Kaimuki Shokudo

Kaimuki Shokudo offers a lunch menu that focuses on soba, donburi, sushi, and tempura.  They also have daily lunch specials from 1130am to 330pm.  One of the specials is a Teishoku Lunch Set for $20 (Hot / Cold Kake Soba, half size, Okinawan Sweet Potato Salad, half size), Sashimi, Rice, and Washugyu Sukiyaki Beef or Grill Saba).

The other special is a half Donburi for $7 with any Soba order. 

I took advantage of the half Donburi special.  

I got the Ume Oroshi Shiso Soba (Cold), which also included nori, takuan, and bonito flakes.

It was such a huge portion, and it was very refreshing for such a warm day.

For my half donburi order, I opted for the Veggie Tempura Don, which had eggplant, maitake mushroom, and shishito pepper tempura. 

It was so delicious and actually so filling - I ended up barely touching my Soba (of course I took the leftovers home)!

Half Order Veggie Tempura Don

And of course we got the Honey Toast.

Honey Toast

I know it's "Honey Toast," but I thought they put a little too much honey - it was so overpowering.  My friend loved it, however, and ate nearly all of it!

We were a little disappointed in the service, however.  Although the staff members were friendly, no one came to check on us / clear our dishes / take our dessert order for quite a while after getting our food, and my friend actually had to go up to the bar to ask someone if we could order dessert.  We were the second table seated for the day, but other tables seated after us had already left. 

Despite that, I wouldn't mind returning to try the dinner izakaya menu, and hopefully the service will be much better!

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Tanaka Ramen & Izakaya - Windward Mall

Mahalo to our sponsor for the complimentary meal. All opinions are my own. 

We’ve been fans of Tanaka Ramen & Izakaya ever since they opened their Ala Moana location. Their original Kapolei restaurant was a little too far west for us to visit regularly, so having a more central option made us longtime supporters. So you can imagine our excitement when we spotted the signage for their newest location at Windward Mall a few weeks ago — finally, one of our favorite ramen spots right here in our own neighborhood!

This new location takes over the former Kikuya space. While we were sad to see Kikuya close, I was also excited to see Tanaka move in. It’s always nice when a restaurant space continues on instead of sitting empty.

One thing we immediately noticed is that this location offers several seating options. In addition to the indoor dining area, there’s also outdoor seating as well as tables along the mall walkway. When we arrived on a Saturday during early dinner hours, the inside seating area was already full, so we had to choose between outside seating or the mall walkway tables. We ended up choosing the outdoor area since it seemed like it would have a little less foot traffic.

Of course, outdoor dining comes with a few trade-offs. Between the nearby cars and the flies that showed up once the food arrived, it wasn’t the most peaceful setting. Still, we appreciated that they’ve added extra seating options to help accommodate the crowds because this location already seems very popular with the locals

One of the best parts about this Windward Mall location is that they offer the full menu. Some Tanaka locations have more limited offerings, but this one has a huge variety — and even some new items that aren’t available elsewhere, including yakitori sticks.

Honestly, the menu makes it too hard to decide.!They’ve got everything from salads and sashimi to ramen, donburi, curry, fried rice, and appetizers. After a lot of debating, for appetizers we ordered the pork gyoza, crab stick tempura, Brussels sprouts tempura, and a chicken yakitori stick to share.

For ramen, we tried the Tanaka Rich Garlic and the Spicy Creamy Vegan ramen. 

The son customized his bowl with half-and-half broth, beef sukiyaki, and thick noodles, which made for a pretty impressive-looking bowl when it arrived at the table. 

We also ordered the shrimp fried rice.

Everything was amazing — seriously, nothing was left behind by the end of the meal. 😄 My personal favorites were the shrimp fried rice and the Rich Garlic ramen.

 The ramen came with thick noodles, which I absolutely love because they really hold onto the broth and make each bite extra satisfying.

We’re so excited to have Tanaka Ramen & Izakaya in Kaneohe now. Between the expanded menu, and convenient location, this spot is definitely going to become part of our regular Windward dining rotation!

TANAKA RAMEN & IZAKAYA

45-056 KAMEHAMEHA HIGHWAY

SECOND FLOOR, near HawaiiUSA FCU

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La Tour Bakehouse Churro Rolls & Banana Bread

Every time I go to the Mililani Farmers Market, I always stop at La Tour Bakehouse for breads - specifically the Japanese Style loaves and Sourdough.  On my most recent visit, I also picked up some Churro Rolls & Banana Bread.

I thought the Banana Bread was fine (I've had better), but the Churro Rolls were a surprise hit with the fam.

It's such a simple product - rolls sitting in and topped with a cinnamon, sugar, and butter mixture.

So yummy! 

The Mililani Farmers Market operates 8-11am on Sundays at the Mililani High School!
 

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Miki's

If you grew up in or near Pearl City, there were a few late night / early morning spots you could dine at . . . Zippy’s & Anna Miller’s used to be open for 24 hours. And then there was Miki’s — a hole in the wall that opened late and closed early the next morning.

The last time I went to Miki’s was in high school, when my friends and I would often stop in after midnight.

We recently picked up a late (for me) dinner at 10pm. It was great to see a steady crowd of customers coming and going for plates of no-frills, tasty comfort food at this Pearl City mainstay.

BBQ Pork Ribs

Pork Guisantes

Pastele Stew

Beef Stew

I had the Pork Guisantes, and it was delish (they offer a lot of Filipino dishes on the menu).

Current hours are 8pm-3am.  Follow them @mikismenu for the daily specials.

Miki's
1001 Lehua Ave

Pearl City, HI 96782

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Dinner at Thirty Eight

Spicy Ahi Poke Cracker

Located at Pier 38, restaurant Thirty Eight features the freshest seafood and locally sources their ingredients. In the former Nami Kaze space, the family-owned restaurant offers lunch, happy hour, dinner and a full bar. 

Our group stopped by for an early dinner and had a great time and received fantastic service. Our group's favorite was the Spicy Ahi Cracker appetizer and I really loved my Ahi Steak entree. The local bigeye ahi is topped with a delicious kanzuri shoyu buttah and served on top of a watercress salad with a generous serving of confit potato. Yum!

We had a great experience and I would definitely return. I liked the food, service, and ambience. They really did a great job servicing our large group. They are open daily from 11am to 9pm.

Oysters

Cauliflower

Hamachi Crudo

Furikake King Salmon

Ahi Steak

Fried Whole Moi

Thirty Eight
1135 N Nimitz Hwy E
Honolulu, HI 96817

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Ono Kuki Company

I have a never-ending sweet tooth, so when I saw Ono Kuki Company at the Mililani Farmers Market, I picked up a few bags. 

Normally I'm team soft & chewy when it comes to cookies, but if the cookies are mini, I enjoy crispy cookies. 

The Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies were crispy, with lots of chocolate chips throughout.

They have several flavors of cookies, and also have regular sized cookies as well as party mix!

I'm looking forward to trying more cookie flavors!

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ONKEE

When Hawaii Mom Blog founder/owner Gem picked ONKEEfor her birthday lunch, it felt fitting that we’d be celebrating Gem at one of Honolulu’s hidden gems!

Before heading there, I had already done some research because I’d heard the restaurant could be tricky to find if you’re unfamiliar with the area. They’re located on the second floor of a residential building (Ko'ula), and the signage is pretty minimal, so it’s easy to second-guess yourself while looking for it. I parked in the parking garage below Consolidated Theatres Ward, walked out of the Ewa side of the garage - the building is across the street from that entrance/exit.  Walk to the roundabout and look for the Onkee sign and the elevator.  

Once I arrived, the service was very attentive throughout the meal, and the staff checked in often to make sure everything was going well.

For lunch, Gem ordered the stir-fried pork meal, Nadia chose the bibimbap, and I ordered the marinated fried chicken entrée. 

Gem really enjoyed her meal:

 

Nadia's bibimbap was the most Instagram-able dish of the day:

As for me… once the chicken arrived at the table, I realized I probably should have paid a little closer attention to the menu.  I kept offering Gem a taste, but she politely declined each time. Toward the end of the meal, she pointed out that there had also been a plain fried chicken option on the menu — which, honestly, both of us probably would have preferred over the yangnyeom-style version I ordered. The chicken itself was crispy and well prepared, but the sauce ended up being a little too spicy and heavy for my personal taste.

 I also somehow missed the fact that the entrée didn’t come with sides, which left me staring sadly at my plate while everyone else had complete meals.

Thankfully, the birthday girl took pity on me and shared some of her rice and vegetables. Nothing says “happy birthday” quite like the guest of honor donating food to her friend. 

But in the end, all was forgiven once dessert arrived. The mango bingsu absolutely stole the show. 

It was refreshing, light, and the perfect way to end the meal. Looking back, we probably should have ordered one just for Gem instead of sharing one amongst the three of us.

Overall, the delicious bingsu and chicken mishap made the visit memorable. And thankfully, the birthday girl still seemed to enjoy her special lunch too. 

Still… I may owe Gem a little birthday lunch do-over in the future. 

ONKEE HAWAII

1000 AUAHI STREET, #220

808-312-3758

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