Trader Joe's

So I was on the mainland recently and got to shop at Trader Joe’s. Since I know everyone in Hawaii would die to have one here, I thought I’d post some pics of the yummy stuff I got there. (Unfortunately I was in Philadelphia, so there was no ‘2 buck chuck’ since PA doesn’t allow grocery stores to sell alcohol)

In the picture:

Focaccini – I bought these cuz they looked nice and cheesy but I was disappointed

Reduced carb whole wheat tortillas – I’m not into the low-carb diet, but I like these tortillas because they are softer than normal ones

Danish Blue cheese – for salads

Cantare Olive Tapenade – we can get this at Hawaii Costco! (I read in Fortune magazine that Hawaii Costco has the highest per square foot sales of any Costco store in the US)

Trader Joe’s private label Gazpacho – very raw, heavy on the onions

Trader Joe’s private label Dolmas – yum. These are awesome. I threw them into salads. I’d never had refrigerated dolmas, but they held up well.

Review: Hale Vietnam (Kaimuki)

Hale Vietnam.
1140 12th Ave (across from American Savings Bank)


Vietnamese food has been a big trend for me recently. I just crave the hot clear soup broths and the fresh herbs in all of the dishes. Probably the first restaurant I had vietnamese food was at Hale Vietnam. Hale Vietnam (in the popular Kaimuki dining area) is always packed. Having never been to Vietnam, I can't vouch for their authenticity, but I love eating there.

Every single time I’ve been to Hale Vietnam, it’s been packed. The most recent trip we saw 2 tables of Japanese tourists, perhaps HV has made it into the tour guidebooks now. The décor is very casual.

We ordered the sour soup with vegetables, cold noodles with lemongrass chicken, and tofu with peanut sauce. Each dish had a very different flavor, but they all went well together.

*sour soup*


The sour soup is my favorite. It’s a clear broth flavored with lemongrass and galangal that is super sour. It’s a flavor totally unique to Vietnamese cuisine. Then it’s filled with veggies: taro stalk (a spongey green veggie, looks a little like zucchini), tomatoes, onions, and tofu.
*left, chicken bun. right, tofu with peanut sauce*

The tofu with peanut sauce reminded me of a Chinese dish. It had a very peanutty sauce, some onions, and was topped with cilantro. The lemongrass chicken noodles were interesting: cool rice noodles, topped with boneless lemongrass chicken stir fried with celery, and liberally sprinkled with green onions and cilantro. It came with a sweet-spicy chili sauce on the side.

Plus, the giant buddha in the front is just so cool.

Nicos Breakfast Lunch & Seafood

I was looking forward to trying Nicos after hearing so many good things about it. Nicos is an ‘upscale plate lunch’ place, meaning that he offers high-end restaurant quality fish at plate lunch prices.

Nicos opens early in the morning (when the fish market opens!) and closes at 5 pm. I’m not sure what they serve for breakfast, but at lunch it’s fish, fish and fish! (Oh, and I guess they have burgers too).

The day we went, I ordered the furikake crusted seared ahi, and Jennie had the beer battered fish sandwich with French fries. The ahi was excellent; it was completely black with furikake on the outside which went nicely with the rice. The meal came with a mesclun greens salad on the side.

*Seared Ahi*


*Fish Sandwich*


I’m not such a huge fish fan, so I wouldn’t head specially out to Pier 38 for Nicols but I would eat here again. Especially since I haven’t tried the desserts (they only had the chocolate ones left the day we were there, and I hate chocolate.) which I’ve heard are amazing.

Ode to the lilikoi

Smooth round golden globes
Cut open dripping with juice and orange-yellow pulp
Black crunchy seeds
Sweeter than candy
Like sunshine on a summer day

My aunty has one bumper crop of lilikoi this summer. Her vines drop literally at least 20 fruit a day on the grass. It was my job to pick them up while she was on vacation, and I had to go to her yard everyday otherwise the neighborhood pets would prey on the fruit. It was like an easter egg hunt since her garden is on a small hill, tracking down the fruit and seeing where the had rolled.

I tried to make lilikoi butter mochi one day (regular butter mochi, replacing one cup water with one cup lilikoi juice). Here’s a photo. The lilikoi flavor unfortunately did not stand out very well.

Yohei Sushi

Yohei Sushi
1111 Dillingham Blvd

Yohei Sushi is located in a tiny strip mall near Kalihi but looks like it could be found in Tokyo. It was packed on a Thursday night at 6:30 pm when we arrived (get reservations, otherwise you’ll never get a table) and the majority of the staff (sushi chefs and waitresses) appeared to be from Japan.

Yohei is known for its ‘Yohei Sets’: beautiful, elaborate set meals. There are 3 choices ($19-26): unagi, sushi or the ‘sokudo set’ (not sure what that one is).

Here is the Yohei Sushi Zen set:

They also serve dinner sets (tempura, sashimi, grilled fish), donburi, or individual sushi/noodle combinations.

Overall, I’d say that Yohei Sushi has the most beautiful presentation of any meals I’ve had in Hawaii and is also a good value for such an elegant meal.

Review: Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine

Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine
164 N King St.

Had lunch today at Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine in Chinatown. It’s right around the corner from Cuu Long (the ridiculously popular pho restaurant on River St.) but luckily doesn’t have the same long lines.

We got the last empty table. A good sign of an authentic restaurant: almost every table had Vietnamese speakers. A good mix of crowd: families, old men, some young army soldiers, and even some ‘gangstas’ with the sunglasses on indoors and the gelled back hair.

I ordered the tofu & veggie (in beef broth) pho ($6.25), and my dad ordered the beef pho with everything in it ($4.95). Mine came packed with won bok, bok choi, carrots, onions, green onions and sliced tofu. It was awesome. The broth was stellar: not too salty but very flavorful. SVC also offers 3 different hot sauces + plum sauce + shoyu & vinegar to flavor your soup with.

*tofu veggie pho*

*beef pho*


Although I haven’t been to Cuu Long yet to compare, Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine is now my favorite pho in Honolulu. This place is a keeper!

Review: Bac Nam (Kaimuki)

Bac Nam
1117 King St (by Pensacola)

Yummy Yummy Yummy

There’s really nothing else to say about Bac Nam (rated one of Honolulu Magazine’s (or some Hawaii publication…I can’t remember where I saw it) best meals under $20). It’s a no-frills Vietnamese restaurant on King St (near Pensacola).

We arrived around 7 pm on a Friday evening and had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. Unlike Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine (which was packed with Vietnamese) Bac Nam is packed with locals.

The menu is much more extensive than other Vietnamese restaurants I’ve been to. In addition to pho (only one or two varieties here), stir fries and summer rolls, they have soups, hot pot, several grilled lamb dishes, make your own wraps, steamed rice flour meat rolls, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember.

We ordered family style (for 4 people) and had the spicy beef soup (I read about it on www.hawaiidiner.com) and had to have it, steamed rice flour meat rolls, bbq chicken bun, and the French beef stew.

The spicy beef soup, while not very spicy at all, was wonderful. A rich fragrant beef broth with bits of red floating in it, spaghetti like noodles, random beef parts, and lots of cilantro and green onions floating in it. It also comes with a plate of basil & bean sprouts to put in the soup. I highly recommend this dish.

The steamed rice flour meat rolls were interesting as well. It was ground beef seasoned with lots of ginger, garlic, and cooked onions, steamed in mochi-like batter. It arrived as long rolls (similar to look fun) and sprinkled with pickled vegetables and tiny dried shrimps. It’s served with sliced lettuce, cucumber, parboiled bean sprouts, and a vinegary sweet chile sauce. Yum!

BBQ chicken bun is cold vermicelli noodles topped with bbq chicken, lettuce, cucumber and served with the same sauce as the rice flour rolls. This dish was just average.

The French beef stew, while a little similar to the spicy beef soup, is a dish I’ve been meaning to try in the past so I figured I’d get it here. It was watery in comparison to American beef stews but the broth was very tasty. It’s normally served with a baguette but they were all out so we had it with rice instead. It was pretty good but a little dull (literally just falling apart stewed beef in an oily soup) so it’s not something I’d order by itself.

Bac Nam is BYOB, and the cutest new wine store just opened up across the street (People’s Wine or People’s Republic of Wine, something like that) so be sure to pick up a bottle before your meal. They also had an awesome selection of specialty beers (Newcastle, Chimay, Sam Cooke and Mehana are the ones that I remember), sold by the bottle for reasonable prices.

This Is It (Downtown)

This is It Too (Downtown)
1001 Bishop St. #102 (Bishop St Plaza)
526-2280

Owner Steve Gelson and his wife, Mona, have been making bagels in Hawai‘i for 25 years. My family used to go almost every week to Hawaiian Bagel Company in Kaka’ako every weekend when we were little and pick up a big brown bag (a baker’s dozen) of bagels. It was always a huge debate picking out which 13 to order, because they sold so many interesting flavors. I started out loving cinnamon raisin, graduated onto cranberry or blueberry bagels, and finally discovered their salt bagels. Heaven.

When they opened a store in Manoa Marketplace, I’d go there for blueberry scones and coffee. As the first scone I was introduced to, I still judge all other scones by their ultimate standard: not too sweet, lots off fruit, not too fluffy (a scone should not resemble a muffin), and firm enough that it begs to be sliced, not broken off in pieces, to avoid crumbling.

Both stores closed several years ago, and since I was not an obsessive foodie at the time, I never bothered to find out why (googling them today, I found out Steve & Mona’s fascinating battle with Zippy’s). Anyway, to cut to the chase, Hawaiian Bagel Factory has been reincarnated as This is It, and This is It Too downtown, just blocks from my office!! I walked in and was hit with the same fresh bagel smell as in the old days, just in slightly posher digs downtown.

I ordered a blueberry scone (I’d been waiting years to have one of these again). It was so good I almost went back that day for another one (they also have cinnamon raisin or cranberry scones).


Jennie had an everything bagel with lox cream cheese: also to die for. They also serve bagel sandwiches and salads.