manoa

Aunty V & D took me riding again this summer.

This time we went to Manoa.

It has been ages since I was on the U.H. (University of Hawaii) campus

I had forgotten a lot of the building names

 

And I felt a little sad because the campus I remembered had more greenery than buildings

We also went to Choco Le'a

They gave us their mochi truffle, which I've tried (10 years) before.

We took out lunch from Aloha Salads

I had their Aloha Passion salad with chicken.

Aunty, Uncle and D had their curried chicken wrap

Aunty V gave us these truffles: rainbow shave ice, yuzu and tajin mango

rainbow shave ice was the most interesting and tasted just like shave ice! the colors were cute too.

It was nice spending time with them

Thanks for today, Aunty, Uncle & D!

update

Friday, checked out Tamura's Fine Wine...they moved from their Kamehameha Highway location to the Old Down to Earth spot near Anna Miller's Pearlridge.

I picked up some of their ahi poke...the price of ahi (tuna) has gone up over the past couple of weeks due to low fishing yields.

The Tamura Special is a little spicy, a little sweet and perfect with some rose.

Also picked up these two sodas made by Maui Brewing Company.

Root Beer...made with cane sugar, local honey and Hawaiian vanilla.

The vanilla sort of overpowers, but I like that this uses local ingredients.

Ginger Beer...made with cane sugar, local honey and Hawaiian ginger.

I enjoyed the kick that this had from the ginger.

I'm glad I got to try these locally made sodas...perfect for the humid and hot days we've had all summer!

Saturday, dinner from The Elephant Shack.

This time around I tried their Goong Nam Prik Pao : shrimp marinated in their homemade sauce, red onions, long beans and jasmine rice.

I got this mild spicy and it was too hot for me...but, I enjoyed how flavorful this dish is and how much shrimp they give in this portion....enough food for 2 meals!

Sunday, we celebrated Aunty M's birthday.

Aunty M1 cooked up a storm (chicken long rice, kalua pig, spicy eggplant, watermelon and salad).

We brought a cake by Ted's Bakery...pineapple mac nut cheesecake.

A slightly spiced cake (I think) topped with whipped cream cheese and pineapples, mac nuts coating the sides of the cake...so good!

The taste and texture reminded me of a cake my mom used to make called Hawaiian Delite Cake...found a recipe online here.

Monday, Labor Day...BFF and I went back to Lanikai Juice in Kapolei.

This time around I tried their pitaya (dragon fruit) smoothie...super refreshing...the heat and humidity have been kind of bad this summer.

Tuesday, I went back to Roast Duck Kitchen.

This time I tried their combo, choice of two items...I chose the Oyster Sauce Chicken, Char Siu on cake noodle.

$13-something...so much food!

They also give you a gau gee...the sauce up top is the oyster sauce (I think).

The chicken is already so flavorful, that you could probably use the sauce for the cake noodle...I ended up not using the sauce at all.

The Char Siu is super tender and flavorful...a little sweet...love!

Wednesday, my folder's elastic thingy went kaput....so I went down to Daiso to pick up these long elastic hair bands...in essence, untied elastic strands...

Glad I was able to McGyver my folder.

Thursday, I had an appointment in town, so afterwards, I went to Manoa to pick up a roast turkey sandwich from Andy's for lunch.

I have been wanting to try this place for a long time, I am glad I finally did and their sandwich is so good!

The roast turkey is tender and moist.

I also added avocado, tomato and cheese.

The sandwich comes with lots of sprouts, lettuce and carrots.

And the bread (which I believe is made in house, was super soft and delicious!)

It was kind of weird figuring out what I needed to do...(order at the counter, then pay at the entrance, then go back to the counter to pick you your order), but everyone was super helpful.

Two doors down is Off the Hook Poke Market, which I've seen on social media.

I got their mini poke bowl...chose white rice and one poke (the Hawaiian Style).

then got all their toppings (tobiko (flying fish roe), green onions, bubu arare (little rice puffs) and furikake)

Next time I'll get their poke on green salad, since they put the cold poke on warm rice...

Their Hawaiian Style poke was spicier than what I envisioned...I'm glad I got to try them!

So that was my week...need to clean for the upcoming Sunday Open house, send us some good mojo...

Hope your week was a good one and have a nice weekend.

Andy's Sandwiches & Smoothies
2904 E Manoa Road
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.988.6161
Closed Saturdays
Hours: 7:00-17:00 (Mondays-Thursdays), 7:00-16:00 (Fridays), 7:00-14:30 (Sundays)

Off the Hook Poke Market
2908 E Manoa Road
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.800.6865
Closed Sundays
Hours: 11:00-18:00

breadbox hawaii

Tried some baked goods for breakfast the other day from Breadbox Hawaii.

They are located in the Manoa Marketplace.

The yuzu doughnut I tried was nice flavor wise, but texture, it was a bit "flat", not what I imagined a yeast doughnut to be like.

The maple bacon biscuit had a nice bacon and maple flavor, maybe it's just me, but I think this could be smaller in size.

I saw that they also have truffles, so if I'm in the area, I'll be back.

Breadbox Hawaii (UPDATE: 2018 closed)
2752 Woodlawn Drive
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.988.8822
Closed Mondays
Open Tuesdays to Fridays 7:30-17:00, Saturdays & Sundays 8:00-17:00

choco le'a

On Lowrey Avenue is Choco le'a, a tiny chocolate boutique.

I picked up a couple of their truffles to try...fresh mochi, lilikoi sriracha and guinness.

The fresh mochi reminded me of marshmallow just not as sweet.

Lilikoi sriracha could've had more passion fruit flavor but the kick of sriracha was definitely there.

Guinness was boozy but not overpowering.

At $2.35 a truffle they are quite pricey, but I think as gifts these are perfect especially with their wide selection of unique flavors.

I'll be back.

Choco le'a
2909 Lowrey Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.371.2234
Open Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10:00-18:00

bangkok chef

Finally got to meet Jalna of Photos by Jalna and her friend, Mich.

Jalna's as crazy in person as on her blog...so funny!

What was so cool was that it was so easy to talk with both of them.

We had originally planned to eat at Morning Glass, but they didn't have any tables open, so we ate at Bangkok Chef (next door) instead.

What was nice about this place is that they had lots of tables AND air-conditioning.

Jalna treated us to spring rolls, chicken larb, penang curry, rad nah, thai iced coffee and Mich treated us to a pannacotta mango thingy (no photo) (thank you!).

Everything was so good!

And everyone was way too generous...Mich gave me these beef jerky chips.

Jalna's cousin, V, gave me these other beef jerky chips, gummy bears and crispies.

And reader Ryan gave me a homemade ohelo jam that his mom made! So nice. Brought back memories of when we were small and had to pick ohelo berries on the side of the road by the volcano on the Big Island.

Jalna gave me two handsewn bags that she made too...so creative, yeah?!

All in all, it was a great meet up, lots of talking and lots of eating.

Thank you everyone!

fendu boulangerie

Mom and I have been wanting to check out Fendu Boulangerie for some time now, we just didn't have a reason to be in the area.

Well, last Friday, we finally did.

The bakery is very small, with just two glass cases.

We were there at 10-ish and had intended to pick up something for lunch, but didn't know that they don't make sandwiches until 11:00 a.m....boo!

So, we ordered their breakfast panini...$6 or $7-something.

Mozzarella cheese, proscuitto, an egg and pesto. It was delicious and it also took 15 minutes to prepare.

I also tried their pain au chocolat.

At $2.25, it looked like a nice size.

And it was, but the chocolate-croissant ratio was kinda lacking. (see the chocolate in the corner?! WT?!)

I'll give them props for making delicious croissant and using dark chocolate though.

Mom tried their pear tart...$2.85

She was surprised at the price and the size of her slice because it was kinda teeny.

It was delicious though with a nice flaky crust.

So, would we go back there again? meh, probably not.

Fendu Boulangerie
Manoa Marketplace
Honolulu, Hawaii
Closed Mondays

grylt

We had another errand to run on Friday, so we stopped into GRYLT (grilled) in the Manoa Marketplace.

Some of my twitter friends had tweeted about it and they sounded good so we went to check them out.

Um, if you open at 11:00, I think you should be ready for business, not still running around behind the counter at 11:15 when we walked in the door.

The Braised Kalbi sandwich which is on their menu and apparently the special sandwich of the month, was not available...I can see if we came mid-day after the lunch crowd, but at the beginning of the day?! WT?!

I ordered the Mediterranean salad with shrimp, it was supposed to come with caramelized pecans, bleu cheese, balsamic onions, sun-dried tomatoes, apple slices and baby spinach...please caramelize the pecans they were totally stale and soft because they weren't caramelized.

Partly our fault for not checking, but utensils should be given with items being taken out...luckily we ate at home...we ordered more things but I won't go into much detail only to say that the steak they served was very tender.

These guys have only been open since mid-June, but if things are this spotty, unorganized and slow, I don't know that they will last...hope to see you around next year when I'm home.

GRYLT (UPDATE: 2018 this location closed)
Manoa Marketplace
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.988.7832

hawaii culture

It's Bon Dance season in Hawaii. I think it starts in July.

Anyway, the bon dance in Hawaii is great to experience because not only are you able to welcome your ancestors home with dancing, but there is also lots of great food too.

Many churches in Hawaii have their own bon dance groups, they dress up in their church happi coat (short jacket) and go around dancing at other bon dances.

Some churches feed these dancing groups afterwards.

In Japan, they have bon dances but they are not held at temples or churches (at least the ones I've seen in Osaka are not). And the types of foods are different.

Anyway, my cousin is here from the mainland for a really, really short visit and we haven't seen each other in 4 years.

We checked out the Bon Dance at the Koganji and my Aunty M, who goes to this church and was working there, gave us scrips to buy our dinner.

We shared this mixed plate with homemade beef stew and sweet sour spareribs. So good, comfort food at its best! A scoop of mac salad and 2 scoops of rice...Yum!

We also tried their "Kimono Dog" which is like a corn dog except that they use a Polish sausage and the batter for the andagi (Okinawan donut)...different but good!

It's been awhile since my cousin had a spam musubi so we got one for her.

And we had to have some andagi (Okinawan donut) so we got one each.

It was nice spending time with my cousin and being able to see what the bon dance was like. (When we were growing up we used to work in the booths, so it was nice to see it from a "guest" perspective.)

It was also nice to see this rainbow. It was as if our ancestors were smiling down at us. (Thanks again for the scrips, Aunty!)

bangkok chef

One of the places on my mom's list to try has been Bangkok Chef.

Apparently they are a tiny restaurant in Chinatown which has been around for awhile, and have expanded to Manoa.

Since we figured parking would be kinda crazy in Chinatown, we checked out the one in Manoa.

We got there a little after 11:00 and the place was empty.

We placed our order and as we waited for our food, the place filled up.

Here's what we ordered: Fried chicken wings--lemon grass flavored fried chicken wings...the girl at the counter suggested that we order it ala carte so we would get more wings (10 pieces) and no rice...$7.25 + tax. These wings were so juicy and we loved the crisp skins. Dipped in nuoc mam (sweet chili sauce) this was really good.

Eggplant chicken--this came with sliced chicken, eggplant, sauteed in a spicy sauce with lots of fresh basil. Since we ordered this as a "plate" this came with half the container being filled of jasmine rice, which is their standard rice for all plates....$5.70 + tax. If you want brown rice or sticky rice, it will cost you a little more (I think like $.50 more).

We also ordered 2 orders of their summer rolls. These were HUGE!...$4.50 + tax for 2 pieces.

And an order of their spring rolls...$5.95 + tax, this comes with 6 pieces.

Why my mom had this on her "to try" list was for only one thing...their house delight...mango ice cream over warm coconut mochi rice sprinkled with crushed roasted peanuts...she ordered 4 because she wasn't gonna share with anyone...$3.50 + tax for 1.

We thought the mango ice cream should've been more "mango-y". Actually fresh mango in vanilla ice cream would've been nicer (and probably more expensive, though I hear that Roselani makes a good one).

And the place was so "loud" with chatter that it was quite hard to hear what we were saying to each other.

My last and final peeve was that each dish came in a styrofoam container. Granted if you wanted to take home your leftovers you didn't have to go ask for a container, but for all of us eating at the restaurant, I thought it was a really big waste of these containers and could envision even more trash being shipped to other States...

All in all, the food was good and I would go back, I just wish they would consider the environment a little more.

Bangkok Chef
2955 E. Manoa Road (past Manoa Marketplace)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.988.0212
Monday-Saturday 10:30-21:00
Sunday 12:00-20:00

UPDATE:I wrote that they have a shop in Chinatown, but found out that it is on the outside of Chinatown on Nuuanu Avenue.