'Ono Kine Grindz

Hank's Haute Dogs

...and a Top Chef Season 3 contestant sighting.

Dale Levitski (left) and the "Dale" dog (right)

Kobe beef dog topped with hoisin-ginger mustard, furikake cabbage, shredded daikon and carrots and a few sprigs of cilantro piled high atop a poppy seed bun.

Hank's Haute Dogs
324 Coral Street
Telephone: 808.532.4265

E & O Trading Company

When E & O Trading Company first opened its doors back in March of 2005, I was quite surprised and extremely delighted to hear about the restaurant's concept -- a marriage of flavors from all over Asia, from India in the West to Indonesia in the East.  Word of mouth quickly spread (it wasn't good) and I immediately lost all interest in visiting the place.

Now two years later, I found myself at the restaurant for lunch with a friend on a rare afternoon that was being spent outside of the office.

The decor is made up of dark wood, coffee colored leather, rich red and grass green fabrics, sections of stained bamboo, hanging globes of light and a few parasols too.  It is at once busy, yet modern, warm and inviting.

After looking over the menu, and placing our orders, a dish full of "chips", if you could call them that, were brought to the table along with your choice of three sauces, chutneys or sambals.

The sauces here were done quite poorly, with the exception of the cucumber and mint raita (though it was a little chunky).  I'll let you guess what the others were based on the offerings listed below:

   spicy herb & tomato sambal
   mango chutney
   vinegar & green chili
   roasted chili & cilantro
   thai chili & coconut
   birdseye chili
   grilled tomato & coriander
   indian vindaloo
   kaffir lime & tamarind
   salt, pepper & lime

For lunch, we decided to have one of the popular lunch sets (all US$13.00).  Here is the fried rice with housemade BBQ pork and prawns -- no doubt a take on the Indonesian fried rice dish, nasi goreng.

The fried rice arrived piled high on the plate and topped with a crown of chopped tomatoes, crisp fried shallots and thin curly cues of green onion.  It was evenly and subtly flavored, and contained bits of scrambled egg along with slivers of round onions.  Hidden deep within were a few slices of lean BBQ pork (Chinese-style char siu), but none of the prawns that were supposed to be part of the dish!

This dish here is the tandoori-style chicken with saag aloo and curried vegetable salad.

Whhen the chicken arrived at the table, I thought the presentation looked OK, but after taking the first bite, I felt cheated.  First, the chicken, and everything else on the plate, was stone cold.  Come on folks, you could have at least popped it into the microwave for a couple of minutes.  Second, the chicken was dry and almost flavorless.  I say almost because there was just a hint of flavor there, though it didn't really taste like tandoori anything.  Finally, the "curried" vegetables had a mild curry flavor that was watered down (take a look at the pool of curry "water" underneath the dish of raita).  By the way, I'm not sure that what I got was really saag aloo either.  It was more like a few chunks of potato that had been stir-fried with some spinach.

The service here was slow.  The most mindboggling thing was that the fried rice took longer than the tandoori chicken to arrive at the table!  Our water was refilled once throughout the entire meal and, in my opionion, the food was barely passable.  The saving grace was that the charge for the fried rice was removed from the bill due to the "accidental" omission of the prawns.  Were the two dishes even worth the $13.00 paid?  Hardly.

E & O Trading Company
Ward Centre
1200 Ala Moana Boulevard, Building 4, 2nd Floor
Telephone: 808.591.9555

Kat's Sushi

I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Kat's Sushi
715 South King Street Suite 105
Telephone: 808.526.1268

Shokudo Japanese Restaurant & Bar

When Shokudo opened a little more than a year ago, they opened on the premise of having this restaurant serve as a model for others to follow.  Located in a spot most recently vacated by the Bank of the Orient, Shokudo is located in an office building and is a neighbor to another Japanese restaurant, Angelo Pietro.

Stepping inside, you notice the clean, modern interior that is done with red, black and cream with lots of light wood surfaces.  On the left half of the restaurant, the expansive space is filled with tables for four and tiny dining nooks.

On the right, Noguchi-styled paper shades hang above tiered seating that might remind one of the tiered rice paddies found in Japan.  If you're seated at the top, you get a nice view of the entire restaurant, including the bar area which is located between the two distinct areas of the restaurant.

I had actually visited Shokudo a number of times before today, and many of the dishes are hit and miss.  Like most other places, there are dishes that are outstanding (like the fresh tofu), and then there are those that should immediately be forgotten.  On this particular visit, I decided to sample something from the new lunch menu.  But first, I decided to start with a salad that I had been wanting to try for a while -- the daikon salad (US$5.75).

Thick strips of fresh daikon were tossed with tiny dried anchovies (chirimen) and garnished with grape tomato halves and a small mountain of kizami nori (sliced dried seaweed).  The crisp strips of raw daikon radish were refreshing to eat, but I would have preferred if they were julienned thinner.  The thickness of the strips made it difficult for the daikon to hold any of the dressing's flavor (I couldn't tell what it was) and there weren't really enough anchovies here to make an impact on the flavor either.

After looking over all of the choices on the set lunch menu, I decided to go with the stewed beef hamburg set lunch (US$13.25).

Considering the amount of food I got, this was a bargain at $13.95 -- a bowl of miso soup, a bowl of rice, a side salad, tsukemono and "beef hamburg" which was topped with an egg and served with grilled zucchini, eggplant and tomato slices.

Red bean honey toast (US$8.75).

Two thick slices of toast were drizzled with some warmed, and slightly carmelized, honey then topped with a healthy spoonful of azuki beans and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.  The crust was crunchy and a bit buttery, while the inside of the bread had been cut into bite sized cubes that were soft and fluffy!

Shokudo Japanese Restaurant & Bar
1585 Kapiolani Boulevard
Telephone: 808.941.3701

Goma Tei Ramen Restaurant

Within the last couple of years, the area around Ward Warehouse and Ward Centre has been a flurry of activity.  New condos are coming up as well as stores and restaurants.  The first of these to be completed was the small building which houses a new Starbucks, Jamba Juice and the Wahoo's Fish Tacos place.  Meanwhile, work begins on the site that will house a new Whole Foods store and I believe construction has already begun on the PF Changs that will also be located in the same area.  The activity is not only confined to currently empty spaces though.  Ward Centre has also gotten some new tenants in where the old Scoozies was.  Besides Red Pineapple, which opened before the 2005 holiday season, there is this place, Goma Tei, which only opened about a week ago.

Upon entering the restaurant you'll notice the blond wood tables and counter as well as the black wood stained chairs.  The restaurant is clean and modern, and was fairly empty at dinner time, with only two seats at the counter and one table being occupied.  Perhaps word hasn't gotten out about this place yet.

After looking over the menu, I made an inquiry with the waitress.  It seemed as though the restaurant specialized in tan tan ramen, which, according to the menu, is a "Japanese style soup broth with spicy sesame flavor".

So I ordered #5, chicken tan tan ramen (US$7.50).

On the menu, it said that this was made with the restaurant's ban ban ji chicken and veg. garnishes.  When the bowl arrived, there was a pile of choy sum on one end of the bowl, and a pile of sliced white meat chicken on the other.  Well, I don't quite remember what the ban ban ji chicken was (I should have taken better notes), but I'm sure it didn't mean dry and flavorless -- which is exactly how I found this chicken.  The soup, however, was thick and flavorful, with only a hint of spiciness.

To go along with the ramen I also ordered a side of gyoza (5 pieces, US$4.95).

The gyoza took way too long to come out of the kitchen and when the plate arrived at the table, they were already starting to get cold.  There was just enough filling inside the wrapper, but if you ask me, these seemed a lot like the gyoza that's found in the frozen section of the supermarket.  Average.

On another visit, I decided to try the tonkatsu tan tan ramen (US$8.95).

The broth was the same as the first time (how I wished it were spicier) and the ramen was garnished with both choy sum and chopped leeks.  The piece of tonkatsu was quite big, filling up almost the entire surface of the bowl.  It was still crunchy when the ramen arrived, but I felt it could have been tenderized a bit more -- it was a bit tough when I bit into it.

Being that Goma Tei has only been open for about a week, I feel that they still have time to improve.  If the food stays on course, then they could be in for some real trouble.  While the ramen was quite good (the broth could use a bit more spice), it's the toppings that need a bit of work.  The service was good, but it could have been because it wasn't too busy.  The ramen is a bit expensive though, so I'm still a bit unsure if my initial impression warrants a return visit.

Goma Tei Ramen Restaurant
Ward Centre
1200 Ala Moana Boulevard
Telephone:  808.591.9188

OnJin's Café

Quite some time has passed by since my first visit to OnJin's Café.  Back then, the restaurant was hidden from view by a parking lot that was often gated.  With the surrounding area in the midst of redevelopment, gone is the parking lot and in comes a new street.  OnJin's Café now finds itself located on a busy corner and a lot more accessible to the masses.

I've been to OnJin's Café a number of times over the years, but usually for dinner.  More recently, I stopped by during lunch and found it a bit more relaxing since there weren't too many people here.  The restaurant is bright, clean and spacious with a mixture of dark and light colored wood furnishings.

There is also an outdoor seating area which makes al fresco dining the way to go when visiting for lunch -- as long as the weather is nice.  After placing my order inside, and paying for my meal, I take a seat outside in the "garden".  Here there are fresh herbs growing and I wonder if the basil, rosemary or sage is actually used in the preparation of dishes here.  The only thing that distracts is the traffic beyond the gate.

On a recent weekend visit, I ordered the boolgogi and kimchee sandwich (US$7.25).

Thick, tender slices of Korean-style barbecued meat were piled high atop a toasted onion bun before being garnished with a few pieces of won bok kim chee.  Sliced tomatoes and a crisp lettuce leaf were provided as added garnish for the sandwich while a salad drowning in dressing, a small pile of beans and a couple of crowns of broccoli covered the other half of the plate.  The beef was well flavored being neither too salty nor too sweet.  The kim chee, on the other hand, could have been a lot more fiery. 

On a subsequent visit, I decided to order the Korean style ahi don (US$9.25).

Intrigued by the name of the dish, I was a little disappointed when what was basically an ahi salad was delivered to my table.  Seven slices of sashimi-grade ahi were placed strategically on a combination of chopped romaine lettuce and Nalo greens.  Thin slivers of white radish were piled in the middle before being garnished with a spoonful of kaniko (crab eggs) and a few bits of dried seaweed.  Served with a bowl of brown rice and some spicy kochu jang sauce/dressing on the side, the salad proved to be a light, refreshing, and surprisingly,filling lunch.

Whether you stop by for lunch, or for dinner, the food here at OnJin's Café is sure to be enjoyable.  However, if you are the type of diner that requires constant attention (i.e. constant refilling of water, clearing of dishes, etc.) you should consider dining elsewhere.  On both visits, since I was seated outside, the server only stopped by to deliver my food and beverages to the table.  There was no follow up to ask how my food was, nor did she stop by to refill my iced tea or water.  Good food, mediocre service, and moderate to high prices, does not make OnJin's Café a frequent dining destination.

OnJin's Café
401 Kamakee Street
Telephone:  808.589.1666

Wahoo's Fish Taco

Here in Hawaii it seems as though quite a number of Mexican food restaurants have been opening up lately.  Some have met with great success, while others, can be considered mediocre.  It was with great interest that I watched the corner of Ward and Auahi come alive with the construction of a new building that was completed in about 6 months time.  Several weeks ago, tenants finally started to move in.  First, of course, it was a combination Jamba Juice and Starbucks.  Shortly thereafter, came this place, Wahoo's.

Doing a quick search on the internet, I found that this was part of a chain of restaurants that got their start in California more than a decade ago.  Was this going to be another Del Taco, or even worse, a Taco Bell?

When I arrived on a recent weekday, I found myself confronted with a sign upon entering:

"10 minute wait from this point."

Were they trying to tell me that it was really busy and I had to wait, or were they trying to scare me away.  After looking over the menu, which was rather extensive, I paid the cashier and took my number (#29) to the table.

As you can see from this photo here, there was just enough of a crowd for me to believe that I had made the right choice by coming here.  There were quite a number of tables inside, and there were a few that were unoccupied.

After waiting for a little less than the anticpated 10 minutes, my #3 combo, Banzai burrito combination platter (US$9.75) was delivered to my table.

Stuffed with the filling of your choice (I chose blackened fish), Ahee rice, black beans, and sauteed teriyaki veggies (!), this combination sounded much worse than it ended up being.  The combination of the veggies, chunks of fish, rice and black beans, made this an interesting flavor combination. 

Here, take a closer look.

On the one hand, the teriyaki veggies were a bit sweet and mildly salty, while the beans lent a slightly "smoky" flavor to the burrito. The burrito was served on a plate with more Ahee rice and your choice of white or black beans.  Since this was my first time here, I asked for a little of each and have to say that I enjoyed the black beans more.  Next time, though, I'll just order the burrito and skip the rice and beans.  I honestly don't think that I need more carbohydrates in my daily diet.

On a subsequent visit, I decided to start with the chips 'n salsa (US$1.50).

For $1.50, you get a small basket of stale chips and some OK tasting salsa.  This wasn't anything special as the salsa itself wasn't too spicy, and the tomatoes lacked the necessary sweetness.

To go along with the chips and salsa, I decided on the #2 combo, two tacos combination platter (US$7.75).

According to the menu, this is the "bestseller".  It comes with your choice of two tacos (what I had) or two enchiladas, with the filling of your choice (I had one carne asada taco and one flame-broiled chicken taco) and a side of rice and beans (I chose black beans).  It was also served with more of that salsa.

A close up of the carne asada taco.

The taco itself with filled with a few cubes of beef that were a bit tough and quite dry.  There was a light sprinkling of cheese and to top it all off, was a huge handful of lettuce.  The taco was pretty much flavorless even with the addition of some hot sauce and all the salsa that was spooned on top. 

The flame broiled chicken taco, though, fared a bit better.  Here's a close up.

Well-seasoned white meat chicken chunks were flame-broiled before being stuffed inside a flour tortilla.  And although, the chicken was a bit dry, at least it had a lot of flavor.  I added a bit of hot sauce to give it some kick and squeezed a bit of lime over it all to give it some tanginess.

When I first walked into Wahoo's, I actually thought it was going to be an upscale taco shop.  Instead, what I walked into was all looks and not enough substance.  Combine the wait time, the mediocre food, and the premium prices and what's left is a place that I probably won't be revisiting any time soon.  In fact, I would much rather pay a little less and get a little more at Maria Bonita's or even Diego's. 

Wahoo's Fish Taco Hawaii
Ward Gateway Center
940 Auahi Street
Telephone:  808.591.1646

XO Seafood Restaurant

This review is a "first taste".  XO Seafood Restaurant only recently opened and when I stopped by with a friend, the dish that I had wanted to try, was already sold out.  The restaurant is clean and the interior is unlike most Chinese restaurants that you're likely to encounter here. 

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Located at the former Dunkin' Donuts site across from the Hawaii Convention Center, XO Seafood Restaurant opened quietly within the last couple of weeks.  I stumbled upon this place, by accident, while driving down Kapiolani Boulevard on the way home from shopping at Ala Moana.  I called a friend, who quickly came down to meet me for dinner.

Since it was already 9:00 pm, I wasn't surprised to find very few diners in the back of the restaurant where I was seated.  There was a nice sized crowd up front though, and by the time my friend arrived, I had looked over the menu and decided on a dish to order.  Sadly, when I made an attempt to order one of the house specialties, the Mongolian lamb ribs, I was told that they were already sold out for the day.

Not one to give up, I looked over the menu a while longer before making my selections.  The first dish to arrive, about 15 minutes later, was the crispy sweet and sour fish fillet (US$8.00).

Pieces of fish were battered and deep fried until golden brown.  They were served on a plate that had been coated with sweet sour sauce.  Taking the first bite, I discovered that the pieces of fish weren't crunchy at all, even though they were still extremely hot.  The sauce was thick, gooey and extra sweet with almost no sourness to be found.

When we were three quarters of the way done with the fish, the next dish arrived at the table -- Chinese broccoli stir fry with crispy fish chips (US$8.00).

Now when I saw this on the menu, I thought it sounded interesting.  I was more curious about the crispy fish chips than anything else.  When the plate had finally made it to the table, I discovered a mix of broccoli AND Chinese broccoli (gai lan).  When I questioned the server, he told me that they didn't have enough Chinese broccoli to provide me with a full serving.  After eating a few of the "woody" stems of Chinese broccoli, I happened upon a few "burnt" tasting crispy fish chips, which were no more than flattened pieces of dried fish that had been fried.

And finally, the last dish that we ordered was the three flavor chicken casserole (US$9.00).

Arriving just as were finishing the two previous dishes, this dish arrived at the table in a small pot. We were served the equivalent of approximately 1/2 a small chicken  and there were bones here that had been crushed to tiny pieces, making this dish a challenge for us to eat.  Flavored with soy sauce, whole cloves of garlic and lots of fresh basil, I throughly enjoyed the flavors of this dish, even though I found it salty.

Even though there were lots of employees around the restaurant, the service was quite slow.  Food took a long time to come out from the kitchen, and water was refilled only once during the hour we spent there.  The food seemed a bit average overall -- some of it was overcooked, some of it was undercooked, and some of it was over seasoned.  All in all, this time around, I was slightly disappointed. 

XO Seafood Restaurant
1718 Kapiolani Boulevard
Telephone:  808.942.2020

Cho Dang Restaurant

One evening a couple weeks ago, I was driving around town trying to find a place to have dinner.  By some stroke of luck, I came upon Cho Dang Restaurant.  I would have to say that it's pretty new since I haven't seen it on my previous visits to either Kaffee Imperial or The Mandarin. 

Stepping into the brightly lit shop, I notice that it's small and cramped.  There are only six tables inside with the two of them being occupied -- one by a group of Korean women and the other, by a solitary diner (like myself).

After I browsing the menu, I made my selection and waited for the food to being arriving.  Like with any other Korean restaurant in town, what arrives first are the small dishes of ban chan.  Here, there were six dishes presented, in contrast to the usual 8 to 10 dishes that are commonly served at most other places.

Bordering on the sweet, savory side of the spectrum were the slices of marinated lotus root and the thickly sliced potatoes.  On the spicy side, there was only the dish of Chinese cabbage kim chee.  The other dishes were standard fare -- mung bean sprouts, seaweed and chap chae.

As I started to eat my way through the ban chan, the beef soon dubu (US$6.24) was brought to the table.

Arriving at the table hot and bubbly, the small pot was filled with lots of tofu and beefy, spicy broth.  The soon dubu was topped with just a small sprinkling of chopped green onions, and again, I have yet to see the raw egg that customarily accompanies this dish.  Althought there was a lot of tofu in this dish, most of it was "firmer" than I was used to.

To go along with my soon dubu, I decided to have the fried rice with kimchee & beef (US$6.99).

A mound of kim chee fried rice was topped with a fried egg that had been decorated with a thin drizzling of ketchup.  Here, have a closer look at the fried rice.

The rice used was a bit too "fresh" (if that's the word I want to use) and caused the rice to be a little too "tender".  The kim chee gave the rice the necessary spicy-sourness and added some crunch as well.

On top of all that, I decided to add an order of meat jun (US$5.99).

When the plate arrived, I was a little shocked.  There was so much meat jun here (three pieces) that I knew I wouldn't be able to come close to finishing it all. 

To prepare this dish, thinly sliced beef is first marinated in a sweet soy-based sauce, then it's dipped in egg and pan fried.  Ideally, the layer of egg should be thin and slightly "crispy" -- there should also be a slight separation between the egg and the beef.  While there was a lot of food here on the plate, I found the meat jun to be just a little too sweet for my tastes, but enjoyable nonetheless.

With large portions, great prices and tasty food, this is another restaurant that will be added to my "visit frequently" rotation.  Though the food wasn't prepared exactly to my liking, there wasn't anything here that would stop me from coming here again.  The service was better than average with the waitstaff being attentive and the food arriving quickly.  Oh, and by the way, there was a lot to choose from on the menu.

Cho Dang Restaurant
725 Kapiolani Boulevard
Telephone:  808.591.0500

Arirang House Korean Restaurant

NOTE:  You will not see any prices in this post because dinner was paid for by a couple of friends.

A couple of days ago a couple of friends called and asked me to join them for dinner.  Since it's been a while since I had seen them, I said sure...where?  When they mentioned this place, I was stumped.  It was practically in my backyard and I didn't even know about the place.

Arirang House is just like any number of neighborhood Korean restaurants that you'll find all over Honolulu.  It's on a major roadway, but since I pass by so often, I seldom glance in the restaurant's direction.

When I arrived here, I found the restaurant to be filled with a number of diners.  The restaurant was bright and clean, and in the air was the sweet, smokey aroma of barbecue.

After placing our order, a number of ban chan (side dishes) started to appear at the table.  Some of these were sour, others were bland, a few were spicy and still others were salty.  This is really what I enjoy most about Korean food -- all the side dishes with various tastes and flavors that are included with each meal.

Have another look.

The assortment of ban chan here was excellent, and if I remember correctly, there must have been 8 or 9 different dishes on the table -- definitely something for everyone.  I was also happy to discover that they served this multi-grained rice with the meals here.  This purple-hued rice (sorry, I don't know the Korean name for it) is mixed with different types of grains before being cooked and served.  It has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor that I enjoyed.

For starters we had the haemul pajeon (seafood pancake).

The pancake itself wasn't as crisp as I was used to and maybe just a little too oily. 

And finally, the waitress came by with a plate of sizzling kalbi (barbecued short ribs).

Our waitress proceeded to slice the meat for us into bite-sized pieces.

With steam rising fast and furiously from the sizzling platter, I popped a piece of just delivered kalbi into my mouth.  Tender, juicy and well-marinated, the kalbi here was some good stuff. 

And finally, the meal was finished off with a few cups of ginger tea.

In this particular area of town, you're bound to find at least 20 or so Korean restaurants that serve kalbi and ban chan.  What separates Arirang from the rest of these is not necessarily the food, but the service.  The waitstaff is helpful and efficient.  Our waitress came by every few minutes to refill our water and replace any ban chan that we may have finished.  I'm not sure about the value as I didn't pay for this meal, but I guess I've just been introduced to another neighborhood joint that I might just want to visit again.

Arirang House Korean Restaurant
1334 Young Street
Telephone:  808.593.8830