We were finally visiting "home", the four years away seemed like forty. And it wasn't without some apprehension on my part. I wondered if Covid had changed the Hawaii that I knew. How were things going to be, what had changed, had I changed?
It was drizzling as we left San Diego.
The remnants of the "atmospheric river" that pounded San Diego for over a week. On the other hand, back home, rain is seen as a blessing…..
We flew Hawaiian Airlines and while the food wasn't stellar, unlike most domestic first class, HAL seats will lay flat, so you can actually take a nap if you want to.
But I shouldn't have worried…once we landed, it felt like "home". And like the Missus says, "once you get here you walk different and talk different". Some things never change.
Of course as soon as we landed poke was on our minds. Unfortunately, due to our schedule, we weren't able to visit two of our favorites as Tanioka's was closed the day we arrived and Ono Seafood was closed on the day we went into "town".
Still, we wanted our poke fix, so I did some searching and found that Fresh Catch had opened a location in Pearl City at the end of 2020. So, we decided to head on over to grab some poke for an afternoon "snack" of sorts.
The young man working was really friendly. While looking at the offerings, the Missus pointed at the Oio Lomi, the scraped bonefish that's really an acquired taste. She wanted to try it….well, the Missus had really enjoyed aged poi, so I thought "why not" and got a quarter pound of it.
Unfortunately, She found it much too gooey and "fishy" for Her taste.
I, on the other hand had eaten my share of this growing up and thought this was a decent version. I enjoyed he tongue coating texture…yes, it does "taste like fish". It was a bit on the salty side as was everything else we got from here.
The "Hawaiian Blend", basically Ahi Limu was really salty and the fish was on the more "chewy" side.
Too much salt, too much shoyu. Some really tough pieces with too much "tsuji" – connective tissue.
The Ahi Wasabi was a bit better.
Though again, we thought the quality of the fish wasn't quite up to what we enjoy. Still a bit overly salty which muddled the heat from wasabi, a bit too overly sauced as well.
Kind of a bummer overall as we'd enjoyed our visits to the Kaimuki location on previous visits.
Fresh Catch
98-371 Kamehameha Hwy.
Pearl City, HI 96782
Of course, we had jiaozi for dinner. We had really missed my MIL's handmade jiaozi! Over the years it's become comfort food for me. I basically ate this whole plate. In fact, when my MIL asked us what we wanted for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it was jiaozi! We can't get anything close to this in San Diego.
And then we had baozi for breakfast!
With some potstickers!
Before we headed off to the Big Island.
It was so good to be "home"!
Thanks for stopping by!
Man, this was really good! Crisp, moist wings, perfectly fried and seasoned. Glazed with an umami-sweet salted egg yolk sauce. This as just heavenly to eat. It’s also a great diversion from all of those “KFC” places that have opened up in the area.
We managed to get a high-top for two. And along with the standard menu, the menu del-dia was presented. There was a nice, easy going, yet joyous vibe here. Folks were having fun. There was a group of folks, it seemed like employees from a company having a "very" happy hour. They asked me to take a photo of them. Of course, being American, I told them to say "cheese"….perhaps I should have had them say "fromage"?
As you walk to the gate you can't help but notice the bust to the right. Who is this you might ask? It is the bust of 
One thing that is easily noticed as you cross the drawbridge into the city are all the formidable battlements and defenses. There's a huge metal gate to crush you, notice the curve as you cross into the city, that serves a defensive purpose as well; to slow you down as you attacked the city.
Which included the same salad, some fois gras, but much more. There was a nice cured duck breast and more importantly, what you see at the bottom of the plate in the photo above, Gesiers de Canard, duck gizzards. I had really enjoyed the version 
Man, this was not to our liking. It was super salty, the duck confit dry, the sausage tough and bland, and worst of all the beans were hard and undercooked. I did appreciate the piece of pork rind at the bottom of the pan. But overall, this was not very good.
The sisig had decent spice, balanced with some good sour tones. This might be the best I’ve had here in terms of seasoning and flavor. The lechon kawale was on the chewy and hard side; but still, I liked the flavors.
A very generous portion of terrine mi cuit, with a lovely apple jam. The accompanying sea salt and a touch of jam went well with the lovely, rich and buttery fois gras.
Not a big fan of this dish. The mussels were overcooked and on the tough side and there was a bit of grainy "sandy" bits. Also, we didn't care for the milky creamy flavors which really detracted from the briny – sweet mussels. 
