Last week after work we stopped by Off the Wall in Pearl Kai for lunch/dinner. I tried the San Diego Spicy Ahi Poke Don. This is ahi poke on furikake rice with spicy aioli and avocado slices. I loved this!!

He went for one of the daily specials. I think it was called ahi belly katsu. Very light and healthy with the toss salad. We also ordered a pupu sized Eggplant Miso, that besides eggplant also includes tofu and veggies. This is one of my vegetarian dishes. The other is the champuru with bittermelon and tofu.

If you are around the area at lunch time and want to try one of their donburis, here is a link to a coupon for $1.50 off. It’s good until 10/31/2010 http://www.offthewallhawaii.com/specials

A couple weeks ago we were able to go to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas! I love this place, the sauces are so good, I’ve always enjoyed every appetizer, entree, and dessert that I’ve had here.

First up were two things to start off with. In the top photo is one of his specialties, Sizzlin’ Moi Carpaccio. Very delicious moi (Pacific Threadfin) with ginger, Hauula tomato, tofu, and truffled ponzu sauce.

We also had Hiroshi’s Tofu Salad. This included Mrs. Cheng’s tofu, Hauula tomatoes, kaiware sprouts, salmon skin, garlic and ginger chips, sakura shrimp and sesame soy dressing.

For one of our entrees we had the Steamed Onaga, which is a snapper. This had fresh grated Big island ginger, tomato concasse, choi sum & roasted garlic soy brown butter as a sauce. Delicious!!

We also had the Panko Crusted Mekajiki which is a broadbill swordfish. This came with roasted shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, fresh thyme, Thai basil & roasted garlic soy butter sauce. I also loved this, especially the shiitake mushrooms in the roasted garlic soy butter sauce, so good!

And since we were celebrating a birthday, we got the complimentary dessert above. An all around absolutely delicious meal!

For lots more photos from our previous dinner at Hiroshi’s, click here!

Website: www.hiroshihawaii.com
Address: 500 Ala Moana Blvd, Restaurant Row
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Just recently we checked out the Kaneohe Farmer’s Market for the first time. The one we go to most often is Kailua, though my favorite is the KCC Farmer’s Market. It’s just that it’s really hard to get me up early on a Saturday morning for that one.

The Kaneohe farmer’s market is on Wednesdays starting at 3:00 pm inside of Windward Mall on the Macy’s side.

It’s was pretty crowded on the day we went and mostly produce, opposed to the Kailua and KCC farmer’s markets that have a nice selection of hot food items.

But still there was a nice selection of things to choose from.

For lunch I had pancit which I enjoyed…

We also picked up some kettle corn, lavosh, and cookies to bring home as snacks!

46-056 Kamehameha Hwy Kaneohe, HI 96744
Wednesdays
3:00 pm -8:00pm

Hey guys and gals! For anyone wondering where I’ve been lately, it has to do with a new job last year and also working on another site called JapanDish.com. First I moved over my Japan related travel photos from this site and now I’m starting to add new posts from more recent trips.

But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about this site! I actually have many photos in my camera just waiting to make it up here. Several days from now I should have some fun new things coming out here. Until then, if you are interested in Japan, check me out at JapanDish.com, thanks!

For a quiet moment during this busy holiday season…

Took this during an early morning fishing outing on the North Shore.

For the past couple of months we’ve been going to the Kailua Farmer’s Market on Thursday afternoons. I love the KCC Farmer’s Market…it’s just that it’s really hard for me to wake up early on Saturdays!

So this Kailua one is perfect. Lots of ono food, and at the very comfortable hour of 5:00 pm.

Take a look around…

Here’s just a small selection of some of the foods we’ve been eating…

Best taro sweet bread I’ve ever had!

Spanish Rice and Pastele

Lumpia

Sea Asparagus Vegetarian Bento

Baklava

Stuffed Grape Leaves

Depending on the week different vendors are there, but we can always find something good to eat or snack on!

Location: Kailua Town, behind Long’s
Hours: Thursdays, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm (get there early for the best selection!)

I wanted to take my dad someplace special for his birthday the other week and after thinking about it for a while, decided on Miyako Restaurant in Waikiki! This is the same place that we went to for our 5th wedding anniversary last year.

But this time I made sure to get seating out on the lanai. It was a great view of Waikiki

and the sunset.

We all decided to get dinners from the Kaiseki menus.

Since it was October, Miyako had many matsutake mushroom dishes available. We got this Matsutake to Kikka no Oshitashi to share.

It was very yummy with enough mushrooms for each of us to try a couple pieces of matsutake.

For drinks my dad tried this sake sampler which he enjoyed…

My mom didn’t want to eat too much so she got the Mai Kaiseki meal.

My hubby got the Miyabi Kaiseki. Here are some of things that came with his…

Sashimi

Agedashi Tofu

Butterfish Misoyaki

But really, the star of this evening was what my dad and I ordered, the October Kaiseki Menu! Here is what we had…

Duck and Eggplant with Miso Vinaigrette

Crabmeat Dumpling with Seaweed in Clear Soup

Tuna and Yellowtail “Hamachi” Sashimi

Broiled Seasonal Salmon wrapped with foil

Stewed “Karei” Flounder and Matsutake

Seven Mushroom Chazuke and Japanese Pickles

Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce

Everything was so delicious in our kaiseki. I really love mushrooms so this October set focusing on mushrooms was perfect for me! My dad also enjoyed the meal so much that he said it was his best Japanese dinner EVER! This includes meals that he had at restaurants in Japan. And you know what? I think I would have to agree – the food, atmosphere, view, service…were all awesome!!

Miyako Restaurant
Address: New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel
2863 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
Phone: (808) 921-7077

Any other ikura fans out there?

I want to say “thanks!” to my mom’s friend who gave me the big container of ikura you see below. With it, I made myself a nice little ikura don with choy sum for dinner.

Funny thing, I never liked ikura growing up. It actually really grossed me out. But after the first time I went to Japan and tried fresh ikura, I’ve really started to like it!

In addition to all the ikura, my mom’s friend also gave me this ikura pasta mix to try out.

It comes with packets of ikura sauce and packets of nori toppings.

To make it, I just boiled up about two servings of angel hair pasta and poured both packets onto the noodles. Very quick to make, my kind of food! I was a little wary of packaged ikura, but after mixing everything up and giving it a try, I really liked it! I’m going to have to try and find it at the store – I think it was from Don Quijote.

Yum, yum, yum…

After going to watch a concert on the Windward side a while back, we went with my mom for a drive around Kailua looking for a restaurant that was still open for a late lunch. Craving Japanese food we decided on Noboru near Down to Earth in Kailua.

Since it was after the time that most folks eat lunch, we started off having the restaurant all to ourselves.

The two of us both got the Special Lunch Bento and my mom had the Grilled Salmon Teishoku.

Today’s Special Lunch Bento was sashimi, tempura (we asked for all vegetable tempura), and grilled salmon.

The portion size was a little small for the price, but everything was very tasty!

My mom ordered the Grilled Salmon Teishoku which I thought was odd since for $1.00 more you could get our Special Lunch Bento that had the grilled salmon PLUS sashimi and tempura. But it turns out she made a great choice!

After tasting her salmon, it was clearly a better cut and quality. Much more fatty and moist! Still to this day she says this is the best grilled salmon she has ever had!

Noboru Japanese Restaurant
Address: 201 Hamakua Dr # 102, Kailua, HI 96734-3984
Phone: (808) 261-3033

After my experience making vegetarian tacos, I wanted to try veggie burritos next! For this one instead of making my own tortillas I used flaxseed wraps that I found at Costco.

For the filling I used these refried beans that are SO GOOD! I used the Amy’s Vegetarian Organic Refried Beans with Green Chiles. The green chilies really add a great flavor to the beans and overall burrito. I seriously can’t go back to regular refried beans again. Here it is below in the purple can…

Along with the beans I added some cut raw cabbage, salsa, and a little sour cream.

I have to say that these were really good and filling! I also preferred the raw cabbage over the lettuce that I had the other night in the vegetarian taco. It added a nice fresh crunch to the burrito!