Chashu!

Back in August, I posted about Yotteko-Ya (1960 Kapiolani Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii) (see here). The Cat wanted something soupy with vegetables. After kicking around some options, we took a chance and decided on Yotteko-Ya. If the traffic was too bad, it was the night before the marathon and traffic wasn’t too good, we would have to go to option B. I think we made it so that we were between seating rushes.

The Cat ordered her vegetable paitan ramen.

Vegetable Paitan Ramen

I think my picture taking is rubbing off on her. She had me take another picture after some rearranging.

Vegetable Paitan Ramen

Can you tell the difference? The Cat fished a carrot slice from the soup. XD.

I posted in August that the Japanese-style chashu from Yotteko-Ya was the best I’ve ever ate. That still holds true. I’m making a clear distinction between Japanese-style chashu (which in my opinion is more like either shoyu pork or Italian porchetta than Chinese-style char siu).

With that in mind, I ordered one of the combinations, Choice of ramen, three pieces of gyoza, and chashu rice (I think I did this the last time too).

Paitan Ramen

Pan-Fried Gyoza

Chashu Rice

Our server called the chashu “shoyu pork” which is a closer description than “chashu“. Oh well, what’s in a name. I also added a side order because you can never have enough chashu.

Side Order Chashu

Belly pork, slowly braised in Japanese seasonings, ohh! Faint!

The Cat’s stomach was happy with the hot soup and vegetables. The Mouse was happy with the chashu,  although next time I’m going to add the chashu to the ramen (it cooled off too quickly on the plate).

One more thing I have to share. According to an anonymous source, gyoza, or  jiaozi should have fifteen folds on the top. Just for fun, we checked the gyoza at Yotteko-Ya.

Gyoza Folds

I count seven folds. I’m not sure if it affects the taste. We haven’t tasted the ones made by the anonymous source yet (I wonder if he’s pulling our leg). More research is called for.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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Back-Up Plan

We heard rumors that one of the cooks at one of our favorite chop suey house moved to here.

Sign

We haven’t been here for over twenty years. The first time we tried it … meh. We didn’t go back. But if there’s a new cook … hmm.

The menu is similar to chop suey houses over here. Some have this others have that, but basically, Cantonese-style food. One thing that was different was steamed gau gee. I tried to search for “gau gee” on the web but could only find local references. My theory is gau gee may be a localized jiaozi. Gau gee may also be a combination of jiaozi, mandu, and  maybe even gyoza.

Steamed Gau Gee

These are big boys, filled mostly with ground pork. The Cat felt it was too much meat and too large. I felt it was keeping with the “local-style” and didn’t mind it. The gau gee came with a dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce

Soy sauce, green onions, chili pepper, oil, and ginger. Not bad at all.

Usually on Sundays, The Cat wants a lot of vegetables (I could explain but it would probably be TMI).

Deep Fried Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

This was so-so. It was okay, but if there are other things to order, I would probably order the other things first.

Ong Choy or "Water Spinach"

We ordered this plain, on the menu, it’s with garlic but since garlic and The Cat don’t play well together (sorry TMI again).

Chow Fun (Dry)

With more vegetables and char siu. The Cat left the char siu for me.

All in all, not bad. Kin Wah Chop Suey remains our go-to place. But this is a good place for items that’s not on Kin Wah’s menu (zhou or jook for example). It’s always good to have a Back-up plan.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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In Case You’re Interested

Our friend posted instructions on how to make potstickers (“jiao zi“) (see “From Scratch” post).

Even if you don’t read Chinese, there are pictures to give you the general idea (some browsers will also give you the option to translate the text). Thanks MX!

http://blog.wenxuecity.com/blogview.php?date=201111&postID=6789

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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Best Chashu

We had a out-of-town arrival over the weekend. So we ate out more than usual. When our guest, Q, arrived she was a little nauseous. The Cat was hungry. We decided on comfort food (hot, soupy, not spicy). One of the places I know that meets all of the criteria is here.

Sign?

I know, the place is Yotteko-Ya, but I would have to hang over the railing to get a picture of the name. I always get a kick out of “rocketed from Kyoto”. We haven’t been here for a while (I’ll  tell you why in the last photo).

The restaurant is famous for their Paitan ramen, so that’s what we ordered.

Paitan Ramen with Vegetables

Both The Cat and Q ordered the Paitan ramen with vegetables. The both base is chicken, pork and vegetables cooked for ten hours. According to the restaurant, the collagen in the broth is supposed to keep the eater from aging (the fountain of youth, ramen style).

Paitan Chashu Ramen

One of the selections is ramen with five pieces of chashu instead of one. A no brainer for me. For me, there is a definite distinction between Japanese style chashu for ramen and Chinese style charsiu (the red one). The Japanese style is braised in liquid (like shoyu pork) while the Chinese style is coated with a sweet salty glaze and roasted on hooks in large ovens. I was never really excited about the Japanese style until now.

The chashu here was awesome (completely knocked my socks off)! Even The Cat was excited about it.

I was going to order an additional five pieces of chashu as a side dish but The Cat was looking at me kind of funny. I settled on a bowl of rice topped with chashu and “secret sauce” (I think it was shoyu based).

Rice Topped With Chashu

The rice was very good (the socks kept coming off). I would put this dish up against most fried rice.

We also added one and a half orders of gyoza (the half came with the set menu).

Gyoza

More Gyoza

Even the gyoza knocked our socks off. An excellent choice. I even followed the instructions on the menu (to the last drop).

All Gone!

And the reason why we don’t frequent this restaurant more often?

Sign

If you look up this restaurant on Yelp.com, you’ll notice a handmade sign informing that they have sold out. They now have a printed and laminated sign, which means that the restaurant is in this situation fairly frequently (we noticed the sign as we were leaving). As we left, there were a couple of groups that were disappointed.

Next time we come back, we have to come back early enough.

I still want to try the chashu ramen with aside order of chashu (total ten pieces!). Drool.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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Of Ramen and Curry

We ended up here for dinner over the weekend.

Sign

I’ve written about this place before. It was The Cat’s first time. The last time I was here, it was decent (socks stayed on).

The Cat wanted something light.

Chicken Vegetable Ramen

Croquette Curry Ramen Combo

I think I had something similar the last time.

Gyoza

With any meal purchase, you can order four pieces of gyoza for a dollar. A no brainer.

Hot Oil Paste

I’m not sure I posted about their hot oil paste before but this is the bomb. I’m not that experienced with all of the ramen shops in town but I really like this hot paste. Almost snuck the container out (heh heh).

May not be the greatest, but very decent, the price is also decent and fair (read cheap eats).

Looking back, the theme of the weekend was cheap eats.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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