Aloha Vietnamese Foods – Moilili, HI

Aloha Vietnamese Foods (aka Aloha Pho on Yelp) is located in the same lot as Sweet Home Cafe so if you plan to come during dinner, expect a struggle in finding parking. I’ve seen some great reviews for this place so I wanted to give it a try. My experience was a bit lackluster. I thought the food was okay but they were super short-staffed so service was very slow. I somehow wish that since they have such a small staff that they would lessen the tables they have in the restaurant – there’s no sense in seating so many people if you can’t keep up with their orders.

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141115-03Oxtail Curry with Rice

I was really looking forward to trying this dish. I love coconut milk based curry and oxtail is always winners. How was the dish? It was good, not great. I feel like there is something missing from it. It was a bit sweet for my taste – I feel like it was missing some kind of spice. I can’t pinpoint it – but I do wish more Vietnamese restaurants had this dish so I can try different variations!

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141115-05Pho – nothing special but not bad. I think the portion is a bit small. This place is all right but I’m not sure I would add it to my dining rotation…

 

New 711 Goodies

Okay, I went to Target last night and well it was pretty empty by the time I got there. We got there around 8:15 pm and there was parking right off the bat. How was the store? Pretty good! Felt like a typical shopping night. However, once you got to the food shelves, a lot of them were wiped clean! Especially the bread. I was able to pick up most of what I needed (no batteries left) and after my brother broke a glass lantern holder by mistake, I got out of there. We apologized and reported it but I felt so bad by then that I didn’t want to stay. Their water was all gone too! I heard you can head to the water bottlers directly to grab some water for those who still don’t have any. I’ll remain positive and hope for the best – I really hope it weakens and there will be minimal damage.

I also decided to go to Costco after Target for gas. It was 9:15 pm and the line was still out to the road. The line moved pretty fast considering how congested it originally was. Glad I got my gas last night, I was actually running low anyhow. Take care everyone and stay safe out there.

Anyway, onto today’s post! 711 is stepping up their gourmet game! I’ve noticed quite a few new items lately and decided to give a few a try. Here they are!

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140806-03Curry Doria! Isn’t that awesome?? I got this from the cold case and followed instructions to heat it up in the microwave. The instructions lied! I even put it in an extra 30 seconds and it was still cold on the inside. The top was completely hot and melted so I thought the whole thing was heated through. How was it? Other than the hard cold rice, not bad! A tad too salty for me but I am definitely glad I tried it!

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140806-06Spicy Ahi and Seafood Poke Bowl. Translation – a few chunks of ahi and a lot of imitation crab in the spicy ahi sauce. The price is good so I didn’t mind! How was it? Bleh. Not good. The spicy ahi and seafood mixture didn’t taste that great, I prefer a stronger sesame oil taste. The rice? Super mushy and sweet. I think they were going the Tanioka’s route in terms of a sweet rice but they didn’t execute it well. I would not get this again.

Dagon – Moilili, HI

My friend told me about Dagon restaurant a few weeks ago and I just had to try it! They specialize in Burmese cuisine and I have never had it. The pictures on Yelp look amazing so I was very excited to give this place a try. It’s located on South King Street in front of Kokua Market and across the street from 7 Eleven. How was it? I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

140517-01It’s “dagon” good! Yes, I went there. I apologize.

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140517-03Dagon Tea Leaf Salad – $10.99
All the pictures on Yelp are of the Tea Leaf Salad so I was really excited to get it…not realizing the one I ordered would look so different. No regrets though, this salad tasted fantastic. The menu says it’s spicy but it is pretty mild. Here are the pics of the regular tea leaf salad: here and here.

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140517-05Burmese Samusas – $7.99
These are a lot like samosas, they are filled with flavorful vegetables and deep fried. My friend described this best, it tastes like apple pie but not. Confusing? A bit, but once you taste it – you’ll get what we mean. And what we are trying to say is that there is a lot of nutmeg…but it’s great!

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140517-07Burmese Beef Curry with Potatoes – $13.99
This dish does not come with rice, it was good but I think it’s a bit overpriced.

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140517-09Pumpkin Chicken Stew – $13.99
Once again – no rice and I don’t think it’s a great deal. Both curry dishes also contain a lot of oil. I tried a pumpkin from this dish and felt it was undercooked so I wasn’t a big fan.

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140517-11Burmese Indian Rice – $5.99
Isn’t this dish of rice beautiful? I love all the colors! The rice itself didn’t have any real flavor or spices in it – it’s only when you got a bite of the raisins or any of the other toppings that you would get a new flavor.

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140517-13Nan Pia Dok – $10.99
Flat flour noodles with a chicken curry sauce and yummy toppings. I loved this dish so much! I wasn’t too impressed when it was first placed at our table…but I mixed it up, took a bite and I was in coconut curry heaven. I love coconut milk so this dish was perfect. What’s great was that the flavor was fairly mild yet not at all bland. If you enjoy coconut curry, give this dish a try!

All in all, it was a great meal! They have almost non-existent parking…but I scored a spot right up front in the street. I really did enjoy the tea salad and my noodle dish a lot. I’d love to go back to this restaurant soon. It was pretty busy in there so the food took a little while to come out. They only had one waitress for the whole restaurant so it was a bit hard to flag her down after or order was taken. Anyhow, please give it a try!

Typical Breakfast – Shinjuku, Japan

I had two issues in Japan. One, I woke up every morning feeling super dizzy. It lasted all day and I don’t know what it was. I carried my dramamine with me to try to control it but it didn’t work too well. Second, there wasn’t enough time or room in my stomach to eat everything in Japan. The second one is what made me most sad, lol. For breakfast, we weren’t always in the mood for breakfast but ate some anyway! Precious eating time! What we ended up doing was going to small little shops that had computer vending machines taking your orders. Those are the best places. Put your order in, seat yourself, food is delivered, devour and then leave. We need that here.

140125-01My breakfast! A curry and udon set.

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Linda had the wakame udon. She wanted to clean her system out from all the eating!

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140125-06Best eggs are in Japan. Please tell me I’m wrong and if you do, you must tell me where the best eggs are.

The food is great. These restaurants are probably thought of as low quality fast food which to me was like high quality for Hawaii! It was so good. We were one of the few diners this particular morning. We were joined by a drunk girl in the corner, passed out in her bowl of noodles. Yes. In. Her. Bowl. The workers don’t do much of anything – I assume they see a lot of people who come in to pass out after drinking…haha!

Goma Tei Ramen – Ward Center

I love me some Tan Tan Ramen.  Do you have a place that serves your favorite Tan Tan?  I’ve gotta give it up to Goma Tei Ramen because this is the first place I have ever tried Tan Tan Ramen.  Tan Tan Ramen’s broth looks thick with sesame murkiness but the broth doesn’t taste as thick as it looks.  I’ve been coming here ever since they opened but haven’t been back in over a year.  I was starting to get disappointed in my previous visits because I felt like they were making changes that affected the quality.  So how did this visit fare?   Let’s explore.

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Let my Wakame Tan Tan Ramen lure you in…

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