Category : Food, luxtravel
What do you enjoyed eating on a rainy day? For me, it’s the love of ramen. There something about the steaming hot bowl of noodles that just warm you up on a cold day. With the expansion of Goma Tei, (yes! another locations has been added at Ala Moana Shopping Center), we decided to drop by and try out the newest location.
Goma Tei Restaurant is known for their famous “Tan Tan Ramen” which is noodles made with a spicy, nutty broth. I heard the broth is boiled for couple of hours and that it is good for you. My husband ordered their Char-Siu Tan Tan Ramen which also comes with choi sum. The char-siu were quite large and flavorful. I, on the other hand, opted for the Vegetable Tan Tan Ramen which is topped with choi sum, carrots, green onions and 3 different kinds of mushrooms. The broth was spicy and so delicious.
The place was busy and there was a sign up sheet located near the door, but the wait was worth it. It definately fulfilled the need of 2 hungry stomachs.
Goma Tei Ramen Restaurant
Ala Moana Shopping Center
Ph: 808-947-9188
Category : Food, luxtravel
I’ve always love eating spicy food whether it is sushi with wasabi sauce, Vietnamese sandwiches with chill pepper or extra spicy Ma-Po tofu with rice. About two weeks ago, my husband I went to a Korean restaurant located near his workplace. The food was so delicious, but what I really enjoyed were the many side dishes (banchan) that they served during the meal.
The meat were marinated for intense flavored and cut into small sizes so there was no need for any knifes. Traditional Korean food is eaten with stainless steel chopsticks and spoon so any of the food were served too large (eg. whole grilled fish), it can easily be split with the chopsticks.
The most common spices and sauces used in Korean dishes are: sesame oil, chili pepper paste (kochujang), chili pepper flakes (kochukaru), soybean paste (daenjang), soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and scallions. This is to helped preserve the food.
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During our families get-together, my uncle was telling me where he’s planning to take his 2 kids this summer as they have a long break in-between the school year. It is quite challenging to find something that the kids will love and the adult will equally enjoy.
Welcome to the world of cruising. Nope! I am not talking about driving your car leisurely, but a different approach to vacationing on a large cruise ship.
Oasis is Royal Caribbean’s Biggest Cruise Ship that offers lots of things to do. At 225,000 tons, there lots of areas to explore. The children and teens area is the largest on the ship at 29,000 square feet. There is also the zip line which span 82 feet in length and suspended nine decks high. Of course, you also have a carousel, tropical park, children’s theater and pools for the younger kids. Your child will never run out of things to do.
As for the adult, there’s choices of spas, exotic food buffets, shopping, sports deck, shows, entertainment, pools or just relaxing your beautiful rooms while admiring the views at sea.
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This past Saturday night was the 6th time I’ve ate at this restaurant since it’s grand opening a few years ago. My friends love this place since it is located centrally in Hawaii’s largest shopping mall, Ala Moana Center and there is lots of free parking. Another reasons is that the choices of foods are really GREAT as they have 4 different types of stations.
Tsukiji Fish Market and Restaurant offers any diners a unique dining experience as they are entertain by a live Hawaiian band and shown hundreds of varieties of different dishes ranging from traditional Japanese, Chinese, Korean and fusion plates. In addition to the buffet, you can also dine at their sushi, yakitori and robatayaki bars. Don’t forget the sake!
For those fish lovers, the fish market next door offer an assortments of fresh island fish for purchase. No wonder, even my youngest brother picked this place as the ideal location to celebrate his union. It was definitely a packed house and everyone easily gain a extra pound as the food was delicious. I ended up going to the buffet line 3 times. YIKES!
Tsukiji Fish Market & Restaurant
Hours: Sun-Sat lunch from 11AM — 2PM.
Dinner from 5PM — 10PM. Open on all holidays.
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Anyone loves curry? We are fortunate to have a wide selections of the best curry in town from Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and even grandma’s secret recipe. This post will focus mainly on a very popular Japanese Curry House.
What I love about Curry House Coco Ichibanya is their company’s motto “Briskly, sharply and always with a smile”. From the cooking staff to the waiters, the service is excellent. As each one of them quickly get the job done. As customers leave, the table is quickly clear and fill with hungry people. None of the staff seems like they do not want to be at work. The decoration of the restaurant reveal a warm, friendly environment with bright colors.
In addition to the great customer service, the food is excellent. You have a choice between spicy or mild and portion size. The customer can elect to have 2 or 5 scope of rice which are all weigh therefore not allowing any mistakes and making sure, everyone has the exactly that amount. I, personally, have seen in other restaurant where portion size differ on the same dish. Last week, my best friend and I ordered 2 pasta dishes and when it arrive, my dish seems almost twice her size. She was a bit annoyed. We end up splitting the my dish since it was so large.
Coco Ichibanya has allow you the option to add on different items to your dish. For example, I had the spinach, egg plant and kim chee. Yup! Super Spicy! There are about 20 – 30 items that you can add on. Why not head down and get some curry? Don’t forget the water!
Curry House Coco Ichibanya
98-199 Kamehameha Highway
Aiea, HI 96701
** In addition to Japan and Hawaii, they also have restaurants in China, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand.
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This week is spring break for many high school and college students. A time when they are allow to stay up past midnight, hang out at the mall without getting a warning from the police officers or even have the freedom to travel aboard. If you do decided to travel anywhere, questions about etiquette will naturally rise, one which involved tipping. How will you know when to tips and how much?
As you interact with folks from service industry, you’ll get opportunities to practice tipping. Tipping is not required especially in some Asia countries, but please remember that these people that worked in the service industry depend on tips as a way to help with their income. In a rather bad economy, showing your appreciation for receiving great customer service is by far, appreciated.
Tipping customs in the USA
At the hotel
- Bell Desks: $1 – $2 for each bag
- Housekeeping: $2 – $5 per day. Leave the tip out each day and not at the end of your trip to ensure that the person cleaning your room receives the money.
- Valet: $2 – $5 (when retrieving your car)
Services
- Bars: $1 per drink or 15-20% of total bar bill
- Restaurant: 10-20% of the total bill, depending on service.
- Salon or Spa: 10-20% of the total bill
- Taxi: 10-15% of the fare
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According to Wikipedia, Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese pancake that contains a variety of ingredients. The name okonomi means “what you like” or “what you want” and yaki means to “grilled” or “cooked”, therefore you have the word Okonomiyaki.
It is believed that Okonomiyaki originated in Osaka, the largest Kansai region in Japan where ingredients including otafuku (Okonomiyaki sauce), aonori (seaweed flakes), katsuobushi (bonito flakes), Japanese mayonnaise and beni shoga (pickled ginger) are added.
I got the opportunity to head over to Chibo Restaurant this past Sunday evening. There are 54 Chibo Restaurant in total including the largest and only one in the United States, Chibo Honolulu.
The line outside of the restaurant was quite long as the wait for a table took a bit more then 30 minutes. The server was not up to par, but the delicious food made up for it. The teppanyaki-style dining provided something different as it dished was prepared right in front of us. We had the options of ordering anything extra with our meals or to take out an ingredient which we did by subtracting the mayonnaise sauce. The food was prepared very well and each dishes was mouth-watering.
Chibo Teppanyaki Okonomiyaki Restaurant
2201 Kalakaua Avenue, Suite A-305
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
Tel: (808) 922-9722
Hours:
Lunch: 11:30am – 2:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm – 10:00pm
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