Tae's Teppanyaki
It's been a quite some time since I've eaten the food at Tae's. I guess it's because they are no longer in the parking lot at Daiei Kaheka during dinner time. So imagine my shock at seeing the wagon yesterday when I was at Daiei getting some groceries.
Tae's is now at Daiei Kaheka only during lunchtime (from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm), but are now here on Saturdays too. What a great surprise. Since I was there late, about 1:15 pm, there really wasn't any line. I loooked over the menu, which hasn't changed one bit. One item, five different sauces for one price...fair enough don't you think?
I walked up to the window on the right side of the van and ordered my wasabi steak. The food is made to order and in less than 5 minutes, I was ready to go. Since it was a nice day, I decided to eat this at the beach. It's a good thing that the beach wasn't crowded, I was starving!
I found a nice spot under the trees and opened up the styrofoam container.
Inside, I found two scoops of white rice, a container of ponzu sauce, and some thin ribeye steak wrapped around a "ball" of crunchy raw potatoes. The ribeye steak roll was topped with some wasabi sauce, that while flavorful, wasn't spicy enough for me. The ribeye steak itself was lean and tender. The combination of the wasabi and ponzu sauces, along with the crunchiness and slight sweetness of the raw potatoes (I actually thought it was daikon), made this quite tasty. Normally, the plate lunch is also served with some salad. By the time I ordered, all the salad was already gone.
I haven't realized how much I missed eating this until now. If you haven't tried the food here before, it's definitely a must try. And while this isn't a lot of food (you won't be over-stuffed), it's fresh and tasty which makes this quite a bargain.
Tae's Teppanyaki
Daiei Kaheka parking lot
801 Kaheka Street
Telephone: 808.383.2280
hey reid--looks good, esp. since i haven't had lunch yet. but raw potatoes? haven't tried that yet.
Posted by: santos | December 12, 2004 at 07:19 PM
The food, the beach... Not jealous one little bit....
Posted by: pieman | December 12, 2004 at 07:23 PM
Reid,
That's an unusual dish...wasabi steak? Kind of interesting but I can just imagine the taste of it. Oh, speaking of raw potatoes, the first time I've tried it was at Pietro's as a salad with their signature dressings. They have several to choose from but I had my favorite. The shredded raw potato salad sounded wierd at first but after tasting it, it kind of grows on you. The only thing about it was the price for that unusual salad. It's not a normal substitute for a simple green salad since it's quite overpriced. I've never seen that truck at Daiei before but then, I wasn't looking in the parking lot to buy something to eat.
Posted by: Clinton | December 12, 2004 at 07:48 PM
Hmmmm... looks spicy to me though..??!!?? so much wasabi..?
Posted by: MrsT | December 12, 2004 at 08:29 PM
Hi Santos,
If you actually saw this, you would have thought it was shredded daikon, that's what I initially thought. The potatoes were very thinly grated and very crunchy. I think I'll go back next weekend and take pictures of the inside of the roll.
Hi pieman,
=)
Hi Clinton,
I haven't been to Pietro's in ages, and have never tried the salad that you speak of. I'm thinking of going there soon and will make sure to look out for it. The wagon at Daiei Kaheka hasn't been around for very long...maybe a couple of years at most. It's actually quite inconspicuous, especially if you come in from the Ewa entrance. You wouldn't think they were selling anything unless there was a line next to the truck. Maybe you can try it on your next trip here.
Hi MrsT,
It actually looks like a lot of wasabi, but it's very diluted. I'm not sure what they used to make the sauce, but the flavor of the wasabi was very mild.
Posted by: Reid | December 12, 2004 at 08:53 PM
Reid:
MAHALO for posting your trip to Taes! I'm going there as soon as I get off the plane.
Posted by: MBS | December 13, 2004 at 11:33 AM
Oh you champion. I was thinking - go the wasabi, go the wasabi. And you did.
That's a very minimalist truck design.
Posted by: anthony | December 13, 2004 at 01:47 PM
Hi MBS,
Tae's is great. Try to get there as early as possible so that you can get some greens with your ribeye steak roll. Let me know how you like it.
Hi Anthony,
I can't ever refuse wasabi anything. The only trouble with this was, the sauce. It seemed a bit watered down, with not much wasabi flavor. Maybe next time, I need to ask for wasabi on the side.
I think the truck is great. If I didn't have a life to live, I'd probably want to start a food business out of one of these myself. Actually, I've been toying with the idea for a while. I'd just need to find a good location and a marketable product. Couple of thoughts? Nasi lemak or bahn mi.
Posted by: Reid | December 13, 2004 at 07:17 PM
Eww!! That's really quite an amount of wasabi sauce. Hmm... never had wasabi sauce before actually. Wat's the difference with normal grated wasabi? But I like the idea ponzu wasabi. Hee...
Posted by: fish fish | December 13, 2004 at 11:44 PM
Hi fish fish,
It is a lot of sauce, but the sauce is very mild (you can barely taste the wasabi flavor). In fact, it's much milder than grated wasabi if you ask me. I like to dip pieces of the ribeye roll into the ponzu sauce before eating. Makes it taste yummier! =)
Posted by: Reid | December 14, 2004 at 12:14 AM
Steak by the beach. Tempting even for me who don't eat beef :)
Posted by: ST | December 14, 2004 at 05:48 AM
That's a really beautiful shot of the beach, Reid. You're so lucky to be able to enjoy your meals in such idyllic settings. :)
Posted by: Julia | December 14, 2004 at 05:55 AM
Ala Moana Beach Park, right! Magic Island in the background (right-hand side) and Waikiki, center.
That's one of the things I love about home--the beach is perhaps a mile from Daiei.
Posted by: MBS | December 14, 2004 at 10:48 AM
Hi ST,
It was actually quite nice and HOT! I got a little tan, which was noticed by all at work on Monday. They asked if I had gotten some sun. I told them that I had lunch at the beach. They were all surprised!
Hi Julia,
Thanks for the compliment on the photo. Yes, we are very lucky here in Hawaii. I'm especially lucky since the beach is only a 5 minute drive from home. I like to eat on the beach and people watch. It's quite interesting.
Hi MBS,
What a good eye you have. I was right there, past the first concession stand headed in the direction of McCoy Pavillion. It was a beautiful day with nice trades. Couldn't ask for anything more.
Posted by: Reid | December 14, 2004 at 09:28 PM
What about crepes and coffee? A rotisserie chicken van in Tokyo just went gangbusters. I wanted to buy a Bongo Van and sell coffee and call it Espresso Bongo but I think I'd be the only one getting it here.
Posted by: anthony | December 15, 2004 at 01:35 PM
Hi Anthony,
I've thought about coffee, but not crepes. If I had a truck, I'd like to do something different or unique. Crepes might be good, but they may take a while to cook. Besides, I was told that it's usually not a good idea to keep food that requires refrigeration.
Like the name for the truck, but I'm not sure that coffee would work here. We have a lot of Starbucks Coffee around.
Posted by: Reid | December 15, 2004 at 08:55 PM
The wasabi sauce seems to be just wasabi powder and water. I don't really taste anything else in it. I liked the garlic more. I think next time I will try the spicy or the salt/pepper.
Posted by: jupiter | December 16, 2004 at 11:27 AM
Hi jupiter,
I could't agree more. I actually liked the teriyaki flavor as well as the salt and pepper. This was the second time that I had eaten the wasabi flavor and the first time I had tried it, it was a bit better.
Posted by: Reid | December 16, 2004 at 06:25 PM
the there is ono.
Posted by: eric | May 12, 2005 at 09:30 PM
oops sorry the food there is ono
Posted by: eric | May 12, 2005 at 09:32 PM
Hi Eric,
Yes, the food here is definitely good. I would eat here more often if I could.
Posted by: Reid | May 12, 2005 at 11:02 PM