BLT - Oahu

For our first dinner in Hawaii (this is after 36hours of being awake or so), we decided to dine locally and just hop down at the restaurant in our hotel. The restaurant was called BLT which luckily, didn't just serve bacon, lettuce and tomato. BLT actually stands for Bistro Laurent Tourondel and it's an AMAZING steak house.

By the time we got to the restaurant, it was 9pm. And there were still no seats. So we sat in the bar area (where you can order the full menu anyway). We got a couple of complementary starters. One was their famous 'popovers'.

The popovers were HUGE bready things. These were quite light and airy fairy inside whilst been super crunchy on the outside. The texture is more chewiness and glutenousy. The big 'fist' looking side where it "pops-over" is lightly covered in melted Gruyere cheese (which unfortunately, we could hardly taste).

popovers

We also got toasted Ciabatta with chicken liver pate. The ciabatta was normal ish... but the chicken liver pate was very quite yum. It was savory and salty and smooth and super rich. Luckily, it wasn't over powering but rather, complimented the bread (be it the Ciabatta or the Pop-over) quite well.

toasted ciabatta with chicken liver pate

We decided to order one entree, two mains and a side dish between the 2 of us. Sounds normal eh? we couldn't be more wrong.

We told the waiter that the food can come out whenever and alas, the steaks came out first. We ordered the rib eye (14 oz) and the American wagyu skirt (10 oz). The wagyu was recommended by the waiter and it was OMG melt-in-your-mouth goodness. It was nicely charred on the outside, awesomely pink and tender on the inside. The fat encapsulated in the meat created this succulent beef aroma which just lingers in your mouth. We were also advised to dip the meat in the chimichurri sauce which is a garlic and parsley sauce. Extremely deliciousness!

wagyu skirt 10 oz

The other steak we ordered was the rib eye (14 oz). If I ate this steak, I'd think that this was awesome. It was tender, very beefy tasting and really really humongous. However, when compared with the wagyu, it was a little less succulent. It had more beefy taste though!

rib eye 14oz

chimichurri and bearnaise sauce

By the time we got through half our steaks, we were both fully stuffed. The ahi tuna tartare came our not long after that. Big block of chopped up raw tuna sitting on a bed of avocado and lightly doused in a soy-lime dressing. This was accompanied by a potato crisp lattice. The tuna and the dressing was delicious when eaten with the potato crisp. It would have been even more appetising if the avocado was ripe but unfortunately, it was hard and raw.

ahi tuna tartare, avocado, soy-lime dressing

After this came out, we simple had to call the waiter over and tell him to cancel the side of potato gratin (even though it sounded amazing). We simply couldn't fit it. I didn't even have enough room for dessert!

After getting the bill, we were treated with complimentary mocha chocolate chip brownie bites. These were soooooo good! Crunchily baked on the outside, gooey bittersweet goodness on the inside. Even though I was so full, I swear I could eat like a dozen of these!

mocha chocolate chip brownies

In all honesty, BLT is simply AMAZING. Melt-in-your-mouth beef with flavours that just linger in your mouth for ages and ages. I'm salivating just thinking back to the meal!

Ratings:

Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32/40

BLT Honalulu
223 Saratoga Road
Honalulu, HI 96815
Tel: (808) 683 7440