lanikai juice

Finally tried the Lanikai Juice that is in our shopping mall

I looked online and their menu is different from the one in Hawaii
 

My photos uploaded wonky...I ordered the Kahala Sunset, small 990 yen (tax included)

acai, pitaya, granola, banana, strawberries, coconut chips & fresh honeycomb

Apparently there is a 15 minute time limit to consume this

Since I walked home, it was a  little melted but for the most part, the middle was still a little frozen

I enjoyed this.

Look forward to trying the nut version bowl that they have, I'll be back.

Lanikai Juice

Gran Duo Kamata 1F

Hours: 10:00-21:00

*closed when Gran Duo is

bogart's cafe

There are a lot of Hawaii eateries that have brought shops to Japan. They start off in Tokyo and then if they are popular they spread themselves around Japan.

While I am happy that a piece of "home" can be found here, I haven't checked out most because I don't want to be disappointed.

There is something about eateries that come from Hawaii that lose their "local" feel about them.

Well, the other day, I was in the area, so I decided to check out Bogart's Cafe.

I've never been to the one in Hawaii, so I didn't know what to expect.

I liked that the feel to the place was laid back and that they were playing Hawaiian music.

They are apparently popular for their eggs benedict, pancakes and açaí bowl.

Instead I ordered their BLT...900 yen and a drink...300 yen.

If you've been reading this blog, you know that "bacon" is hard to come by in Japan, usually you get what we call "Canadian bacon". It is rare if you ever get something crispy.

Well, the bacon was hard.as.rock. I mean how long do you have to cook bacon for it to get that hard?!

One of my friend on Tabera (Japan's Instagram for food) said, "you should've left it on your plate"...um, no, if I am paying 900 yen for it, I am eating it all, as bad as it was...eep!

The fries were crisp but had pepper all over it, I know some people like to dip their fries in catsup & pepper but it was a bit overwhelming for me...

So, will I go back there? No.

I do want to try Bogart's in Hawaii though....have a nice week!

hawaii foodie thursday

Thursday, I met up with my blog friend, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. We've emailed and commented on each other's blogs but never met up face to face.

I had also received an email to meet up from another blog friend, Alan of Ma'ona and asked if he wanted to join us. Luckily, he didn't have any last minute meetings and took some time out of his busy schedule to join us.

It was the first time for all of us to meet each other.

We met up at Blue Hawaii Lifestyle Cafe at Ala Moana Shopping Center to try their acai bowl (US$7.50 +tax). It was my first time trying this and I really liked it---a tart acai "sorbet" topped with granola, fruit and some honey...delicious.

We chatted about blogging and other topics then Alan had to return to work. It was really nice putting a face to his blog and I think we all had a nice time.

After our acai bowls, Deb and I headed upstairs to the Pacific Place Tea Garden. The owner of this shop is actually a friend of my friend, Audrey. She had told me about this place awhile back but I had never had the chance to check them out.

Deb had been here before and highly recommended the tea floats, but since we had just eaten the acai bowl, we settled on iced teas and macaron instead.

Deb had their tangerine ginger tea (US$2.95) with a chocolate macaron (US$1.75) and I tried their passion for hawaii tea (US$2.95) with a matcha macaron (US$1.75).

The macaron was good but could have used more green tea flavor, it actually reminded me more of a pistachio flavor. I loved the tea, there was a lot of passion fruit flavor.

Besides taking time out of her busy schedule to spend time with me, Deb was also kind to give me some of her favorites...chocolates from Sweet Paradise Chocolatier, a chocolate shop in Kailua.

I tried them and each one was perfectly flavored and the chocolate surrounding them perfectly matched too. They were all so good that I couldn't pick a favorite....(I actually ate half of each one and saved the other half for my mom...if you were wondering.)

Along with the chocolates, she also included her favorite tea from Teavana. The tea is a rooibos tea flavored with blueberries and other herbs, can't wait to try it...

And as though she weren't generous enough, she also included two magazines.."delicious." and "edible hawaiian islands".

"delicious." is also a favorite of mine, Satoshi had brought a copy back for me from one of his business trips to Australia in the past and I try to buy a copy whenever I'm in Hawaii.

The "edible" magazine was something new to me. This magazine promotes local food and apparently there are many other cities that have publications so check out their website to see if your city has one.

I had a great time meeting Alan and Deb. (Thanks for a great day you two! and thanks for all those great foodie items Deb!)

Pacific Place Tea Garden (UPDATE: 2014, this shop is no longer here)
Top Floor
Ala Moana Shopping Center, concourse near Neiman Marcus
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.944.2004

Sweet Paradise Chocolatier
20-A Kainehe Street
Kailua, Hawaii
Phone: 808.230.8228

odds & ends

It is the end of the month which means that I need to clear out some photos.

Taste Delight's Maple Leaf Cream Cookies. Maple syrup flavored cookies with cream centers. Pulling them apart reminded me of Oreos, I loved the maple syrup flavor. The cream center wasn't maple syrup flavored, if it were I think it would have been too much.

My Smoothie's Superfruit acai smoothie, a product from Sweden have these great design boxes, the box folds up after drinking.

According to the outside of the box, the smoothie has 19 acai berries, 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 14 raspberries, 52 blueberries and 9 blackberries all in this tiny box. I loved the taste but didn't like the pulp, almost made me gag, I'm such a wuss.

Sekai no Kitchen's Tiramisu Latte, was very almond extract-y (is that even grammatically correct?) and combines marscapone and espresso. I don't think I would drink this one again.

Lipton's extra shot Chai....this one was more on the clove side, not sure if I would get this one again.

Dean & Deluca's Bretagne Caramel Walnut Ice cream....delicious. Lots of walnuts in caramel ice cream.

Awhile back, I bought these hotate (scallops) which were grilled at Daiei, 150 yen (about US$1.50) a stick. I also picked up some tako (octopus) and then made a donburi (bowl) with rice, lettuce, the hotate and tako, a little kim chee and yuk-hoe sauce, a fast delicious dinner.

I was surprised at how small the filet-o-fish at McD's is...it was the size of my palm! This sandwich reminds me of my grandma.

When we were growing up we would catch The Bus with my grandparents to Ala Moana shopping center. We would eat lunch at McDonald's and my grandma would always eat the filet-o-fish.

I recently defrosted some homemade portuguese sausage and paired it with kim chee fried rice for a quick weekend lunch.The month flew by so fast!