Mandalay Chinese Restaurant

Mandalay Chinese Restaurant's designers & owners have created a truly classy ambience for a Chinese restaurant. Its neither garish nor excessively gilded. There is a tasteful design, which is quite restrained and even understated, as far as Chinese restaurants go. The food is quite good. But, I think I miss the dim sum carts. Im not sure a few dim sum carts with bamboo stacker containers would really have diminished the tasteful design. It is, after all, a dim sum place at lunch. Rather than pushing the carts, the waitresses take orders and bring out the dim sum to your table. The food tastes good. Its efficient service, even though working those carts back into service could be an "atmosphere-enhancing" move.

Ryan's Grill

And then there was one. Ryan's Grill is, for the time being, the last "man" standing among the upstairs restaurants in the Ward Center (once "the" place for restaurants in Honolulu). With E&O, Compadres and Brew Moon closed, Ryan's has proved that it certainly has staying power... and for good reason. Its been around since the mid-80s. Back then it had a "hip" "new" "current" "now" kind of thing going on. Even now, Ryan's stays current with its food, presentation, colors and flavors. This is part of the reason it has lasted for over a quarter century.

Another great thing about Ryans is its great late night hours, with later night happy hour prices!

Gordon Biersch

A chain restaurant, yes. But still quite an enjoyable evening. There was live music and the food was quite good. Sometimes a trip out to a chain restaurant can be fun too. There is a consistency about these chain restaurants that has its appeal. The portions, as with many of these chains, were large and I took home a doggie black-folding-box. The prices were not the best, but, I think theres a theory to the whole big portions thing, Im just not sure what it is.

We especially enjoyed a dish which they call "tapas" Its a dish with pita breads and four different spreads you can use as toppings. There was an olive spread, a bruschetta, humus, and roasted garlic. I paired it with their seasonal beer, a nice combination.

Chibaken Japanese Restaurant

If cool little restaurants interest you, check out the segment of Waikiki between Kalakaua Avenue and Ala Moana Blvd, on Ena Road. Chibaken is one of those cool restaurants, there's also an Italian restaurant that I plan to blog about soon, and, Cafe Hula Girl, which I've already blogged about.

Chibaken is the kind of sleek, artsy Japanese that seems to be eminating from that country. The flavor of its food is crisp and clean, as Japanese food really needs to be.

Chibaken's hours are late, and, its prices are reasonable.

Hula Boba

In down town Honolulu, just on the edge of China Town, is Hula Boba. Its a sweets store, with various snacks, "boba" (pearl tea drinks), ice cream, shaved ice and halo halo, a Filipino dessert consisting of finely shaved ice, shreds of flavored gelatin, fruits and beans. If youre not from the Pacific area, this dessert may sound a bit odd, but, I assure you, its quite refreshing. Hula Boba has wonderful halo halo, the ice is very very fine. The gelatin is tastey and the fruit is plentiful. I recommend it! Trying new things, its a good thing right?

Sorabol

Sorabol Korean Restaurant, across from Walmart on Keeaumoku. In other big cities, dinner after 10 pm is not as common as it is here in Honolulu. So, Sorabol Restaurant is a tastey alternative to the Zipps, Mikkey Ds, and J in the Bs. There is sit down service, and pretty decent Korean food. The pic of the cow is an iron hot plate that brings out sizzling kal bi. Unfortunately, the kalbi was pretty tastey, so it was gone before I could take a picture. But the cow shaped hot pan is a point of interest nonetheless. We had a fun dinner at 11 pm, when we were actually ready to eat!

Jack's Restaurant

East-Honolulu-ers have a secret: Jack's Restaurant is a fantastic little place for breakfast. Located in Aina Haina Shopping Center, Jack's is a small-ish cafe that is open only for breakfast and lunch. The restaurant is clean, and, the staff is friendly. And... the food is absolutely delicious!

We each had an omelette and split a short stack of buttermilk pancakes. Without exaggerating, these pancakes (which came suprisingly fast, despite the cafe being packed) were among the best I've ever had! The omelettes were delicious and the portions were big, without being ridiculous!

On that Saturday morning, we walked right in and there was a table. But we had been lucky! The people after us were not so lucky with seating... By the time we were done savoring every last bite of those buttermilk pancakes, there were at least 15 people waiting outside Jack's doors.

After eating at this little East Honolulu secret, I really do understand its reputation as a top notch breakfast place. I could also understand the dozen, or more, people waiting outside with nothing but anticipation on their minds!

Shabu Shabu

While "shabu shabu" is technically a Japanese tradition, many Chinese people enjoy it as well. Really, its a variant of the Chinese hot pot cooking tradtion. In the case of Shabu Shabu Restaurant, the hot put cooking is aided by a high tech induction heater at each table.

The pot is full of liquid, and, you place whatever you've ordered into it to cook. We had a few types of thinly sliced beef, and some seafood. In this way, shabu shabu is similar to Japanese sukiyaki, but, the flavors are quite different. Whereas sukiyaki has sweeter flavors, shabu shabu is more savory.

The sauces provided at Shabu Shabu Restaurant were delicious. The waitress, a friendly young woman with a Chinese accent, recommended that we mix a few of the sauces, which we did. Delightful!

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves---cooking at the table, talking and laughing. Theres more interaction, I think, at a cook-your-own dinner. Oh, and the giant Japanese imported beers helped too.

Mexico Restaurant

Clearly not Filipino, Hawaiian, Plate Lunch or Chinese, this restaurant's name is almost needed to state its identity. Yes, Mexico restaurant's cuisine is unexpected for this part of town: Kalihi. But, step inside and the ambience is unmistakably Mexican. The colors are bright, as are most of the staff. The food does not deviate far from an American's idea of Mexican food, but, is really quite delicious. This is a delicious and enjoyable place to eat, in Kalihi. A good value too.