Category — Hilo 2008

After the funeral and a little quick shopping, we met back up with some relatives before our flight home. We had dinner together at one of our regular Hilo stops, Nihon Restaurant.

My dad had one of the specials, ahi nitsuke over somen.

My uncle had the soba salad.

My dad’s aunty who is a regular at this restaurant ordered some sushi. It’s hard to tell but these pieces were huge!

And a bunch of us had combo dinners. It’s described as a two choice meal, but sashimi is included in all of them so it’s really like a three choice dinner!

I had the miso butterfish and tempura combo.

My husband had the chicken katsu and tempura combo.

We all really enjoyed our meals at Nihon Restaurant. And it was so much food – I was starving when we got there but could barely finish my dinner!

Whenever I go to Hilo, I try to time it so that I can go to the Hilo Farmer’s Market if at all possible. It’s so fun to browse around and see the different foods, products, and flowers from the Big Island.

For omiyage I usually bring back either strawberry mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen or chocolate mochi from Nori’s. If I have time there are several other things I pick up from other places, but these two are pretty high up on the list. Sadly, Two Ladies was closed on the day I was returning. And since I was at the Farmer’s Market, I decided to hunt for omiyage over there instead.

I was just about to give up when I came across this plastic bin of cookies. I thought it was going to be just standard chocolate chip or cornflake cookies but when I looked closer I saw some very interesting flavors!

The cookies came in regular or Splenda types. I picked up a regular bag of Lilikoi Shortbread for my friend who was watching my dog.

For our family we got the regular as well as Splenda Ulu Crisp and Mac Poi Chip cookies. They were both good with a distinct earthy aroma. The Ulu Crisp was sweet and indeed crispy. And the Mac Poi Chip was filled with macadamia nuts and lots of chocolate chips!

These local style chips below also looked good and were a little different than the standard bag full of only taro chips. They came lightly salted and were a nice light snack.

I really enjoyed all of the Blue Kalo products. But if I had to choose my top three it would be the…

Ulu (Breadfruit) Chip

Kalo (Taro) Chip

and Mac Poi Chip Cookie – Mmm, so ono! These chips and cookies have made it on to my new Hilo omiyage list. Keep up the great work Aaron!

Thanks for hanging in there, I’ve been out of town for a while. First it was off to Hilo for a quick trip then Vegas all of last week for a wedding.

Hilo, although it was a very short trip, was great as always. Most people who know me know that this is my favorite neighbor island city to visit.

We stayed at our usual, cheap no frills hotel, Hilo Seaside. Staff at the reception desk were friendly as always.

For dinner we went to Ken’s Pancake House at about 10:00 pm. The food was good, but the lighting wasn’t – so no pictures of that dinner.

The next morning we needed a quick, convenient breakfast so we decided to eat at Hilo Seaside in the Coconut Grill restaurant. I’ve had so-so food and service in the past but being lazy we didn’t feel like driving somewhere else for breakfast.

He had bacon, eggs, and fried rice (the photo at the top).

And I had Portuguese sausage, eggs, and pancakes.

I enjoyed all of my food choices. But his fried rice seemed a little on the sweet side for me. It was pretty much a better experience than in the past…except for the part where the waitress spilled a full glass of juice on my purse. She was very apologetic, but I feel like at other places I would normally get my meal comped for something like that. I mean, it was my purse…with OJ all over. Anyways, I’m just thankful it didn’t go on my formal clothes that I had on. I only brought one set of those clothes and we were on our way to a funeral that morning.

Let’s find a positive note to end on though…the food was better this time and the wait for the food wasn’t as long – both good improvements from the last several times I was here. But for me, I think I’ve had enough. Too bad, the photos look ono don’t they?