Anyone been to these places?

[flylice2x]

Matsumoto’s Okazuya Restaurant
1323 Gulick Ave

Little Village Noodle House
/www.littlevillagehawaii.com/

Utage Restaurant
1286 Kalani St. Honolulu HI 96817

Goma Tei Ramen
Ward Centre, 1200 Ala Moana Blvd Honolulu HI 96814

ZenShu
477 Kapahulu Ave Honolulu Hi 98615

Tae’s Teppanyaki
1666 Kalauokalani Way Honolulu Hi 96814

IchiBen
Waimalu Shopping Center 98-1258 Kaahumanu St.

Raraya
1145-B S. King St Honolulu Hi

Choi’s Garden Restaurant
1303 Rycroft St Honolulu Hi 96814

Tokkuri-Tei
611 Kapahulu Ave Honolulu Hi 96815

Caliente Del Sol
870 Kapahulu Ave Kaimuki

Izakaya Nonbei
3108 Olu St Honolulu Hi 96816

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Little Village Noodle House
1113 Smith St, Honolulu, HI 96817

Honolulu HI
478 Alakawa St, Honolulu, HI

Goma Tei Ramen
Ward Ctr, Honolulu, HI 96813

Caliente Del Sol Restaurant
870 Kapahulu Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816

Izakaya Nonbei
3108 Olu St, Honolulu, HI 96816

[Jazzaloha]

Little Village Noodle House: Loved it the first couple of times I went, but then was mildly disappointed on subsequent visits (I didn't care for the different items I tried on subsequent visits.)

Goma Tei: I went there twice. The first I liked the chicken tatsutaage; the second time it was a disappointment. I liked the ramen, but I'm in the camp that prefers Goma Ichi's tan-tan ramen (shiru is better, imo). I read that John Heckathorn and others loved their char-siu. I just thought it was OK (similar to roast pork you can get a plate lunch places, not the Chinese style).

ZenShu: I tried a few things here. I was surprised to find myself liking the okonomiyaki fries--which is essentially frozen, crinkle cut fries with some chopped red ginger, nori and drizzles of tangy mayo and the Okonomiyaki sauce. I enjoyed it. The other items weren't memorable. Having said that, I think I'm just not a big fan of the neo-Japanese/izakaya food places (e.g. Shokudo, Kai, etc.), mainly because the flavors/ingredients don't always blend well; plus, these places are a bit pricey.

Tokkuri-Tei: I've been here several times. I like the salmon skin salad, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.

Izakaya-Nonbei: seemed pretty traditional. I thought it was OK, but friend loved this place (and she loves Japanese food).

Ichi-ben: I went here once. I thought it was just OK. For me, the shiru was a little too bland.

Caliente del Sol: Are they still in business? I liked the dishes here. Perhaps, one of the better Mexican places in Hawai'i. If it were a bit cheaper, I'd try to go there more often.

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Little Village Noodle House
1113 Smith St, Honolulu, HI 96817

Tokkuri-Tei
611 Kapahulu Ave Ste 102, Honolulu, HI 96815

[Joebob]

I agree about Little Village, Jazz. Now I think that Fook Yuen brings more wok hay, particularly in dishes like their spicy eggplant. Ever tried that? It has some crunchy veg./fungus? that I can't identify, but it really makes the dish.

[Jazzaloha]

I don't think I've tried Fook Yuen's spicy eggplant. I haven't been there in a while. Are they still serving lobster for $10 (if you buy something else)? What's "wok hay" btw?

[curiousgeo]

I believe wok hay means wok breath, or something like that. The taste of the food cooked in a well seasoned wok over very high heat. It can make a big difference in flavor.

[Joebob]

SPOT ON! The eggplant is #67 "Eggplant Szechuan Style" and they were offering the $10.99 lobster (which, in black bean sauce, was terrific) last week at least.

[Jazzaloha]

Have you ever had the lobster with butter garlic sauce over e-mein? I like black bean sauce, but I prefer the butter garlic with emein. Btw, has anyone tried Harbor Seafood (I think that's the name) in Hawai'i Kai? I had the lobster with butter garlic and emein there for the first time, and it was one of the best noodle dishes I've had.

[Joebob]

No, haven't had it. Did you have it at Fook Yuen? How did it compare to Harbor seafood (pricewise too)? $10.99 even for a small lobster is hard to beat.

[Jazzaloha]

Yes, I have had the lobster with garlic, butter emein at Fook Yuen. It was also good, but not as good as the one at Harbor Village Cuisine. Also, at HVC, I had the lobster in one of those seven course meals, so I don't know how much it would be as a la carte.

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Harbor Village Cuisine
7192 Kalanianaole Hwy Ste C123, Honolulu, HI 96825

[Joebob]

What & how were the other six courses? How does it compare to FY?

[Jazzaloha]

Here's what I said about the place (I went in 2005; it was $30 per person; a ten person set menu):

We started with the sharksfin soup with these small mushrooms. If you’re familiar with nametake, it’s the same type of mushroom. The soup came with shrimp and other seafood. It was one of the most tasty sharkfin soups I had.

That was followed by the “wine soaked” chicken–in the ginger chicken style– with jellyfish. This was the weakest dish, imo. A strong wine taste would hit at the initial part of each bite, but would quickly disappear leaving a very tasteless chicken flavor. The jellyfish was OK. (I preferred the ones I had at Legend’s.) it came in a sesame seed sauce similiar to the type you get with Korean vegetables. The jellyfish looks like udon noodles and tasted like another type of Japanese food, which I can’t think of now.

Luckily, this was followed by tasy Peking Duck. This was good, but nothing exceptional.

Garlic Roasted Crab and Lobster in butter, garlic sauce over e-mein noodles came next. The roasted garlic looked like a mound of thick dust particles covering the crab. The crab was just OK, if a bit salty.

The lobster was much better. But the best food of the evening was the e-mein with the butter, garlic sauce. Folks, this is my favorite Chinese noodles I’ve ever eaten. The noodles were slightly al-dente, and very tasty, sort of thicker than linguini. The sauce and noodles had a bit of the saimin-dashi flavor. That may not sound appealing, but it was super good. Bits of green and red pepper was also in the sauce. Btw, this is not part of the regular set menu. The regular menu has the lobster in a black bean sauce without the e-mein, but thanks to Tracy we had the sauce changed and the e-mein added–a masterstroke!

I almost didn’t care what we had after this, but the honey walnut shrimp that followed was pretty good (not better than Little Village Noodle Shop). The batter was not and crispy, not too oily. The mayo and honey taste was a bit muted for my tastes.

Porkchops came next, which was prepared like sweet and sour pork. The meat was very tender and tasty.

The second best dish of the evening was the flounder. Chunks of the fish fried withe skin on came in a basketball made up of the skin and tail. The dish also came with brocolli and other vegetables. The fish was really tasty–with bits of crispy skin, along with a light batter. It was really, really good. I even didn’t mind the sauce, not very overpowering or oversweet. I would love to go to this place and just order the flounder and the lobster e-mein.

At this point I was really full, but we still had the abalone dish with mushrooms and baby bok choi (?). This was good, too, reminding me of my aunty’s recipe, but I was too full to enjoy it.

As overkill, we also got the duck meat from the Peking Duck. This followed by a choice of tapioca with bits of melon or almond float (nice strong almond flavor, chich is not always the case). Both really refreshing desserts.

Two big thumbs up for this place. Don and Tracy also recommend the lamb w/leeks, so I’ll try to go back and try that. Hopefully, I can get the lobster (butter garlic sauce) on e-mein!

[KaimukiMan]

I notice you have Choi's Garden twice. I thought it was really good, but I took some korean friends there who were not overly impressed. They thought it was OK, but nothing special.

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Choi's Restaurant
1303 Rycroft St, Honolulu, HI 96814