Alan Wong's - Waikiki

I have a friend called Alan Wong, so when I found out that one of the top restaurants in Waikiki was called "Alan Wong's", I just had to go and try.

Alan Wong's

Having booked in advanced, I indicated that we were on our honeymoon. Thus, when we arrived at the restaurant, we were whisked away to a quiet table and they customised our menu for us saying "Congratulations Mr and Mrs...". I was amazed :)

We decided on this occasion to try their degustation. Although they are a Chinese restaurant, the degustation menu had a distinct Japanese flavour - as part of their profits were going to the recent Jap disaster.

To start, we had super warm, super fresh, fluffy white bread rolls with the most awesome buttery sauce! It was creamy, aioli-like with a hint of chili. Zomg, I ate like almost 3 bread rolls because of this buttery concoction.

bread and awesome butter mixture

A trio of appetisers soon met our table. There was the seafood Poke on soy milk panna cotta. The Poke is super popular in Hawaii - simply raw fish, usually of the Tuna variety. When mixed with the soy milk panna cotta, it was tasty and smooth, creamy yet cold and fresh tasting. It was a slightly weird combination, but it worked well. The abalone and tako salad with soy vinegar gelee was also fresh tasting - but I'm not a huge fan of abalone so this for me, was just average. What really blew me away was the cold chawan mushi with lobster gelee and uni. It looked so simple, yet, it was sooooo rich. The lobster gelee was strong with lobster flavour, a good biteful of fresh tasting lobster, and when combined with super smooth and tasty chawan mushi... simply gorgeous!

Trio of Appetisers

Abalone and Tako Salad with Soy Vinegar Gelee

Seafood Poke on Soy Milk Panna Cotta

Cold Chawan Mushi with Lobster Gelee, Uni

The next dish was less to my fancy. It was eel. I don't eat eel. BUT... it smelt soooo good. Sweet tasty potion of kabayaki sauce marinated the uni roulade. Sansho pepper was sprinked on top. I actually ate some of this which made my hubby super surprised. It didn't taste half bad.

Uni Roulade

The next dish was my favourite of the night. It was crab "tofu" agedashi. Pretty much, it was super silky tofu with hints of crab meat blended in then deep fried into a small ball... then there were chunks of lump and spanner crab meat and lobster medallions scattered throughout a super delicious seafoody flavoured broth. It was such an amazing blend of flavours. The flavours weren't overpowering, but it was so subtly sweet and everything just worked really really well.

Crab "tofu" Agedashi

The next dish was also very delectable. Kona lobster was poached in butter and accompanied with hamakua heritage eryngi mushroom, both swimming in green onion oil. You could tell that the lobster was poached perfectly and although I wasn't a huge huge fan of the green onion oil, the whole dish was still quite a winner.

butter poached kona lobster

I have to say that by now, I was full and my hubby was half asleep. We had gotten up early in the morning, hiked up a mountain, then went on a sunset cruise before dinner and we were both buggered. So buggered that I even forgot to take a photo of the next dish before gobbling it up. It was a fish dish - the Opakapaka en papillote. There was a small fillet of pacific short tail pink snapper with rice, miso, truffle butter and clams all wrapped up in an ovened foil bubble. To be quite honest, it looked and smelt amazing, but it didn't taste like anything too extraordinary.

Pork katsu was next. The pork tendeloin medallions were lightly crumbed. There were thin pork layers intermixed with red miso. Mustard sauce, pickled cabbage and roasted potato were scattered throughout to make for a visually appealing dish.

pork tenderloin "katsu"

Last but not least was dessert. My partner stuck to the original one which came as part of the degustation - the mochi hosomaki. There were soooo many different types of mochi! There was matcha mochi, okinawan sweet potatomochi, azuki icecream mochi, butter mochi, and kuromame mochi. Mochi overload for me (as I'm not a mochi person), but I was amazed nonetheless. I think that my partner was too tired by now to truelly taste it. LOL

mochi hosomaki

I changed my dessert to the waialua chocolate "crunch bars" and these were AMAZING. Super smooth chocolate with rice crisp throughout. Like a fresh gourmet version of "crunchy". Sooooo nice :) It came with deep-fried melting chocolate truffle balls. Even though I was super full, I still managed to gobble this one all up.

waialua chocolate "crunch bars"

To finish off the night, we got these big chocolate coated toffee macadamias. These were really really yummy too! An awesome finish I think... if only we weren't so tired!

chocolate coated toffee macadamias

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32.5/40

Alan Wong's Restaurant
1857 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
Tel: (808) 949-2526

Iyasume Musubi - Waikiki

We took quite a few of those tourist pamphlets as we arrived in Honolulu airport and one of the first things we realised was... we missed SPAM JAM!!!

What spam jam is is a street festival which celebrates people's love of spam - a much loved local specialty of Hawaii... and being a Spam lover myself, I was a bit bumbed that I missed it. Nonetheless, we discovered that there's another local "special" - the "spam musubi". The only problem with this "special" is that it's really really hard to find. In fact, we didn't manage to be bothered to specially locate it until our last days there.

The day before we had to leave, I was determined to hunt down the spam musubi and after relentless google surfing, the famous spam musubi shop was closed by the time we realised we wanted to go there (only opens for breakfast and lunch). Hence, our first spam musubi experience was bought from a local ABC store (convenient store in Waikiki).

spam musubi

What blew me away initially was the size of the rice ball!!! Seriously right, I don't really like rice. But I like Spam. But the rice and spam ratio was all out of wack! The rice is a bit sweeter than normal which complements the spam nicely... but there's just too much rice!

Waking up super early the next morning to hunt the specialty spam musubi shop, we were greeted by this super cute musubi character. And stepping inside... there was soooooo many musubi varieties!!! The list was endless!

Iyasume Musubi

My partner decided to go for a combo. 1 musubi of his choice (he chose the bacon and egg spam musubi) with sausages, fried chicken, and salad. He also ordered a curry rice as a small side dish. Again, the spam musubi's rice was MASSIVE. It's like eating a small bowl of rice with a thin slice of pan fried spam~ Tasty though I must admit. The sausages and the chicken were both deep-fried... which, for breakfast, isn't the healthiest. What my hubby was super impressed with was the curry rice. Potato, carrot and onion are melted into the curry sauce - making it super flavoursome and palatable. And yes, more fried chicken on top :) I think that the salad is there to try and make this breakfast "healthy".

spam and egg and bacon musubi, sausages, fried chicken

curry chicken rice

salad

I opted for a spam and egg musubi and a salmon salad musubi. It's like eating those "triangle rice" things you get from convenient stores in Japan, except that the rice is warm and the whole thing is super super fresh (instead of being in the fridge for a while). Again, I felt like I was eating 2 bowls of rice. Maybe with a quarter of the rice, same toppings, it would be 100% awesome! Hence, that's what I'm gonna make at home... one day :)

spam and egg musubi, tuna salad musubi

Miso soup at the store was very normal. The broth is clearer and cleaner tasting. But nothing super special.

Miso Soup

This store opens at 6am. I think we got there at close to 7am so they were kind of just setting everything up. Having said that though, it was raining that morning and there was already a small line hungrily awaiting breakfast.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Iyasume Musubi
2410 Koa Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel: (808) 921 0168

Chili's - Waikiki

There used to be a Chili's on Great Western Highway ... back in the day. And my hubby used to LOVE the place and so, was immensely sad when it closed down. Hence, when we were in Hawaii and the big Chili's sign was in front of us when it was pouring cats and dogs, it was like a subtle hint that we really just ought to dine there.

Chili's

The place was quite populated and our waiter was slightly overly happy and enthusiastic. We took our time with the menu and at the end, decided on just ordering 2 things - the Fajita trio and a custom combo. The Fajita Trio came with plentiful steak, chicken and spicy garlic and lime shrimp with grilled veges, all sitting on top of a sizzling hot plate. Condiments were smaller than I expected with just timy scoops of guacamole, salsa, cheese and lettuce. The wraps were nicely kept warm and were tough enough to wrap the biggest piles of fillings :) I found that this was really tasty. The prawn seasoning quite decent - not too spicy, and garlicy in flavour. The beef was tender enough, and chicken strips are always good in fajitas (I think).

Fajita Trio

In our custom combo, we decided on half baby back ribs and half fried shrimp. It came with plentiful loaded mash (mahs with ham and cheese). The ribs were slightly too dry and not succulent enough for my liking, but they suited my hubby's taste-buds perfectly. The fried shrimp ('shrimp' in American English = 'prawns' in Aussie English) was tastiness but to me, nothing on this plate beat the deliciousness of the loaded mash. YUM. Super smooth and creamy WITH loads of melted cheese and bits of hammy savouriness throughout. Deliciousness!

Custom Combo

All up, it was a decent meal. It's not as oversized as other meals in the US, but filling nonetheless.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Chili's (Waikiki branch)
2350 Kuhio Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel: (808) 922 9697

Teddy's Bigger Burgers - Waikiki

On a friend's recommendation, we just had to try Teddy's Bigger Burgers. Being opposite the zoo in Waikiki, it wasn't too hard to locate and when we stepped in, there were burger-lovers abound.

Teddy's bigger burgers

Having eyed the menu, there was a decent selection of burgers. The Big Burger (5oz), Bigger Burger (7oz), Biggest Burger (9oz) and the Monster Double Burger (10oz, 14oz or a massive 18oz). There were also chicken burgers, fish burgers, vege burgers and Turkey burgers.


Having been owned by the food portions in Hawaii thus far, we went conservative. I opted for just the Big Burger whereas my partner chose the Bigger Burger with Garlic fried and cheese sauce.

burgers

The burgers came on a soft potato bun, powdery on top. The meat was huge and juicy (but not necessarily beef tastiness) and the cheese which was melted on top was very yumminess. Needless to say - no, we didn't finish our burgers. It was pretty massive. There were some people who braved the monster double burgers in the shop. I have no idea how they do it!

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 26/40

Teddy's Bigger Burgers (Waikiki branch)
134 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel: 808-926-3444

Ramen Nakamura - Oahu

It was raining in Waikiki (a place that supposedly never rains). Not only was it raining, it was simply pouring, thunderstorming, and whilst on a "sunset cruise" where we were completely soaked, we even managed to see TWO water sprouts (ie. water tornadoes). On such a wet soggy night, what better to eat than ramen?

In our previous wanders around our hotel area, we eyed this ramen store which had LINES waiting outside. So it must be awesome, right? Hence, in we go (the lines are gone because as usual, we're having a randomly late dinner).

Inside, we see a new "signing" wall of famous people who have visited. I don't think I recognised them... but most were in japanese.

My hubby orders an ox tail ramen with a side of gyoza. The soup isn't really anything special - just a salt-based one. But the Ox Tail is pretty good. Beefy flavour, meat which falls off the bone. They recommend for the super flaky off the bone beef to be dipped in a ginger mixture which kind of adds a medicinal nature to the dish. The gyoza was also just normal.

ox tail ramen

gyoza

I opted for a Hakata Tonkatsu ramen. Maybe I've been super spoilt by super thick, tasty porky soup from Ryo's Ramen and Gumshara but... this kind of just didn't do it for me. Sure it was tasty, but it was no where near thick or fatty enough. It just like a diluted version :(

Hakata Tonkatsu ramen

In all, it was an OK ramen joint. Ramen itself was average, the soup was average, but the ox-tail is pretty good. Not really sure why there was so much popularity for the place - my theory is, maybe there's just an overabundance of japanese tourists in Waikiki :P

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 27/40

Ramen Nakamura
2141 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel: (808) 922 7960

Giovanni Pastrami - Oahu

After the shockingly huge amount of food we experienced the previous night at BLT, we thought we had learnt our lesson ... but... at brunch the next day, it was obvious that we didn't learn well enough.

We stumbled across Giovanni Pastrami at around 2pm. My partner ordered a burger (a mini burger to be exact), and I ordered scrambled eggs with hash. My partner also decided to order an appetiser of nachos to share (it was like $5 so it had to be small... right?).

The nachos came out first. And it was like... HUGE. A full serving by Australian standards. It probably didn't have enough beef or beans in it, but it was nice and crisp and cheese and relatively tasty. By about half of this dish, my partner and I were both... umm... full ?

nachos (small)

Then came cheese pizza. Fresh from the oven, still sizzling hot melted cheese as it came out. Apparently, these are complementary when you dine in happy hour. We got TWO slices each (and these are BIG slices). They were actually extremely yummy - stringy melted cheese, tomato paste was just the right portion and the base was nice and chewy. I probably ate like 1 of these.

complementary cheese pizza

My partner's "mini" burger ended up being a quad of mini burgers. Four burgers accompanied by a generous serving of fries which were crispy and golden brown. The burgers were simply a beef patty, melted cheese, all on a potato bun. Not bad at all.

mini burgers with fries

Then finally, my scrambled eggs came out. Mushrooms, spanish onions and a dablle of bacon with a super awesome patty of hash. The has was delicious but I think I would have preferred my scrambled eggs a little less done. This came accompanied with a bagel and cream cheese and jam. The bagel was freshly hot, nicely chewy but unfortunately, I could barely eat any of it :(

scrambled eggs with potato hash

bagel with cream and jam

So this is our left-overs. Hectic huh? Could have been a full meal left. We managed to doggy bag it and ate it for a midnight snack LOL.

our leftovers :P

Ratings:

Food - 7/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 29/40

Giovanni Pastrami
227 Lewers Street
Honalulu, HI 96815
Tel: (808) 923 2100

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