It always amazes me how much you can get done in one day on island time. We flew into Honolulu early, so we arrived at 11AM PLUS gained 3 hours on the way over. We both stayed awake during the entire flight (I'm completely caught up on Gossip Girl now) and were starving by the time we arrived.
We took a shuttle to our hotel and checked in our bags before heading to the streets in search of food while we waited for our room to be ready. We tried out Iyasume Musubi, hidden in a back alley by King's village and shared a spam/cucumber musubi and a salmon onigiri. Afterwards we walked about 10 yards before sitting down at another restaurant, the highly-rated Jinroku. I loved the laid-back atmosphere and the teppan-style open kitchen with skilled Japanese teppan chefs. (My first time seeing an actual Japanese chef at a teppan place). we shared a pork and cheese tonpei yak which was an omelet of cheese and slices of kurobuta pork topped with a cream sauce, a tomato-based sauce and takiyaki sauce. After devouring that in mere minutes we shared a crispy chicken negiyaki dish, which is like okonomiyaki but green onion-based instead on cabbage-based. It was amazing as well. We ended our lunch(?) with their popular milk pudding.
After our two mini meals, I stopped by anlocal spot for a quick massage. The tension in my neck and shoulders have been a lot worse lately and I think I've gotten used to the constant dull pain that results from it. After the massage we walked around for a bit before checking back into the hotel at 3pm. At the hotel we unpacked, arranged for our car rental and luau reservations, took a 20-minute nap and then was out the door by 4pm.
We headed down to the beach to enjoy the sunny weather and our 35% resort-wide discount on food. We hung out at the Banyan Court watching surfers while sipping on a lava flow and munching on spicy taro and sweet potato chips dipped in a crab and spinach dip. Max spent a few minutes in the sand/water before we headed out towards Diamondhead to do more discovering.
As we got closer to Diamondhead, we decided to take the 1-mile walk inland in Kapahulu towards Waiola Shaved Ice. I was still pretty full from our snack but needed the walk so we went. It was a long, sweaty, smoggy walk but we finally made it... Only to find out it closed just 10 minutes before we arrived. No worries, we headed up the street to Leonard's Bakery for their famous piping hot malasadas (Portuguese donuts). We sat outside eating our donuts when a local started engaging in conversation with us -- all about food. Masa was a 3rd generation Korean local that was excited to hear that we were as interested in good food as he was. One topic lead to another and an hour later we were STILL taking down his food and hotspot recommendations. Then the friendly, older gentleman offered to take us around on a quick ride to show us how to get around and then take us back to our hotel. Sincerely hospitable offer but of course I was hesitant. Well, Max wasn't and he accepted! We piled into his Ford F350 and started on what ended up being an hour-long tour of old town, freeways, Chinatown, downtown and even included a stop at Liliha Bakery where our impromptu tour guide bought us some creme puffs. I was a little weirded out (and scared for my life) but this guy was so nice, friendly, funny and genuinely good-natured.
He finally dropped us off in Waikiki around 8pm. Max and I walked around a bit to browse the uppity stores like Louis Vuitton and Chanel in our sweaty summer clothes and flip flops before deciding to have a late dinner at Ramen Nakamura, which is famous for their ox tail ramen. As we were waiting for a seat, Max noticed that Cheech from Cheech & Chong was dining alone (the only other non-Japanese person in the joint). The ramen was amazing and the ox tails were delicious dipped in their ginger-shoyu sauce. The gyoza were meaty and unique but the fried rice left some flavor to be desired. We ended the day at ABC stores to buy essentials for tomorrow.
Phew, what a day.
We took a shuttle to our hotel and checked in our bags before heading to the streets in search of food while we waited for our room to be ready. We tried out Iyasume Musubi, hidden in a back alley by King's village and shared a spam/cucumber musubi and a salmon onigiri. Afterwards we walked about 10 yards before sitting down at another restaurant, the highly-rated Jinroku. I loved the laid-back atmosphere and the teppan-style open kitchen with skilled Japanese teppan chefs. (My first time seeing an actual Japanese chef at a teppan place). we shared a pork and cheese tonpei yak which was an omelet of cheese and slices of kurobuta pork topped with a cream sauce, a tomato-based sauce and takiyaki sauce. After devouring that in mere minutes we shared a crispy chicken negiyaki dish, which is like okonomiyaki but green onion-based instead on cabbage-based. It was amazing as well. We ended our lunch(?) with their popular milk pudding.
After our two mini meals, I stopped by anlocal spot for a quick massage. The tension in my neck and shoulders have been a lot worse lately and I think I've gotten used to the constant dull pain that results from it. After the massage we walked around for a bit before checking back into the hotel at 3pm. At the hotel we unpacked, arranged for our car rental and luau reservations, took a 20-minute nap and then was out the door by 4pm.
We headed down to the beach to enjoy the sunny weather and our 35% resort-wide discount on food. We hung out at the Banyan Court watching surfers while sipping on a lava flow and munching on spicy taro and sweet potato chips dipped in a crab and spinach dip. Max spent a few minutes in the sand/water before we headed out towards Diamondhead to do more discovering.
As we got closer to Diamondhead, we decided to take the 1-mile walk inland in Kapahulu towards Waiola Shaved Ice. I was still pretty full from our snack but needed the walk so we went. It was a long, sweaty, smoggy walk but we finally made it... Only to find out it closed just 10 minutes before we arrived. No worries, we headed up the street to Leonard's Bakery for their famous piping hot malasadas (Portuguese donuts). We sat outside eating our donuts when a local started engaging in conversation with us -- all about food. Masa was a 3rd generation Korean local that was excited to hear that we were as interested in good food as he was. One topic lead to another and an hour later we were STILL taking down his food and hotspot recommendations. Then the friendly, older gentleman offered to take us around on a quick ride to show us how to get around and then take us back to our hotel. Sincerely hospitable offer but of course I was hesitant. Well, Max wasn't and he accepted! We piled into his Ford F350 and started on what ended up being an hour-long tour of old town, freeways, Chinatown, downtown and even included a stop at Liliha Bakery where our impromptu tour guide bought us some creme puffs. I was a little weirded out (and scared for my life) but this guy was so nice, friendly, funny and genuinely good-natured.
He finally dropped us off in Waikiki around 8pm. Max and I walked around a bit to browse the uppity stores like Louis Vuitton and Chanel in our sweaty summer clothes and flip flops before deciding to have a late dinner at Ramen Nakamura, which is famous for their ox tail ramen. As we were waiting for a seat, Max noticed that Cheech from Cheech & Chong was dining alone (the only other non-Japanese person in the joint). The ramen was amazing and the ox tails were delicious dipped in their ginger-shoyu sauce. The gyoza were meaty and unique but the fried rice left some flavor to be desired. We ended the day at ABC stores to buy essentials for tomorrow.
Phew, what a day.
