Folk Kitchen – Osaka, Japan

Folk Kitchen is located within the Hilton Osaka. Thanks to Chan’s perks, we were able to eat breakfast free in the hotel and boy did I enjoy eating here. Haha one morning as we were waking up, he asked me if I was okay because I had been laying there and I just meekly answered…”Folk Kitchen?” That’s how much I was looking forward to eating there. You just had to be there haha.

Folk Kitchen offers a full breakfast buffet and you know Japanese restaurants are going to do right by buffets. No disappointments here! And for some odd reason, I loved the apple juice in Osaka. Specifically Osaka lol.

We came pretty early in the morning so we could avoid the crowds, mission accomplished!

Smaller portion of food this round. They had battered fried fish with tartar sauce (I loved it!), tater tots, fried rice, etc.! They also had a Japanese section to make Japanese style breakfast, and a congee section!

I absolutely toasted my own slice of bread and slathered it in butter and strawberry jam. YOU BETCHA.

Day 2! Much fuller plate. The brown noodles I think were yakisoba and were bland and junk! The pasta was good and I ate plenty saba! Chan must think I’m crazy but I really really enjoyed Folk Kitchen and it was definitely one of my top places we ate at!!!! Yum!

Kura Sushi – Osaka, Japan

Yay! We got to a Kura Sushi! Woohoo! Conveyor belt sushi for a great value – super easy for tourists. Once you’re seated, you can make your own hot tea and order on their iPad that has English as an option! Every five plates you eat, you input them into their cleaning dispenser located right in your booth and you can “play” a game and win a prize! I put play in quotations because it’s really just you watching whether your cartoon character “wins” their game on the screen. We didn’t win anything lol. Not much details or prices on these pics, just a bunch of spam photos (not literally)!

Fresh Salmon with Mayo and Onions
Can’t go wrong with this!

Raw Scallop
I steered clear just in case. I don’t know how far reaching my allergies are to raw shellfish.

Raw Shrimp
Raw shellfish…sigh…

Otoro~!

Tuna Salad
Of course this was mine, don’t you know me by now??

Shirako with Ikura

Okay, remember the other post where I said I liked shirako. Here’s the place where I tried it second and did not like it lol. It was groce here. So sad.

Tan Tan Udon
Ehh, just alright.

I forget haha

Chawan Mushi (look at that crab!)

It me! *waves*

LOL!!!! The cheese sauce wasn’t bad!

Nanpeidai Goryo-san – Shibuya, Japan

Thanks to Chan’s friends, we got to try another awesome Japanese restaurant we probably would never have found ourselves. Nanpeidai Goryosan is located in Shibuya in a residential building. They specialize in vegetable and meat rolls on skewers that are grilled. Not tourist friendly, thankfully Chan’s friends did all the ordering!

This is pretty cool, the server brings this platter out to every table to show you what the different items are. I assume they don’t use this for actual cooking because I saw a waiter sneeze on it lol. I can probably read most of these signs but it would just take 10 years for me to read and then translate it in my head.

Kampachi | ¥880

I’ll try my best to find the prices and names of these dishes. This was a seasoned kampachi sashimi dish. Very good!

Red Sangria | ¥600

I actually drank alcohol, can you believe it? I did not feel good after drinking this. It got to me a bit so it just further cements that I shouldn’t drink. I mean, isn’t this basically a juice? LOL

Seasoned Cabbage

If you know, you know. When you go to these yakiniku places, they serve up some seasoned cabbage as a free service. It’s very lightly seasoned with probably sesame oil and salt?

Assorted Meat Vegetable Rolls

Okay good luck folks, I don’t know what these were. They were all good though!

Shirako

You folks know what this is right? If not, sorry about this. This is fish sperm. I have never had it before but I think this is from cod? I don’t know. Well how was it? Not looking for a that’s what she said moment but man this tasted good. It was super clean tasting. I enjoyed it a lot. I tried this again in another restaurant that maybe wasn’t as high end and did not like it there. It was good here!

Deep Fried Yamaimo | ¥580

Very good! Surprisingly light and not that gooey haha

I forget what this was. Was good though, how can anything served in that much butter/oil not be good?

More meat sticks in my mouth! That’s what she said.

Heh. I don’t remember what this was either lol.

Iburigakko with Cream Cheese | ¥500

My freaking favorite dish of the night. It’s smoked daikon rolled with cream cheese and I just didn’t even know what it was when it was served so I thought it was some kind of char siu (lol). Do we have iburigakko here in Hawaii? Does Don Q import it? I need to eat it again!!!!

Mixed Plate Friday

Happy Aloha Friday! Since I have a few random pics I can share, let me share them! I also want to share these while they are recent!

Tantan Ramen | $13.50

Tonkatsu Sangi is located in Pioneer Plaza in Downtown. They have ties to the old school Gomaichi so you know their ramen is gonna be good. Sorry I took a picture only after I mixed it all up. They are also very popular for their tonkatsu and nanban chicken! It’s a take-out place, no dine in. Didn’t get to try the tonkatsu but did try the nanban – the nanban is drenched in like a ponzu-ish soy sauce. I think a lot of folks expect the other way, plain fried chicken smothered in tartar sauce so I’m just giving the heads up there. The ramen was good! The broth is rich in flavor but didn’t feel too heavy or greasy. They get pretty busy so I would go earlier in the day to get your food because they also do run out!

Shoyu Butter (Soy Garlic + Butter Sauce) | $12.00 + Extra Pasta | $1.50
Spaghetti, Bacon, Mushroom, Spinach, Nori Katsuobushi flakes

We did a quick lunch order from Mio Pastalogy and Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery (same space/owner/kitchen). I was in a pasta mood and felt like their regular portion was kind of small so I added extra this time. Not too bad for $1.50, it was delicious! I love Japanese fusion Italian food. Mio makes their own pasta daily so you’re eating fresh stuff, never the dry stuff. You can even buy your own pasta to take home and make your own dishes with! My favorite part? You can order and pay online and go pick up when it’s ready!

Bibimbap | $10.00 (tax included)

When do you ever see me commend prices? Holy crap here is one. I went to Palama Supermarket last week to grab some groceries and did a quick glance at their snack bar menu. I wasn’t planning on buying dinner but I can’t pass up a bibimbap and for 10 bucks?? Why not. I ordered it and it was 10 bucks even, no tax – sounds silly but I was even excited about that. Here it is. They even give you a side of kimchi. Great portion and price, man I should come to the snack bar more often. The rest of the menu looked really good value too!!

Kitchen Carrot – Nishi-Ogikubo, Japan

When I was growing up, KIKU was my daily jam – especially on Saturdays (yes, quite a lively social calendar) but I loved it because Soko Ga Shiritai would show at like 6PM and then right after that show ended, Crayon Shinchan would come on. Then I would get a half hour break to shower before I watched my 8PM Korean drama on KBFD (lol). It’s a core memory for me.

Anyway, my favorite episodes on Soko Ga Shiritai were always their restaurant segments, especially the 1000-yen meals. One restaurant always remained in my memory, Kitchen Carrot. I wish I could find the episode again but it was a small restaurant run by a married couple, the husband was a former butcher so he knew how to get good quality meat at a cheap price which is why they were able to offer cheaper meal sets. They were super popular back then and I remember how tired the wife was (she said it and looked it) but the food…oh the food looked so good. It’s always been on my bucket list to find this restaurant and try it and guess what? I did on this trip! And a double score? We met up with Kat for lunch here! Thank you Kat for making the trek out here to join us for lunch! And oh my gosh, THANK YOU FOR THE OMIYAGE. You really didn’t have to and I loved the bag you gave me and all the goodies inside, I can’t wait to try the Japanese sriracha, you are so generous. And thank god Kat was there because they are not English friendly at this restaurant lol – double thank you!

Small kine research was that the original owners sold this place about a decade back – luckily the new owners are running it pretty much the same!

Looks just like it did in the 90’s! And man, this restaurant is SMALL. We were the first ones in line, well, no line really. But there was a stream of people coming in as we started eating.

Sirloin Steak (200g) | ¥1,750
served with miso soup, rice and coffee/oolong tea or orange juice

This was Kat’s dish! Oh man, it looked so good. I wanted to get hers when I saw it arrive! I’m a sucker for herbed butter, looked like the perfect portion too!

Sutemori Chicken (Hamburg, Chili Pepper Steak, Chicken Saute, Cream Croquette) | ¥1,850

Chan and I ordered the same set, for me, it was go big or go home. I waited over 20 years for this and who knows if I would return! You know what I really wanted? Same dish like this but in the segment, they also had these giant ebi fry. Oh that would have been awesome but this was good too! Can you believe…the chicken (the one with the red sauce on top) was the best part of the dish? The steak was actually bit dry and tough. I think I like everything else over the steak I got. I got the orange juice and absolutely enjoyed my experience.

Just wanted to show you my set up close and the big order of rice it comes with. Kat was good and asked for less rice, no way I was gonna do that. LOL, thank you to Chan and Kat for being part of one of my bucket list items come true!!!

Takeman – Kanagawa, Japan

Chan and I took a train out to Hiratsuka located within Kanagawa (my first time!) to meet up with two of his friends. I will say, the best meals we had during the trip were definitely at restaurants his friends’ (locals!!) chose. We dined in at Takeman and it was a wonderful experience; ambience, excellent service, food, everything was perfect!!! No English menu folks and we were served a set menu…so no real names of dishes here…sorry! It was all so delicious though…

Each of us had our own setting with a unique image – details!

Every dish was delicious and beautifully presented. Thank you to Takao for introducing this restaurant to us! Takao then drove us up to beautiful Komayama Park.

The park had one restaurant and check this out folks…

It was called Aloha Market and they sold Hawaiian plate lunches and specialties including “marasada.” Too bad we just ate lunch, I would have tried something!

Japan Airlines – HNL to HND

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope this post finds you well and that you had a wonderful Christmas! Traffic has been nuts yeah? More like nuts drivers. Stay safe out there! I’ll try my best to organize my life so that I will have time to blog again. Everything is a bit of a mess so I have much cleaning to do. Let me get some Japan posts out before it becomes old news! Chan and I had a wonderful time in Japan, was sad to come home but we will be back soon I am sure! For today’s post, I’ll share our wonderful flight experience from Honolulu to Haneda.

Sakura Lounge | Honolulu Airport

Yummers. Had to try their chicken curry on rice and of course their instant cup noodle. The curry? Was just alright, sorry! The chicken was kind of overcooked and dry. It’s a nice lounge and has every drink you can imagine! And not to sound da kine but the bathroom is located outside of the lounge in the airport and it was all hot and kind of stinky.

JAL Amenities Pouch – just wanted to show you folks what they give lol

They start you off with a drink and a nice rice cracker mix! Yum!

Washoku (Japanese Cuisine) | JAL Corporate Chef Uchiyama Naoki

Clockwise from top left: Walnut Tofu with Black Sesame Sauce; Squid Roll stuff with Spicy Cod Roe Potato; Salmon marinated in Sweet Vinegar; Roast Beef & Braised Soy Pulp with Soy Starchy Sauce (lol this description); Steamed Chicken with Sesame Sauce; Taro & Shrimp Cake & Japanese Omelette

Absolutely chose Washoku over the Western menu and there were no regrets. I enjoyed all of it! I especially loved these little side dishes. I think the tofu and squid was my favorites.

Grilled Black Cod “Saikyo Miso” Flavor
Steamed Rice (For keeping moisture of steamed rice, Chinese cabbage will be covered) – oh the details!

Super tender cod, looks kind of gray in the picture but tasted great! Loved the cabbage on the steamed rice lol.

Miso Soup

Lilikoi Passion-fruit Cake
Green Tea

Good, not great.

Assorted Cheese
Frest Fruits
Apple Juice (lol)

I had to take advantage of a snack time. Why I wanted to eat cheese as a lactose intolerant Asian on a plane? What do I say? I guess I’m a risk taker. I asked for water and apple juice too because I don’t drink alcohol. She plated it all so nicely and even gave me biscuits. Very nice.

Roast Beef Ciabatta Sandich
Fruits
Greek Yogurt ith Raspberry Sauce

The meal before arrival. Meh, was just alright. Nothing memorable. Didn’t care for the yogurt and there is my trusty apple juice again. Just a forewarning, I drank a lot of apple juice on this trip.

Mixed Plate Friday

Yeah, I tried the plant-based katsu musubi so you don’t have to. Well it’s up to you. It tastes fine, but they deep fry it katsu style so how can it be junk? And yeah, you can totally tell it’s plant based so if you’re looking for a good spam replacement, this wouldn’t be it. Also it’s $3!!!!

Speaking of musubi, I made this assortment for one of the UH football game gatherings the other week! Ger regular spam, red hot dog spam and plain musubi with some furikake. I enjoy the spam musubis I make lol.

I made this the other week because I had a hankering for Korean style oxtail soup. Trying to replenish my iron levels with meat and can you tell I love green onions? Haha, it was good! I had some glass noodles at the bottom too. Was good but got pretty tired of it after a while…hard to make a dish that you then gotta eat up yourself for DAYS.

Sushi Murayama – Ala Moana, HI

Chan treated me to a special dinner at Sushi Murayama! I haven’t been there in ages and I am not quite sure how they run the restaurant now, post-pandemic. Other than two other guests, we were the only ones seated at the sushi counter for their omakase. I’m not sure if they are doing their full menu dining in the full restaurant. Chan decided to try the $155 omakase deluxe set and what a treat! It’s 16 pieces of sushi and yes, they were all high quality.

My only complaint? Much. Too. Fast. I don’t think I have ever complained about fast service, but this was…too much. They put down your first piece of sushi right when you sit. They explain each sushi and the origin of it which is good, but basically once you eat the sushi – the next piece is already plopped down. The chef was super attentive and basically waiting for the moment to drop the next dish. I tell you, we could have finished the meal in 15 minutes because it felt that fast paced. For me, that ruined the experience a bit. Chan and I had a super omakase experience in Seattle which felt almost opposite of this. Gotta give your diners time to savor the food they just ate…I can’t remember much about each dish because it was just all too fast. I got full so fast too so I had to take some home. Well, enjoy the pics lol.

Kan Sushi – Waikiki, HI

Am I finally posting a new place pre-social media frenzy? Maybe, maybe not. I am scheduling this out but when I checked out Kan Sushi – it was before it was crazy busy. We came on a weekday for lunch. Kan Sushi is an all you can eat sushi/pupu/korean bbq/noodles restaurant. I mean, they seriously have everything. Here is the link to their current menu. Currently, the lunch price is $29.95 or $35.95 for dinner. The only difference is that select items are only available for the dinner price. But when you dine there during lunch and want to pay the dinner price, you can…and you can order dinner items! To me, the dinner items wasn’t enough for me to want to pay extra so we went for the lunch deal!

Kan Sushi is located in Waikiki in the old Todai/Makino Chaya location. Parking is a bit of a pain in the butt, but it is free for kamaaina! Entrance to parking is on Ena Road, there are signs in the parking with a QR code that you need to scan before heading into the restaurant. Once you’re in the restaurant, you fill out the online form and your waiter/waitress gives you a coupon code to input that gives you I believe 2 hours of free parking. Yes!!! 9/2/23 Parking Update: I am seeing that parking now costs money. It was free when I went to dine.

Nicely renovated!!

Tunapeno (4pcs)
spicy tuna, tuna tataki, jalapeno, spicy mayo, sriracha, soy mustard

Good, not great. I really don’t like their spicy tuna and if you know me, I love spicy tuna. They season it weird and the ahi is basically a paste, no bueno.

Truffle Salmon (2pcs)

Yum. I love truffle! This was good! Each nigiri order comes with 2pcs, I shared this with my friend. Yum!

Snowflake Salmon (2pcs)

Not quite sure why this is called snowflake salmon – I think there is supposed to be a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Do you see any sprinkling of cheese? It was good, but nothing spectacular.

Beef Belly Truffle Fries

No. No. No. No. The fries were soggy and not fried well. Beef belly? It’s basically bulgogi on top. And truffle? Where’s the truffle taste? There was absolutely none.

Bacon Pork Belly (Garlic)

I was happy to see KBBQ on the menu and was relieved when we ordered this that it wasn’t a huge serving. This is a managable size and was good!

Cajun Shrimp Udon Pasta

Okay, don’t hate me but this was probably my favorite dish of the meal. I really enjoyed it! Noodles were cooked well, love cajun seasoning and they were pretty generous with the shrimp. Definitely would get this again!

Tom & Jerry Roll (8pcs)
spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado, salmon, pico de gallo, garlic flake, ponzu

This one was a risky order. 4 of the rolls are topped with pico de gallo, the other 4 are topped with crunchy garlic. The rolls are spicy tuna and shrimp tempura (you already know how I feel about their spicy tuna). You know what? The pico de gallo worked really nicely, added a nice fresh crunch to the dish. The cilantro and onions were wonderful. The pieces with crunchy garlic, not great. This is a risky order because it can really fill you up. I don’t know if I would order this again.

Avocado Ball
krab meat (imitation crab), spicy tuna, poke, crunch, hot sauce, avocado, spicy mayo, eel sauce, tobiko, cheese powder (did not see cheese powder on this either)

Okay, this wasn’t really my dish. It’s so pretty to look at but it is HUGE. Good news? No rice, it’s filled with imitation crab (they called it krab and krab is all over the menu) and chunks of random fish. I was already too full so I couldn’t partake in this but hey, if you like avocado, go for it!

Roly Poly Roll
krab meat, salmon, masago, green onion, eel sauce, soy mustard sauce

Not my dish again, it’s salmon wrapped with you guess it, krab salad. It was alright. OH AND BY THE WAY, THEIR SHOYU AND WASABI is some of the weakest tasting I have ever had. Imagine using watered down low sodium Aloha Shoyu or something. Sneak in your own kikkoman or yamasa packets, the junk shoyu really ruined my eating experience.

All in all though, I would return because the price point is great. This is a good place to go with picky eaters too since it’s not just sushi, you can order all kine food!