Day 1 - Our flight arrived fairly late into Honolulu so we stopped by one of our favorite restaurants in the Ala Moana area outside of Waikiki. It's Side Street Inn located across from Ala Moana shopping center in a small one way street.

Fresh ahi poke in shoyu with Maui onions and limu seaweed:



crispy deep fried Thai spring rolls:



Wing Zings, one of most delicious hot wings ever:



Grilled Korean style Kalbi short ribs:



Hawaiian style yakisoba with slices of spam, kamaboko, and veggies:



And a small side of macaroni salad:



Day 2 - For lunch, we took a short drive west past downtown Honolulu over to Pier 38 for some simple fresh grilled fish at Nico's at Pier 38. This is a casual counter service place next to the fish market serving inexpensive but very fresh seafood:



The special of the day, grilled shitome (very firm white fish) with a cilantro aioli, steamed white rice and fresh Nalo mixed greens:



The most popular dish at Nico's and my all time favorite, furikake pan seared ahi with ginger garlic cilantro dip. The ahi tuna was perfectly seared on the outside and rare on the inside:



And another special of the day, deep fried moi with tomato chili pepper salsa:



Dinner was at Million Korean BBQ restaurant. I've heard about this place before but this was the first time I've ever tried it. It was very good and much better than Hyung Je Joomoluck (another Korean bbq place we had later in the week):



There were all kinds of banchan:













And we selected a combo dinner that had galbi, beef brisket, shrimp, scallops and mushrooms:



Million uses gas grills which is standard in most places, but what was slight odd was that they had these tubes above the grills for ventilation:



And a warning sign not to mess up their vacuum LOL:



But after dinner I have to admit that the vacuum tube worked really well. I didn't smell too much of bbq.

Day 3 started with a late breakfast/early lunch at Boots & Kimo's out in Kailua on the north side of Oahu. They are famous for their macadamia nut pancakes:



We missed their 12th anniversary and could have gotten some free pancakes, oh well:



We ordered the famous macadamia nut pancakes:



And a full stack of banana macadamia nut pancakes:



The pancakes were really good, the sauce tasted almost like warm melted thick macadamia flavored ice cream. We also ordered the "Maui Wowie" omlette that had different types of cheeses and Chinese sausage. This came with side of fried rice:



And since we love karaage chicken, we ordered a fried chicken plate lunch with a scoop of white race and mac salad:



A mid day snack on the beach compliments of Fat Boy's okazuya in Kaulia. The have fantastically delicious garlic chicken. 5 pieces of fried chicken dipped in a sweet soy and garlic sauce over furikake rice:



Dinner was at a new place I wanted to try named Sushi Izakaya Gaku. We had reservations for a private dining room:





ankimo (monk fish liver) in ponzu:



karaage chicken:



kurobota sausage (with some weird melted cheese on top):



fresh raw oysters with a little splash of ponzu, daikon and green onions:



Asari clams (delicious!):



sushi:



A seafood dynamite:



California rolls with masago on the outside:



And a small cup of chawanmushi (savory egg custard with mushrooms and seafood):





And last but not least a hot bowl of udon:



Regards,
ED-209

Day 4 - After the first few days of all that food, we had to burn it off with a hike up Diamond Head. We woke up really early in the morning and make the trek up the mountain.

To reward ourselves after the climb, we drove over to Diamond Head Grill & Market on Monsarrat Ave. near Kapahulu for fresh baked blueberry and cream cheese scones:



Late lunch at one of my favorite ramen places Goma Tei in the Ward Center.

Shoyu ramen with chasu pork. Isn't the wooden spoon cool?



The cold noodles with chicken. I've seen people order this on past visits and this was the first time I've tried it and it was great. The noodles had a perfect texture and the sesame sauce with the cold sliced cucumbers were refreshing. The only thing I didn't care for was the chicken. It was kinda dry and tasteless:



A side order of pork tonkatsu:



My other favorite: gyoza's!!



And another plate of karaage chicken. They do a great job of frying this using mochiko flour:



Then a late night dinner at one of my favorite Izakaya style restaurants in Hawaii: Imanas Tei. It's located near the University area in a small place named Puck's Alley. What's the deal with good restaurants always being located near a massage parlor? LOL





Imanas Tei is very well know for their sushi and chanko nabe. We ordered a small side of sashimi:



Grilled beef tongue:



Asari clams:



O-toro sushi and ikura sushi:



karaage chicken:



scallop kushi katsu:



And a small dish of miso marinated butterfish (black cod):



Our main entree was the chanko nabe:



Cooked at our table in a broth:






It takes about 10 minutes to cook so we sat around chatting and munching on a spider roll (fried soft shell crab):



We were so full that we didn't even order dessert. Actually we even passed on Lappert's ice cream....

Regards,
ED-209

Day 5 - Walked over from our hotel to Ala Moana pier at the Chart House for a light snack.


A cold glass of refreshing plantation iced tea (mix of iced tea and pineapple juice):



Shoyu ahi poke:



And a plate of hot wings:



During our dinner at Imanas Tei, our waiter had recommended a Korean bbq restaurant named Hyung Je Joomuluck. So we found it on the internet and discovered that it is right around the corner from Million bbq.



side dishes:











And chadol bulgogi and galbi:



Our dinner was served with a large plate of greens:


Hyung Je Joomuluck was just OK, I prefer my Korean bbq with marinated beef. We also ordered the oxtail soup (sorry, no pics) and it was somewhat bland. I'd rather go back to either Million or Sarabol.

Regards,
ED-209

Our dinner on the last night in Honolulu was at Alan Wong's Pineapple Room, located in the 3rd floor Macy's Ala Moana shopping center.

They have the absolute best plantation ice tea (and they give unlimited free refills):



Fresh baked bread with a spicy aioli:



For starters we had a delicious ahi tuna poke mixed with Kahuku sea asparagus:



And a bowl of stir fried soybeans with chiles, garlic and sesame oil:



Entrees were a New Zealand King Salmon with a ochazuke risotto and green tea:







And a misoyaki walu (similar to sea bass) with stir fried veggies in a yuzu sauce:



There were some tempting choices on the dessert menu:



And we selected the haupia tapioca halo halo. This was delicious!



Regards,
ED-209

nt

Thanks for sharing ED-209. You've brought back great memories of Hawaii with this post. Foods looks really tasty. It seems that you like ahi poke a lot, as you have them daily.

Have you ever tried chanko nabe at Ichiriki? It's one of my favorite restaurant in Oahu. They also have a tasty dessert, green tea ice cream with azuki beans and mochi balls.

Regards,
ATM

Soooo good!!!







-MW

Thanks for posting the pic DRMW. I'm drooling...

Regards,
ATM

Hi ATM,
The chanko nabe set dinners at Ichiriki is awesome. The last time I was there was about 2 years ago.

The green tea shave ice with adzuki beans and mochi balls was tasty and refreshing after the chanko nabe:



Regards,
ED-209

Hi et,

Isn't eating considered an activity? LOL

Besides the food, we did go shopping:



And played at the beach building sand castles:



Regards,
ED-209

how did it hold up to the sand?



"A Purist does not believe in gilt by association. Respect, AND disdain, have to be earned..."

Hi Thomas,

The ABR held up extremely well in the sand. Not a scratch at all even though I buried it while making small sand castles (however I didn't do the "Allen AP Alinghi Team snorkeling" test )












Regards,
ED-209

why would anyone need any other watch?!?



Thanks,

TM

Either modern Hawaiian food is way too unhealthy or the Woo brothers just eat too much fried stuff!

My personal physician would not let me eat like these guys.

Heck! I wouldn't let me eat like these guys......and I'm WFED moderator.

 

MTF

*My personal physician would not let me eat like these guys. Heck! I wouldn't let me eat like these guys......and I'm WFED moderator.*

LOL

Have you seen this thread?
Doctors Orders post in TimeOut


Regards,
ED-209

YUM YUM

- AT



.

A total hole-in-the-wall place but IMO, their wings are awesome! If you are ever in Honolulu, it's a must try.

Close by at the Ala Moana mall the Shirokiya upstairs food court area has some tasty wings too. I stand around and wait for a fresh batch to come out of the fryer hot and tasty! Yum

-MW

nt

Hello Salman!

Hope you and the family are well. We need to get together again and share another great meal and devious adventure! Have a great weekend!

-MW