okita seimai

I had gone to Hatanodai station to visit Otto Pan, to see if they were selling stollen...they weren't...boo!

So as I was walking towards Nagahara, I stumbled upon Okita Seimei.

This shop has been in business since 1921! selling rice.

Then, when the 4th generation took the business over, besides rice, they started selling bento and sweets made from rice.

Their tenmusu (short for tempura musubi) is a tempura shrimp drizzled with a little soy based sauce then wrapped with rice and nori....I should have bought more.

Namasu and sunomono were delicious as well.

I also bought millet ohagi...cooked millet covered with kinako (soy bean powder)...so good!

While I was standing in line, a lady, a few customers ahead of me received coupons for the shopping arcade...as she was leaving, she asked me if I could to use her coupons.

Since I don't live in the area, I thought it would be wasteful to accept it so I refused.

Then after I purchased my bento and was walking through the shopping arcade, another lady, who was the customer in line in front of me, stopped me to ask if I could use those similar coupons, I thanked her but told her I don't live in the area...so funny yeah?!

They had so many okazu (prepared foods) to choose from, I'll be back when I am in the area.

Okita Seimai
4-6-3 Hatanodai
Shinagawa, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3781.6557
Closed Sundays, Mondays & Holidays
Hours: 9:00-20:00

mamaya

Took my mom to check out Mamaya.

She went the "make-your-own" route and picked up some inarizushi, as well as some okazu (pre-made side dishes).

She noted that most of their seasoning is on the sweeter side, especially their tamagoyaki (rolled omelette, which is labeled "sweet egg").

I chose the mochiko chicken snack pack...3 pieces of mochiko chicken and 1 spam musubi cut in half.

We'll be back.

mamaya

Met up with blog friend, Genki Tummy. She recently moved back to Hawaii and wondered if I would be interested in meeting up.

We met at Mamaya, I think this shop recently opened in the Pearl Kai Shopping Center.

It is an okazuya/sozaiya type place which you can purchase pre-made bento or "make your own".

Similar to Japan, The "make your own" is weighed after you fill up your container of choice. But, is $7.75 per pound, so if you think your eyes may be bigger than your stomach, I would suggest going the pre-made route.

Genki and I had their mini poke bowls...each $5.75 + tax (this is something that Japan should start serving!).

She had the spicy ahi (yellow fin tuna) while I had the shoyu ahi (they also have an oyster sauce ahi poke). I thought these mini bowls were the perfect serving size, though Satoshi would probably disagree.

I had a nice time chatting with her and the poke bowl was delicious. (Oh, and you can choose multi-grain or white rice, I chose multi-grain and was impressed that there is no extra charge for the multi-grain rice...whoo!)

Genki was kind enough to share with us some Passion Fruit Jelly and Nisshodo mochi.

Besides sweet bean paste, did you know that Nisshodo has fillings like coconut & peanut butter? I didn't...so yummy!

It was so nice to put a face to the blog, and I hope she had a nice time too.

Thanks again Genki!

matsumoto's okazuya

So all eats are not created equal...whenever you get a good one, there has to a bad one too, right?

So, let me tell you about a bad one...now, I usually don't blog about bad places because "if I don't have something nice to say about something..." well, you know how the saying goes.

You may have already eaten here, and liked it, but I need to tell you about this place though, because my experience was really bad.

After an errand in the area, my mom, dad and I stopped to pick up some lunch at Matsumoto's Okazuya.

There were lots of choices, so we picked up some of this and some of that, paid and left.

My Grandma and Aunty M came over for lunch and we all shared.

Teri-chicken, tamagoyaki, kinpira gobo, inarizushi, chow funn & corned beef hash patties...US$18.22 tax included.

While all this food sounded good, it wasn't.

The corned beef hash patties were hard & burnt. Inarizushi was just rice, usually you have at least some flecks of carrot, there was also an unusual citrusy flavor to it. The kinpira was made from a frozen gobo mix, so it was very very mushy.

I could go on and on. I will say that the only thing good was the tamagoyaki, very flavorful and light.

In Japan, they often say that when you partake of a meal, you can feel what the person who cooked the meal was feeling, thinking...for me though, I just couldn't feel the "love" from the person who cooked this.

I'm glad we tried this place and I'm also glad that for the most part, my eats have been good experiences, but we won't be coming back here.

Matsumoto's Okazuya
1323 Gulick Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.848.7464

sato's okazuya

Do you like fried noodles? I do.

I prefer them dry, not "wet" like some places serve them. In Hawaii, most places use saimin for their fried noodles.

In Japan they are called yakisoba sometimes yakiudon depending on the type of noodles that are used. And there are "dry" & "wet" types of fried noodles here too.

To me, the "wet" types are on the mushy side.

One day, while I was surfing around, I came across a place in Waipahu that is supposed to serve "the best" fried saimin at Sato's Okazuya.

I had never heard of this place before, but wanted to check them out. So after an errand in Waipahu, we picked up the small size to divide amongst my mom, dad and I for lunch...US$4 + tax.

Their small was rather large because when they measure out the serving, they use a paper tray, no weighing, then just heap it on afterwards.

The noodles are dry, chewy, almost al dente, there is a lot of flavor from the spam, char siu and other veggies that are in there too.

While they do have other items on their menu (which we didn't order), I think this one is their star.

Even if you come before the lunch crowd, be prepared to wait, they are constantly making new batches of fried saimin to keep up with the orders.

Do I think they make the best? Maybe and I would definitely go back here to get some when the craving hits me.

Sato's Okazuya
94-235 Hanawai Circle (Y-H building across parking lot of Waipahu Festival Marketplace)
Waipahu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.677.5503

p.s. today is Umi no Hi (Ocean Day) in Japan, a national holiday, unfortunately, I hear there may be a typhoon approaching the Pacific coastlines of Okinawa & Japan, stay safe you guys!

kabuki

There is an okazuya in Waimalu called Kabuki. An okazuya is like a deli but they serve dishes for your bento (boxed meal). Mostly all of the foods sold taste great hot or cold.

In Japan these days, okazuya is called sozaiya. But sozaiya in Japan are different, most of the foods there are pre-made.

Okazuya in Hawaii is something of an icon. Lots of places are run by people who have been in business for a really LONG time. So, if you love your Hawaii grandma's cooking, chances are you'll love the stuff they sell at an okazuya.

At Kabuki, the line starts early in the morning and they usually sell out before lunchtime. Even on a Sunday morning (when I went), there was a line (before and after me).

Since this was my first time going to an okazuya (yes, it was my very first time), I asked the lady in front of me how to order. She wasn't quite sure herself, and she got scolded by the ladies preparing her order...yipes. So, while I ordered, I smiled a lot and apologized to the ladies preparing the orders which saved me from getting the "stink eye" (evil eye)...whew.

On Sunday, I needed to buy lunch for my dad and myself, so I got 4 inari(cone sushi), 2 chorizo, 1 shoyu chicken, 1 butterfish, 2 hash and 1 serving of kinpira gobo...all for (US$10.52 tax included..totally cheap eats!). I thought the inari were like the cute things we have in Japan, but as the lady put the inari in the box, I was shocked...these inari were HUGE and only US$.95 each. (In Japan, I think you'd have to pay at least 300yen(US$3) for one this size.) Everything was delicious.

Most okazuya that I know serve their orders in these paper boxes (cake boxes). Even the older plate lunch places used to put their paper plated lunches into these boxes for take-out. Definitely more earth friendly than those styrofoam containers.

So, if you need something fast for a picnic, breakfast or lunch, check out an okazuya.

Kabuki
Waimalu Shopping Center
Aiea, Hawaii
Phone: 808.487.2424