Ono Hawaiian Foods: Review

It’s been a long time since I’ve written any food reviews, but my parents just came back from a trip to Honolulu and they’ve reminded me of all my backlogged restaurant entries. I’ve been especially hesitant to post this one, because I think the photos are a bit blurry, but, in some small way, it helps alleviate the home sickness that I’m feeling when I’m away from my mom and my dad. I had to grow up sometime, right? In addition to missing them, they’ve decided to torture me a bit more by sending a huge amount of image heavy whatsapp messages to my sister and I. I mean, we don’t text very often, but when we do it’s always pictures of food. It's like a huge billboard "THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE MISSING OUT ON!!"

Ono Hawaiian Foods is exactly the kind of place that my dad loves to go to. It has all of his illustrious requirements: an out of the way location, “hole in the wall” decor, a “locals only” place (despite the fact it was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s popular tv show), and traditional food.

As you can tell, Ono Hawaiian Foods is definitely a local neighborhood joint. It’s located in a bit of a dilapidated area and has a very small amount of floor space. In fact, more often than not, you’ll see a line of patrons waiting to get inside through Ono’s rickety wooden door.

The interior and its decoration are a bit old, but you can tell that a lot of love goes into the restaurant. Yellowed pictures of neighbors, old restaurant patrons, and celebrities line the walls floor to ceiling, while Restaurant awards are scattered about along with Hawaiian pride bric-a-brac. The seating and tables are old cafeteria type “red models”, with standard plastic covering and brown hollow frame. When seated you’re given a laminated single page, double sided, menu with all of Ono’s offerings.

I defer to my parents for this, since I’m always the one third-wheeling on my parent’s second, third, and fourth honeymoons, so I always let them order what they want. I.E. I really like the salmon poke, but they don’t. That’s what you get when you’re a mooch.

The food at Ono is traditional Hawaiian, and from the two times I’ve been here, is also very heavy. I mean it. The last time my family and I visited Ono, we were there when the restaurant opened for the lunch service, ordered 4-5 dishes, and were still full by dinner (and past it). So we only ordered three dishes for the three of us: Kalua Pig, Pork Lau Lau, and "salt meat watercress."

We also passed on the poi, offered to us fresh and three days old, because we didn't enjoy the consistency. Fresh poi, as explained to us, is sweeter in taste while "aged" poi is tart in flavor. The poi itself looks pretty cool, it's naturally lavender in color, and it's consistency can vary from watery to play dough like. The poi offered at Ono sort of reminds me of the "non-newtonian" fluid that you can create with water and cornstarch. So we tried it once, didn't really like it, and didn't want to waste anymore poi. Now...

On with the food! 

This is the infamous pork lau lau. The pork is wrapped in taro leaves, then ti leaves and then steamed on a stove (in ancient times it was cooked in an underground oven). What comes out is very, very tender, juicy pork and yummy taro leaves. You have to discard the ti-leaves, they aren't edible. The pork and ti/taro leaf flavor is very subtle on its own and the staff of Ono was quick to tell us that we could season it with the condiments distributed on every table.

As you can see, they offer sugar, soy sauce, sea salt, and a sweet vinegar-y sauce. I can see how the Lau Lau's subtle meaty flavor would be monotonous after a couple of bites, so the inclusion of sauces on the table is certainly welcome.

The Kahlua pork I was less thrilled about. There are many rave reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon, but I found the Kahlua pork to be salty and dry. I've been told Kahlua pork is usually the centerpiece of a luau and is usually the whole roasted pig you dig up from the imu (traditional underground oven). Obviously that smokey, whole pig roasted flavor can be difficult to replicate, but I really just didn't like this. I feel blasphemous for even saying it, but that's the way it is. I've had it twice now and I didn't like it both times. I'm sorry. I'M SORRY.

The meat was dry and the juice left pooling at the bottom of the dish was a bit too oily for my tastes.

Ending on a strong note, the Pork Watercress soup was something I genuinely enjoyed. It was very, very reminiscent of a soup that I've had often in my childhood, a cantonese pork, watercress, plum soup. Unfortunately, the name totally escapes me right now, but I've eaten/drunk that soup a lot. This tastes almost exactly like it, except the watercress isn't cooked all the way through. The pork-y soup base coupled with the crispy, fresh bite of the watercress is delicious and a dish I recommend to everybody. My only wish is that they would offer the soup in a deeper dish...I want more of it! 

It's a great place and one that has already received a lot of attention and hype from dedicated patrons, tv celebrities, and travel channels. The atmosphere is warm and really embodies "family", while the food is simple but home cooked.

I like Ono, but having been once, I'm sated. For me, there are so many other food options on the island that I'd like to explore or go to instead of Ono. It was a great one-time experience for me and I'm sure it'll be a great experience for you too. When my family was seated there, I saw a mix of return patrons and first time tourists. It was really interesting to just people watch! 

Kid Friendly: Yes 

Price: $ of $$$$$

Repeatable: For me, No 

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The Pineapple Room ~ Honolulu

Hello All! Today I'll be reviewing Alan Wong's Pineapple Room, the casual dining extension of the fancier Alan Wong's, located in Ala Moana Mall. I have to say, as a diner that has eaten at both restaurants, the atmosphere of each restaurant is very different. Where Alan Wong's is a smaller, more intimate establishment the feeling I get from The Pineapple Room is somewhat reminiscent of Morimoto's restaurant, in the terms of both restaurant's atmosphere and capacity to hold lots of diners. There is an enormous dining area in addition to two bar seating areas, one surrounding the alcohol and the other bordering the open kitchen. I can't imagine very many seating issues with that much space, but if you definitely want to eat here you might as well make a reservation. My family and I went on a weekday, with a reservation, and the seating areas probably were at 1/3 their capacity. Despite the differences in atmosphere, the themes behind their cuisine are the same: "tasting Hawaii", the "Aloha Spirit", and modern Hawaiian sustainability. 

Honestly, my family and I had a bit of trouble finding the place, it's located inside the Macy's section of the enormous Ala Moana Mall, and I didn't really expect to walk through the women's wear section to find the maitre'd stand. As you an tell from the photo above the aesthetic is somewhat reminiscent of the interior of a Tommy Bahamas store. The Pineapple Room utilizes the same color scheme from Alan Wong's, dark woods, light greens and creams, and some choice light fixtures and accent walls suggestive of tropical seas and sea life.

The light is a fish

As for the service it was quick, polite, and the waiters and waitresses were very friendly. I didn't have to ask for water at all, they were very attentive to our table, and the maitre'd got us seated within minutes. They were the sort of "hummingbird" waiters that always flutter around your table for refills on drinks, a friendly chat, or questions on how your food is tasting.

Now onto the meal!

IT'S A TRAP

Our meal started off with some complementary bread, which was very addictive. The bread had large pieces of sauteed garlic baked inside of it and had really nice dense, spongy texture. The starter bread was actually sweeter than normal white bread and was ten times more enjoyable than sourdough bread (to me at least). I tried to resist eating a lot of it though, because I didn't want to get full on starch filler before the actual meal.

Ahi Chili Nachos: Avacado Salsa, Chili Sour Cream 

A secret food fetish that I hole away in my heart is chili. My mom, dad, and sister don't particularly like it....but I...I love it. You can ask any of my friends, I always ask for chili on dinner nights. I was super psyched when my parents ordered this, after all they never willingly order chili, and I was eagerly anticipating stuffing my face. When the plate arrived it was very prettily presented, one can imagine the difficulties in making a brown chunky substance look appetizing, with an additional serving of nachos waiting in the wings on a different plate. Unfortunately, the chili was good, but wasn't anything particularly special. It was well balanced with lots of chili flavor, heightened by the tart sour cream and the rich buttery avocado, but I do feel that the Ahi was lost in the dish. With the chili flavours so strong, the chunks of Ahi tuna were physically lost in the chunky chili and the delicate tuna flavor was masked by all the strong herbs and spices. My mom, dad, and I all had trouble in differentiating the fish from the other bits and bobs in the dish...it was so finely chunked that we could hardly find the fish meat. Then again, I'm not sure how much fish meat was actually in the chili....
 

Shrimp Cocktail: Spicy Wasabi Cocktail Sauce 

Shrimp cocktail, a dinner party classic! I think the stereotypical presentation of shrimp cocktail is usually in a martini glass, but a plate is perfectly fine as well. I didn't really find this dish very impressive or ingenuitive. It was well executed, the shrimp were boiled to perfection and the cocktail sauce had that tangy, addictive flavour it uses to sucker people into eating glasses and glasses of cocktail shrimp, with the extra kick given by the wasabi. This dish was just a fancy shrimp cocktail and I can't really say much more about it. It was a dish where "what you see is what you get." I think it was an appropriate size for an appetizer, but I felt that the price didn't match. Unfortunately, they don't list the price online...but I do remember the feeling of surprise when seeing the price then seeing the portion.

Fries with Foie Gras Dip

Our waitress that night was telling us that the Foie Gras Dip was a new addition to the menu that they were currently testing out to see if it deserved a spot on the main menu. However, by the looks of it...this menu item lost out. Unfortunately, this was going to be the dish that I would most strongly would recommend. It's really simple in idea and execution, but it's so addictive and delicious. The potatoes were fried to crispy, golden perfection and were seasoned with a light dusting of salt. Already fries can be extremely delicious and addictive, but the addition of the foie gras sauce really pushed it over the edge into craving territory.

I don't know the exact components of the dip, on the menu it was simply listed it as Foie Gras dip, but you can see the drizzle of olive oil and the chive sprinkled on top. The texture and consistency of the dip was thin, but viscous enough that it coated a dipped fry perfectly. The sauce was like a deconstructed seared foie gras appetizer...the seared foie gras was already perfectly blended with the sweet fruit (for example pears, apples, or peaches) that were usually paired with pan seared foie gras and the fries added the starch needed to deal with a "rich fat." I'm very pleased to report that the fatty nature of the foie gras didn't just add to the oily nature of the fry. It could have been a horrible greasy fat mess, but that didn't happen. It was an extremely addictive appetizer and I really wish they placed it on the permanent menu....it would be something that I'd go back for.

Unfortunately all three of these entrees are no longer available on the updated menu on Alan Wong's site. I'm very apologetic to provide outdated information, but I hope the quality and execution of The Pineapple Room's dishes are clear in these photos and my descriptions. However, I think it's great that Alan Wong's Pineapple Room changes up its menu depending on the seasons and what's locally available.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Hollandaise Sauce and a Crab Cake 

I asked our waitress what entree on the menu was the "lightest", because I wasn't particularly hungry and the waitress recommended the chicken breast because of its small portion size. It was a lie. It was medium sized and it was so rich that I could only eat a third of it. It was good, but it was just so enormous the portion size actually detracted from my enjoyment of  the meal. The crab cake and the chicken breast were a surprisingly good combo, I wouldn't really have paired those meats together, but the combination was a savory umami meat sandwich. The chicken and the crab were both well cooked and moist, but I think some of the perfection in the meat was covered up by the rich hollandaise sauce. So much so, that it was difficult to pick out the individual flavors that composed the dish's entirety. It was all very rich and hollandaise-y. If I had been hungrier, or perhaps hadn't eaten all of those foie gras fries, I would have enjoyed the dish way more.

Big Island Steak with a summer salad

There's a version of this steak on the menu at the moment, called Kiawe Grilled Big Island Steak, but this old dish leans more to the traditional "steak and salad" dish. My dad wanted to take the photo, so unfortunately the more detailed shot is on the summer salad. The meat was rare, just like my father liked it, and I also had a bite so I can attest to its grilled perfection. The salad was very "Hawaii" and tropical as well and contained a myriad of ingredients from the pictured greens to shimeji mushrooms to red and yellow cherry tomatoes, and purple onions. It was not a boring salad at all and I loved the way the cherry tomatoes chimed in ever now and then to add a burst of sweetness to the salad.

It was well executed and simple, but my dad definitely also had a problem with the portion size of the whole meal. For me I did really enjoy the execution of the steak dish, but that was it for me. It was just a steak. I thought there were more interesting items on the menu that showcased Alan Wong's originality a bit more.

Seared Scallops with Hash

This is what my mom ordered, a seared scallop dish that came with four scallops atop a vegetable rice porridge/hash sort of combo at the bottom. My mom gave me a scallop and I tried a bit of her hash and they were both very good. The scallop was sweet and tender, but had a nice sear on each side...truly Hawaii is a paradise for seafood lovers. The mash I wasn't a too particularly fond of. I think I would have liked the scallops paired with something a little lighter, rather than a wet starchy, bean, corn, squash, rice party. I think the bottom's starch sort of overpowered the delicate seared nature of the scallops. Just give me the scallops and the bit on top and that'll be fantastic. My mom really liked the dish, but also shared the same concerns as my dad about the portion size. I didn't feel particularly excited about this dish, but it was well executed.

Ultimately, the Pineapple Room hasn't burrowed its way into my heart like all of the other restaurants located in Waikiki that I've shared with you. I think my main concern, as well as my mother's and my father's, was the portion control of all the dishes. Although we only each only ordered an appetizer and a main, we were all completely uncomfortably stuffed by the end of the meal. My father said that we could have probably fed four people with the quantity of food that we ordered. Even though I do like Alan Wong's main fancy restaurant I'm beginning to waver in my stalwart loyalty to the Alan Wong's brand from my last lackluster meal at their main restaurant to the sort of "meh" quality of The Pineapple Room...I dunno. The food was good and well executed, but just not very memorable to me. Since we're not native to Hawaii, I can think of other places that I would rather go than The Pineapple Room. My father also made the comment that the food here, for what we got, was more expensive than he previously anticipated. I'm just thoroughly "meh" about this meal and I don't think I'll return here. 

Thanks for coming!

+Love

Price: $$$ out of $$$$$
Kid Friendly: Yes

Repeatability: No..... ()-__-
Website:http://www.alanwongs.com/pineapple-room-welcome/index.html

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Morimoto~Waikiki

Recently I had the enormous pleasure of dining at Morimoto in Waikiki. The name Morimoto might sound familiar to you and it should! Masiharu Morimoto is the chef that has gained infamy across the globe from his stints on the original Iron Chef as the successor to Koumei Nakamura, and on Iron Chef America. He has three restaurants in the United States, located in Philadelphia, New York, and Florida--and has two in India, expanding his reach to both Mumbai and New Delhi! My family and I were super excited to try the famed Iron Chef's recipes and experience his aesthetic.

The overall decor of the restaurant is very fresh and clean; the aesthetic of the restaurant utilizes a palette of fresh celery greens, creams, off whites, and turquoises. I think the restaurant did a great job of embracing Morimoto's modern cooking style and fusing it with the "Aloha spirit." The restaurant was really beautiful and I could easily imagine it being in some swanky movie with a couple of high powered executives having a relaxed lunch, but in reality there were a lot of casual diners! In a sweeping panorama of the whole restaurant, there was many a Hawaiian shirt and chino pant to be seen. The restaurant itself is very, very large with ample indoor and outdoor patio seating. The space is clean, modern, fresh, and well designed (some of the beautiful vessels and plates that our food came served in was even custom ordered by Morimoto himself) and it seems like the restaurant itself is built for "high traffic."

The hostess was friendly and seated us at our table very quickly, while the waiter that served us the entire night was friendly, talkative and never forgot to refill our waters. There was a small incident that I completely blame our waiter for and I will shamefully tell you the story. My family and the waiter were having a friendly conversation and I told him how I have watched Iron Chef ever since I was a child and how I loved Morimoto. It turns out, in a freak coincidence, that Morimoto himself was visiting his restaurant and working at the sushi bar. Our waiter had told us that he doesn't mind taking photos with patrons and my father and I eagerly rushed over to the sushi bar to snap a photo. However, we learned after the fact that Morimoto doesn't like to be disturbed when working. He obliged us with a photo, however gruffly.  Even though the restaurant itself was pretty empty, it was clear that he did not want to be disturbed when working behind the sushi bar. I was pretty embarrassed and Morimoto looks pretty gruff, but here's the photo nonetheless.

Now onto the meal! My family had decided to order more of Morimoto's cooked and "innovative" dishes versus simply choosing the sushi "omikase." So you might not see as much sushi and sashimi as I usually post in a Japanese restaurant review. ;) I hope you still enjoy!

Pho 97 - Waikiki

This is heaven for me. You guys may not know it, but honey darlin', any kind of noodle soup is my ultimate comfort food. There's nothing that will soothe my soul or tickle any craving I have more than noodle soup. The Vietnamese style of noodle soup,  Phở (pronounced more like "fuh") is a soup that I could probably eat non-stop everyday.  Phở  is in the good books with my family as well because my little sister, who has gluten intolerancy, can also partake in all of the noodle-y joy. 

Located in Waikiki, Phở 97 has completely won my family and I over with its delicious Phở and its special "bun rieu." The interior is very, very basic and sort of characteristic of any local Chinatown in any city or country, cheap tile, pink tables, kinda messy, kinda grungy, but very popular and always pretty full. As said before in the "Thoughts from Waikiki"  post, Hawaii is very much, at least in my opinion, "suspended in time." The Hawaiian Chinatown is pretty....ghetto, for lack of a better word. The sidewalks are narrow and a bit uneven, the paint and signs are faded from the sun, and the facades of many stores are in fact dated and run down. Despite all this, Chinatown is still bustling with life and in fact is the nexus for many of the cultural interactions that Hawaii is famous for. 

Anyway I digress, the main point of the story is Waikiki's Chinatown has damn good Vietnamese food. Every time my parents come to Hawaii, they come here and rave to me about how delicious it is. Finally, this most recent trip, they brought me here as well. Like any good Vietnamese restaurant should they offer you a thai basil, bean sprouts, and little wedges of lemons and chili peppers before your bowl of steaming hot soup comes out.

Something that you might not usually get at a Vietnamese restaurant are these two herbs: culantro and split water spinach. Culantro is slightly reminiscent of coriander, while the split water spinach sort of adds more texture than flavor. While I was in Taiwan, one of my half-Vietnamese friends told me that a necessity to "good phở " was the herbs. I certainly do believe her. =) My parents ask for the beansprouts to be blanched and usually eat most of them before the soup gets to the table.

Although my family and I call this soup Bún riêu, the generic term for rice vermicelli soup, bún riêu cua is often our Bún riêu of choice. Bún riêu cua is a tomato and crab juice based rice vermicelli soup, served with fish cakes, tomato, pork hock, beef balls, and crab cakes. I think I should be careful to note that the "crab cakes" that I mention are not the Western style crab cakes, but instead more loosely packed together sumptuous morsels of crab meat. Altogether the combination of the varied seafood, viands, herbs, and vegetables make this an incredibly sumptuous umami laden dish. 

As usual, my poor vocabulary isn't vast enough to describe the intense collision of sea and land in this one bowl. The sheer variety of all the ingredients into one dish make the broth incredibly layered, complex, and leans towards the sweet side of taste. Bún riêu can usually be balanced out by adding another layer of flavor, in the form of mauve colored salty shrimp paste. Phở 97 places all the little containers of shrimp paste on every table to use at will. Even if the grey paste looks scary. USE IT. Its scary appearance is well worth the additional flavor and complexity it will add to your soup. I prefer to put little dollops of the shrimp paste into my soup spoon or on my noodles, but my parents sometimes add a small scoop directly into the soup. 

Unfortunately I can't "review" any other dishes for you guys, because my family members all order the bún riêu cua. That's how good it is. 

Overall, Bún riêu, in any shape or form, is absolutely delicious and I encourage you guys to give Phở  97 a try if you're ever in Waikiki. Honestly, my parents can also contest to this, good, hearty, addictive phở   places are hard to come by; especially places that make the more complicated bún bò Huế or bún riêu dishes. Its also an additional challenge to find Vietnamese places that make the above dishes well. >< Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a place in Vancouver to wet my craving for phở, but I know it's hiding here somewhere. If you ever go or have any suggestions for me to try here in Vancouver, please comment below! 

Thanks for reading!

Kid Friendly: Yes

Price: $ out of $$$$$

Repeatability: Yes!

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April 10, 2013
Went back and it was so lovely! Instagram update here!

Travel Tips and Outfits from Waikiki

I'm a chronic over packer. It's been one of my overarching life goals to tame the raging "Boy Scout" in me that shouts "Always be prepared!" After all, when going away for a week, one does not need a completely different ensemble for everyday. At least...the ones that pay for luggage handling costs. It's expensive to travel now! I'm sure we've all seen pictures of celebrities with trunks upon trunks of clothes and accessories all ready to be loaded onto their private jets.

Driving Up From the Seattle Airport

In all honesty, I would rather put that money somewhere else...either towards admissions to a museum, souvenirs, or possibly even....more clothes? Hahaha. Well what I want to do with you guys it to share some of my new "packing rules" for a more streamlined and efficient me. 

Oscar has been here since the first time I came to Hawaii at 4. Sorry for the petrified look as well, he just squawked really loudly!

Golden Rules!

1. Always leave room in your suitcase just in case. Even if you swore you weren't going to buy anything this trip, who knows? The extra space will come in handy. 
2. When packing, roll your clothes! It saves more space than folding. =) 
3. When you start packing make sure you put your heaviest and bulkiest things on the bottom of your suitcase. That way you know how much wiggle room you have when you transfer your essential items in. 
4. Don't be afraid to re-wear items of clothing! I re-wear my jeans often. In fact, I often bring more tops than bottoms. 
5. Make "smart" choices, don't pack dry-clean only everything. >< You never know when life is going to have those "OOOPS STAIN" moments.
6. Make sure to bring pragmatic toiletries. Instead of having three palettes of eye shadow, think about nail clippers, tweezers, bandaids, and Neosporin.  
7. Pack for about half your trip! For example, if you're gone for a week, pack for about four days. I always also bring a "classy" piece that can be dressed up or dressed down. You never know when you're going out for a fancy dinner! Be prepared! (Uh oh....the boy scout me came back. =__=) 
8. One of those important, but often forgotten rules, is to understand the luggage restrictions the airline that you're flying imposes on its passengers. 

Anyway, I'm sure these "rules" will shift and change as I gain more travel experience. You should also feel free to comment whatever packing rules or tips of your own. I'm always eager to learn from other people! I think travel should definitely be stress free. Sometimes there are factors that you can't control, i.e. delayed flights, lost luggage, fluid restrictions, baggage fees, etc. etc., but you might as well make the factors you can control stress free and easy. So start with your luggage. =D That way your perfectly packed luggage will be your island of peace in the sea of travel rage some people experience.

Nothing special, really. I think that in general I like pretty simple things. >< My style is pretty streamlined. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading. Happy travels!

+Love