{"id":775,"date":"2013-02-21T12:37:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T17:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayliang.us\/?p=775"},"modified":"2013-02-21T12:37:53","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T17:37:53","slug":"honolulu-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/?p=775","title":{"rendered":"Honolulu Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to some friends of ours, we were introduced to a fabulous restaurant called Town in Honolulu. No photos of their delicious cooking, I\u2019m sorry to say, but trust me, the food is wonderful. Their website is www.townkaimuki.com<\/a>. Their motto is \u201cLocal first, organic whenever possible, with aloha always.\u201d All we can add is that the kitchen clearly takes pride and care in their cooking. We highly recommend it.
\nWe did dine at Alan Wong\u2019s (of course!) and had their classic tasting menu again (I know I should branch out, but the foie gras and pulled pig sandwich served with tomato soup is to die for, and it\u2019s the only way I can get it).
\nSo, we started out with the appetizer, which was a Chopped Ahi Sashimi and Avocado Salsa Stack stacked on a crispy won ton and served with a spicy aioli and wasabi soy (on the left) and the \u201cSoup and Sandwich,\u201d a chilled vine ripened Hamakua Springs tomato soup and a grilled mozzarella cheese, foie gras and kalua pig sandwich. Really, there was no need for the rest of the dinner after that.<\/p>\n

\"Chopped<\/a>
Chopped Ahi Sashimi & Avocado Salsa Stack and “Soup & Sandwich”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second course was a Butter Poached Kona Cold Lobster served with Keahole abalone, Eryngi mushrooms and green onion oil.<\/p>\n

\"Butter<\/a>
Butter Poached Cold Lobster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The third course was the Ginger Crusted Onaga (Long-Tail Red Snapper) served with a miso sesame vinaigreete, organic Hamakua mushrooms and Kahuku corn.<\/p>\n

\"Ginger<\/a>
Ginger Crusted Onaga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main course was the Twice Cooked Short Rib, Soy Braised and Grilled \u201cKalbi\u201d Style served with gingered shrimp and ko choo jang sauce.<\/p>\n

\"Twice<\/a>
Twice Cooked Short Rib<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, finally, dessert, Waialua Chocolate \u201cCrunch Bars,\u201d consisting of layers of milk chocolate macadamia nut crunch and bittersweet chocolate mousse.<\/p>\n

\"Chocolate<\/a>
Chocolate Crunch Bars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also had dinner at Sushi Sasabune, a sushi restaurant where you eat off a set menu. You eat what they give you and how they tell you (if they say \u201cno sauce,\u201d you eat it with no sauce). The rumor is that you will be asked to leave if you flout their directions. I\u2019m generally cantankerous enough that the attitude is a bit over-the-top for me, but there really is no attitude. The requests are phrased very politely, and the fish is so fresh (Japan quality fresh) and the dishes are so innovative that I just roll with the sushi (as it were).<\/p>\n

We do try new restaurants, too, and in addition to Town, we went to Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas. The food here was also innovative and delicious. We opted to order only off the appetizer menu, although there are also entrees available. We started with a Duo of Contemporary Sushi (torched smoked cold Hamachi and miso glazed salmon).<\/p>\n

\"Duo<\/a>
Duo of Contemporary Sushi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next was the Spicy Tuna, with konbu rice, homemade taegu, shiso, and tobiko.<\/p>\n

\"Spicy<\/a>
Spicy Tuna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then was the Steamed Kurobuta Pork Belly with torched brie cheese, ginger, shiso, fresh WOW Farm tomato-scallion salad, nori wrapped msubi and \u201cadobo sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Steamed<\/a>
Steamed Pork Belly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After that was the Crispy Coriander Dusted Duck Leg served with Shantaku haricot vert, Chinese five spice pepper and soy star anise sauce.<\/p>\n

\"Crispy<\/a>
Crispy Coriander Duck Leg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And our final course (because we were bursting at the seams) was the Portuguese Sausage Potstickers served with wilted choi sum, sweet corn, kim chee foam and truffled ponzu sauce.<\/p>\n

\"Portuguese<\/a>
Portuguese Sausage Potstickers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If we had to rank our dining experiences (and they were all delicious\u2014you can\u2019t go wrong with any of them), we would be forced to rank them in the following order: Alan Wong\u2019s, Town, Sushi Sasabune, and Hiroshi.
\nAnd for more low brow dining, let\u2019s not forget the International Marketplace (scheduled for demolition later this month). Where else you can find the world\u2019s most delicious kim chee fried rice?<\/p>\n

\"kimchee<\/a>
kimchee fried rice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that completes the restaurant reviews for the day. \u263a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to some friends of ours, we were introduced to a fabulous restaurant called Town in Honolulu. No photos of their delicious cooking, I\u2019m sorry to say, but trust me, the food is wonderful. Their website is www.townkaimuki.com. Their motto is \u201cLocal first, organic whenever possible, with aloha always.\u201d All we can add is that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,25],"tags":[27,74,332,331,73,72],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-honolulu","category-restaurants","tag-alan-wongs","tag-hiroshi-eurasion-tapas","tag-honolulu","tag-restaurants","tag-sushi-sasabune","tag-town"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p23QXm-cv","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}