giovanni's & romy's

Just wanted to share with you some photos which Satoshi sent to me. It apparently has been 11 years since Osaka had 5 centimeters (close to 2 inches) of snow (and I missed it, darn! no really, darn!)

Since I didn't grow up with snow, I love to see it during the winter months in Japan, flurries to snow storms. Satoshi thinks I'm crazy every time it snows or flurries fall and he sees me jumping up and down.

Now, let's warm up with some food...

I had heard about Giovanni's for awhile now, but never taken the initiative to get out to Kahuku. And then there were posts all over the blogosphere.

So on Friday, I talked my family into driving (I was driving) all the way to Kahuku to try Giovanni's and Romy's shrimp. I convinced my mom that we should try both today because "we're only going this once". (Dad and Grandma didn't know what was going on, but happily went along for the ride. Thank goodness the rain let up just enough for us to make the drive out to Kahuku.)

Giovanni's is known for their scampi, so that is what we got. For US$12 tax included, you get 12 shrimp cooked in its shell with lots of garlic and butter (plus an extra paper plate to share). The garlic and butter flavor really comes through and matches really nicely with the spicy sauce (kind of like Tabasco) that they give.

Then about 2 or 3 minutes from Giovanni's up the road is Romy's, their menu is a bit more extensive than Giovanni's.

We ordered the butter & garlic (#1)(so we could compare it to Giovanni's) and the fried shrimp(#3) (each US$11.75 + tax).

Romy's Butter & Garlic shrimp were huge and had lots of flavor, it matched nicely with the spicy shoyu sauce that they gave. It was different from Giovanni's but good in their own way.

The Fried Shrimp are peeled shrimp and are fried in egg roll wrappers. This is served with a gooey sweet chili sauce. Of all entrees, this was the easiest to eat. Jaden has a recipe on her blog similar to this.

Giovanni's gives a LOT of napkins because eating the shrimp will get messy. (Definitely not somewhere to go on your first date!) We ate our plates from both places at Romy's, they had a little sink to wash your hands after you're finished eating.

Talk about finger licking goodness! Both places are good (messy, but good) with their own flavors and followers. Definitely worth the drive out there.

Giovanni's
83 Kamehameha Highway (from Waikiki---on the left, just past the old Kahuku Sugar Mill)
Kahuku, Oahu
Phone: 808.293.1839

Romy's
56-781 Kamehameha Highway (from Waikiki---on the left, a little past the Turtle Bay Resort)
Kahuku, Oahu
Phone: 808.232.2202