George's Delicatessen
Today, one of my co-workers bought me lunch from George's Delicatessen.
It's not a traditional type of delicatessen, with sandwiches and stuff, but more it is an okazu-ya. An okazu-ya is loosely translated as: okazu meaning side dish and ya meaning shop. Basically, these types of shops sell side dishes for bento, or boxed lunches.
There are many of these little shops in Hawaii, with most opening at the crack of dawn and closing shortly after lunchtime. My co-workers order from George's Delicatessen because they deliver.
Here's what I had:
Clockwise from top: kinpira gobo (seasoned burdock root), Spam®, chicken nishime (simmered vegetables), musubi (rice ball) with nori (prepared seaweed) and ume (pickled plum), shrimp tempura, egg omelet and vegetable tempura.
The good thing about an okazu-ya is that you can mix and match food items to satify your taste buds and your budget. The food items here are priced from US$.50 up to US$4.00. This plate lunch with 7 choices was about US$6.50.
Great deal, great variety, and great food!
George's Delicatessen
1317 South Beretania Street
Telephone: 808.597.8069
Looks like the dosirak I had for lunch. Hahaha .... Errr .... the spam seems outta place in that platter of things Japanese. :)
Posted by: FatMan Seoul | October 07, 2004 at 07:23 PM
Hi FatMan,
the spam is out of place here. =) But people in Hawaii love it. We have the highest consumption of Spam in the US.
BTW...your dosirak looks much better than this, trust me.
Posted by: Reid | October 07, 2004 at 11:09 PM
I love delicatessens - in singapore we have the "fan cai" shops - they sell rice with different dishes. There is also a high end Jap delicatessen in SF's Ferry Market Building that has good food and presentation. It's a little pricey but a good experience :)
Posted by: stef | October 08, 2004 at 12:01 PM
George's Delicatessen. That brings back a lot of memories. Good food and nice people.
If you'd like to venture to School Street, check out Yuki's. It's a real "hole-in-the-wall" delicatessen. Going Ewa way, it's on the mauka side a little pass Masa's/Masu's Delicatessen (the place with it's famous garlic chicken). They have a variety of good eats, like crab stuffed shrimp, stuffed fish, pork chops, stuffed chicken, and a whole lots of other tasty goodies. The best thing is the price. They cater mostly to the Farrington and Damien school kids and the neighborhood people, so the prices are very reasonable.
Posted by: lance | October 08, 2004 at 03:20 PM
Hi Stef,
I like okazu-yas too. =) They normally have a wide variety of items to choose from so you can never go wrong. These used to be served on a plate with paper wrapping or in a little box with waxed paper. One day, I'll take a picture of the inside of one of these places.
Hi Lance,
Thanks for dropping by. Yes, the people over at George's are really friendly. The place I miss the most though is Naka's. They actually had the best okazu-ya, in my opinion. I used to like going there to get my lunches when I would go on field trips while growing up.
I've never been to Yuki's, but the next time I'm in the area, I'll be sure to check it out. Sounds like a winner!
Posted by: Reid | October 08, 2004 at 07:13 PM
Reid,
Where was Naka's? That really rings a bell.
Posted by: lance | October 11, 2004 at 02:44 PM
Hi Lance,
Naka's was on North King Street near Kopke Street in Kalihi. Ray's Cafe is here now.
Posted by: Reid | October 11, 2004 at 05:56 PM