Irrashaimase!

What I normally hear when walking into a Japanese eating establishment. So, there’s this new take-out sushi place recently opened near the church I work at on Sundays. Getting a little tired of the drama and trauma occurring at the church. I thought church people were supposed to rise above the pettiness of “non-church” people (like myself). I guess people are people,church or no church. Sigh.

So, getting back to the sushi take-out. Saw a sign in the window “now hiring”. Thought it might be a good change of pace, plus, always wanted to learn about sushi. Dropped off my CV with the chef/owner, crossing my fingers.

Since I was there, picked up their lunch special, “rolled combo”.

“Rolled Combo”

Spicy tuna, uni, and abbreviated California.

My intent is to work the front, but, if he’s willing to teach, maybe can learn sushi making. :)

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

 

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Sushi Sundae

More late nights at The Cat’s office. Been eating food too many times from the “western” grocery store.

Japanese Grocery Store

Located near The Cat’s office, just outside of the mall. From some reason, the picture reminds me of “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper. Why? I dunno.

Anyway, found this little gem at the Japanese grocery.

Chirashi Cup

Sushi rice on the bottom, sashimi, salmon roe, Japanese style steamed egg and cucumbers on top. Less than a meal, but more than just a snack. Just right. Not cheap cheap, but not prohibitive either. Definitely do again, sparingly.

I’d order this over a regular sundae, anyday. :)

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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Kimbap or Gimbap

Or Korean style sushi.

Always was curious about this place.

“Hole in the Wall”

The building used to be apartments. It was vacant for a long time. Then it was renovated into commercial s pace and the little addition was built.

Had the opportunity to go exploring around The Cat’s office the other day and I  took a look see.

Sign

The place did have positive reviews on Yelp.

Turns out, it’s a one woman operation.

Inside

The place is tiny. My guess is 200 square feet. Just enough space for a customer area, a front counter,cabinets, refrigerator, and prep space in the back.

And all she offers are five varieties of Korean sushi rolls, vegetable, beef, beef and kimchee (or kimchi), tuna, and tuna and cheese (plus some canned or bottled drinks and miso soup). All sushi is $3.00 except for the tuna and cheese, that’s $3.50. Each roll is about eight to ten pieces.

I asked if the beef and kimchee was spicy, she said not too spicy. Went with the beef and kimchee.

Beef and Kimchee Kimbap

Rice, beef, kimchee, carrot, choisum, egg omelet and the seaweed wrapper. All your nutrition in one bite. :) Tasty!

All made when ordered. Not fast food, but fresh and worth the wait.

Definitely worth a revisit. I’d like to try all of the varieties except for maybe the tuna and cheese, that combo (except for tuna melt) never really hit it off for me.

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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Behind The White Door

A continuation from the previous post.

On Sunday, lunch was here.

Sign

I got his cookbook for Christmas and was drooling over a pork belly (kakuni) dish on congee ever since. According to the cookbook, the pork belly takes 22 hours to process and prepare (Wow!) We decided to go for lunch (there were lunch sets that seemed reasonably priced, not as expensive (more on that later), less crowded, and time to digest).

The place setting.

Place Setting

The plastic chopstick at the top of the picture reminded me of miniature lightsabers  (sorry, the geek slipped out).

The pictures I saw of the pork belly was a slab/block of pork belly on congee (rice gruel) with pork jus. Server tells us that’s the appetizer dish. The lunch set is shredded pork belly over rice. Asked if I could substitute the congee for rice. Can, but not recommended. Hmm. Not exactly what I had in mind, but okay. Asked for sample of the congee though.

Kakuni Lunch Set

Kakuni Don

Rice, shredded cabbage, shredded pork belly, crispy stuff on top, and jus on the bottom (I guess for presentation purposes). Not bad. The shredded pork belly was similar to kalua pork or pulled pork. The rest of the lunch set.

Mixed Green Salad with Kabosu Vinaigrette

Had to ask what kabosu was. It’s a citrus fruit with a taste similar to grapefruit. Very interesting.

Sushi

Very fresh. Yum! Selection changes according to availability.

Congee

Made from sushi rice and lightly salted. One of the best “plain” congee I had. Ever.

The server was wrong. I would highly recommend substituting the rice for congee, even under the shredded pork belly. Drool.

The Cat ordered the sashimi sushi combination with shrimp and vegetable tempura, and rice.

Sashim Sushi Combination Lunch Set

Sashimi Sushi Combination

Salad

Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura

Miso Soup

Rice

The Cat liked her selection.

Up to now, a definite return. But then tea and dessert kind of crimped the experience.

We thought tea would come with the meal.

Green Tea

It wasn’t. Pretty pricey. :( The cup and saucer were nice though.

The Cat thought since we were here, try dessert.

peanut butter fondant – milk chocolate crèmeux, peanut dragée, salted peanut ice cream

It was okay.

For the amount spent on tea and dessert, I could have ordered another lunch set. I would have preferred to order another lunch set. That okay, live and learn, next time.

For next time I plan to order the kakuni as an appetizer with the block of pork belly over congee, no tea (hot water) or dessert.

I brought my cookbook just on the chance that chef is in town and could autograph it for me. Alas, it was not to be. More reason to return. :)

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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Dollar Days

Part of the work schedule at W-S includes on call hours. I have to check  on that day if they want the extra help. Yesterday, they did. The downside is my eating schedule gets a little wonky. Waiting for my shift to start, grabbed a bit of lunch. Just outside the mall is Sushi-San (1411 Kapiolani Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii). It’s a conveyor-belt sushi place (kaiten-zushi).

In their initial incarnation, they tried to be upscale. After the initial buzz waned, customers were pretty sparse (at least from what I could tell from driving by). It’s conveyor belt sushi! Not a sushi bar!

Next, they tried a one-price, all-you-can-eat concept. I guess they had problems with that one too. Currently, the price structure is one dollar for almost all plates (except for some special plates). Okay, Now we’re talking.

Salmon Nigiri

Spicy Tuna

Spicy Shrimp

Crispy Salmon Skin

And of course (if you know me), I have to end sushi meals with …

Tamago

Granted, it wasn’t the greatest sushi by a long shot, but at $1 a plate, can’t complain too much.

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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