afternoon tea restaurants: chocolate hawaii oahu pastries sandwiches tea
by Lindsey
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Tea at Hawaii Prince Hotel
After a long day’s shopping at Ala Moana mall, my friend and I stopped in at Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki for afternoon tea. This hotel is right by the water, and its afternoon tea is served in its airy foyer overlooking the yacht harbor. The foyer has an elevated seating area, and the waiter brings out the food from one of the restaurants that flank the atrium. The service was on the slow side (maybe because of its location), and I thought the furniture looked a bit retro (in a dated way, not in a hip way). It was a nice and sunny area though, and I did enjoy getting a breather.
The afternoon tea itself was just…okay. Nothing spectacular or unique about it. When a tea is done with little flair and no originality, I scrutinize it even more. If there’s nothing standout about the menu, then they should at least attempt to do a good version of the traditional tea. Not so here. I think they need to go back to the drawing board and study a real tea.
Pictured above is my Darjeeling, which was actually quite nice. Loved the china pattern. The rest:
Pacific Place Tea Garden
After shopping around the numerous shops at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, my friend and I stopped at the Pacific Place Tea Garden kiosk for a drink.
I got the matcha (green tea) latte, pictured above. I’m not sure why I got the hot version – it was pretty warm that day, and Ala Moana is an outdoor mall. Still, it was tasty enough, and I always enjoy the calming flavor of matcha. It wasn’t overly sweetened, which was nice.
My friend got something called a pink bamboo float:
Formaggio
For dinner, we headed to a local wine bar called Formaggio, located in some nondescript strip mall off to the corner. The restaurant itself didn’t look like much from the outside, but it had a nice atmosphere inside. The place was a bit narrow and cramped (and a bit dim, which made for difficult photographing), but I enjoyed it overall. The food was fabulous.
Above, we have the grilled vegetable napoleon, made with portabella mushroom, eggplant, zucchini, roasted peppers, caramelized onions, truffle oil and goat cheese. It was definitely as wonderful as it sounds. I loved grilled veggies – the smokey flavor really brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables. The goat cheese added a nice pungent kick.
The rest:
L & L
Some time during the trip, we naturally had to stop at by the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue for a quick bite. L&L is a fast food joint that serves Japanese-esque comfort food. They do franchise their brand – mostly in the west, though they do have a branch or two in New York.
Pictured above is the pork katsu (breaded and fried pork), which came with a side of rice and macaroni salad. I’m not sure what was up with the macaroni salad, but that seemed to be the usual accompaniment to the meal. I thought the pork was really tasty, if a little bit overdone.
I had the beef teriyaki:
Tsukuneya
Okay, back to Hawaii!
One of the things I loved about Honolulu was how there were SO many Japanese restaurants. And not just your typical all-in-one joint where you can get sushi, tempura, teriyaki, ramen, whatever at the same place. They had more specialized places like you would find in Japan, and one such place we went to was a Nagoya cuisine-inspired izakaya (pub) that served chicken tsukune’ or meatballs. The restaurant, aptly named Tsukuneya, had a very extensive list of various tsukune to choose from, which they cooked up on their robata grill. They also made tofu in-house, which I definitely took advantage of as well. ♥
This was actually my first experience having tsukune. In all, I thought they were pretty good, though some were a little on the bland side. I think it’s definitely a satisfying meal to have with a glass of beer (if that’s your thing), and relatively inexpensive. You can order as many different flavor combinations you like, and you pay by the piece.
Pictured above is the bainiku (dried plum) topped with fresh shiso leaf, one of my favorites. The tartness of the plum provided a nice contrast to the tender meat.
Many more under the cut:
dessert dinner holiday: cake cheese comfort food ham pastries
by Lindsey
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Easter
Happy May Day everybody! I’m veering off my slowly trickling Hawaii posts to write about last week’s tour de force of culinary mastery known as the Easter Pot-luck Dinner of Epicness. Hosted by my friends who also brought you their Christmas Dinner (where, if you recall, we couldn’t congratulate ourselves enough for a job well done), the event was filled to the brim with so much food and fabulosity that the guests hardly knew what to do with it all. And to make matters even more intense, we had a rowdy game of Taboo afterward that I don’t think I’ve recovered from yet. (Ever notice that when you’re playing this game, your voice keeps rising and rising until you realize you’re screaming at the top of your lungs? I think somehow this contributes to the effectiveness of your strategy, because everyone gets so crazed that they shout back anything, everything that comes to mind, and ONE of those things has to be the right answer!!)
Pictured above is the ham, which our lovely hostess made using Alton Brown’s City Ham recipe. Alton is always a good bet, and it certainly was the case here. The ham actually came out quite late in the evening, but I still scarfed down a few succulent slices despite the fact that I’d already eaten enough food for 3 people. The crust was wondrous and crispy, and the meat perfectly cooked.
The rest:
