Breakfast at The Pineapple Room

My husband and I like to stop at the The Pineapple Room by Alan Wong for lunch on the weekends once in a while. The restaurant is nicely decorated in neutral tones and it's a treat to dine in pleasant (air conditioned) surroundings where the servers wear uniforms that do not consist of black t-shirts and jeans. We usually sit at the counter and order a carafe of plantation iced tea to go with our lunch. The convenient location on the third floor of Macy's Ala Moana Center store is a pleasant a break from shopping. With all of the construction going on at the Center, we try to arrive as early as possible to find decent parking.

We heard that The Pineapple Room serves breakfast on the weekends and decided to check it out on Saturday. I was happy to find that the price of breakfast was reasonable given the moderately-upscale venue. I ordered the Homemade Corned Beef Hash, which came with eggs prepared to order and a choice of potatoes, white rice, brown, rice, or fried rice for $12.75. I asked the waitress for her suggestion and she recommended the fried rice. I'm glad that I took her suggestion and really enjoyed the little bits of kalua pork that flavored the fried rice just right. I also ordered the house coffee for $3.00, which included my own private pot of coffee for easy refills.

My husband had Two Eggs Any Style for $11.00, which came with meat of your choice and the same starch selection I was offered. He chose crispy bacon and brown rice. We were both surprised to see that his plate was sprinkled with a green onion oil. My husband said it was good, despite his dislike of onions on his breakfast.

I admit that we were a bit shy and ordered "safe" dishes for our first breakfast visit to The Pineapple Room, but we will be back. There were a few intriguing items on the menu that I want to try. The first is "Spong," which the waitress said is Chef Alan Wong's own homemade version of Spam. (Get it? Spam plus Wong equals Spong.) The other dish I want to try is the Asparagus Omelet with Bacon Vinaigrette. I saw another customer eating it at a nearby table and she seemed to be enjoying her meal. Check out their breakfast menu for more information. Breakfast is served Saturdays 8:00 to 10:30 a.m. and Sunday 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. The Pineapple Room takes reservations for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Pineapple Room by Alan Wong
(Located on the third floor of Macy's Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Boulevard, #1300, Honolulu, HI 96814
Ph: (808) 945-6573

Homemade Corned Beef Hash, Eggs Over Easy, and Pineapple Ketchup with Fried Rice

Eggs Any Style with Bacon, Green Onion Oil, and Brown Rice

Elena's Super Friends Lunch Wagon

Hungry for home-style Filipino cooking? Elena's Restaurant now brings their yummy goodness to downtown Honolulu two Thursdays a month. Founders Elena and Theo Butuyan are now retired and living in Las Vegas, leaving their daughter Mellissa to continue the family business. Mellissa and her family not only run the restaurant in Waipahu, which was featured on the Food Network's TV show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but they have also added a lunch wagon.

 

I discovered Elena's Super Friends lunch wagon parked in front of the Central Pacific Bank building on the corner of Alakea and South King streets one day last month. For $8, you can get one entree item (pork adobo, sari sari, chicken adobo, etc.) and a scoop of rice, pancit bihon, and pork lumpia. For $2 more, you can add a second entree and for $3 more, their famous lechon. The photo below shows my 2 choices plate of lechon and chicken adobo ($11). Today, I had the pork adobo and sari sari ($10). Sorry, no photo this time because I was too hungry! 

Elena's Super Friends lunch wagon will be back in the same location from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. as follows:

Aug. 14 & 28

Sep. 11 & 25

Oct. 2 & 30

Nov. 13 & 20

Dec. 4 & 18

 

For those who are familiar with Elena's, the lunch wagon is also offering their famous fried rice omelet!!!

 

 

OEC Cafe is Open for Breakfast Once Again!

UPDATE 7/14/14: OEC Café is now open early again to serve you breakfast. Their new hours are 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. In addition, Panini Sandwiches ($8.50) and Fruit Smoothies ($4) have been added to their menu, updated daily. According to OEC's Facebook page, they are taking suggestions on additional breakfast items. Be sure to check them out and let me know what you think! http://www.facebook.com/pages/OEC-CAFE/316165641862185

BBQ Chicken Panini with grilled onions. Delicious!

PORTION OF ORIGINAL POST 2/24/14: I finally tried OEC Cafe after it came highly recommended by two of my foodie friends. My foodie-coworker raved about their muffins but admitted that she had not tried much of their lunch service. So we made a date and off we went to OEC to try their daily specials. This relatively new cafe is located on the ground level of the HGEA building on Queen Street in downtown Honolulu, behind the post office. There have been several eating establishments in that same spot over the years, most recently an Italian place. Given the small square footage of this very clean and trendy-looking cafe, "dine in" means sitting outside in the courtyard at one of the tables under the trees.

In addition to the three daily lunch specials, OEC offers just a few more items given the small staff. Besides the co-owners, an assistant was just hired and is being trained to help dispense the completed orders. The everyday items include Roasted Chicken Salad, BLT sandwich, and a Tri-Sandwich (half each of ham/cheese, tuna salad, and egg salad sandwiches on Japanese-style bread). The sandwiches are between $4 and $5 and the daily specials are between $8 and $9.

I ordered the Vegan Special, which was comprised that day of spinach soba with soy dressing on the side, tofu with a miso paste and a small inari sushi. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the noodles were perfectly cooked! I love noodles and really appreciate a chef who doesn't boil the noodles until the order is placed. The care the chef took to prepare my simple but tasty dish, instantly made OEC Cafe my new favorite restaurant for lunch!

My coworker had the Chicken Stew with Rice Pilaf. She was in heaven as she tasted the creamy white stew, which she compared to "a very upscale chicken ala king." She let me have a taste of the rice pilaf. It was perfectly seasoned and would have been delicious all by itself. The specials come with a slightly tart side of potato salad and a small green salad (with the exception of the vegan special).

You must also try their muffins, which changes weekly. So far, I have only tried the apple-almond muffin ($1.50) but I plan to try other varieties if I can just get there before they sell out. This week's muffin offerings include blueberry, orange-walnut, and sweet maple-yam-chestnut. My other foodie friend also recommends their yogurt for breakfast. She said that it has just the right amount of fruit and granola. Oh, and give the cheesecake a try, too. It is light and creamy goodness on a thin graham cracker crust ($2). 

 

Since my initial visit, I have gone back to OEC a few times to try more of their fare and I have yet to be disappointed. My boss was very impressed with the Roasted Chicken Salad and compared the quality of the toppings to something you would find in a fine dining restaurant. When I told him that the owners once worked for Morimoto, he replied that it was no surprise. With its clever name - OEC is a play on "oishii" or "delicious" in Japanese - I hope they will be around for a long time. I highly recommend OEC Cafe!

 

OEC Cafe

345 Queen Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: (808) 888-9328

Oinking Out at The Pig & The Lady

After hearing so much about The Pig & The Lady, I finally had a chance to have lunch there with my lunch buddy, MC. First of all, I want to say that we were not disappointed! The restaurant is located in the Pacific Gateway Building on North King Street, where downtown meets Chinatown.

The most prominent feature in the reception area is a large chalkboard sign noting the specials of the day. The red brick interior walls of this refurbished building gives the place a historic feel. The casual atmosphere with the long rows of tables, empty coffee cans filled with napkins and utensils on each table, beverages served in jelly jars, and bird cages encasing the overhead light fixtures reminds me of those places where they spread out the butcher block paper and give you a mallet to crack your own crab. The bar is large and takes up most of one side of the restaurant. Still, there is a lot of seating and the dining room is comfortable. I felt like I was sitting in someone's back patio, but with air conditioning.

We decided to order several dishes and share them. MC sipped her Pandon Iced Tea ($3) while I sipped my Iced Coffee (Vietnamese-style with sweetened condensed milk - $4) out of jelly jars as we waited for our food. Our first course was the Smoked Ham Hock Croquettes ($7.50) which was comprised of three golf ball-size croquettes that were panko-coated, fried, and topped with grated cotija cheese. The shredded pork filling was tasty and I recommend eating the croquettes with the shishito pepper romesco sauce and purslane greens that garnish this dish because they really enhanced the flavor. The serving looked small at first but it was actually very hearty.

MC wanted to try the Rigatoni, which is a pork bolognese with seaweed, jicama and shiso leaves ($16.50). The price of this dish alone was about double what I normally spend on lunch, but it was worth every penny! MC and I loved the sauce and we had no trouble finishing this dish. The lunch menu says they only make 15 orders so we were happy to be among the lucky few.

We also shared the special Bahn Mi of the Week, which was Shaken Beef ($14). I loved the shredded cabbage salad, tasty Fritos-shaped shrimp chips, and pickled onions that came with our sandwich. Sadly, some of the meat pieces of the well-seasoned beef were a little tough, but that happens sometimes when meat is cooked little rare. The couple sitting next to us were visiting from California and they recommended that we try the Pho French Dip Bahn Mi next time. They came to this restaurant to try that sandwich specifically!

For dessert, we shared the Avocado Cake, which came with a dab of corn gelato topped with bee pollen, strawberries, dabs of avocado, and pea shoots ($9). The cake was very good and reminded me of cornbread with a light crunch. Fair warning, some of the desserts can take a few extra minutes to make. Our waitress was nice enough to let us know about the potential wait time for certain dishes. She realized that we were on our lunch break and had to get back to work.

I recommend eating the garnishes and sauces that come with whatever you order. The balance of flavors is incredible and I applaud the chef for being so creative and talented! In addition to the excellent food, the place is clean and the service is very good. I had a question about my bill after leaving the restaurant so I sent an email via their website. They responded to me the very same day and politely answered my question. I can't wait to return to The Pig & The Lady with my husband. He will love it!

The Pig & The Lady
83 North King Street, Honolulu, HI 96817
Phone: (808) 585-8255
http://thepigandthelady.com - the website has a listing of nearby parking

Hours:
Tuesday to Thursday: 10:30A - 2:00P and 5:30P - 9:30P
Friday: 10:30A - 2:00P and 5:30P - 11:00P
Saturday: 10:00A - 2:00P and 5:30P - 11:00P

Vietnamese Iced Coffee & Pandon Iced Tea (Photo by MC)

 

Smoked Ham Hock Croquettes (Photo by MC)

Rigatoni Pork Bolognese (we already ate half before snapping this photo)

Special Bahn Mi of the Week - Shaken Beef

Avocado Cake (those specks on the gelato are bee pollen)

View of the dining room.

View of the dining room and bar

Goma Tei Ramen Pearlridge is Finally Open!

Goma Tei Ramen has finally opened their third location* at Pearlridge Center in the space formerly occupied by J.C. Penney. Leeward residents don't have to trek into town to have a warm bowl of their favorite ramen anymore. The original opening date was January of this year but I think it was worth the wait.

I went to check it out alone today and wrote my name on the sign up sheet hanging from the door. I was seated at the end of the high top counter and thought about ordering something different this time. I decided to order my usual Tan Tan Ramen #1 and a side of Gyoza (5 large pieces) to make it easier to compare this new restaurant with their other two locations. Everything was delicious and tasted just as good as I expected. My bill came to $17.81, which is a little steep for lunch. However, I'm not complaining because I got to eat all of the gyoza since my hubby wasn't there to share them with me. This is one of the few ramen places I know of that actually makes their own gyoza instead of serving the frozen variety that is sold at the supermarket!

The new restaurant is large and I think they could actually fit more tables if they wanted to. The dining room is much brighter than the other two locations due to the light coming in through the glass doors of the second entrance facing the parking lot. This outside entrance allows diners to enter the restaurant after mall hours. Goma Tei Pearlridge is already drawing a crowd and was quite busy today despite it being a weekday.

Goma Tei Ramen
Pearlridge Center, Uptown (1st Floor next to Farrell's)
98-1005 Moanalua Road, Aiea, HI 96701
Phone: (808) 488-9188

Hours:

Mo-Th 11:00A-9:30P

Fr-Sa 11:00A-10P

Su 11:00A-9:00P

*Please check out my original review posted on July 27, 2013.

Gyoza and Tan Tan Ramen #1

Update: 

I went back to Goma Tei with my husband two days later. He had the Tan Tan #1 and I tried the Chicken Cold Noodles ($9.99). I heard this was a popular dish and having satisfied my tan tan ramen craving a couple of days earlier, I was eager to try it. The udon noodles were perfectly cooked as I slurped my chewy noodles covered with tan tan dipping sauce. I shouldn't haved poured all of the sauce over the noodles because that made everything a little too salty. The generous portion of chicken breast was thinly sliced as was the Japanese cucumber. What a cool treat for a hot summer day! Here it is:

Dessert for Lunch at Baker & Butcher

Have you ever wanted to have dessert for lunch instead of the usual boring sandwich or cold salad? My lunch buddy, MC, lured me to Baker & Butcher to do just that! She mentioned that this take out lunch place also sells chilled sandwiches, a few salads, and a couple of hot entrees each day. However, the desserts are the true gems there!

Personally, I prefer savory over sweet and can live without dessert if I have to make a choice between an appetizer or dessert. However, MC and I decided it was a good time to try something different. My lunch consisted of the following:

Salted Caramel Brownie Sandwich

This "sandwich" was a two inch square walnut brownie with a salty caramel filling. The brownie was dense and chewy with a dark chocolate flavor as a good brownie should be. The caramel wasn't as sweet as I expected and left a slight salty flavor in my mouth as I swallowed each bite. One piece was $3, but it was a darn good brownie and worth the calories!

Creme Brulee

I've always loved crème brulee ever since Horatio's Restaurant (now Kincaid's) opened in Ward Warehouse. The serving looked small for $3, but the rich creaminess was just right. If it was any bigger, I wouldn't have been able to finish it. Yum!

Lilikoi Cheesecake

I really like cheesecake in general, but hate it when a restaurant drowns it in a weird sauce. The tangy lilikoi (passion fruit) topping was a good match for the creamy cheesecake with graham cracker crust. This piece set me back $3.75. I shared it with a coworker and she thought it was better than the brownie.

Baker & Butcher is located on the street level of the Remington College Building in downtown Honolulu.

Ono Pops (Yes, they are!)

With summer coming up fast, I have a new secret weapon for staying cool - Ono Pops! The aptly named Ono Pops ('ono' means delicious in Hawaiian) offers 30 distinctive and unusual flavors made with only organic, local ingredients.

So far, I have only tried four flavors. Here they are according to preference:

Pineapple Li Hing
Chunks of lovely frozen pineapple lightly flavored with sweet/salty li hing powder.* I initially made a face when I heard of this flavor, but I was pleasantly surprised when I finally tasted it! The fruit was so dense in this little pop that it was almost like biting into a freshly frozen slice of pineapple. I was inspired to start this post after trying this flavor for the first time!

Kula Strawberry and Maui Goat Cheese
Creamy, refreshing and delish! There is a slight "goat cheesy" flavor but the natural strawberry bits and creamy flavor are more prominent. I attended a party one hot afternoon where these were being handed out to the guests. I had two!

Pineapple Vanilla
Vanilla is my favorite flavor for shave ice, popsicles, snow cones, etc. so I had to try this flavor. I'm not sure if the flavors are supposed to be mixed or layered, but the top tasted like fresh vanilla ice cream with a hint of pineapple while the bottom of the pop tasted like diluted pineapple juice with no vanilla flavor. It was a nice treat nevertheless, and it left me feeling cool and refreshed.

Kalamansi Coriander
My initial impression upon tasting this pop was a clean, fresh, lime flavor. However, this pop quickly became too tart for me. There is also a slightly bitter after taste, which made this flavor not among my favorites. Interestingly, I met someone who said that the bitter after taste is the very reason this flavor is his favorite. Yes, there is a flavor for everyone!

Until today, I never paid for an Ono Pop so I wasn't sure about the price. I didn't have a good photo either (tastes so good, melts so fast) so I went to my neighborhood Foodland Supermarket to buy a variety pack. I found just two boxes in the frozen gourmet/natural foods section. Both contained Pineapple Vanilla and Pineapple Li Hing. I paid $9.99 for a box of four pops, two of each flavor.

Go to the Ono Pops website for a list of Oahu stores and farmer's markets that sell these beauties. You can also hire Ono Pops for special events, which is where I got my first taste of my new favorite frozen treat. And don't let the unusual flavors dissuade you from trying them. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and happy once you give these pops a try. It's going to be a long, hot summer and I can hardly wait to try more flavors!

You can also find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/OnoPops/108529795845932

*Li Hing Powder - Sweet and salty reddish powder originally used to flavor Chinese dried plum snacks, known in Hawaii as Li Hing Mui.

Pineapple Li Hing (still in the wrapper) and Pineapple Vanilla

Ono Pops Variety Pack