**** I hope you don't mind another Hawai'i post. Not a whole lot of food in this one.
On this trip home the Missus really enjoyed Herself. She got some hiking ummm walking (Her definition) and we visited places I hadn't been to in decades. We also managed to stay 2 nights in "town" (Honolulu), which I really enjoyed.
But first, the Missus needed Her Li Hing Mango fix and since we were headed to town there was one place She really loves, it's in my old neighborhood, where I grew up. Located on Koko Head Avenue is the Crack Seed Store, which I included in the post linked above. I was also interested in visiting because I had found out that the original owner, Mr. Young, who BTW, ran the place for over 40 years had retired. Thankfully, he did find new owners, who according to this article are also in the same business and use the same distributors. Mr. Young also shared his "secret" recipes with them so everyone could get the same stuffs they had always enjoyed.
Anyway, we drove up, there was no street parking on Koko Head, but I managed to score some parking in the lot behind the businesses. A guy pulled out of his stall as I was turning in and guess what? He also still had over an hour of parking left on the meter. Double score!
There were several different li hing mango versions, but the Missus zeroed in on the one She likes. Forgot to take a photo of that, but here's a plethora of li hing mui.
Of course the Missus went and opened up the bag and started chowing down on it as we walked to the car.
She said it's just as good as She remembered! Awesome!
Crack Seed Store
1156 Koko Head Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
It was still fairly early, so we decided to walk around a bit.
Looking at the businesses, when did Kaimuki get so hipster?
The Missus enjoyed this shop.
The name sounded familiar and yes indeed, the owner told us they used to be in Ward Center, but moved here in 2021.
We had fun buying gifts for folks back in San Diego. And, we even got something for ourselves.
Red Pineapple
1151 12th Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
We then headed over to Ala Moana Center. We were staying at the Ala Moana Hotel. You know, I'd never stayed there. There was just no way I wanted to stay in Waikiki and I didn't think the Missus would go for the Pagoda, so Ala Moana Hotel was it.
Anyway, it was too early to check in, so we went to the mall to check things out. It was Chinese (Lunar) New Year so Ala Moana Center was all decked out.
And as often happens; we saw something that reminded us of Sammy.
The Missus did Her usual tea shopping at Lupicia.
After which, it seemed like a good time to get something small for lunch. We'd had a big breakfast back in Ewa Beach in the morning.
Thanks to fellow long time blogger Kathy, who now does the fabulous Onolicious Hawaii blog, I found the post on the Lanai, in the location old Shirokiya (we miss you so) store, in her guide to Where to Eat at Ala Moana Center. We enjoyed the Lanai because the places seemed more "local" focused. And there is a location of Musubi Cafe Iyasume there!
And we felt that two musubi would be enough for a very light lunch.
So we got the Avocado-Bacon-Egg-Spam.
The rice was nicely cooked, but in spite of the presence of my favorite canned meat product; the bacon was soggy and rubbery and there wasn't enough avocado to really make a difference.
We did like the Kimchi and Spam version though. I mean; kimchi….Spam…..
Salty-sour-a bit of spice, say no more. I'm looking forward to having this again.
Musubi Cafe Iyasume (In the Lanai – Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814
I had parked on the second floor of Ala Moana Center on the Mahukona Street side where there's the bridge to the hotel. I walked on over and went to see if our room was ready; which it was! Yes!
In another funny moment, the nice young man at the check in counter asked me if I've stayed with them before. I told him no, it was too expensive to stay here when I was young; though I did go to Rumors (a legendary night club in the hotel that closed in 2017) quite a bit in my younger days. He told me, "awesome, you ever heard of the Point After?" I told him I used to go there and Bobby McGee's a lot too. He then told me "my Grandfather used to go to the Point After a lot." Aiyah! Suddenly I'm "Ji-chan"?
Anyway, our room had a decent view.
We had a nice nap, then decided to take a walk before heading out to dinner. We strolled on over to Ala Moana Park for a pre-dinner walk.
As a whole it was pretty mellow on this late afternoon.
Then the strangest thing happened; I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and didn't recognize this older fellow. He identified himself and holy smokes! He was my best friend from Elementary, Intermediate, and High School, thru the mid 90's. He lived a half block from me in Kaimuki! Even though by the time I left the islands I had a new group of friends, I'd still drop by and talk story and stuff. He was the first of us to get a driver's license and used to drive his grandfather's car. We used to go to Keyhole at Ala Moana park, go swim, have some, ahem, liquid refreshment, all that kind of stuff. He still comes here several times a week to walk and still lives in the same Kaimuki house he grew up in. Makes me wonder if I would have been the same had I never left the islands? He caught me up on some of the folks that were in our "group"; some have already passed on. Everyone from that group except me ended up in the trades; painters, refrigeration, sheet metal, it's not a easy life. He still has the same phone number, which I recited from memory. It's been almost three decades and I'm not sure how he recognized me? I'll need to call him when I'm back again.
It was turning out to be an interesting trip.
Thanks for stopping by!
Let's take a look at that chicken. It's a huge piece but does it look "crispy" to you? Also, it was fairly tender, but quite dry for confit, making it somewhat bland; the supposed nuoc cham edged to the sweeter side of the scale. The fried garlic was fine; but the garlic rice was super hard and dry. It was like trying to eat barely cooked rice. Now come on, how can you mess up rice?
Again the greens and tomato was outstanding. But take a look at that rice, it's the same as the "confit chicken" and the photo shows more clearly how hard and dry it was. Speaking of dry; you can add the ahi belly as well. It was dry, lacking in that rich, fatty, texture. It was also strangely fishy in flavor; the Missus had one bite and was done.
The tacos were served on blue corn tortillas, that were very dry, tough, and really didn't add anything to the dish. Likewise the sweet chili sauce provided. 
thru nicely. I believe the the version from Soup du Jour (funny, I thought I did a post on the place, but I guess not?) is better both in texture and flavor.
I appreciated the way things were packed though I told the woman I'd be eating this close by. There were containers of spicy vinegar and a decent chili oil (which I used) included in my package.
Which led to an interesting concoction. The duck was breast, quite lean, a bit more chewy then I enjoy, with a touch of five spice seasoning, not bad at all. The fried shallots added a nice savory and crunchy texture. The broccoli really gave off "Panda Express" vibes but at least I got some veggies.
On an interesting note; while searching for addresses I found that Onii-San opened a Sando shop named Ototo last years as well! Makes perfect sense.
It was cooked to a perfect medium rare, loved the beefiness. I was told this is grass fed beef, so I expected it to be more toothsome. The cauliflower was delicious; at least that's what the Missus said as She quickly poached them all from the plate. The jalapeno mashed potatoes were quite creamy and not really spicy at all.
Calling this a "bowl" is a definite misnomer as it's pretty hefty. There's the standard green salad with a sesame dressing plus some fairly standard and kinda mushy and pretty salty japchae. The rice was nicely done and the portion size seemed a bit larger than before.
