Trip to Hawaii (Oahu - November 2015)...Farmers Market and Vietnamese Crab Curry

It was a sunny Saturday.


We headed to Saturday farmers' market at KCC. Jason has been coming here almost every Saturday to enjoy shopping and brunch. This is such a fun place to visit as you can enjoy all the locally produced items and food here. I needed to get new supplies of Hawaiian herb tea, macadamia nuts, etc. There are many tourists, so the place is packed every weekend.


I like Otsuji Farm's kale smoothie. We also tried their ahi sliders (on top of kale leaf tempura) and trumpet mushroom tempura.


The Pig & the Lady at farmers market always has a long line!


We got Laotian grilled chicken banh mi with pho (au jus) French dip. So good.


Hawaiian Sea asparagus salad to take to the beach. It's a super food, loaded with vitamins and antioxidants.


And, of course, coconut juice.

After the market, we went to Jason's secret beach to hang out and snorkel. It was a lot of fun.


For dinner, we went to Bac Nam restaurant on King Street. It's a popular Vietnamese restaurant. One of my friends recommended that we try their crab curry. So, we decided to go there. The restaurant was already packed at 7 pm.


This is also a BYOB place, so I enjoyed my wine from Loire.


Vietnamese steamed dumplings with sweet & sour dipping sauce.


Shaken beef.


Sautéed unchoi.


And, their famous crab curry.

Everything was so good! Two of us ate everything. The curry was mild and tasty. I even felt like coming back here the next day.

Trip to Hawaii (Oahu - November 2015)...Contemporary Local Dining

The weather has finally turned sunny on Friday.


We saw a beautiful rainbow from our balcony in the morning.


For brunch, we went to Koko Head Cafe in Kaimuki. Jason loves the place and he was finally taking me there. The restaurant is run by Chef Lee Anne Wong, who also owns Hale Ohuna where I enjoyed dinner in my last visit. Koko Head Cafe does "island style" contemporary brunch.


We got the counter seating so we can see all the action in the kitchen. This is a very popular place, and right after we got seats, we saw there was a long wait outside.


We started with black sesame yuzu muffins, and "Dumplings all day Wong".


Jason had breakfast congee with bacon, Portuguese sausages, heritage ham, etc. Very rich.


I had "fish and eggs" in a sizzling skillet. It was miso-marinated marlin with scrambled eggs, sautéed ong choy, on top of ocean rice (rice mixed with seaweed). Very nice and satisfying.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed some drive, shopping, and massage & facial. I felt so refreshed.


For dinner, we went to Lucky Belly in Chinatown. I came to this place in January and loved it so much. They serve contemporary Asian cuisine plus unique ramen dishes.


Beet and spicy greens...goat cheese, candied pumpkin seeds, pomegranate dressing.


Shrimp gyoza...edamame avocado puree & ponzu.


Duck tataki...kabocha puree & pear and raisin chutney.


Then, each of us had a bowl of ramen. Jason had "Beast Bowl" (brisket, short ribs, and oxtail wontons), and I had "Belly Bowl" (pork belly, bacon, and sausage). Wow, my ramen was so good. The thick cut of the belly was so jiggly and tender. I loved the sausage addition, and also the generous amount of wakame, too.

Their wine list is also good. I enjoyed Carricante from Sicily, and also Salice Salentino from Puglia.

Trip to Hawaii (Oahu - November 2015)...Thanksgiving Day

Jason's 4-day weekend started finally...so we could spend the whole long weekend together!


We were ready for brunch. I heard about a new Sichuan noodle restaurant in Alamoana, so we decided to check it out. It's called Fortune Noodle, and it's a popular chain in China and this is their first US location. As we walked in, the staff were making gyoza dumplings. Looked good.


We started with black mushroom salad. It was a lightly spicy salad of wood ear mushrooms. Then, we also had red chili oil dumplings. Nice starters.


Dan dan noodles was nicely spicy with the good amount of toppings and sauce.


We had another noodle dish, which was hot chili rice noodle with beef. A simmering stew was served in a hot stone pot, and served with rice noodles on the side. Wow, it was so spicy! But, I still enjoyed the flavor.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed some shopping. It was drizzling outside, so we decided to just stay local.


For dinner, we got together with Jason's co-wokers for BBQ dinner. We had a reservation at Shorebird Restaurant in Waikiki. When I heard about the dinner, I was like, Oh My God. I have been to the place multiple times since I was a teenager with both my family and friends. It's such a nostalgic place to me! And, it was the same for one of his co-wokers who made the reservation for us. His late father took his family there every time they vacationed in Hawaii for many years since he was a boy.


So, we enjoyed our grill-your-own BBQ dinner. It was a lot of fun.


Jason did all the grilling for us. He did a good job!


Here's my plate...Surf & Turf, grilled lobster and steak.

Good food, good friends, and wonderful time. I was very thankful.

Trip to Hawaii (Oahu - November 2015)...Hanging out in a neighborhood

It was a day before Thanksgiving. Jason left for work early in the morning. I woke up and worked out in the hotel gym, did some work, then left the hotel for a walk.

I decided to just browse Kapahulu Ave., as there are some good places for lunch there. Then, I found a new poke shop right in the shopping center where Safeway is. It's a small shop called Da Hawaiian Poke Company. (I forgot the name of the place, then I just searched online and found it!) I walked in and I was told they just opened a few days ago. So, I decided to give a try.


I did a "create your own" Aloha poke bowl with two kinds of poke (I chose wasabi poke and Hawaiian poke) with brown rice in the bottom. I was told I could choose additional toppings, so I asked how many I can choose from at least 2 dozens of the toppings on the list. The server said as many as I wanted...how sweet! So, I picked yuzu tobiko, natto (yes!), seaweed salad, nori, scallion, and toasted sesame seeds. They don't have eating space inside, so I just took it to a picnic table in front of Safeway. It was quite lovely, especially with natto!


Then, I kept walking and couldn't just walk by Leonard's Bakery without picking up a malasada (Portuguese donut). This place is an institution. I tried their Li Hing malasada (coated with sweet and sour sugar dust). The piping hot malasada, made to order, was nicely chewy and fluffy at the same time. This place is just too good always.

After a malasada break, I walked to Fujioka's Wine TIMES to pick up some bottles of wine.

It happened to be some of my Japanese friends from LA were also visiting Oahu in the same week. So, we decided to get together. They came to our hotel for an aperitif first, then once Jason came back from work, we drove to Izakaya Torae Torae for dinner.


They are a popular izakaya among locals and their menu is quite wide. They are known for high quality seafood dishes and sushi, too.


We ordered many different dishes to share and enjoyed with sake.


Their botan ebi (large prawn) sushi was really good. I especially enjoyed the rice bowl, topped with tuna toro, squid, uni, inure, ant, masago, negi, and quail egg...to eat, you mix the whole thing with a spoon. Very nice flavor combination!