Review: Green Door

Green Door
1145 Maunakea St (entrance on Pauahi)



Green Door is a tiny hole-in-the-wall in Chinatown on Pauahi St (same block as Char Hung Sut). It is owned by Betty, a Malaysian-Chinese woman who grew up in Singapore and has lived in Hawaii for over 20 years.

For being a hole-in-the-wall, it’s a very cute one. Like its namesake, you can recognize the restaurant by it’s ‘green door’ (duh) and some red lanterns hanging outside.

We ordered the special-of-the-day, oyster mushrooms stir-fried with shrimp in a ‘black pepper and wine sauce.’ Not very Malaysian sounding to me, but they did a great job with it. Real fresh mushrooms, shrimp and onions stir-fried in the rich sauce. The mushrooms were great.

We also ordered a vegetable curry (carrots, onions, cabbage, tomato and long beans in a very spicy red curry) and the ‘Singapore spicy longbeans.’ The curry was amazing; that is the dish I’d order next time, but the beans were nothing memorable (not very spicy or fresh).

For starches, we had (so many carbs!) the coconut rice, jasmine rice, and 2 roti (flatbreads). The coconut rice ($2.75) was the highlight: a molded mound of jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk. Not too sweet, went perfectly with the curry. (I wish I had a picture of it, but my camera flash doesn't work very well indoors, and none of my food photos came out)

Our total bill was $33 without tip. Green Door is BYOB so we ran over to the new wine market Hsir, also on Pauahi St, and picked up a bottle of wine to go with dinner.

There are only 4 tables; we were lucky arriving at 7 pm that we didn’t have to wait at all.

Just Tacos (Downtown)

Just Tacos
111 Bishop St
Remington College food court



I went to Just Tacos based on very good reviews I had read (must’ve been in the Advertiser or Honolulu Weekly) and because it’s just a few blocks away from my office.

I ordered the super taco ($3.75): 2 corn tortillas (fresh off the grill) and your choice of meat. I ordered the barria (stewed beef? Pork? Although I prob would’ve preferred plain grilled chicken). Luckily I had read in the review of Just Tacos that these are not American-style tacos (with the veggies, cheese and sour cream) but even still, I was not prepared for what I got: literally 2 (small but thick) corn tortillas covered with meat. Nothing else! Very different.

Here's my taco, covered with salsa & pico de gallo


There was, however, a salsa bar on the side, so I got to cover my taco with pico de gallo, cilantro, and mild salsa. So that made it look more like a regular taco. Overall, it was tasty…the meat was a little too juicy, so the tortilla completely fell apart, and the meat was a little heavy for me, but I’d go back.

The most popular item on the menu was the taco salad $5.25). I was a little confused when I saw everyone ordering it (don’t you know how unhealthy it is?) but then I realized why it was so popular after I got my taco. Because it is a typical American taco salad, with all of the fixings on top.

I also ordered a flan for dessert ($1.75). I was expecting something more similar to a creamy crème brulee, but this was sort of spongey (like cottage cheese) and super sweet. Eh, no need to get that next time.

Pearl's Korean BBQ

Pearls Korean BBQ
Manoa Marketplace

Went here for lunch with John and Sara, as an easy to get to alternative to Yummy's for Korean bbq. I ate off John's combination plate (meat jun & mandoo) and ordered a bubble tea, after I saw an advertisement on the wall saying 'Hawaii's best bubble tea!" Now I know not to believe posters on the wall, because the bubble tea was nothing to write home about. They do the kine bubble tea that is like a smoothie...frozen & blended. The bubbles at the bottom were too hard.

I also wouldn't go back for the combination plate either. The rice was too dry, the vegetables weren't well flavored (kind of bland, the kim chi was not spicy enough), and the meat was just OK.

Review: Thang Coffee & Bubble tea

Thang Coffee & Bubble Tea
1120 Maunakea St, Chinatown
Maunakea Marketplace

I generally refuse to pay more than $0.36 for my pearl milk tea, because that's how much it costs on the streets in Shanghai. However when I saw a woman carrying this amazing mango smoothie with tapioca pearls in it, I had to go track the drink down. I found this cute stand in the Maunakea Marketplace, I think it specialized in vietnamese or thai drinks. They had all sorts of powdered bubble tea flavors (strawberry, mango etc) for $2, fresh fruit drinks with tapioca pearls for $3, or coffee/thai iced tea bubble drinks for $2.50.

I had the mango smoothie with tapioca pearls. It came in a huge cup, I could barely finish it. I can't wait to go back and try the thai iced tea.

Cafe Diem

Cafe Diem
Alakea St.
There is a trio of tiny takeout places on the corner of Alakea and Richards St: Greek, Vietnamese and Korean. They each have long lines at lunch time. Today I was craving pho, so I went to the Vietnamese choice, Cafe Diem.

The long line moved quickly, almost too quick for me to read the menu. They have tons of categories: pho soups, rice noodle dishes, rice dishes, combination plates, and vegetarian plates.

I went for the tofu pho soup ($4.50) and a banana tapioca ($0.30...i thought to myself 'did they write that wrong on the daily specials board?' but it was correct)

The pho was much better than expected. I won't go so far as to say it was phenomenal, since this place is a tiny takeout restaurant, but it definitely satisfied me. I had the tofu pho, so it had strips of fried tofu, rice noodles, and it came with a big bag of bean sprouts, basil, and a lemon wedge. There is a self-serve sauce bar where you can put all the soup sauces you want into those little plastic containers.

The best part of the pho was the broth (although that probably means it had a lot of msg in it...)...not too salty, almost a little sweet, a little sour.

The banana tapioca was yummy too, very rich with coconut milk, mashed up banana chunks, and little round tapioca balls.

Malee Thai & Vietnamese Cuisine

Malee Thai & Vietnamese Cuisine
Maunakea Marketplace
1120 Maunakea St, Chinatown


I surveyed all of the Vietnamese places at Maunakea Marketplace today before selecting Malee's. I was in the mood for pho, but ended up ordering Thai food, because that's what everyone sitting near Malee's was eating. One man, after finishing his meal, even came up to the chef and said 'Better than Bangkok!'

Malee's offers a wide range of Thai & Vietnamese foods: curries, pad thai, cold noodles, larb, spicy thai basil with pork, spring/summer rolls, and pho. I ordered tom yam goong ($6.50 for chicken, $7 for seafood) which comes with a side of rice. The rice was very nice, a sticky jasmine grain. They also sell rice balls (curry, basil and coconut milk) which I want to try next time.

Tom yum goong soup pic:


The tom yam goong was very nice, full of mushrooms, onions, pepers, and chicken. A few tomato slices, which I thought was a little strange, but a nice touch. The broth (the most important part of the soup!) was good, although a little oily. Nicely spicy. I want to go back to Malee's to try the chicken/basil, summer rolls, and the riceball...

Review: Boba Loca

Boba Loca

2615 S. King St. #104, 942-1770

So Boba Loca is actually a chain (www.boba-loca.com) from CA I believe, but I give them a huge thumbs up for the best quality, consistency, and creativity with bubble tea.


view of counter

I drank a LOT of bubble tea when I was in Shanghai, and I have to say I'm somewhat of a purist. I don't like all of those funky flavors; I stuck to the tea flavor (because in China they generally use the powders for all of the fruity flavors). Well, BL may have converted me.


Yum...there is my chai frappe boba...

I had the chai frappe with boba, and Jane ordered a jasmine milk tea with boba. Both were amazing! The boba were perfect consistency...nice and soft but not mushy, and chewy. The chai frappe was just amazing; it was like a chai-flavored milkshake. Super rich and creamy.



I can't wait to go back and try the other flavors they have: almond, red bean, milk tea, lavender, fruit smoothies, and all sorts of other onolicious stuff.



The place also serves sushi and some hot food. It's a very nice atmosphere, sort of the 'Starbucks' of boba...clean, well-lit, lots of seating, magazines, a pleasant atmosphere. 2 thumbs up!

Jane by the seating area

U Choice Inn

U Choice Inn
Daiei
801 Kaheka St

There are a bunch of food takeout places outside Daiei (well, I guess I should call it Don Quixote now), one of which is U Choice Inn. It's similar to Panda Express, with Chinese plate lunch, but also has dim sum and shaved ice.

I used to come here for manapua all of the time. I came back for the first time in awhile, today.



Here is the manapua (steamed) that I ordered. It was massive (rightfully so, since it now costs a whopping $1.15, although now that I am back from China I think everything in Hawaii is way overpriced), but turned out to be all bread.

Here's a pic of the insides

which shows there's just not that much meat inside. The filling is tasty though, meaty (not fatty chunks) and sweet.