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Powered through the brain freeze and followed the pork bowl up with the Green Tea Azuki Milk Shaved Ice by @shakatours

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First course. #firstofmany by @shakatours

POG

This is what I had for lunch today.

I sort of constructed my own lunch today, sort of.  I got two scoops of rice from Zippy's restaurant, which we'll get to in another post - anybody who has spent any length of time in Hawaii knows Zippy's restaurant - two different types of poke from the fishmonger at Safeway, and to drink: POG.  The rice was standard, the poke was delicious, the POG was refreshing as always.

Pretty much every fishmonger at every grocery store in Hawaii sells poke, that's how much we love it.  Poke is marinated raw fish (I covered it in another post), and I got a quarter-pound of two different kinds:  Wasabi Poke and Tsunami Poke.  I'm not exactly sure what's in the wasabi poke, I know there's definitely wasabi -  related to mustard and will open your nostrils - along with a creamy mayo sauce.  The tsunami poke has imitation crab, spicy mayo, and I don't know what else.  I don't care.  They're both 'ono (delicious) and I'm actually salivating right now a few hours later just thinking about it.

And then there's POG.  Oh, sweet, sweet, POG, my favorite juice.  POG is the love child of passion fruit juice, orange juice, and guava juice.  Blend those all together and you've got an amazingly sweet and tangy tropical creation.  An ice-cold glass on a hot day will hit the spot, guaranteed.

Passion fruit, Hawaiian name Lilikoi, is a fruit that grows on a vine.  It's actually invasive and grows out of control in some parts of Hawaii, but can also be found all over the world in warm climates.  There are two varieties, the purple and the yellow, we predominantly have the yellow.  At first the vine grows a psychedelic looking flower, which eventually turns into the fruit.  The skin of the fruit is hard and inedible, it's the inner pulp and seeds that you eat (supposedly the purple variety is a little more supple, but I've never tried it).  It's very tangy with a little crunch because of the seeds.  It's a little too tangy and tart sometimes for me to eat a large fruit, but I usually try.  I find them a bunch on hiking trails.

Guava is another fruit found in warm climates that grows out of control in some parts of Hawaii.  It's a sweet fruit and they say you can eat the seeds, but I've never come across a wild guava in Hawaii with seeds that made me say "yum".  If you find guava, bite a hole in the skin, suck out the pulp, and spit out the seeds.  That's the best way.  You'll come across guava on quite a few hiking trails.

You mix the juice of those two fruits with orange juice - which doesn't grow wild in Hawaii - and you get POG (Passion Orange Guava, like "bog" but with a "p", "pog"), which has the best qualities of the different juices and is ssssooooooo good.  If you've never tried it, you gotta.  You can find it in just about every store,  and sometimes it's on sale for really cheap.

I'll probably finish this half-gallon by tonight.

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Fatty's Chinese Fast Food (@ = alias)

is an affordable hole in the wall located in the heart of the Ki-s (Wai-ki-ki), with an open kitchen to watch the chefs fire up their woks. Finding affordable food in Waikiki is a task; not because it doesn't exist, but because there are so many restaurants around, it is difficult for a vacationer or a passing local to sieve through the whole slew.

Let's make this clear, I think Fatty's looks cool, but it's definitely not pretty; Fatty's may not be the choice for folk that appreciate a charming dining facility. I don't have the pictures to prove it, but if and when I do champion inertia, I'll update this post.

Anyways, I walked in to check out their grub and was intrigued but not wowed. It looked like standard Chinese fare, wasn't much of presentation, but it did look more appetizing than Panda Express. I ain't hating on Panda Express, it's just the food at Fatty's looked better. Plus, the price... $4.50 for one starch and one entree! DEALZ! I can't help it, I'm Chinese.

The starch I selected was Chow Mein aka Fried Yellow Noodles and my entree was Ko Lo Yuk AKA Swit Sou Pok @ Sweet n' Sour Pork. I may not have been wowed upon entry, but I was overjoyed when I saw the auntie scoop out my portions. I was in store for a major kanak-attak @ food coma.


$4.50? 4.50?? $4.50?!?! I couldn't believe it. I couldn't wait to go back to the store and feast, but I threw in some Sriracha Chili for good measure. If it tasted as good as it looked, spice would make it better and if didn't taste as good as it looked, spice would make it better; I am my Mom's son.

Once I prepped my video stream, I was ready to partake. The KLY was great. The deep fried pork fritters were packed with the right amount of pork fat and were very flavorful. The sauce wasn't too sweet or too tangy either, so it wasn't over powering. I was also savoring what's known to the Cantonese as Wok Hei; the aroma that could only come from baptizing the food through high heat in a well seasoned wok; much like cooking a rib-eye on a good old cast iron pan.

The Chow Mein was so so though... Just plain old fried yellow noodles, nothing special (Sriracha helped) but the Sweet n Sour Pork was delightful. All in all, if you're looking for a cheap feed in Waikiki, I'd recommend Fatty's. You can't top the price and taste of their food. Till the next post.

Exhibit A

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Queen's Surf Cafe & Lanai

is a great place for locals, tourists and myself to grind. It's been open for several months now, and it did take me a while to try it out (not sure why; correction, refer below), and I'm glad I did.

Being a pessimist (probably why it took so long to try it), I took awhile to study their flimsy paper menu. I started to lose interest after my 1st read because I couldn't find anything interesting. There was the standard local fare like Kalua Pig, bla bla bla... Don't get me wrong, I heart local fare but I got the impression it was another Waikiki tourist trap w/ below par grinds.

During my 2nd go-over of the menu I noticed they served fish n' chips; price was $8.99, even more enticing. I ordered 'em with greens, which was $1 more and began waiting for my food. My meal was ready within 7 minutes, and I was pleasantly surprised when I collected it. My food was served on a wood veneer plate (refer to Exhibit A below) and it looked absolutely scrumptious.

Neatly placed on the wood plate were 2 solid fillets with a mountain of fries, greens & a slice of pineapple. I was stoked after my 1st bite; the batter was not too light, not too thick; it was ultra crisp and had good flavor. I think the fish was a locally caught snapper (not sure which type) and was very fresh. However, I wasn't completely sold; I didn't want to rush into love at first bite.

My 2nd chomp of fish was better than my 1st; the fillet was delicate yet firm, and sinfully juicy. I'd also like the folk reading this to note that my fish was not over greasy and did not reek of oil. Additionally, I did not reach a breaking point this fish n' chips sesh (I usually do, no matter how good); my guess is that the meal was portioned well and that's really important to me and others especially with regards to luncheon.

Chips are usually the filler in the dish and aren't all too important, but I'd like to applaud their selection of fries. In my opinion, they had the texture and taste of Burger King fries with the crispness of Mickey D. The greens were just standard lettuce with ranch dressing which isn't impressive, but it strangely complements the fish and the chips.


All in all, I was very satisfied with my feed at Queen's Surf Cafe & Lanai, and have eaten there multiple times since. This is a joint I would definitely recommend to visitors and locals alike. Below the picture is a link to their Facebook page, it's gonna have info you're gonna want. Stay tuned for more pictures from and reports of my return visits. It gets better. Here's one to whet your appetite.

Exhibit A

Queen's Surf Cafe & Lanai Facebook Page

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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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