Big Island Grinds

Take-out lunch from my favorite Thai place in Hilo. I’ll save the review for a sit-down opportunity hopefully soon, with more pics and details.

Pad Thai and Red Curry Chicken with jasmine rice. Under 6 bucks. A+

Naung Mai Thai Kitchen
86 Kilauea Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 934-7540

Today I went to Cafe 100 for lunch. It was really crowded. Most of the people were already sitting down eating, so luckily there was not much of a line. I go to Cafe 100 every so often since they have a great variety of food and nice, fast service. The eating area is open-aired and breezy.

(I am temporarily borrowing this pic, and will get a new one up soon)

The menu includes daily plate lunch specials and all the local favorites, but what is most impressive is their loco moco menu. They have the most extensive loco moco menu I’ve ever seen! This is where many say the loco moco started, so the menu was no surprise. But how does it compare with other loco mocos in Hilo?

I ordered the Super Loco!

2 eggs, 1 beef patty, 1 slice spam, 2 pc. portuguese sausage, loads of rice, mac salad, gravy all over, and kimchi (supposedly) on the side. It’s huge. It only costs $4.45.

First thing I thought was… “where’s my kimchi!?” All the other times I’ve ordered this they gave a small container of kimchi. *sigh* It’s ok…

Here’s a closeup.

HooooOO brah!! Look good ah?

No forget da loco moco essentials.

Start grinding already!

• Burger: Tender and tasty, but way too thin and too small.
• Gravy: Taste like good ol’ regular brown gravy made from the gravy powder. It was just enough to bring everything together, but it could’ve used more. I do wish it were thicker with richer flavor.
• Eggs: Done really well! Perfectly cooked. I could taste the flavor of butter as I ate a piece of egg.
• SPAM: It’s SPAM, how can anyone go wrong?
• Portuguese Sausage: Ono. Nice and crisp.
• Mac Salad: Cafe 100 makes excellent mac salad. It’s actually a mac/potato salad served on finely shredded cabbage. It has a great consistency and taste.
• Rice: Good, but for me, there was way too much compared to the amount of meat and gravy given, but if I was super hungry, I guess I wouldn’t complain.

I often see tourists come to Cafe 100 to try a loco moco for their very first time, and while Cafe 100’s loco moco is ok, there are many other places that serve better versions. I would recommend Blane’s Drive Inn or Ken’s House of Pancakes. Their burgers are much bigger and the gravy is much tastier. Yet, there’s still something special about Cafe 100 that makes me come back.

I will get more pictures of Cafe 100 very soon. My camera should be in tommorow or the day after!

Cafe 100
969 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
(808) 935-8683
(808) 935-6368 Menu Hotline

The best food on the Big Island cannot be found in restaurants, but at local family parties.

Last night I went to an open-to-all graduation party way down in Kalapana right before the lava flow took over the road, near Kalapana’s black sand beach. It was a beautiful place. The owner of the house is a very friendly pure Hawaiian man, and he fully represented with the food!

Hundreds of people were there, with great live local bands. I didn’t even know who graduated, but everyone was welcome. The vibe and the food was wonderful. Everyone was welcome to eat. This is why I love the Big Island; parties that are open to anyone with positive energy, amazing food, and great music. There was even an Awa bar!

I so wanted to take pictures of the awesome spread, but my camera still didn’t come in yet, so I took a plate home to take a picture of with a borrowed camera (well, I would’ve took a take-home plate in any case!). There was so much food. This plate was made at almost 3am and still had trays and trays of fresh poke, opihi, poi and so much other grinds left.

Here’s da onoz!

Clockwise from top left: Poke (raw fish seasoned with Hawaiian salt, seaweed and inamona), raw a`ama crab, opihi (a Hawaiian limpet), ake (raw bull liver seasoned with alaea), small piece of kulolo (sweet taro pudding), mac salad, some kind of spicy fried rice, steamed sweet potato, pork guisantes (pork and peas), some kind of grilled fish, and kalua pig!

The poke was so fresh and tasty. The opihi was so fresh and ono. One thing I tried for the first time was the ake, which I was told was raw bull liver. I never ate any kind of raw liver before, so I was glad I was told only after I tried it, because it tasted so good! The liver had a very different rich and creamy taste/texture and it was seasoned really well. Little bits of the alaea gave a lot of crunchy salty bits. The kalua pig melted in my mouth and had a wonderful smoky flavor. Everything else was so ono too.

On the side was a sour `ulu (breadfruit) poi.

This poi was delightful. I think poi is always the best a bit fermented, and this one was, which gave it a great sour taste. It was thick too. One finga kine brah! So good with da poke, opihi and crab!

For your viewing pleasure…

Broke da mout’ yea!!?? It’s good to live in Hawaii.

It was a beautiful day in Hilo and my friend suggested we go to Miyo’s for lunch. I’ve only been to Miyo’s once years ago, and I remembered how nice it was there, so I was happy to go.

Miyo’s sits on the second story of a small building right next to Wailoa Pond.

The view is beautiful, making for a very peaceful and relaxing dining experience.

Inside the restaurant is a very Japanese, homey, quaint atmosphere. Big opened Japanese style doors line the wall, leaving the room feel open. The kitchen is also in plain view, adding to the Japanese homey feel.

There was a good amount of people for the time we went, considering it was well before noon. I noticed a lot of reservation signs on the tables, so reservations would probably be a good idea if you plan to go during prime-times, considering the small size of the restaurant. All of the window seats were taken, so we sat nearer the middle.

Within a couple minutes, we were served water, tsukemono, and miso soup. Service was very nice.

I have to say that the miso soup was amazing! It was definitely the best miso soup I’ve had in recent memory. The broth was perfect, full of flavor and not too salty, with beautiful pieces of tofu and seaweed… very fresh and mouth-watering. The tsukemono was refreshing too. Great start. I was happy.

Looking over the menu there was a lot of reasonably priced (~$6-$9 a plate) homestyle Japanese food like tempura, teriyaki, sashimi, udon, curries, fresh fish, sukiyaki, various donburi dishes, sesame chicken (lots of people were ordering this), vegetarian dishes, and others. It was so hard to choose. I ended up ordering the beef curry. *sigh* I know, I’m sorry. Only after I’ve ordered did I remember that I just wrote about beef curry in my last entry! I just had a beef curry craving again, ok? No worry though! My friend ordered the sesame chicken and tempura, which I have also tried.

A green salad came with the beef curry.

All the vegetables were crisp, fresh, and organic tasting. The tomato was plump and sweet. The dressing was a great tasting homemade oil and vinegar dressing.

The beef curry came shortly after.

This has got to be one of the most healthy beef curries I’ve seen. There was lots of broccoli, carrots, eggplant, and mushrooms along with the beef. So how did it taste? The curry sauce was good. It had a good flavor and it had a good heat/spiciness to it. It wasn’t as rich as Curry House’s curry, but it was still satisfying, especially with all the vegetables. The rice was good and the pickled radishes were nice, sweet and tangy. It tasted healthy, which is a good thing I guess, but I will probably not order it next time.

Then came the Sesame Chicken & Tempura combo.

Now this looked really good! The sesame chicken and tempura (shrimp and vegetables) was served over fresh greens (similar to my salad) and served with rice and tempura sauce. I managed to steal a good piece of the sesame chicken. The sesame chicken was crisp deep-fried boneless chicken with a sweet, thick, and rich sesame sauce. It was hard to tell what was in the sauce, but it was very good. I think this is one of their more popular dishes since I’ve seen other tables around with the same chicken. I also stole a bit of tempura. The tempura and the sauce was excellent, although the sweet potato tempura was a little undercooked. Otherwise, it was very yummy.

Miyo’s was a great experience and I don’t know why I haven’t come back here for a long time. Along with the great atmosphere, attention to freshness, and healthy food choices, Miyo’s is a great place to go. I will most likely be returning here more regularly.

Miyo’s
400 Hualani Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Tel: (808) 935-2273

Oahu Food Adventures, July 2005 (part 1of 5)

This is part one of a 5-part post from my recent visit to Oahu. I’ll try to disperse the following places along with Big Island places over the next few weeks: Angelo Pietro, Kaka`ako Kitchen, Elena’s, Yotteko-ya (thanks for the recommendation reid!), and Popeye’s.

Visiting Oahu makes me feel like a child in a candy store, except now, I feel like a guy with so many great food choices, I don’t know what to do! I’m originally from Oahu, and every time I go back, so many fond memories come back to me.

Curry House is a successful franchise originating from Japan and I just *have to* eat here every time I go to Oahu. I hear they have hundreds of them in Japan! Oahu is lucky to have 5 locations: Waikiki, University Ave, Ala Moana, Pearl Kai Shopping Center, and McCully Shopping Center. Most of the time, they are consistent in quality and taste.

We went to the Pearl Kai Shopping Center one this time. The people are really nice here and the food is always good at this location.

It was really crowded! We had to wait a few minutes before getting a seat. While waiting, there were a lot of take-out orders being picked up.

We then ended up sitting at the bar, which is a good thing since we get a free entertainment show. Watching them pour the curry over fresh hot rice and meats is so exciting!

There are so many different kinds of items to choose to go with your curry! They use the same curry sauce (spicy or mild) for all the dishes, but the variations are endless when you mix it with the different items on the menu. You can choose how much rice you want and if you want spicy or mild curry.

I ordered the beef curry (my fav), a side of cream corn croquette (a new item), and we also shared a side salad. Click on the menu above to see a sample of the different kinds of curries!

The beef curry was so good. Curry House’s curry is a Japanese style curry. It’s very smooth, rich, thick, spicy, and a little sweet. The beef pieces are so tender, too. Also, I love the beef curry because they stew the beef with the curry, and the beef flavor permeates all of the curry, making it so rich and flavorful.

The cream corn croquette tasted like cream corn made into a hash, then breaded and deep fried. It was a bit sweet and went very well with the spicy beef curry. Very yummy!

The salad was really good too. What makes this salad is their great tasting shoyu-based dressing and the corn.

Bev ordered Chicken Cutlet with Spinach Curry!

This was quite tasty as well. The chicken was nice and crispy and the spinach tasting really fresh and not overcooked. I’m so proud of Bev since she graduated to spicy curry, which tastes so much better than the mild!

All set to eat? Don’t forget the pickled vegetables called Fukujinzuke, I think. It’s great sprinkled over the curry.

I’d love to know what other people like to order at Curry House. And If you haven’t eaten here yet, you must!

Curry House Coco Ichibanya
98-199 Kamehameha Hwy in the Pearl Kai Shopping Center
Aiea, Hawaii 96701