have my much more desirable cross-hatch grilled sear markings. You know how passionate I am about that.

OK, enough looking already. The food’s getting cold, so let’s have a bite…

Well, obviously that’s after more than just one bite, as I was trying to show the center-most part of the burger.

So how is it? The Teri’ sauce wasn’t as sweet as I expected, but more salty. It also wasn’t as pronounced with ginger flavor as I expected and hoped, but more heavy on Garlic. It almost tasted like Chinese style Teriyaki sauce, whatever the Chinese name of that may be. Don’t go thinkin’ Hoisin or Oyster sauce though, as it definitely wasn’t that, God forbid!  Aside of it being a bit too salty for my tastes, overall a pretty good sauce.

Which wouldn’t surprise me as far as the Chinese influence on it, as the owner, Shon Pak, who I briefly met there, is Chinese.

As for the beef burger patty, it has a rather “tight” texture, having me guess (I didn’t ask) they mix the ground beef with bread crumbs, the “old school” way. This has me thinking Diner E, who is a an “old school traditionalist” when it comes to good local kine grindz would really enjoy this burger.

It’s about 3/8″ thick, so I wasn’t expecting any medium-rare parts inside, yet even for that relatively thin profile, it was surprisingly  juicy, with just a little fat run-off as I bit through it.

Moving down to the second floor, the mayo’ mixed with the shredded Iceberg Lettuce under the patty was a bit more heavy-handed than I prefer though…

Yet I can see some folks who will think the opposite, as they like that heavy mayo’ flavor mingling with the robust Teri’ sauce. Whatevahz.

Now to the top and bottom floors, the bun…

Pretty much your standard white bread toasted sesame bun, yet I must note a very fresh one, tasting like they had been baked the same morning. The first thing I checked was to see if they toasted the insides on the griddle though, which would have been bonus points, but nope, it wasn’t. The brown color  on the inside is from the Teri’ sauce.

Summing up their Teri-Burger, I’ll give it 2 SPAM Musubi (good).

This whole time you were probably looking at the fries wondering what the heck that brown stuff is all over it. Which shouldn’t be difficult to figure out, as of course it’s none other than Teriyaki sauce!

When the cashier asked me out of the blue, “Would you like Teri’ sauce on your fries”, I tell you, that was like music to my ears. There is a God after all!  This brought back so many memories of the burgers served at my high school cafeteria, where the ladies would always pour their awesome Teri’ sauce on my fries at my request. Was so ono!

Let’s see if these live up to that fond memory…

Of course this is the same Teri’ sauce used on the burger, so it has the same attributes I mentioned earlier, which once again, is more salty than sweet, and more heavy on garlic than ginger. Not surprisingly, when combined with the “neutral” fries, it tastes even more “Chinese” on the that than it did on the burger. Needless to say, that saltyness had me reaching for my fruit punch to chase it down more often than I normally would.

The fries themselves were deep-fried to “GBD” perfection, and I dare say right on par with McDonald’s in proper doneness, flavor and texture.

With that, unless you’ve already eaten here and are familiar with the sauce, I’d recommend instead of them pouring the Teri’ on your fries, tell them you want it separately in a little container, or at least just poured on the side of the fries, but not over it.

Summing it up, I give H & T’s fries with Teri’ sauce on it 2 SPAM Musubi (good).

Mr. Pak (the owner) told me KHON2′s Manolo Morales was due to visit this place this morning, so when they get that video goes up on their site, I’ll add the link here.

H & T Burgers
Don Quijote
801 Kaheka street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96814

The Tasty Island rating:

(2) Good. I’m glad I tried it.

This past Wednesday Diner A, E and yours truly decided to sample da’ grinds from Spot’s Inn’ new location at Puck’s Alley on University avenue.

As in three months new, after being on hiatus since August 2008 when owners John and Seiko closed their former location on Dillingham boulevard near HCC where they’ve previously been for over 13 years. That place is now home to the Vietnamese-meets-local plate lunch joint called Mix Plate Cafe, a slightly reinvented version of the place that took over Spot’s Inn to begin with named Pho Dillingham Grill.

Without further ado, let’s check out Spot’s Inn’ new Puck’s Alley-on-University avenue digs out, starting from the front and working our way in and around, ehem, “Da’ Spot”…

“Nam Myoho Renge Kyo”…

Spot’s Inn is named after owner Seiko’s Dalmation named “Spot”…

The menu…

Spot’s Inn’ weekly specials for the month of April 2010…

Spot’s Inn’ catering menu…

Breakfast on Saturdays…

Spot’s Inn’ daily specials for the day of Wednesday, April 28, 2010…

Along with their cooked-to-order menu items are prepared Japanese favorites ready for takeout, such as Inari (cone) sushi …

Spot’s Inn – Cone Sushi. $1.75

Maki Sushi…

Spot’s Inn – Futomaki. $1.75

Omusubi…

Spot’s Inn – Omusubi. $1.25 each

Spam Musubi (yay!)…

Spot’s Inn – Spam Musubi. $1.25 each

Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin)…

Spot’s Inn – Kabocha. $3.50

Nishime…

Spot’s Inn – Nishime. $3.25

Kimpira Gobo…

Spot’s Inn – Kimpira Gobo. $3.50

Everything sounds and looks good, except I was hoping there’d be more seafood selections on the menu, if not the daily specials. Looks like my only choices today are going to be either the deep-fried Mahi or the Crab & Bacon on Grilled Bread Sandwich. So I chose the latter…

Spot’s Inn – Crab & Bacon on Grilled Bread Sandwich with Fries. $8.25

The menu says the sandwiches come with either macaroni or toss salad, but apparently they’ve added fries as an option, which came with it by default. Cool with that.

Diner E chose his usual “gauge plate”, the one, the only, Hamburger Steak; this time “lightening up” with the mini version…

Spot’s Inn – Hamburger Steak with Sauteed Onions and Brown Gravy. $4.75 (mini plate)

All entrees except Spaghetti include toss or mac’ salad…

Spot’s Inn – Macaroni Salad

Diner A decided to try the Spot’s Inn Bento…

Spot’s Inn Bento – Teri Hamburger Steak, Chicken Katsu, Mahi, Spam, Takuwon & Rice. $8.25

I couldn’t resist the Nishime and Kabocha, so I picked up one each of those two for dinner later…

Kabocha. $3.50

Nishime. $3.25

So how is it? Let’s start with Diner E’s mini Hamburger Steak plate…

He said the house-made patty was pretty good, being moist inside with the desirable “old school style” bread filler that he prefers his hamburger steak to have. While of course those seared grill marks added plenty of flavor to the hamburger patty party.

As for the gravy, it had too much cornstarch thickener, giving it an undesirable gelatinous consistency, lacking that silkiness of a properly-thickened flour-based gravy. Flavorwise, it lacked depth and “beefyness”, which you can already tell by the color. It wasn’t a bad gravy, but just not as great as the greats.

He thought the Mac’ Salad was rather plain like just straight-up mayo’, and lacking that “cool and creamy” note we look for. Seiko-san, hint: add “sukoshi” milk.

Summing it up, Diner E gives Spot’s Inn Hamburger Steak 2 SPAM Musubi.

Now let’s see what Diner A thinks of the Spot’s Inn Bento…

Like the Hamburger Steak plate, looks like them Food Rules got left in the car out in the parking lot with this one. Oh, OK, one piece of Takuwon (how they spell it), so we’ll count that as a “veggie” I guess. But Diner A didn’t even eat that and gave it to me! lol Shoots, you know me and Tsukemono are best friends.

The only thing I got to sample from his plate was the Chicken Katsu, and I must say, if there’s one thing I’d definitely order when returning here is their Chicken Katsu. It’s excellent!…

Notice how moist and tender the chicken is, while the panko crust is deep-fried to “GBD” (golden-brown-delicious) perfection. It tastes like they marinade the chicken in something. Perhaps a light teriyaki or maybe mirin and/or sake. Not sure, but it definitely isn’t just plain chicken. Best of all, they serve with authentic Japanese style Tonkatsu sauce! Hooooooraaaaay! Finally someone’s on the same page I’m on when it comes to good Katsu. All that’s missing is the bed of cabbage underneath it.

Speaking of bed of cabbage, being Seiko-san is from Japan, I’m surprised she doesn’t put Furikake on this bento. Really surprised. It really could use it if you ask me.

But yeah, definitely consider the Chicken Katsu if you hit Spot’s. This alone is a winner. And make sure to ask for extra ‘Katsu sauce, because the teeny-weeny container they provided with this bento was barely enough for the three pieces on this plate.

He also enjoyed the panko-crusted deep-fried Mahi…

Moist, flakey and reasonably flavored, even if it had been from frozen. This came with the usual deep-fried fish accompanyment, tartar sauce.

He also gave a thumbs-up to the grilled Teriyaki burger patty, noting the nicely-thickened glazed flavor it provided, and of course the added punch from the cross-hatch seared grill markings. Gotta’ love that. While it was cooked to a perfect medium doneness and not dried out.

The regular SPAM was a bit salty for him, as he’s used to the lower Sodium Lite SPAM he uses at home, but never-the-less a welcome addition to this “meatfest” of a plate.

Summing it up, Diner A gives the Spot’s Inn Bento a very solid 3 SPAM Musubi.

Now let’s check out my Crab & Bacon on Grilled Bread Sandwich…

Let’s have a peek under the hood…

A bit skimpy there on the bacon. The menu says they use “real crab”, but I dunno’, this looks like the imitation stuff to me…

To describe the taste, this reminds of Subway’s Seafood and Crab Sub. When it said “Real Crab”, I was expecting the crab part to have a complex, more gourmet flare to it, but this turns out being your ordinary seafood “salad” mixture of mayonnaise, celery and crab; which I suppose in this case is a combination of both real and imitation  crab.

The smokey porkyness of the bacon helped a bit, I’ll give it that. While the lettuce and tomato are always welcome guests in my “house of bread”. Speaking of which, the nicely toasted and buttery Japanese style white bread alone elevated this sandwich from being just 1 SPAM Musubi to 2. The fries were pretty good actually for store-bought frozen stuff, which I don’t have a problem with. Nice and crispy outside, perfectly salted and steamy tender inside.

Later that evening I had the Kabocha and Nishime for dinner, and I must say, they both were excellent. The Kabocha were simmered in a mildly sweet dashi-like broth and were cooked perfectly al dente, while the skin retained some “bite” to it. The Nishime had all the right stuff in it, including my favorite, Konnyaku, Hasu and Daikon. While everything was deeply permeated with the flavor from the savory, and again slightly sweet Nishime broth. I give those both a solid 4 SPAM Musubi.

On a return visit, I’d probably order the Chicken Katsu mini plate, along with a side of either the Kabocha or Nishime. Those are all winners at Spot’s Inn.

Spot’s Inn
1035 University Avenue #104
Honolulu, Hawaii  96826

Tel. (808) 941-4554

Business hours:
Monday: Friday 10:30am to 8pm
Saturday: 8am to 8pm
Sunday: Closed

Spot’s Inn menu PDF download (2 pages; current as of 4/10)

The Tasty Island rating:

(2) Good. I’m glad I tried it.

LocoKineGrindz.com announces the first annual “FOOD HUNT FOR CHARITY” Challenge! This Oahu-wide local food scavenger hunt, staring on May 1st, 2010, will take participants all over the island to hunt down 50 specific foods from 50 specific restaurants! As participants work their way through the list (uploading picture evidence of their delicious grinds along the way), LocoKineGrindz.com and our event sponsors will be making donations to support the Lanakila Meals on Wheels program. Participants will also qualify for great prizes!

This challenge is meant to be a fun (and obviously delicious!) way to gain awareness for the Lanakila Meals on Wheels program, which helps thousands of seniors each year. It is our hope that many people across the island participate in this challenge!

Please visit the informational website for the “FOOD HUNT FOR CHARITY” challenge for more information: www.foodhuntforcharity.com

If you plan to participate please register by clicking HERE. Anyone who registers prior to the challenge start date of May 1st and completes at least 10 out of 50 foods on the list will be automatically entered for a random prize drawing above and beyond the standard prizes!

Lanakila Meals on Wheels donations and contest prizes will be announced closer to the start date of the challenge!

To learn more about the Lanakila Meals on Wheels program please visit: http://www.lanakilapacific.org/more-than-a-meal.asp

This announcement is brought to you by fellow Oahu Food Blogger Dale Yasunaga @

Continuing my quest to find a Laulau that can dethrown the reigning champ at Highway Inn in Waipahu, this past week I decided to sample the Hawaiian grindz at Marujyu Market in Aiea.

Which here we have their #14 Laulau, Squid Luau and Lomi Salmon plate, which runs $6.25 with rice, but of course I ain’t having no freegin’ rice with my Hawaiian food! No, it’s gotta’ be POI my boy! Which costs just $1.05 extra. $7.30 for all that is truly a steal of a deal, especially considering everything except the poi is made in-house.

Whenever you order Hawaiian food and it includes Laulau, always ask if they make their own, or if not, where or what brand they’re using. Very important! I’m not going to name names, but all you “Laulau connoisseurs” (that sounds kinda’ weird) out there know what I’m talkin’ about.

So I was happy to hear Marujyu does in fact make their own Laulau, and as you see, unlike many places, they serve theirs still wrapped in the Ti Leaf. Yay! Ti Leaves impart a unique, well, “Hawaiian flavor” to Kalua Pig and Laulau that would certainly be amiss without it. Some places may skimp (due to lack of availability or whatever) and not use Ti Leaves when steaming their Laulau, resorting to lowly TIN FOIL. Ack! No, no, no! May as well not make it if you don’t have all the right ingrediments, right? Me thinks so.

I also was also happy to hear their Laulau includes Butterfish. Double Yay!

Well, let’s find out if Marujyu’s house-made Laulau tastes as good as it looks. Well, actually Laulau doesn’t have much visual appeal, if any at all, but you know what I’m sayin’. Here it is unwrapped, where you see it’s absolutely HUGE-MANGOUS…

See here how it occupies about two-thirds of the large entree section…

Put your two fists together, and that’s about how big it is, unwrapped!

Let’s open this monster up and and check out what’s “under the hood”…

A chunk of falling-apart pork meat, check. Even bigger pieces (plural) of melting pork fat, check. Pretty good size piece of tender Butterfish, check. A thick layer of tender Luau leaves wrapping it all together, check. So far, so good! Here’s a better look at the (tan-fleshed) Butterfish in it (with the lighter-colored melting pork fat to the left)…

How does it taste? Eh, not bad, but not great either. It just doesn’t have that “IT” factor like Highway Inn’s Laulau had. And I know exactly what was missing, was enough Hawaiian salt put in BEFORE they steamed it. So even though I could add my own Hawaiian salt as I ate it, the salt wasn’t in there from the beginning to melt into the pork, pork fat, butterish and luau leaves. Therefore none of their individual or homogenized flavors stood out. I won’t say it was bland, but not like “Pow! This is broke da’ mout’ winnahz!”. Ya’ know?

Of course with Hawaiian food, Poi makes everything taste right, so let’s try some Butterfish dipped in Poi…

Oh yeah. Sprinkle just a few grains of Hawaiian salt and whack ‘em, poi and all… hoooooo da’ buggah’ is winnahz!

Wait, you said “dip” the butterfish in the poi? Well, yes, as Marujyu thins their poi down with water quite a bit…

Not that bad though. It still had some body. Not like where it was “Poi Soup”. It was very fresh as well, tasting like it came from the factory that day, or at the most just 1 day old.

Summing up Marujyu’s Laulau, I give it 3 SPAM Musubi. A better hand with the Hawaiian salt in the Laulau making process and this just may have been a 5.

Now let’s check out da’ Squid Luau…

Buggah’ look “tick” (thick) eh? It is. Check ‘em out…

Notice how it stays put on my spoon, even as the spoon is tilted at a 45 degree angle. Impressive!

How does it taste? Excellent flavor without being overpowered with Coconut milk. The only problem? Like Kanak Attack, Marujyu’s Squid Luau is TOO SWEET. Not as bad as Kanak Attack’s was, but still, more so than I’d prefer. I dunno’, maybe some folks like it tasting that way, but not me. I think Squid Luau should taste more savory and earthy, not sweet like that.

Speaking of savory, there’s certainly a generous amount of chopped Tako (Octopus; not Squid!) in it..

Why do they call it “Squid Luau” anyway, when it’s usually (at least if done right) made with Octopus (Tako)? From now I’m going to start calling it He’e Luau or Tako Luau. Actually, I think “Tako Luau” sounds better.

Remember this one?…

Anyhow, regardless of it being more sweet than I would have preferred, the thick consistency and overall flavor of Marujyu’s, ehem, TAKO LUAU was very good, which I’ll give it 3 SPAM Musubi.

Moving on with this “obsession”, let’s check out Marujyu’s Lomi Salmon…

Wow, you heard of “Lomi Tomato” right? Da’ kine where get mostly tomato with only scarce (if any) bits of salt salmon in it. Well this is the polar opposite of that, where it’s mostly salt salmon and only scarce bits of tomato in it! Ou-right!

Actually it was little too much salmon and not enough white and green onion it. Still, at least the very pink-colored and tender salt salmon was rinsed properly, so it wasn’t too salty. Was jusssssss’ right (like Rap’s “Aunty Marialani” would say).

Summing it up, I give Marujyu’s Lomi Salmon Salmon (yeah I said it twice, because that’s how much get “inside”) 4 SPAM Musubi. Winnahz!

And that wraps up this indepth look and tasting analysis of Marujyu’s Hawaiian plate #14.

Next we have Diner E’s choice, where he was very disappointed they didn’t they didn’t have Maki Kombu (they were supposed to according to their website) and Turkey Tails for the day, which are his favorite Marujyu items. So instead he went with their Pastele and Gandule Rice plate…

Marujyu Market – Pastele, Gandule Rice and Mac Salad plate, $5.95

Just as I admire Marujyu for serving their Laulau wrapped in Ti Leaf, I appreciate that they serve their Pastele wrapped up in Banana Leaf…

Unwrapping the banana leaf from the pastele, you see the masa is filled with big chunks of tender pork…

The pork doesn’t stop there, as there’s also a generous helping of sliced pork in the Gandule Rice as well…

Even though their Mac’ Sal’ has the dreaded green peas in it, Diner E still gave it a thumbs-up…

Summing up his entire Puerto Rican plate, Diner “Saimin Kaukau” E gives it a very solid 3 SPAM Musubi.

Finally, Diner C chose a Baked Mahimahi mini plate…

Marujyu Market – Baked Mahimahi mini plate with 1 scoop brown rice and tossed green salad with ranch dressing, $4.25

The Mahimahi was coated with mayonnaise that tasted like it was seasoned paprika, salt and pepper. She thought the flavor was OK, but not what she was expecting, which was more like a lemon caper butter sauce kinda’ deal. Summing it up, she gave it 2 SPAM Musubi.

I also picked a bag of their boiled peanuts to try out…

Marujyu Market – Boiled Peanuts, $2.50

While these can’t touch Alicia’s superior flavored larger sized Virginia boiled peanuts, their still pretty decent…

Nice and “juicy” inside, just how I like’ ‘em. A hint of sweet and star anise in the flavor, yet I think it could have used just a little more salt. Otherwise, very good. 3 SPAM Musubi.

Marujyu Market is a lot like Alicia’s Market in Kalihi Kai and Masa & Joyce in Kaneohe: a place where you can get ANYKINE local grinds under one roof: Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Puerto Rican, to classic American comfort foods such as meatloaf and fried  chicken. Plus a wide variety of fresh poke and other ethnic specialty foods. There’s no place to sit and eat, so this place is strictly takeout. They also do catering.

Certainly something for just about everyone at Marujyu Market.

Marujyu Market
98-820 Moanalua Road (in the Newtown Business Park)
Aiea, Hawaii, 96701
(808) 487-0057
website: MarujyuMarket.com

The Tasty Island rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related Links:
• Aiea Eats: Marujyu Market – The Tasty Island

As you may have read in my previous post on Kona Coast Abalone, yesterday I paid yet another visit to the always impressive KCC Farmers’ Market.

This popular open market event is held every Saturday from 7:30 to 11:00am in the makai (ocean)-side parking lot at Kapiolani Community College at the foot of Daimond Head. Most of the vendors there are regulars, while there’s always a few new or occasional folks offering their goods on any given weekend.

Following are photos I took of just a few of the many wonderful made or grown-in-Hawaii food products offered from various vendors for sale on this particular Saturday morning. Enjoy.

Papayas are by far the most widely sold fruit at this market…

If there’s one thing I want this Christmas, it’s this…

Forget them canned or bagged Macadamia Nuts, these fresh-cracked slow-roasted Macs are as fresh and “snappy” as they get!…

Kate Wagner of StarPoint Cafe resources as much local and organic ingredients as possible, and many (but not all) of her pastries and other baked goods are sugar-free, using Agave as its sweetener, making them very popular with people who are diabetic or have other dietary restrictions. The following pastries and baked goods are from StarPoint Cafe.

Pineapple and Mandarin Orange Scones, Whole Grain Scones and Strawberry Scones…

Danish CinnamonRolls…

Truffle Brownies and  Carnival Bars….

Fruit Bars…

Hot Cross Buns…

Pecan Maple Cheesecake…

Chocolate and Red Velvet Cake…

Walnut Craisin Wholewheat Bread loaves…

Here Kate shows off a Cacao fruit pod from her family’s Cacao farm on the Big Island…

Now the fabulous Salmon Fried Rice from Ohana Seafood…

Salmon and Saba Fried Rice Bento Boxes…

North Shore Farms’ AMAZING Pesto Neapolitan Pizza…

North Shore Farms also makes the Mozzarella Cheese that goes on these jewels….

Next up is India Cafe…

Man, looking at that, I sure could go for a bowl of Indian Curry on Jasmin Rice right about now!

Grandma G’s…

What would an outdoor event in Hawaii be without Shave Ice!…

When dad handed this Rainbow Shave Ice to his daughter, her immediate reaction following the first bite was pure jubilation and she literally jumped with joy. Was sooo cute!…

Finally, a look once again at the (grilled) Kona Coast Abalone…

So what did I end up buying on this visit yesteday? Because you know, shopping at the KCC Farmers’ Market  is all about impulse, never premeditated. At least for me.

Well, as you may recall, I sampled the Grilled Kona Coast Abalone….

Those have now been added to my KCCFM must-eat list. That along with North Shore Farm’s Pesto Neapolitan Pizza is another thing I couldn’t leave without…

The fresh basil is limp only because I had it sitting in the package for over an hour. But it still TASTED AWESOME. I still say this is by far THE BEST PIZZA ON OAHU. Period.

Partially because of the wonderfully toasted and seasoned crust…

And of course that flavor-packed pesto, homemade, very creamy Mozzarella Cheese and those fruity-fresh and fragrant North Shore Farms Tomatoes, with the fresh basil rounding it all out…

Most pizza I can only eat 2 or maybe 3 slices at the most and I’ve had enough. Not this Pizza. I seriously think I could whack an entire pie of this stuff. Seriously, it’s that good.

My girlfriend loves Salmon, so I got her a Salmon Bento from New Wave Kitchen…

Finally, with all the fresh papayas being sold all over the place at the market there, I just had to come home with two of my own. So I picked the Non-GMO (Non-Genetically-Modified Organisms) Kahuku Papayas from Chinen Farms…

The woman running the Chinen Farms stand pointed out to me that the two papayas I chose were FEMALE. She explained that the way you can tell that is that “a female papaya is like a real woman (female): they can stand on their own (notice how it stands on its bottom end and doesn’t fall over), and that they require a lot of patience (to ripen), but they’re very much worth the wait (to eat).” I swear to God, that’s exactly what she told me! And I know exactly where she’s coming from. lol So we’ll give these two young ladies a few days and they’ll be ready.

I’ll sign off this post with a photo of a Hawaiian Monk Seal I caught napping on Diamond Head Beach yesterday morning…

To the tune of the nursery rhyme song “Rock-A-Bye Baby”…

“Rock-a-bye monk seal on a beach front. When the sand blows you sneeze and you grunt.
When the wave breaks, it rushes up and wets your hair. And all the people do is they stop and they stare.”

Well, doesn’t look like I’ll be making a living writing nursery rhymes for sea mammals anytime soon. lol

Molly Jacobson, one half of the husband and wife team behind ‘Top Maui Restaurants 2010′, recently sent me a digital copy of their new book to check out, and I must say, it’s a mighty fine piece of work. A lot of work. And a lot of EATING!

Hence they’ve proclaimed the contents as “Indispensable Advice from Experts Who Live, Play & Eat on Maui”.

This is really great actually, as I repeatedly get emails from visitors planning a trip to Hawaii asking for personal recommendations of where to eat, not just on Oahu, but other islands as well. Now I can simply point those heading to Maui to this book.

Their tagline “From Thrifty to Four Star” certainly holds true, as they review just about every type of eatery on the Valley Isle. From the local diners, drive ins and dives (hey, that sounds familiar), to restaurants that are sure to hand you a check at the end of the meal as big as the humpback whales breaching offshore of the oceanfront view you just got through enjoying.

‘Top Maui Restaurants 2010′ is very thorough, well organized and easy to navigate. The table of contents in front lists all of the nearly 200 Maui restaurant reviews and their corresponding pages in the alphabetical order that they’re placed in the book.  While the Index in back also includes the restaurants’ page locations, as well as a number of key names and words you might specifically be seeking out; e.g. “birthday”, “Luau”, “nightlife” or “wedding”.

They do note that while they’ve been able to fit nearly 200 restaurant reviews in this book, there’s about 400 restaurants total in Maui, so nearly half had to be left out, including a notable one I’ll mention later.

While I may have my “non-mathematical” off-the-cuff SPAM Musubi Rating System, their rating system is much more structured into the usual sets of criteria found on most restaurant reviews out there. This includes Food, Ambiance, Service, Heart (that’s a unique one!), Value (a.k.a. “Return on Investment” or ROI), and OVERALL. They present this in this easy-to-glance-at icon method…

The “Love” criteria is explained as “how much love we feel a kitchen cooks into the food.” Going on to explain it’s “primarly experiential” and you “know it when you feel it, just like the emotion of love towards a person”. I like that. I’ll have to start factoring that into my SPAM Musubi rating system.

Each criteria has a range of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 being best (of course). Although they do note that no restaurant has had the luck of receiving a 5 star overall rating. Yet. Hence the “Thrifty to Four Star” (and not five) tagline. They also note that although the average overall score may be low or average due to say poor service or ambiance, they sometimes still give it the Top Restaurant award just based on very good FOOD. Fair enough. That’s kinda’ how I am with my SPAM Musubi rating system. In fact, I’m giving this book an extra SPAM Musubi just for this!

Further enhancing this review book’s user-friendly interface are a set of icons representing the ‘Amenities’ offered at each establishment…

The only point of interest I think is missing is an ATTIRE (practically naked/casual/business casual (aloha shirt)/formal) icon(s).

Then again, ah’, you stay on Maui for cryin’ out loud, so you can fine dine at Spago in t-shirt, shorts and rubbah slippahz, no worries. G-String Bikini and Speedos? Why not? Shoots, Wolfgang is from Europe. That’s the style there!  lol

There’s two other key icons that will point you towards which restaurants were most favorable by authors Molly and James Jacobson. Representing their highest praise and recommendation are restaurants who are awarded the TROPHY icon, such as here at Paia Fish Market…

One step down from that, yet still worth considering a visit “for certain things” are restaurants awarded the Medal Ribbon icon…

The only thing a little confusing here is that even though some restaurants are awarded the Medal Ribbon icon, they still kind of bash the place, which as you see they’re doing here at Buzz’s Wharf.

The authors explain, while they only wanted to include the “best of the best” restaurants on Maui in their book (which makes sense considering its title), due to popular demand through emails and comments on their blog, they had to include even those that aren’t in that league. With that, the restaurants reviewed in this book that don’t either have the Trophy or Medal Ribbon icon are considered “not recommended” by them. Such as here at Tasty Crust…

As you can read in that particular review, they’re brutally honest, which is certainly appreciated. No sugar coating here whatsoever, regardless of any “hype” a restaurant may receive by others, as Tasty Crust normally gets regarding their hotcakes. I’ve been there myself and can pretty much agree with this review.

Just those three snippets of reviews gives you an idea of how thorough they are and how much they really know about the restaurant. You can really tell they’ve really been to all these restaurants a number of times. Which is what it would take to have that much detailed information, tips and actual dining experience they share in each and every review.

In the forward section on ‘FYI: How We Review Restaurants’, they explain three key rules they’ve followed when visiting each restaurant:

#1 is that EVERY RESTAURANT HAS BEEN VISITED AT LEAST TWICE. Sometimes 3 or more times. This, to ensure they’re giving the restaurant a fair review and not just catching them at either a really good or really bad time. Which you all know is the dynamics of the restaurant industry. I totally understand that.

#2 is that they PAY FOR EVERY MEAL. No comps. This way there’s no conflict of interest and they’re not obligated to give higher ratings. I totally understand that as well. Been in that situation before. With that, the authors say they’ve spent nearly a half-million dollars in eating out expenses building their review portfolio for this publication. Wow.

#3 is that they DINE UNDERCOVER. They don’t want to be recognized as restaurant critics by the staff, lest they receive better than “normal” or “average” food and/or service. Which is easy for them, as they don’t take pictures of the restaurant or food like I do. In fact there’s NO photos of the restaurants or their dishes in this book. None whatsoever. It’s all text reviews.

Of course, this being print media, page “real estate” is at a prime, and had they included photographs, there’d either be half as many reviews they could fit, or the book would have to be twice (or more) as long or thick to fit every review and the photos.

For web media, there’s not really any “real estate” limitations on any given page (at least not for me). Therefore my food blogging ideology is “look first, read later, or read about what looks interesting”, therefore I like to use photographs to tell a thousand words. So on rule #3 about ‘Dining Undercover’, I really can’t do that, as I always usually ask for permission from the owner or staff when taking photos in restaurants, having to explain to them that I have a food blog (which some of the older folks don’t know what the HELL a “food blog” is lol). Otherwise they think I’m either a health inspector or spy from a competitor. Seriously.

Back to the book, other features include ‘Top Maui Tips’, including recommendations for visitors on where to go shopping for groceries, visitor activies, local food explanations and driving tips.I’m a little disappointed they didn’t include Ah Fook’s in this section, as there’s groceries and other products at Ah Fook’s that are either unique to them or hard to find anywhere else on Maui or this state for that matter.

I’m also disappointed Sam Sato’s wasn’t included. Booo! Well anyhow, filling in that void, I’ll take the liberty of giving Sam Sato’s a “TROPHY” icon. Same for Ah Fook’s.

Finally there’s an ‘Easy Reference’ section in back which includes: Top Ten Meals on Maui and Recommended Restaurants by Food Craving, Location and Budget. Personally I think they could have left most of this part out and used those precious pages for photographs.

It also would have been nice if they could have at least included a “sampler menu” (like choose 2 or 3 of “the best” apps, entrees and desserts) from each restaurant’s full menu in the book. After location, the next thing people want to see when seeking restaurant information is the MENU. And even the web is still challenged in that regard, as many restaurants are operated by people who aren’t web savvy.

My only concern with publications like this is that the information can often be obsolete even before it leaves the press and hits store shelves. The internet is quickly making print media (and printed documents) a thing of the past. You just can’t beat the web for getting the most up-to-date information and critique on ANYTHING, including restaurants, no matter where they’re located in this world. Food blogs and Yelp are a prime example of that.The authors even admit to this, suggesting in various places throughout to “stay up to date” by visiting their blog at www.MauiRestaurantsBlog.com.

Still, if I were to pretend the electricity and/or the internet suddenly went down, as a “foodie” (or someone just looking for a good place to eat), I’d be more than happy having this book as my guide. Or perhaps you know someone living on or visiting Maui who doesn’t use a computer? Then this is PERFECT!

Overall, if the written word is enough for you from the perspective of two seasoned writers and food critics who have certainly walked (and ate) the talk, ‘Top Maui Restaurants 2010′ should satisfy your hunger for seeking out the best that the Valley Isle’s culinary scene has to offer. While lacking any photography,  it makes up for that with a very user-friendly interface and logical organization, wealth of valuable information, insider tips and well written, detailed, personal “human” side given with each review.

Just “thumbing” through it, I already have a few places they’ve recommended that I’m DEFINITELY checking out on my next trip this year back to Maui!

What? 2010 Top Maui Restaurants – From Thrifty to Four Stars
Who is the author? James Jacobson & Molly Jacobson
Who is the publisher and what year was it published? Maui Media, LLC, Copyright 2010
Where did you buy it and how much did it cost? Online digital copy $17 @ www.topmauirestaurants.com *Free copy provided for this review (But I’m not biased. The rating I’m giving is honestly my opinion of it.)
Big Shaka to: Very well written and organized. A WEALTH of information and insider tips on each restaurant, with a personal “human side” given in each review. Maui.
No shaka to: Not including Ah Fook’s and Sam Sato’s. How dare! No photographs. Would have been nice if they provided at least a “sampler menu” to get an idea what each restaurant offers. Limitations of print media.
The Tasty Island rating: 4 SPAM Musubi (excellent)

Check out James and Molly’s blog at www.MauiRestaurantsBlog.com.

Diner A picked up a bento from Tanioka’s in Waipahu the other day, where from along with that, he brought a couple musubi to share with us.

So Tanioka’s is doing Goteborg Musubi now, eh? I wonder where they got that idea from? Hmmmm. Any chance they’re offering a Poke Bowl as well? After all, they are well known for their poke, which I must say, theirs is up there with the best.

Goteborg Musubi from Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering

Notice for Tanioka’s take the on Goteborg Musubi, they form the musubi rice in the traditional extruded triangle shape, then sprinkle it generously with Goma Furikake (sesame seaweed seasoning). Then instead of the Goteborg Sausage acting as the foundational base underneath it, they cap it with it.

In comparison, here’s how the folks from Kauai (where this unique musubi is known to have originated from) do it…

“Jobos” Goteborg Musubi from The Poke Bowl (now DBA Pa’ina Cafe in Ward Warehouse)

See, so they’re each “DIFFEFRENT BUT DA’ SAME”. lol Actually I have to admit, I kinda’ preferred the more compressed texture of the rice in Tanioka’s version, as well as the much more generous sprinkling of Furikake on it. Not knocking the Oahu-from-Kauai original, Poke Bowl’s “Jobos” version though, as that one ROCKS as well.

In case  you never heard of Goteborg Sausage, I’ll once again repost the description: According to this website, Goteborg sausage is described as “Swedish sausage or Goteborg consists of 75% beef and 25% pork. The meat is chopped coarser than cervelat. It is stuffed in beef middle casings and smoked hard. In appearance it is similar to Farmer sausage. Swedish sausage is popular with the Swedish and Norwegian trade”.

I’ll just say it tastes sort of like a “gamey” Salami-meets-summer sausage if you will. Like any other cured or salted meat, frying it just ever-so-lightly really punches out the Goteborg’s flavor.

As for the history of Goteborg Sausage in Hawaii — or the island of Kauai in particular — Tasty Island reader ‘Anahola Tita’ gave the best and most entertaining explanation to date!

Re: Kauai Classic: Goteborg Musubi, Anahola Tita comments:

 OMG Guteberg!  Yummo !!  I am Kaua’i girl born/raised from Anahola Hawaiian Homes … My mom used to work at Kojima Store in Kapa’a–and the meat market in the back of the store was Da Bes’ Meat Market on the island … they were, and still are known for their marinated Kal Bi — and GUTEBERG !!  Already sliced in the perfect 6mm cut, plastic wrapped in foam trays –you can just walk in the store and pick it up in the meat section … along with trays of marinated kal bi … just down the road, literally, at Pono Market, you can get Guteberg Musubi–gotta go early or else sell out … whenever I go back home … those two stops are a must! And of course Hamura’s, Hanamaulu Cafe, and if I can make it to Lawai Store.

I’d like to share what I remember from either someone sharing with me or perhaps reading about, or maybe a combination of both–The History of Guteberg on Kaua’i evidently traces back to GERMANY.  It is a German Sausage or Salami — similar to Italian sausage, etc. — it’s a European-style deli sausage.  It was introduced to the island of Kaua’i when a German Stone Wall builder moved there back in the plantation days, and was hired to build stonewalls for the plantation owners, mostly on the West side of the island — as is evident by all the old, man-made stone walls that are strewn around the island.  The story goes that he introduced the sausage to the plantation owners he was hired by … and they introduced it to the plantation workers — at lunchtime — the one thing that every culture had in common — FOOD … it became customary for all the different cultures to share food … it became sort of a fun way to get to know each other and have respect for different cultures.  People couldn’t speak to each other — they all spoke different languages — so food became a universal language … and that is how they started to learn about each other.  Guteberg was the “Haole” man’s “kokua” or contribution to the lunchtime pot luck.

Anyways–I live on O’ahu now…married with child.  My husband is from NY and looooves Guteberg–he’s part-German…I looooove German sausage…(and Guteberg too…ahem!)–my mom lives with us now…she’s the one that used to work at Kojima’s…gotta have her saussage…so we satisfy our Guteberg urges @ Marukai Dillingham.  Although we found it in other stores, she looooooves the butchers there … and they loooooove her too — she’ll grab a long thing of sausage and walk up to the butcher’s sliding glass windows and press their button … and they slide the door open with big smiles on their faces … and she’s holds the sausage up in front of her — like, facing longways towards them … and she says … “I like ‘em t’ick (thick)” … aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha !!  Crack Up!!  Yah!!  One Full-On Potagee Gramma asking the butchers at frickin’ Marukai if they can give her “6″ — serious !!  She go, “You Can Do 6?” aaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha !!  Da guys look at me and dey turn all red — dark-skinned filipinos !!  you can see ‘em blushing !! aaaaaaaahahahahaha !!  And they have no idea that my mother has no idea … hahlarious !!  frickin’ cartoons I’m tellin’ you!!  A bunch of deers with no eyes (no eye dear…no idea…never mind)…alrighty then–

btw … having a brain fart right now — wanna address the comment about the difference between UFOs and Flying Saucers …. Das Right !!  ONLY ON KAUAI !!  No other island has Flying Saucers … Kaua’i people know the difference … Kaua’i may be full of spacey people, but the upside of that is, they can tell the difference between UFOs and Flying Saucers … that’s what happens when you live on another planet …

kden — gotta get going — long over due for a visit to marukai…my mom was just saying she hasn’t “had it” in awhile … aaaaaaaaahahahaha!!  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha !!  hoo boy … classic … hey–at least she’s free entertainment … toodles all !!

 

Mahalo Anahola Tita! ROFLMAO! That was CLASSIC!

I was hoping maybe Tanioka’s would “surprise” us by poking an Ume in the center of the musubi as a sort of “buried treasure”, but nevah get…

 

 

 

 Summing it up, I give Tanioka’s take on Goteborg Musubi 5 SPAM Musubi. Or should I give it 5 Goteborg Musubi? Now I’m confused. lol

 

 

As for Tanioka’s Fish Patty Musubi, as you see in the first photo, unlike their “famous” fish patty served at their okazuya counter, the one for this musubi is shaped rectangular to look like a slice of SPAM. In fact, when I first looked at, I thought it was a SPAM Musubi.

 

 Slicing it in half, you can see how Tanioka’s grinds the fish meat (not eats it, but grinds it like hamburger lol) really fine…

  

Tanioka’s Fish Patty Musubi (sliced in half with a Goteborg Musubi next to it)

 

I LOVE Tanioka’s Fish Patty, and with that I’m also giving Tanioka’s Fish Patty Musubi 5 SPAM Musubi. Or make that 5 Fish Patty Musubi. Sheesh! Now I’m REALLY CONFUSED! LOL

As mentioned earlier, Diner A picked up a bento from Tanioka’s, which he’s been having to eat fish every Friday in observance of Lent. That in mind, he chose a bento that had Tanioka’s famous fish patty, a salmon patty, shrimp tempura and one giant aburage cone sushi…

Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering – Salmon Patty, Fish Patty, Shrimp Tempura and Aburage Cone Sushi Bento. $n/a

Diner A’s rating? 5 SPAM Musubi. Winnah’, winnah’, fish patty dinnah’! Err, lunch that is.

Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering
94-903 Farrington hwy.
Waipahu, Hawaii  96797
Tel. 808-671-3779
www.Taniokas.com

The Tasty Island rating:
5 Goteborg Musubi/5 Fish Patty Musubi/5 SPAM Musubi

Related (Tasty Island) links:
• Kaka’ako Eats: The Poke Bowl
• Kauai Classic: Goteborg Musubi
• The Goteborg Musubi Project