14th Annual Taste of Honolulu

Last night after work, I walked over to the grounds of the Honolulu Civic Center to take part in the 14th Annual Taste of Honolulu. 

As one of the state's larger outdoor festivals, the Taste of Honolulu brings together great food, wines and entertainment.  Many of Hawaii's top restaurants participate in this event which benefits the Hawaii Easter Seals.

I haven't been to the Taste of Honolulu in quite sometime, but what really sparked my interest this year were some of this year's participants.  Two of the participants, Hapa Grill and the Mandalay, have not yet opened for business so it was nice to be able to get a preview of the food ahead of time.  After paying my $3.00 entrance fee, I proceeded to enter the festival grounds.

Once inside, I made my way to one of the booths selling scrips. 

The scrips (US$.75 each; US$5.00 for 9) will be used to pay for the food, drinks and other items at the various booths.  I started off with US$35.00 worth.

First on my list of stops was Hapa Grill.

HAPA's teriyaki beef with rice.

Next on my list of stops was the Mandalay.

Fresh Manila clams with black bean sauce.

After that it was on to E&O Trading Company.

Combo:  Be thui (Saigon steak), perkedel jagung (Indonesian corn fritters) and ginn thoke (Burmese ginger salad).

After eating all of that, I was a little stuffed, but I still had a lot of scrips left over.  Instead of leaving, I decided to walk around a bit.  Look at the crowd!

Free fruit.

And some rides for the kids...

After making my way around the rest of the festival grounds, I came upon Kevin's Too Boots.

Spicy smothered alligator.

Sweet potato pie.

Next up, Yakiniku Hiroshi.

U.S. Kobe-style "toro" kalbi in lettuce wrap (U.S. Kobe-style beef is Wagyu).

Still hungry?  It was finally time for dessert.

Kahuku apple banana & taro root with tapioca and coconut milk.

And from the Top of Waikiki booth (sorry, no photo), the chocolate fondue with fresh Kula strawberries, sponge cake croutons and whipped cream.

After all of that, I called it a night...

Comments

[santos.]

say bruddah, dat's a lot of food.

[Kirk]

Reid - Nice's pic's as usual - how did you make it to your car????

[MrsT]

Wow!! Reid..!! you ate all that..?? salut.. salut..!!

[AugustusGloop]

Ya da man Reid, you da man.

[Jo]

Oh man, I hope you did some walking! HOWEVER; I must take serious umbrage against the sweet potato pie! It ::snicker:: doesn't look very ::snort:: authentic! ::cough cough hack::

::gasping for breath and calming a bit:: ok, I've got it under control... for now... But seriously, I happen to make a killer sweet potato pie loosley based on the recipe by Omar the Pieman of New Orleans fame. My grandmother made the best pie crust I've EVER had and I come closer than anyone else to making it almost as good as hers.

I'd really love some more details on the flavor and what the heck is that stuff all over the top? I recognize the pecan...

[Reid]

All,

Something I forgot to mention in the post is that the plates were small. These were only sample sized portions of most of the food. For example, at Hapa Grill, they used the small type of paper plate. At E&O it was a regular sized plate. These were mostly bite sized foods anyway, so I really didn't eat as much as it seems...although it was a lot!

Hi Santos,

It wasn't that much, especially since it was eaten over three hours or so. =P

Hi Kirk,

I actually walked from my apartment to the Civic Center. It was about a 15 minute walk there and about a 20 minute walk home (especially since I was so stuffed).

Hi MrsT,

Yes, I did! =) I was stuffed afterwards, and went home to sleep!

Hi AG,

Hmmmmm. Do you think? hehe!

Hi Jo,

This was actually a really tiny pie that was finished in two bites. The sweet potato filling was really good as was the crust. On top, there was the glaze and the pecan.

[Mr_Me]

wow...that looks great.

I actually have $100 worth of scrips for the Taste of Honolulu (got them for free, since my company is the one that did those silly TV commercials for the event), but I probably have to work all day today...ARGH!

I'm gonna have to try and take an hour or so to get some grindage...dont wanna waste em

[Alsocanone]

Oinker!!! Err .... just curious, how heavy do you weigh? :P

[babe_kl]

phew luckily you explained, else i would thot how did you managed to eat so much kekeke

i wished we have similar festival here :(

[Naomi]

Wow! Looks like there was a lot of delicious stuff there. I wanted to go but ended up not being able too! But this is almost as good...now if only there was edible, smellable Internet...

So, from all the places you sampled from, are any of them worth checking out the actual restaurant?

[Reid]

Hi Mr_Me,

The food was OK. I hope you have a chance to get there to try it for yourself.

Hi Alsocanone,

Not much at all. =P

Hi babe_kl,

Yes, it does seem like an amazing amount of food, but most of it was consumed in a bite or three. =P

Hi Naomi,

I'm considering a visit to the Mandalay when it opens in October. I wouldn't mind visiting Hapa Grill the next time I'm in Kapolei. E & O...maybe. I liked the corn fritters, but the steak and salad were let downs.

[Jo]

Corn fritters are a snap Reid, equal parts bisquick & corn starch for the "dough" and beer for the liquid. The better the beer the better the fritter. Use leftover boiled corn and at the minimum half as much minced yellow onion. Let the mixture sit at least 30 minutes before frying. Keep some beer back in case you need to add additional moisture to the batter.

Other things I add are roasted pimento, green onion, garlic, and Tony Chacery's Creole seasoning. The Creole seasoning is VERY salty & spicy so I don't add any other seasonings when I use it.

[Colette]

Oh my Reid - I can't believe you ate all that food. I was at the Taste Friday night also, but I didn't get to try everything I wanted. To me, the alligator tasted like a combination of fish and chicken?

The scallops from (I forget where) was very good, and the chocolate cake w/ raspberry coulis from 21 North was amazing.

That Kobe-style "toro" kal-bi looked great - is that Sriacha hot sauce on it?

[alan]

I was wondering if you would visit and report on Taste of Honolulu. Sadly, my weekend was too full and we never made it over. I know, I know, what could be more important?! After seeing your samples above, I'm asking myself the same question.

[Reid]

Hi Jo,

Your recipe sounds interesting, however, these are actually supposed to be an Indonesian-style corn fritter called perkedel jangung. You may want to try the recipe which is found at the Hawaii Diner site for comparison:

http://www.hawaiidiner.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=694

I found it delicious and light, but in my opinion, I found it a bit different than what I've had in the past.

Hi Colette,

I ate it all because I was there for such a long time and I hadn't eaten lunch in anticipation. I don't drink, so this was it!

The alligator was OK. I was hoping that it would be spicier, but it wasn't. The few pieces that I had were a bit fatty, if you could actually call it that.

You probably had the seared scallops from Musashi which I wanted to try, but didn't. And, I almost had that same dessert, but settled on the ones pictured here instead. The tapioca was great and is something that I always enjoy.

The U.S. Kobe-style "toro" kalbi in lettuce wrap from Yakiniku Hiroshi left much to be desired. And yes, I believe that was sriracha on it.

Hi Alan,

I knew that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to visit the Taste of Honolulu on the weekend, so I left work on time on Friday, went home and walked down to the Civic Center. I really wanted to attend this year because I had heard that the Mandalay was going to have a booth there. The food was good for what it was and I'm really anticipating the restaurant's opening in October. I usually don't go because most of the food is mediocre at best.

[fish fish]

Wah~ Reid, sound so fun. The crowd in the night time really big. I would prefer to go earlier. ^_^

[stef]

wow, the food looks awesome, esp. that teriyaki beef and the desserts. but the alligator tail? well, let's just say i've had great and i've had REALLY REALLY BAD, that it scared me off alligator tails forever. that one looks too much like the icky one i ate (and spit out -- shudder).

[RONW]

Corn fritters is such an un-heralded food. Glad you mentioned the item.

[keiko]

Hi Reid - I'm glad you had a lovely time. I'm sure I could eat all of the dishes too (I'm skinny but a big eater)! They look soooo yummy!

[Gail]

Hi Reid,

Nice write up of TOH - by the time we made it on Sunday the gator was gone and all the restaurant vendors looked ready to collapse! I did notice that Hapa Grill, Ciao Mein and E&O were very busy. Thanks for mentioning the corn fritters. Do you have any suggestions on improving them? I've never had the "authentic" Indonesian version and we were working from memory of the times we had them at E&O. They are lots of fun to make and even the "test" versions were quite edible!

[Jo]

I hear ya RONW! I love fritters period but corn are about the easiest and tastiest. I'm going to have to try the recipe Reid linked to. If it happens, I'll probably post it on my blog... hmm... Fritter Flirtations... ::wanders off::

[OsloFoodie]

I wish we have something like this in Oslo. I'd camp there if I have to, to taste all the lovely food. What's that red stuff on the lettuce-wrapped beef, ketchup?

[pinkcocoa]

Great pics, Reid! I would have second thoughts about alligator meat! How did it taste like? The chocolate fondue is just gorgeous! Lucky man you are, Reid.

[Reid]

Hi fish fish,

I would have gone earlier, but I went after work on Friday. I wasn't able to go on Saturday or Sunday. I had to work. =(

Hi Stef,

Thank you for dropping by my blog!

The food here was quite good considering. The alligator was just so-so and I really was hoping that it would have been better, especially since I walked by the booth the first time and was told that it was sold out. *sigh*

Hi RONW,

I have to say that the corn fritters from E&O were probably my favorites of the night even though they weren't made in the conventional fashion. They were quite tasty though.

Hi Gail,

Thanks for stopping by again! And thanks for the compliment. I noticed the recipe you had posted on the Hawaii Diner site and was anxious to try it. I'm glad I went to visit the E&O booth because after all the bad things I heard about the place, I wasn't planning on visiting the restaurant any time soon.

I have a recipe for perkedel jagung and I can e-mail it to you if you'd like. Just let me know.

Hi Jo,

These fritters are really light, crispy and almost airy. They felt so light when I bit into them that it's almost hard to describe. The corn was really sweet as well. If you try the recipe from the Hawaii Diner site, let me know how it works out OK?

Hi Oslo Foodie,

I'm glad this happens only once a year! =) Otherwise, I might end up weighing a ton or more! =P

I'm almost certain that the red stuff on the lettuce wrap was sriracha (hot sauce).

Hi pinkcocoa,

The alligator was almost like fish, but a little more chewy. Hard to describe the texture really. The flavor was OK and it could have been better...

The chocolate fondue was great. The strawberries were really sweet and I really liked the presentation.

[Clinton]

Hi Reid,

Speaking of alligator, I had it for the first time a few months ago in Houston at this fancy Cajun restaurant (Pappadeaux's) which our host took us to after our business meeting. I was hoping for something really different but it sort of tasted like a cross between fish and chicken. Could hardly tell the difference in flavor between the fried clams, calamari, or fish. I guess they cook their fried appetizers all the same way? In anyhoo, the food and atmosphere was impeccable...I'd go there again in a heartbeat.