makino chaya

On the day of check-out, we tried the Naupaka Terrace, a casual eating area in the hotel.

Satoshi took the breakfast buffet and had his fill of an omlette, eggs benedict, scrambled eggs, fruit and hash (you think he had enough eggs??)

I chose a la carte and ordered the Macadamia nut Banana Pancakes. 3 huge pancakes filled with banana and lots of mac nuts, this was served with 4 pieces of crispy bacon....yum!

We happened to be staying when USC's football team was in town to play UH, so we got to see a lot of the players, coaches and families at Ihilani.

I've heard that a lot of teams now stay out in Ihilani to keep their players "out of trouble" with the temptations of Waikiki.

For lunch, we tried Makino Chaya's bentos.

These bentos need to be pre-ordered so my mom was kind enough to order some for us, my cousin's family, my grandma and for themselves (a total of 8).

Satoshi and mom tried their garlic ahi and F, K and I tried the chicken katsu. My cousin, P and grandma tried their saba. My dad chose their crab salad bento, but was a bit disappointed as it didn't look much like the advertisement.

The nice thing about these bento is that depending on the entree choice the price is $2.97, $3.97 or $4.97 nothing higher!

Mom said when she went to pick up the bentos at 11:00 there were 24 people in line to pick-up too (she counted them!). One guy had ordered 30 bentos!

These were good amounts of food and everything (except the macaroni salad) was delicious.

That evening we met up with my cousin, P and her husband, F, for a double date of sorts at Kanpai, we had lots to eat (Fried Ahi Belly, Ahi Poke, Spicy Garlic Shrimp, Salt & Pepper Shrimp and Japanese style Steak). We also got to see Neil, who owns the food side of the place. We hadn't seen him for ages! (Thanks P, F & Neil!)

Lots of eating, lots of catching up, good times.