Mixed Plate – Office Potluck

We had an awesome potluck over the summer at work…and my coworkers really turned it out! Well, they always do but this time…everything was just so onolicious! No specific theme, just bring whatever you want! Here are the pics!

Homemade ume and ebi musubi, taco salad, pasta salad…yum!

Slow cooker mac and cheese!

Yummy pasta with pesto and bacon, delicious!

Homemade Pancit! It has both the egg noodles and the rice noodles…it was so good!! I love myself homecooked pancit and this definitely did not disappoint!

Ham! Yes, a whole ham. It was so good! If I remember correctly, it was done in one of those one pot cookers. The ones that do pressure cooking, slow cooking, etc. I am so hungry as I am writing this post…haha

Cafe Julia Hawaii – Downtown, HI

I recently had a business meeting in downtown and got to try Cafe Julia Hawaii for the first time. It’s a beautiful location so I was excited to try the restaurant! They were pretty busy as expected but we were able to snag a table indoors after a short wait. For those who care, it is an open air restaurant…no air conditioning! It wasn’t awful the day I went…but I could definitely feel discomfort. Let’s get to the food!

Indoor Restaurant Shot – those shelves are full of miniature alcohol bottles! The long table was set-up for a big Japanese tourist group.

Lilikoi Cooler – $6.50 (!)

While this drink was delicious, the price tag was not worth it! It’s non-alcoholic and does not come with refills.

Garlic Furikake Fries – $10

These fries were okay…definitely hit the spot since we were starving. I wouldn’t get them again.

Seafood Risotto – $22.50

Not my dish so I can’t comment to much, my dining companion seemed to enjoy it!

Garlic Ahi – $22.95

One of Cafe Julia’s well known dishes is their loco moco. I didn’t feel like a loco moco this day so I decided to give their garlic ahi a try. I don’t know about you, but for $23 I expected a lot more fish than what I got. The dish was okay, and it’s good that the fish was not overcooked but I was just disappointed by the price of the dish and what you get. As we were finishing our meal, the Japanese tour group came in and they must have ordered a pre-set menu…they all got the loco moco and I instantly regretted my choice! Luckily, I didn’t have to pay for this meal so my Chinese heart wasn’t too hurt. Would I come back to this restaurant? Probably not…but it may be worth a visit at night for dinner…it must be so pretty at night.

 

Wagaya – Moilili, HI

Have I really not posted about Wagaya? Is that possible? Wagaya is definitely in my top 3 ramen spots for Hawaii, if not…number 1! I’ve been going since they opened and they have been consistently good, if not better than before. Their food is delicious, the broth deep in flavor. The only thing they need to up their game in is maybe the char siu…a bit thin. But everything else is so good. It’s a small family business and I really hope you get to try it. Let’s get to the pics!

Yummy…good food is coming. Parking can be scarce so plan ahead! They have a small lot but there is also a lot of street parking.

Homemade Gyoza – $5.95

I enjoy their gyoza, tasty! They have a happy hour special for gyoza but it only counts towards the deep fried ones. It’s too bad, I only like the pan fried ones.

AGEDASHI TOFU – $4.95

Can I just get excited for a little bit? Yes, you can get agedashi tofu anywhere. But this is the best way I’ve had it, seriously. Yes, at a ramen shop. The tofu is fried perfectly, the batter is very thin, light and crispy. Once you pour the sauce onto the tofu, the batter turns almost gelatinous. I know that doesn’t make it sound good…BUT IT ALSO DOES. Because it gets a bit gel-like, the sauce hugs the tofu completely. Hmm…I want to get this for myself next time. No need share. Haha okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit.

Garlic Wagaya Ramen – $12.75

Here is my go to. I get it with regular firm noodles, spice level 3 (they start charging more at level 4, lol). It’s just a perfect serving of ramen, and that soft boiled egg is perfection. I save that for last. 🙂

Hiyashi Tan Tan Men – $11.95

I must confess, this particular week – this was my second visit so I tried the hiyashi noodles for the first time. It is served cold with the sesame dressing on the side. It was nice to try something different but I definitely prefer their ramen. And the ramen comes with a whole egg, so I want the whole egg…so I will get the ramen. Haha, still delicious.

Mixed Plate

Hey guys, I’m thinking Fridays might become a mixed plate post of sorts. I do have random shots throughout my camera so I’ll use Fridays to share them out. It’s already September! That means autumn is upon us…my favorite seasons are autumn and winter so yay! Hope you folks are doing well.

Here is a random meal from Itchy Butt. When you’re hungry, you know you think of Itchy Butts right? Heard about this place for a long time so we finally tried it. We realized that we should have ordered a whole chicken to share rather than get our own half chickens. My Chinese never kick in! The whole chicken is $22 for 18 pieces and the half chicken is $13 for 9 pieces….DOH!

I think we got the spicy and the garlic chicken. The set comes with corn salad, radish, and fried cheese. The fried cheese is like mozzerlla cheese wrapped in a won ton like wrapper and deep fried. If you feel like deep fried food, give them a try. I wasn’t too impressed, I prefer Vons Chicken.

Kulu Kulu! Did you folks ever try that cool ramen cake they had before? I tried to order it but the girl gave me a cold reaction and said that it was only seasonal. Why a cake with no fresh fruit is seasonal? Beats me. I did get to try their lilikoi cheesecake, it was delicious! Although I do like anything lilikoi.

Fresh Salmon Poke on Garlic Hurricane Fries

8 Half Desserts, have you been to their location on Waialae? You walk in and are greeted by the sweetest folks who ask if you want to sample their flavors. AND BOY DO THEY MEAN SAMPLE. No need go Costco. This is the Costco of ice cream, they let you try every single flavor. By the time I’m done, I no even wanna order but then I have to because they just gave me 20 samples. Delicious ice cream. As I was walking through Shirokiya, I noticed they had their own stall! We wanted a quick snack and noticed they served savory food too.

No prices on their menu but I wanted to try the fries. I get to the register to order…they ring it up and it’s almost $17. I wanted for faint. Hahaha but I was in too deep, they already started making it. Was it worth it? $17? No. Did it taste good? Yes. Was the salmon pretty good quality, yes. I still can’t recommend it due to the cost.