1st attempt at making mochi...a stressful ordeal!

I got it into my head yesterday that I wanted to bring azuki bean mochi to a dinner party today. I went to Star and bought mochiko and tsubushi-an (although when I got home and read the recipe, I realized that I actually wanted koshi-an, the smooth bean paste puree, as opposed to tsubushi-an, sweetened azuki beans that still has whole beans in it. I also realized that I should've bought katsuriko - potato starch - or kinako - to roll the mochi in. I subbed cornstarch instead)

Using a recipe from Hawaii's Best Mochi Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee for An Mochi #1, I mixed water and sugar, boiled it, and then vigorously stirred in the mochiko. Turned it out onto a board dusted with cornstarch and let it cool until it was cool enough to work with. It turned into a big, sticky mess. Had no idea what to do with it. The dough was so sticky, there was no way that I could possibly shape it into 3 1/2" round wrappers, like the recipe specified.

Dough from boiling water:


Disastrous first attempt with dough that kept sticking to my fingers as I tried put it down on the wax paper:



I went running to the computer, googled 'making mochi with azuki beans' and luckily found this post from A Daily Obsession that saved my mochi! The blogger, Terri, gave a recipe for microwave mochi and detailed instructions.

I stirred in some more mochiko to make a drier dough, then stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes to cook. This time I let it cool all the way down, and was able to roll it out into flat circles.

Dough after microwaving:


The second batch I made just as the blog directed: mix the sugar and mochiko (without the matcha), stir in the water, and then microwave for 4 minutes. I came out with a much smoother mochi dough.

Wet mochiko mixture before microwaving:


Dough after being microwaved (very smooth and elastic):


I had 2 different fillings: peanut and azuki. For the peanut, I just stuck equal amounts of peanuts and sugar into the food processor and ground to a fine powder. For the azuki, I used the tsubushi-an straight from the can.


The final product (peanut on top, azuki on bottom, some rolled in flaked coconut for fun):

Happy Garden Dim Sum

So this is a pretty new dim sum place in Chinatown, on Maunakea close to Hotel St. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall (literally 10 tables) but is run by a bunch of Canto speakers and seems fairly authentic. I haven't eaten dim sum in Hawaii in ages, so I can't compare it to anything, but it seemed like they offered several dim sum outside of the standards, and also had a table in the back where they would fry up the luo bo gao (turnip cake) as an exhibition. No carts, but a steamer table in the window, right in the front of the restaurant, where you can point to the dim sum that you want, or you could order the dim sum off the menu.

Limited selection of dishes & noodles/fried rice aside from the dim sum. Dim sum plates are $2, look fun was $2.88, and our chicken chow mein was $5.50. The dim sum we had were all very good (including one interesting pork-peanut dumpling)...a good find to get your cheap dim sum fix in Chinatown, if you aren''t looking for anything fancy.

Steamer tables in the front window

Boneless chicken chow mein (crispy)

Tofu skin stuffed with meat & bean sprouts

Half moon (chive) and peanut-pork dumplings

Sticky rice with chicken wrapped in lotus leaves

Char siu bao

Uncle's Fish Market & Grill

Uncle's
Pier 38
Yelp Reviews


Trying to leverage the popularity of Nico's, Uncle's is a new-ish (opened June '07) fresh fish restaurant down in the 'little fishing village' on Pier 38. When you drive into Pier 38, you hit Uncle's way before Nico's, and there's lots of parking across the street (in a dirt lot). Uncle's looks like something you would find in Waikiki - very kitchsy Hawaiiana - wooden tables, hula skirts, flowers, and fishing videos playing on the tv screens - but the crowd was very local on a Wednesday at lunch.

Given that it's a lunch time place, Uncle's is not really prepared for quick business, weekday lunches. The line is long (only 1 or 2 cashiers), and the wait for your food is longer. Like Nico's, you order, pay, and then wait for your number to be called to pick up your food. So don't be expecting a quick lunch.



Many have enjoyed the food (i.e. the honolulu advertiser and star bulletin), but we rated the atmosphere higher than the actual meals. The fish in the tacos was overcooked, the ahi in the ahi salad sandwich tasted like tuna out of a can, and the french fries were quite generic and a little soggy. The opah in the fresh fish sandwich was nicely cooked and flaky, but perhaps a little bland. Meals ranged from $7.50 to $15.00.

Half sandwich (with the tuna we didn't like) and clam chowder (ok, with chalupa hot sauce in it)

Broiled opah sandwich (bland)

Fish burger (with green onions and oyster sauce)

Soft tacos (seriously...is that a supermarket tortilla they served it on?)

St. Louis Drive Inn

St. Louis Drive Inn
3145 Waialae Avenue
Yelp reviews

The always crowded parking lot




Right across from St. Louis school on Waialae is the super old school St. Louis Drive Inn. One parking lot - both the drive inn (hamburgers and stuff) and the okazu-ya. Both places are always packed, and the tiny parking lot can be impossible to get in and out of.

The day we went, we ordered from the okazu-ya menu (based on Tasty Island's rave review of the chow fun! ). I gotta say, I still go with Island Manapua's chow fun as the best. But St. Louis did have the cheapest okazu-ya food I've ever had...we had the Plate C, which was like $5 and included chow fun, musubi, fried chicken, potato fritter (andagi with the thinnest slice of sweet potato ever inside), luncheon meat...plus sides of extra chow fun (for my brother), namasu and nishime, all for around $8. Basically verrrrry heavy on the carbs and oil. Tasty, but not the most amazing lunch I've had.

Plate 'C' (I think it was C at least...)

Extra plate with namasu, nishime & chow fun ($3)

A step back in time: La Mariana

I'd read a little bit about the tiki bar experience at La Mariana on Sand Island, but I was not fully prepared for the full on 1950's Hawaiiana experience when we went there for dinner. It was awesome in a Wisteria (the now-closed restaurant that was on King St.?) kind of way.

La Mariana is part of Sand Island boat harbor, so it orignally served as the spot for after sailing drinks and meals for the Yacht Club members. It is said to be on its last legs today, open until the owner decides to finally retire...I guess they haven't been able to find another buyer, or maybe the property is set for another development...

The menu is suitably old school: surf & turf, pasta, hamburgers, pork chops. Nothing too fancy here. Surprisngly they did not have a tropical drinks menu, but it looked like they had a full bar.

The menu is less Hawaiian than I expected, and more 'surf n' turf'. We ordered a hamburger and the cajun ahi, which was pleasantly spicy.

Anyone else been here recently? Or planning to make one last trip before La Mariana closes?

Maui Trip

I went to Maui for a wedding in December, and the first thing I did when I got to the Kahului airport was go get some snacks!

My first stop was http://www.homemaidbakery.com for some Maui manju, home of the 'famous crispy manju.' I got a couple boxes of manju and mochi to take home as omiyage. Their manju comes in azuki, peach, apple, and sweet potato flavors.

Then I went back in towards the airport to Maui Mall to get some guri-guri at Tasaka's. Guri-guri is a cross between sherbet and gelato, except super soft and sweet. It's made with sweetened condensed milk (kind of like kulfi, but softer). They have two flavors: pineapple and strawberry, and it's only $1 for 2 scoops!

Downtown by Town

Check out this Honolulu Advertiser article about Ed Kenney's (owner of Town in Kaimuki) new restaurant downtown.

Hoku's

Hoku’s
Kahala Hotel














My parents took us to Hoku’s for an annual family dinner before I headed back to school and my brother started teaching his spring semester. This was our first trip back since the hotel had changed management. It was nice to still see all of the familiar faces of the wait staff and the same gorgeous view of Kahala beach and the palm trees at sunset.

The biggest change for us was that the menu had shrunk to a scant two pages: appetizers and entrees. (it seems they also went up in price: appetizers were $10-26, entrees $35-46) Old specialties (the seafood tower on ice and the vegetable platter) are still available, although not on the menu.

Pumpkin rolls & lavosh
















The meal still starts with the same amazing poke aioli, although now its served with two new breads: pumpkin (similar to poi rolls or sweet bread consistency) and lavosh (the server told us we could still purchase the old naan bread if we wanted to).

Amuse bouche: mango gelee with black pepper















We ordered a ton of appetizers and entrees and passed them all around to try everything.

We started with the ahi sampler, which was served as an individual course. It had poke, tartare, sushi, sashimi, and seared ahi.















Our next appetizers were a tomato soup with fresh basil foam and the pork belly. The tomato soup tasted just like Italian restaurant tomato sauce (weird that we all thought that), and the basil foam flavor was barely noticeable.


























Sushi & sashimi platter
















Fish