After having an encore viewing of Halemaʻumaʻu the previous evening we were tempted to stop by again to check things out in the morning but decided to just keep the amazing visions of the previous night fresh in our memory instead and head on to our next stop of our trip.
The Missus had enjoyed the Geisha pour-over from Koana the previous day and wanted to have it one more time so we stopped there for our morning coffee.
On this morning a young lady was working. She was very friendly and the Missus got Her coffee.
I enjoyed sitting right outside the shop. The view of the plantation style houses reminded me of our trips to Honolua "small kid time" to see my grandparents.
I'm sure we'll stop by again whenever we're in the area.
Koana
18-1325 Old Volcano Rd.
Mountain View, HI 96771
As we headed up thru Hilo, we decided to stop by another very familiar place, Big Island Candies. Waaay back when, a stop here was mandatory during our visits to Hilo.
It was right before Lunar New Year, so we made sure to get some goodies for my MIL.
And a bunch of omiyage as well.
And even "stuffs" that well….I'm still not quite sure about
Good lord, we bought so much that we got a free tote bag and a discount! Like I said before, when you visit "make sure to bring lots of money!"
Big Island Candies
585 Hinano St.,
Hilo, HI 96720
From here we headed up the Hamakua Coast, a drive we've made many times, past Honokaa, and finally into Waimea, which we call Kamuela. We were a bit early to check in at our accommodation, so we headed over to the Parker Ranch Center to get some lunch.
If you've read our posts on the Big Island, you'll find that we really love revisiting favorites. And since we had enjoyed Village Burger so much the last time we were here we decided to grab lunch there.
We had enjoyed the fact that everything from the pasture raised beef, to the brioche buns, to the mushrooms in the mushroom burger is local. The Missus had really enjoyed the mushroom burger the last time and of course, this being Parker Ranch territory, I needed to have that Big Island Beef Burger.
Of course, a decade has passed since we last visited, so we expected some changes. And yes, the burgers were smaller than what we'd had before.
Still, while there seemed to be a bit more "binder" in the Missus's Hamakua Mushroom Burger ($11), it was still full of earthy-umami goodness.
It used to be served on a sort of ciabatta type roll, but I think the yeasty-fluffy-mildly sweet brioche type roll does quite well to balance out the mushrooms. The Missus didn't order any mayo or mustard, which was a good choice as one could really enjoy the mushroom flavor.
I ordered my Burger ($11) Medium.
This was cooked a bit past that, but the burger was so beefy! I requested just a touch of mustard, which combined with the wonderfully sweet and acidic tomato really helped to balance out the beefiness. The beef was a bit toothsome; but that's the deal with pasture raised beef made from cuts like chuck and brisket.
We both enjoyed this trip down burger-memory lane.
Village Burger
67-1185 Mamalahoa Hwy
Kamuela, HI 96743
We then took some time to explore Kamuela a bit and do some shopping.
And then we'd walk past a place…….
That would suddenly bring back memories from past visits.
And things just felt "right".
Thanks for stopping by!
This was actually not bad. The large salad did have some brown leaves, but while the rice looked dry, it wasn't.
A generous plate of fresh-looking bun, basil, mint, et al was provided. The nuoc mam cham was on the sweeter side of things. The sauce for the Bun Cha was on the sweeter end of things but wasn't too bad. Loved the pickled veggies, which helped to cut the sweet and saltiness. There were two good size pork patties, which were on the chewier end of things. The actual pork slices were much more flavorful in my opinion.
While it arrived on the typical sizzling plate….well, it wasn't sizzling. The dill and onions were soggy and wilted, and the fish cold. This was quite strange. Totally a far cry from 
I got my plate with Red Rice instead of white. The rice was done quite well, moist, good texture, there was another scoop of rice hiding under the eggs. There was a good amount of Portuguese Sausage, which was really crisp and hard, almost like it was deep fried! While I do like the exterior of my sausage crisp; this had taken it a bit far. The sausage was dry. The eggs were a nice easy-over and that egg yolk flowed beautifully over the rice. No off flavors: though I needed to get some salt as it seems that they don't season the eggs. I also like my eggs crisp around the edges.
The coconut crust was a bit too sweet for us. There were also spots where the coconut was burnt, adding a rather unpleasant bitterness to the dish.
The Missus loved Her coffee and wanted to buy a bag. So, we went in and took a look around and could not find the coffee. So we asked Brian who told us he had two bags left behind the counter. He sold us one. It was $95! The Missus just absolutely loved this coffee.
We were interested to see what effect the "time of Covid" had on Suisan and it was soon evident. Gone are the tables out front. You wait in line in front of the shop, there's a limit to the amount of folks they let into a shop at any one time.
And to be perfectly honest, I was interested to see what the price of the Gyro Combo was these days. And the sign said the combo was now $15. In case you’re keeping score, in 
Upon opening up the Gyro, I quickly noticed that things had changed. This was no longer marinated pork cut from a spit into thin slices. This was more like chunks of marinated grilled pork shoulder. Along with being chunks of pork, the meat was a lot darker in color than what I’d had previously. It was also tough and dry. In terms of flavor, this was on the salty side.
On this morning the parking lot was empty. I walked on over and took a look at the posted menu and noticed the opening time was noon. I also noted that there were donburi and ramen lunch specials going for as low as ten bucks! In these days that's a bargain. I decided that I'd return on another day and check the place out. As I started walking away the "open" sign came on and the really friendly gentleman who runs the front of house waved me in. My lucky day I guess.
I would go on record to say this was more sausage than tsukune. It was hard, rubbery, tough…..I'm sure there are more synonyms I could come up with given time. Not much flavor at all….I guess that's why salt was provided.
And my worries were well placed. Ok, so since the ownership is under Olleh, my expectations were low, but this was even below that!
The chashu wasn't bad, nicely marinated, tender, decent porkiness. The noodles were standard issue, curly, a bit overcooked and mushy…which did nothing to enhance the dish. It had me thinking….at ten bucks what should I have expected?
I loved the presentation. And overall, I enjoyed this dish the most. Nothing fancy, just a by the book beef bowl. The beef was on the chewy side, flavors were quite typical, soy sauce – mirin – sake, which is not bad at all. A generous portion of rice….I wish there was more egg, but this was a decent donburi.
Nothing fancy mind you; but for a ten buck for lunch…I wouldn't pay $15 to have this for dinner, this might work out fine for you. After all, how much is a bento from Nijiya these days?
I was surprised to see construction going on and the note to the right. Well, I just 