Frostcity (Hawaii, US)

After posting shaved ice photos on a social media site, we were recommended to try Frostcity. On our last night in Hawaii, we did just that.

Frostcity isn't far from the Waikiki area, but it is a bit of a drive. It's a small establishment on the first floor of what looked like an apartment complex of some sort. They have quite a bit of seating inside and several parking spaces right outside their door.

Their prices are moderately high, even for their Small size, but you do get quite a bit of 'frost'. They serve Taiwanese style (based on what I read) shaved flavored ice. Basically, imagine freezing juice and then shaving that. So the flavors are available in limited quantities by their stock. Some of the flavours that we wanted weren't available, so we had to pick others. In the end, we ordered 3 Small plates of the following: durian, Nutella, and mango.

Durian

The texture was similar to soft serve ice cream when it's made with yogurt instead of milk. It was very soft, but cold (LOL) and had a slightly frosty texture to it. The flavoring was good for the first few minutes, but as my mouth got colder, the taste became very subtle. Even with a Small, I started to get tired of the singular taste as I finished it. In terms of mixing flavours, they have some set combinations that you can choose from, but you can't make your own.

Nutella

They must realize the taste and texture monotony of eating a small mountain of singularly flavored ice, so they include some garnishing on the side of each plate consisting of passion fruit gel balls, mochi, coconut jelly, and honeydew pieces.

It's not easy to directly compare shaved ice to the flavored ice that Frostcity serves. They are made differently and therefore taste different as well. In the end, it comes down to preference. I prefer the flavour and texture variety of shaved ice with toppings over the shaved flavored ice.

Mango

Overall, Frostcity ice plates are great to share if you're inclined to do so, or if you really like eating a lot of one flavour.

Summary
Food: Very good. The flavored ice is very fine and you get a good portion even for a Small plate.

Service: Average. You go up to order, sit down, and they bring you your dessert. They also remind you not to steal their spoons.

Setting: Average. They have quite a few tables and probably expanded to a neighboring store as it looked like 2 separate sit-down areas.

Value: Good. Prices are high compared to shaved ice, but keep in mind that you're not eating ice.

Hula Grill (Hawaii, US)

Hula Grill

We couldn't decide what to have on our last night in Hawaii, so we decided to go with someplace familiar. We had gone to the Hula Grill in Kaanapali a few years back and we really enjoyed it, so we decided to try out the one at Waikiki for our last eat-out.

Lava Flows and Ice Kona Coffee

The restaurant is located in a hotel, so it wasn't surprising when we arrived that the wait would be close to an hour long. We were given the option of sitting in the lounge area where it was self-seating with the option of the full dinner menu instead of the bar menu. A couple of tables cleared out just as we went in, so we got a table without waiting at all.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Fresh Fish

We started off by ordering a couple of Lava Flows and an Iced Kona Coffee. The Lava Flows were excellent. They weren't too sweet and they remained chilled and well-blended throughout our dinner. My mom mentioned that the iced coffee didn't taste particularly different than regular iced coffee.

Tandoori Style Fresh Fish

My mom and I both ordered fresh fish, while J ordered a seafood chowder.

Coconut Seafood Chowder

Macadamia Nut Crusted Fresh Fish - lemon beurre blanc. I ordered this 4 years ago and I was just as happy this time around. I shared most of the rice and almost an entire piece of the fish with H. She really enjoyed it as well, but I think it was more because of the side of Steamed Broccoli that we ordered for her. My only criticism of the dish was that the fish was a little overcooked, probably because it came in 2 small pieces as opposed to a larger single piece.

Tandoori Style Fresh Fish - spicy roasted with cucumber yogurt raita. I had a bite of this and it was delicious. It had a bit of bite to it, and my mom absolutely loved it. She said it was her best meal on the island.

Side of Steamed Broccoli

Coconut Seafood Chowder - lobster, shrimp, scallops, and Hawaiian fish in a coconut cilantro broth. J's chowder was a fantastic feast of flavours. I tried some of it and I was very impressed. The coconut cilantro broth was delicious and was the perfect base for all the seafood that was included. There was rice in the chowder as well to give it some more volume, and everything mixed together was a perfect blend of flavours and textures. The seafood was cooked well and absorbed a lot of the flavour from the broth.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwich - vanilla ice cream, macadamia nut brownies, raspberry sauce & whipped cream. The brownie was good and had just the right amount of macadamia nut baked in. It wasn't too hard or too soft and it went well with the ice cream. I thought it could have used just a little more rapsberry sauce, but overall it was very good. Unless you have a sweet tooth and lots of room after dinner, this is a good one for sharing.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwich

Service was fairly decent. Our server was quick with our drinks and taking our orders and our food didn't take very long to arrive (maybe 15 minutes). I should mention that the hotel we stayed at provided us with some Waikiki coupons and vouchers, and there was a coupon for Hula Grill that we brought with us. The coupon was for a free Homemade Ice Cream Sandwich dessert when ordering 2 entrees. If used in the afternoon before 6pm, it also included a free salad. Our server read the coupon a few times and then said that it could only be used before 6pm. In the end, we had her check with other staff to confirm, but it was interesting that she had never seen the coupon before. I guess those booklets weren't as common as we thought.

Summary
Food: Very good. The food bordered along Exceptional.

Service: Good.

Setting: Good. There was ocean view from the dining room, but it was dark out so even if we sat there we wouldn't have seen anything. I'm sure it's quite the view during the day.

Value: Good. Very good food combined with moderate to high prices.

Waiola Shave Ice (Hawaii, US)

A trip to Honolulu isn't complete without visiting Waiola Shave Ice. During our vacation on the island, we stopped by twice.

Waiola Shave Ice is actually a window on the side of a convenience store in a quiet neighborhood not that far from Waikiki. On your way there, you might not think there is anything around, let alone a shave ice store, but it's there. You will know you're there when you see the line-up. Thankfully, there is a parking lot right next door and some street parking nearby.

Waiola Shave Ice

What is different about Waiola is the fineness/texture of the ice that they use. They shave the ice so finely that it is nearly identical to eating falling snow (if you've ever done that before). There's nothing unique about their flavours or toppings, but when combined with the finely shaved ice, it's almost like eating a sorbet.

J ordered the special Azuki Bowl with Mochi. The first time, she got it as-is off the menu. The second time, she added extra condensed milk because she thought it wasn't sweet enough the first time. The bowl is better than the cup because the mochi are placed on top of the bowl, while it is placed at the bottom if you order a cup. Burying mochi in ice makes it harder to chew, so the bowl works out better. J especially likes that the azuki beans they use are big and sweet.

Azuki Bowl with Mochi

I ordered a small cup the first time and a large cup on our second visit. In hindsight, I should have just ordered the extra large bowl! Despite being back in Vancouver where it's less than 10 degrees out, I still have Waiola cravings.

I tried the following flavours: guava, Thai Tea, pineapple, POG (passion orange guava). The Thai Tea was very good and would have gone well with maybe a coffee flavour instead of guava. The other fruity flavours were all great, but the POG and pineapple blended together so I couldn't really taste the differences.

Large Cup Pineapple and POG

I've seen other shaved ice places in Honolulu but I always change my mind about trying them when I see customers walking away with bowls, cups, etc. filled with big chunks of shaved ice and flavoring. Since trying out Waiola a few years back, shaved ice has never been the same for me.

Summary
Food: Exceptional. Stop reading and try it out if you're in Honolulu. The shaved ice is so fine it's like eating falling snow.

Service: Average. It's a window on the side of a convenience store.

Setting: Average. It's in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood. But there's plenty of parking.

Value: Very good. Special bowls or extra large bowls are around $5.

Leonard's Bakery (Hawaii, US)

Sweet & Sour

Being a doughnut fan, we made a visit to Leonard's Bakery for their excellent made-to-order malasadas. We ordered an original, a sweet & sour, brown sugar & cinnamon, and chocolate-filled.

The malasadas were very warm, fresh, and soft on the inside. I thought I would like the cream-filled ones better, but I enjoyed the powdered styles ones more in the end.

Chocolate-Filled

I definitely recommend giving them a try. They have other baked goods as well, but their malasadas are what they're famous for.

Chocolate-Filled (after my 2 bites)

Hee Hing (Hawaii, US)

After a long morning at the Honolulu Zoo, we walked over (which we regret) to Hee Hing which is a Chinese restaurant offering dim sum for lunch. It had been over a week since we had some Chinese food so we were looking forward to satisfying our cravings with some dim sum.

It was well into the afternoon already so we weren't expecting the restaurant to be busy, but we were surprised to find it completely empty except for a private function that was happening in one of the side rooms.

The menus were all in English with no Chinese anywhere, which is usually a bad sign. Some of the items we wanted on the menu only available on Saturdays were sold out. The food that we did order wasn't very good. The shrimp dumplings had a really thick wrap, and the fried sesame balls were completely cold. There was no effort to keep their food warm from earlier in the day, or to make it fresh.

The order of chili wonton dumpling was mildly warm and tasted a little off. The soup was odd and the one slice of chili in it looked out of place and wasn't spicy. Our order of beef rice roll had a tiny bit of beef in it.

Overall, I was disappointed with the restaurant and wouldn't go back.

Summary
Food: Poor. Low to average quality food but lack of care in ensuring that the food is served in good condition.

Service: Average.

Setting: Average. The location wasn't bad and there were lots of tables available, but the interior of the restaurant feels very old.

Value: Average. Normal dim sum prices but low to average quality food.

Cha Cha Cha 2 (Hawaii, US)

After a not-too-hot day driving to the North Shore and back, we walked over to Cha Cha Cha 2 at Waikiki for dinner. We picked the place due to its popularity and J and I generally like Mexican. The entrance to the restaurant is not very obvious and I wouldn't have even seen it if  wasn't looking for it.

We walked inside and asked for a table for 4, and the server said it would be a few minutes but they can set it up for us. So we waited around for a few minutes but no one helped us. The restaurant was less than 30% full at that point. Another party of 4 guests walked passed us and a server seated them immediately so I asked again and we got a table.

It wasn't clear who our server was and it was several minutes before she came by to take our order. We ordered 3 entrees for the 4 of us and waited over 20 minutes for the food to arrive.

Ole Burrito

Ole Burrito - Shredded Pork, Black Beans, Cheese, Rice & Chipotle Sour Cream in a Flour Tortilla. The burrito was quite large, but I found it extremely dry. There was a lot of rice and black beans inside, but practically no sauce inside the burrito. The black beans were semi-hard and possibly under-cooked which made the burrito taste even more dry. Thankfully, the coleslaw it was served with was cool, moist and refreshing.

Ocean Garden Burrito

Ocean Garden Burrito - Grilled Fish & Veggies, Cheese, Rice & Black Beans in a Spinach Tortilla. The fish was better than the pork burrito, but overall it was still pretty dry. My mom removed the black beans which helped a lot. The fish was grilled well and quite tasty.

Pacifico Quesadiila - Grilled Fish in a Spinach Tortilla. Topped with Tropical Salsa & Sour Cream. Much better than the burritos, the quesadilla was moist and tastier. The grilled fish went well with the other toppings folded into the tortilla.

Pacifico Quesadilla

After we were finished with our meals, we had to walk over to our server to get her attention for the bill. In general, it seemed that the servers weren't trained or just didn't bother monitoring their tables. Several times throughout our meal they congregated by the bar and just chit-chatted instead of looking after their tables.

The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable in much of a good way. I probably wouldn't go back because there are many better places nearby.

Summary
Food: Average. The burritos are dry. The quesadilla we tried was good.

Service: Poor. The servers weren't attentive and seemed to prioritize gossip and chit-chat.

Setting: Average. The patio is along a small side street and there's no particular view. The dining room was very bar-like.

Value: Average. The prices weren't bad but the food was just average.

Doraku Sushi (Hawaii, US)

After a long day of eating, we weren't very hungry but we still wanted to keep to our dining itinerary so we walked over to Doraku Sushi at Waikiki.

The restaurant was dimly lit and quite modern-looking. It was on the third floor of one of the hotel/shopping complexes along Waikiki and had a nice outdoor patio overlooking Kalakaua Avenue. We were seated on the patio which was nice because the dining room of the restaurant wasn't very well air conditioned anyway. The doors to the patio were fully opened so it was about the same inside as outside in terms of temperature.

As we weren't very hungry, we quickly decided on a few dishes to share and put in our order with our server. I noticed that all the servers were male. I'm not sure if that's a hiring policy or coincidence.

Doraku Seafood Salad

Doraku Seafood Salad - diced tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and red snapper tossed with mango, tomato, and spring mix tossed with Doraku dressing. I found the dressing to be a little too tarte. It was like a mix of Italian dressing and Japanese sweet dressing. The salad wasn't large and had a few pieces of sashimi in it. I enjoyed it but I think it would have been undersized if I were actually hungry.

New Style Doraku Roll

New Style Doraku Roll - crabmeat and avocado roll, topped with seared tuna, daikon radish, shiso leaves and crispy garlic chips, finished with a special wasabi yuzu citrus sauce. This roll was actually really good and the one I liked better of the two rolls we ordered. The garlic chips on top added some nice texture to the roll. Although the daikon on top looked bland and tasteless, it did a great job of absorbing the wasabi yuzu citrus sauce. The flavours blended well together and made the roll taste like a super-charged California roll.

Misoyaki Butterfish

Misoyaki Butterfish - black cod butterfish glazed and baked with yuzu saikyo miso and served with grilled seasoned vegetables. We ordered this for H and she really liked it. It was soft, tender, flaky and very flavorful. My only complaint is that it had bones in it, so I had to slowly pick through it before feeding H.

White Dragon Roll

White Dragon Roll - shrimp tempura and avocado topped with unagi, red tobiko, unagi sauce, ao nori and spicy aioli. I should have read the description a little closer because this one was pretty basic. I was sold on the spicy aioli, but I could barely taste it in the roll. Imagine a dynamite roll with unagi on top, and that's exactly what it was.

Chirashi Don - assorted sashimi served over sushi rice. Fresh sashimi on rice.

Chirashi Don

Foodwise, Doraku Sushi doesn't do anything spectacular or unique with its dishes. It was a good meal but nothing about it really hooked me or would entice me to try it again.

Service was pretty good, but our server did disappear on us a couple of times. It was great, but it wasn't bad either.

"Sorry for the dim photos. We were seated on the patio where there was almost no lighting whatsoever." 

Summary
Food: Good. Nothing bad about the food, but it wasn't unique or special.

Service: Average.

Setting: Good. It's along Waikiki and the patio view of Kalakaua Avenue is great (if you can get one of the few tables with that view).

Value: Average. Good food but medium to high prices.

Teddy's Bigger Burgers (Hawaii, US)

Everything we ordered

I love a good burger and we noticed that there were several Teddy's stores around Honolulu so we gave it a try. We visited the location across the street from Don Quijote's just after lunchtime. It wasn't very busy so we took our time examining the menu and deciding what to order.

We ended up ordering something for each of us, including an 'extra thick' hand scooped Kono Coffee Milkshake which was absolutely superb.

Fish Sandwich

Fish Sandwich - Soft, tender, and flaky, this sandwich was above average in taste and quality.

Kilauea Fire House Style Big Burger - I ordered this one and was a little disappointed that they excluded the typical lettuce and tomatoes. I still enjoyed the burger a lot though, because it was spicy, juicy, and included an onion ring and bacon. I think it would have been better with at least some lettuce on it though.

Kilauea Fire House Style Big Burger

Lahaina Style Big Burger

Lahaina Style Big Burger - Big and messy. J ordered this one and really liked it. However, she found that it was a little too big for her so I ended up finishing it for her. The sweet pineapple really added to the overall taste of the burger. Most place put teriyaki sauce on the burger with pineapple to make it "Hawaiian", but the Lahaina style was very good. Teddy's Teriyaki Sauce is custom made with their own mix of ingredients so it wasn't overpowering like regular Teriyaki sauce.

Keiki-sized Burger

Keiki-sized Burger - We ordered this for H and it was a good size with the regular toppings, but she didn't seem to like it that much. I had a few bites of it to clear away the edges of the buns for her but she wasn't really a big fan of it. She loved eating the lettuce though...

The restaurant was large, spacious, and had great air conditioning. The servers were all very welcoming and we had a good overall experience. I will definitely stop by a Teddy's again the next time I'm in Honolulu.

Summary
Food: Very good. Fantastic juicy burgers with fresh toppings and unique condiments.

Service: Good.

Setting: Good. Lots of parking, spacious interior and great air conditioning.

Value: Good. Although it's like a fast food joint, it's not fast food. They make everything to order and the food quality and taste is on par (or better) than many sit-down restaurants.

Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream (Hawaii, US)

The last time we were in Hawaii we looked for Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream and couldn't find it. The address in Honolulu is on University Avenue, but it was nowhere to be found. This time around, we gave ourselves plenty of time to find it. After asking around, we finally found it. The store is actually on Coyne Street, but the complex that it's attached to has a University Avenue address.

Anyway, we stopped by and ordered a couple of flavours each to try it out. Between the 4 of us, we ordered 6 mochis - 2 peanut butter, 2 guava, and 2 lychee.

The mochi wrapping was very thin and soft and didn't stick to my hands. It was lightly sweetened and went very well with the ice cream which was fresh and flavorful. The flavoring in the ice cream was light and subtle. It wasn't too sweet and it was very refreshing. I've had ice cream filled mochis before, and Bubbies was without any doubt at a higher level of quality and taste than any I've had before.

If I went on an empty stomach, I would have ordered half a dozen just for myself. I recommend Bubbies without hesitation.

Marukame Udon (Hawaii, US)

Our first fooding stop in Oahu was Marukame Udon. Althoug I'm not normally a fan of udon (I prefer ramen), I thought Marukame Udon was fantastic.

The restaurant is on Kuhio Avenue, just one block farther inland from Kalakaua Avenue (which pretty much IS Waikiki). It's easy to find as it gets quite busy, so just look for the Japanese noodle shop with the line-up outside. We arrived there early for dinner, so we just beat the line. You enter the restaurant and immediately line-up to order your udon. You pick the soup base and then you add items to your bowl and pay, cafeteria-style.

We ordered 2 drinks and 3 bowls of udon. It was unclear whether or not we even needed to order drinks because most people just use these clear plastic cups that are sitting by the drink machines and poured whatever they wanted, even though signs indicated that tea was $1.29. I think we paid $2 for each of our drinks even after I asked the cashier if we could just get tea with the plastic cups. Honesty may be the best policy, but it can cost you!

Ontama Udon with Chicken Karaage

Ontama Udon with Chicken Karaage. Described on the menu as "sauce" instead of soup, I thought it tasted like broth. It was flavorful and tasty, but a little too salty which was probably the result of the restaurant either making their udon with salt blended in, or cooking the udon in salt water. The chicken karaage was soft, tender and juicy.

Curry Udon with Fish Cake Tempura

Curry Udon with Fish Cake Tempura. The curry was thicker than typical Japanese curry sauce which was a nice surprise. It was very tasty and not very spicy. Again though, it was pretty salty. The fish cake tempura was nice and added some texture to the noodles. It wasn't overly battered, but the crispy bits that dropped into the soup made it taste even better.

Niku Udon with Squid Tempura. My mom really liked it and said the squid was very soft and tender. She mentioned that the udon was a little salty as well.

Niku Udon with Squid Tempura

The restaurant was bustling within 30 minutes of us sitting down, and it was clear that many of the patrons visit after their workday and such. The workers clear tables quickly to try to get customers in and out as quickly as possible. Despite this, we never felt rushed as we had to slowly feed H without the luxury of a high chair (we were in a booth and they didn't have boosters).

Summary
Food: Good. A little salty but very delicious nonetheless.

Service: Good. Orders are fulfilled quickly (since you're in a queue) and tables are cleared quickly.

Setting: Good. Parking probably sucks (we walked) but the restaurant is clean with lots of seating.

Value: Good. Tasty food and a whole meal will probably run you under $15.