SPAM MUSUBI

Meat lovers take heed:  SPAM is delicious!

What is SPAM?  Its name comes from "SPiced hAM."  It's pork.  Don't expect to get a more detailed answer; you probably wouldn't want to know anyway.  (For the record:  Hot dogs are pretty gross, too; they spend part of their life as a meat slurry before being pumped into a casing).

SPAM first appeared in Hawaii during World War II - when it was harder to get fresh meat to the soldiers on the front lines - and it's been around ever since.  Hawaii is one of the top consumers of SPAM in the world; McDonald's even serves SPAM here as part of its "Big Breakfast"!  We love everything about the savory goodness that is SPAM (except for maybe the occasional hard mystery bit of whatever-it-is present in some cans), and have worked it into numerous island recipes.

Which brings us to the ubiquitous SPAM musubi.  You'll find SPAM musubi (pronounced moo-sue-BEE; you'll be outed as not from here if you say moo-SUE-bee) at grocery stores, gas stations, everywhere.  They're the perfect snack after a surf session, soccer moms make them for after-game snacks; trust me, they're everywhere.  The SPAM musubi is made of a slice of SPAM fried in a teriyaki sauce, on a compressed bed of rice, and wrapped with nori/seaweed (think "SPAM sushi").

If I ever have friends from out of town visit who don't want to try SPAM, I usually trick them into eating SPAM fried rice, and when they say "man this fried rice is awesome" I break the news to them, and they're hooked.  SPAM really is delicious.  Check out the pictures below.  That's right, double slices of SPAM in one musubi, SPAM fried rice SPAM musubi in the other.  And they're DELICIOUS.  That's how much we like SPAM.

Give it a try when you're here.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

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"Iyasume" Musubi & Deli

New favorite place!

Spend any amount of time in Waikiki and you'll notice a couple things:  1. There are Japanese tourists everywhere! and 2.  It's hard to find a meal that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  That's what makes Iyasume the rare gem that it is.

Tucked away in an alley off Koa Avenue (behind the Hyatt Regency hotel), it's a hole-in-the-wall like us!

The real deal there are the bentos.  A bento is basically a Japanese-style boxed-lunch.  It'll typically have a healthy helping of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables.  Bentos are commonplace in Hawaii, due to the large Asian influence here (waves of Asian immigrant workers were imported in the mid to late 1800s to work on the sugar plantations).  For $5.50 you can walk away with a bento plus a soup or salad.  If you find a better deal than that in Waikiki, please, let me know!

Just take a look at the bentos in the picture.  Sometimes they look weird, but they're always tasty.

Iyasume
2410 Koa Avenue, Behind Hyatt Regency Hotel
Open 7 Days a week: 6:30 AM - 4:00 PM

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'Ono Seafood - Pokebowl

If you've come around Shaka Tours during lunchtime, you've seen me eating a pokebowl.  I get one almost everyday I'm in Waikiki.  Except on weekends, and not because they're not open (they're only closed on Tuesdays), but because the already bad free parking situation in Waikiki is even worse on weekends.

"So, Mike," you say, "does that mean that this 'Ono Seafood place is so far from Waikiki that I have to drive there?"

No.  'Ono Seafood is 1.1 miles from Shaka Tours at 747 Kapahulu Ave.  Not so far that you couldn't hoof it, but just far enough that I become a sweaty mess during the endeavor, plus I need to make haste so I can get back to the office.

So what is it?  It's a healthy helping of poke on a bed of rice for $7.00, and it comes with a drink.

For those uninitiated with poke (po-kay), think Hawaiian style sashimi.  Cubes of raw fish - most typically 'ahi (yellow-fin tuna) but any seafood may do - are marinated in shoyu (soy sauce), ginger, limu koho (a crunchy seaweed), 'inamona (crushed roasted-candlenut), ginger, green onions, and a little red pepper flakes for kick.  That is, of course, just one recipe, but it's more or less the recipe for the "shoyu poke" at 'Ono Seafood.

The real secret to good poke is the fish.  Fresh is the best, and Aunty goes right to the source and gets her fish fresh from the fish auction at Pier 38.  She's also generous with her scoops, sometimes there's half-a-pound of fish on my bowl.

It's one of the best deals around, and a delicious, authentic Hawaiian dish that locals devour.  Plus, it's loaded with options:  The flavors she has are shoyu, Hawaiian-style (less shoyu and more Hawaiian sea salt), Spicy (the pink one in the pictures), Miso, Wasabi, and you can get it in either 'ahi or tako (octopus), or get half/half any two for $0.50 more.

Just make sure you don't miss it!  It's the little blue hole-in-the-wall, only the width of two parking stalls, in the corner of the American Savings Bank parking lot.

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Ruffage Natural Foods Acai Bowl

Alright I'm going to spit it out. This is my first post in our bid to garner more attention and sucker you in. Don't get me wrong though, I ain't going to put BS here; just some suggestions for people who enjoy eating.

Here goes,

Affordable and tasty food is hard to come by around Waikiki; it is a tourist trap. So I did some research and after hearing and reading some hoo-ha about Ruffage Natural Foods, I decided what the heck... I'll give it a go.

Stepped inside the joint and ordered my staple Acai Bowl. I looked at it and... hmmm... It was kinda small (minus points). After coughing up my hard earned $6.something, I treaded back to the store to "feast".

Opened up the un-natural foam container and I was stoked. There was a good proportion of bananas, berries and granola to acai.. I don't like too much granola, but too little... hmmm...

Anyways, fo Waikiki standards it's good. It's healthy, it's tasty and somewhat reasonable.

Have a look: