Big Island Grinds

in Waipahu, Oahu

Being born and raised in Waipahu, my family ate here all the time ever since I can remember. It just feels like home everytime I eat here. No wonder I always try to visit here when I fly to Oahu. Unfortunately, they moved to a different location in Waipahu recently, but the food and atmosphere here is still the same and very homestyle.

When I was little, I don’t recall many Filipino restaurants around, but now there are many other Filipino restaurants sprouting up in Waiphu and other places (i.e. Golden Coin). But as far as I’m concerned, Elena’s is the best!

My two favorites here are the Sari-Sari (a tasty vegetable & pork soup) and the Kare-Kare (a peanut buttery oxtail soup).

Here’s the Sari-Sari.

Mixed vegetables, egg plant, squash, ongchoi, and very crispy lechon (pork skin). I love having this for breakfast! The hot soup is very rich with a strong fish and pork flavor, the vegetables are nice and fresh, and the crispy lechon is scrumptious.

Here’s the Kare-Kare.

This is like an oxtail & vegetable stew but with peanut butter. This might sound weird to some at first, but the peanut butter really thickens the stew up and balances out the flavor. The oxtails are fall-off-da-bone soft and the vegetables soak up a lot of flavor. The salty Bagaoong is a perfect compliment to this slightly sweet dish.

Filipinos love pork. Here is pork presented three ways: pork guisantes (pork & peas), pork adobo, and dinuguan (pork blood stew). Elena’s got these traditional dishes down to a science. They all are so tasty and tender. The flavors permeate through all of the pork. My favorite has always been the dinuguan.

I can’t wait to come back to Oahu to eat here again. Hilo just doesn’t have any good Filipino restaurants.

Why oh why do I keep doing this to myself? Why do I keep coming back here for a bland loco moco in hopes of it one day being better?

Well, I can get an “ok” loco moco and a small chili for well under 4 bucks… the chili was pretty good actually, not bland at all. It scored extra points to make up for the loco moco, which still has a thin strange tasting burger and bland gravy… let me just say, it’s amazing what a lot of shoyu can do to a bland loco moco.

To be fair, the gravy was actually thicker and tastier than the last time I’ve reviewed this place.

And isn’t it cute how they package everything so neatly into a small box? It’s just fun to do take out here.

Dear Cafe 100, I still have faith in you!

Hilo finally has a pub! Nichols Public House is a small Irish style pub which opened this past Wednesday, located across of the old Kaiko`o mall on Kilauea Avenue.

It was a packed house at 10:30pm and everyone was having a good time. There was a $5 cover since there was a live band playing (I really hope they drop the cover in the future). The vibe was very warm, cozy, and classy. Maybe a little too cozy, though, since there was only standing room left.

I managed myself to the bar and ordered a Bass ale… they ran out of Guiness already!

Mmmmmm! Drinking a good beer in a nice place like this with good music just made it all worth it. I can’t wait to come back to try their food!

Check out the menu. The food looks great here! (click to zoom)

I’ll keep you all posted on this place when I visit this place next time. It looks very promising!

It was another weekend night, and we were hungry at 4:30am. Ken’s, Verna’s, 7-11, or…Kandi’s? Yup, Kandi’s opens at 4am! That was good news because I’ve come here many a time between 8-9am and their fried rice breakfasts were usually sold out. Not happening to me this morning. *grin*

Kandi’s serves all the traditional local comfort foods at great prices. There were about 5-7 other people hanging out in the drive inn’s small eating area.

Here’s their breakfast and daily specials menu:

I asked the lady taking our order, “You guys still get fried rice?” She laughed, and said yes, mentioning that it always gets sold out by 9am.

There are three different fried rice breakfasts: Fried Rice Special ($3.75 - fried rice topped with egg and hot dog), Fried Rice Omelet ($3.50 - fried rice wrapped in eggs w/2 slices of spam), and Fried Rice Hash & Eggs ($3.95 - fried rice, corned beef hash, and topped with an egg).

I ordered the Fried Rice Omelet w/spam.

This was so good and is such a great deal at $3.50. The fried rice in this egg omelet had a great texture, firm yet moist, which absorbed lots of the wonderful crunchy bacon and ham goodness. It was a bit oily, but it just made it taste better. I loved how some of the rice grains were burnt crisp just a little, adding to the great flavor. The two slices of spam were thick and cooked gently, which kept them moist and sweet. Serious homestyle comfort food.

My friend ordered a Teri Loco Moco and added a ton of ketchup.

A teri loco moco is the same as a regular loco moco, with added teri sauce to the burger. I had one bite and it tasted just ok. The teri sauce added a nice sweetness to it, but the burger was thin and didn’t taste that good… might’ve been premade. The gravy was basic, but it had a full flavor and wasn’t watery. Egg was cooked well. I didn’t get to try the mac salad, though. Overall, it was just an average loco moco.

Another friend ordered toast, eggs and hash browns, which I didn’t get to try. He seemed to enjoy it, though.

For a cheap and very tasty breakfast, I would highly recommend this place. They also offer lots of plate lunches and bentos. I’ve tried their beef stew and teri beef plate, which were both very good and tasty (sorry, no photos).

Kandi’s Drive Inn
56 W Kawailani Street
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 959-8461

The entire office at work was treated to a nice Christmas luncheon at the Hilo Yacht Club, a beautiful recreational club sitting on the beach (Reed’s Bay).

This is an exclusive recreational club kept alive by its members who pay an initial and monthly fee which varies depending on your age and living location. Members can use all of their facilities as well as their banquet rooms for special events. So is it worth joining here for the food?

I started with the French Onion soup with Gruyere Cheese ($4.50)

Sadly, this soup tasted more like beef broth with soggy bread and onions. The onions still had a small crunch to them, not caramelized at all, which onions in a proper french onion soup should be. Even the crust of the bread was soggy, and the bread was not even good bread. French onion soups need bread that can hold up to the soup and stay crusty, me thinks!

Rib Eye Steak (medium rare) with mushrooms & onions ($14.95)

The steak tasted good and was well seasoned, but was unevenly cooked and was a bit tough considering it was a rib-eye. Half of the steak was thin and other half was thicker, making one side well-done and the other a medium. I wish they cut it thick instead of thin and large. Vegetables were good and buttery though.

Chocolate Mousse with Strawberries

I think this was the best thing that came out of the kitchen so far. The mousse was smooth, chocolaty, and not too sweet. The strawberries were ripe and sweet. It was a great ending to the meal.

Here are some of the other dishes ordered which I didn’t get to taste:

Lobster & Crab Salad with Fresh Fruits and Sherbet ($9.50)

Homestyle Chicken Curry ($8.95)

Mud Pie ($3.95) and Chocolate Brownies with Kona Coffee Ice Cream ($3.95)

Food-wise, this club just doesn’t cut it, but they offer a lot more including an oceanview pool, three tennis courts, a black sand volleyball court, and beautiful views of the beach.

Honolulu, Oahu

Late night chowder cravings brought us here. Our last visit was quite awhile ago and we recalled some decent chowder. Chowder House is located in Ward Warehouse. There were about 7 other tables occupied at around 9pm.

We were promptly served some water and given our menus. Service was very friendly.

They have a bar with some beers on tap. I tried a Keoki Gold Draft brewed in Kauai ($3.25) for the first time.

This was a very refreshing, somewhat fruity, medium-bodied beer. It kept a nice head too.

We both ordered chowders: one New England Clam Chowder and one Corn Chowder ($4.75 each).

The chowders filled our chowder cravings, but they didn’t taste like what we remember them. Both of the chowders tasted a bit watery. The clam chowder, to me, tasted too starchy and not creamy enough. I think the corn chowder actually tasted better. What made it even worse was that the clam chowder was served warm, not hot!

We also halved a hamburger deluxe w/fries ($7.25) to go with our chowders.

This burger was hit and miss. The burger patty was fresh tasting, flame grilled, tender and not over cooked. The bun crumbled as eating it. Toasting the bun might’ve helped it. The fries were the worst! Many of them were chewy, soggy and oily. If you zoom in on the fries you can see what I mean. We ended up not finishing the fries, and rarely do I waste french fries.

This “Ginger Fire” sauce was sitting with the other condiments and it caught my attention.

I sampled it on the burger, and it tasted yummy. Then I sampled it in the chowder and it was… yummy but kind of weird. This sauce had a hot ginger kick, sort of like the heat that comes with eating raw ginger. The heat hits sharp and hard but did not linger too long. Interesting stuff.

Although our chowder cravings were fulfilled, I’m sure there are better places for chowder in Hawaii. Maybe we came here on a bad day?

The Chowder House
1050 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 596-7944