Best Poke bowls you'll ever have!

During my vacations, I genuinely set a hard rule on myself that no matter how great a food establishment is, I vowed to only go there once and try somewhere else but this place that I found during my stay in the the Big Island in Hawaii was simply too good to only go once. This place has serves killer fresh Poke bowls! If you don't know what "Poke" is, it's a Hawaiian verb for "to cut/slice/section" and it's usually consists of cubed fresh Ahi (Yellowfin Tuna) sashimi marinated in some soy sauce, sesame oil, onions, and some chili pepper for some heat. There are usually many variations of marinate you can use with the Ahi. A Poke bowl is simple Ahi with a side of rice. It sounds very simple but it's bursting with flavor and full of deliciousness. This one place had 8 kind of flavors. The nice server allowed us to sample each one to see which ones we would like and let me tell you they were ALL delicious!!! It was so hard to pick one flavor! Sometimes it's great to go with friends so you can share!

These were the flavors they had for their Poke:

Pele's Kiss (spicy), Dynamite (avocado aioli), Shack Special (sweet), Sesame (oil and seeds), Shoyu (soy sauce), Hawaiian (traditional), Wet Hawaiian (inamona), and Spicy Garlic Sesame

I also tried two of their Hot Lunches which were the Kalua Pork (slow roasted pork) and the Lau Lau (steam pork and butterfish). I wanted to taste authentic Hawaiian meals and let me tell you that these two items are legit and well worth to try.  Both were absolutely delicious! Just let your mouth consume anything here and you'll thank me later for this recommendation! I think I drooled a couple times from eating at this place because it was just so good. Words could not describe my happiness eating here, I just kept saying "MMmmmmm....Mmmmmm" and repeat. The Kalua Pork was so tender and full of flavor. I think this may be one of the best if not the best slow roasted pork I ever had. Good luck finding anything close to it outside Hawaii, the Hawaiians have simply mastered it.

With the Lau Lau, I had no idea what I was going to order but when it came out, I was a little confused at first at how to consume it, it was wrapped in some leaf and inside the leaf were the steamed pork and butterfish along with seaweed. It felt like a traditional Chinese "Zong" or sticky rice dumpling. It's wrapped in some leaf and steamed for some time so the contents inside infuse the flavors from the leaf as well as trap the aromas and flavors of the contents inside.

Alright enough with all the teasing, this place is called "Da Poke Shack". You can get a great meal for about $9.50 USD dollars. It's well worth that price if you ask me. Just so like it doesn't seem like I'm exaggerating with the whole praising of this establishment, Yelp (renowned food review community worldwide) has listed this place as the #1 place in the top 100 of places to eat in the USA! There is no doubt that if you in the area, you MUST and I repeat MUST come eat and try their food or you'll be missing out BIG TIME! They are super nice and very generous in portions! Mahalo!

Yelp #1 in Top 100 Places to Eat in USA

Name: Da Poke Shack
Address: 76-6246 Ali'i Dr, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Phone: (808) 329-7653 
Google Maps:  Click Here!
 

Store Front

Sides you can choose: Kim Chee, Clams, Seaweed, Calamari (Squid)

Lineup of Poke Flavors!

Sweet Hawaii Poke with Spicy Clams as my side

Kalua Pork with Squid as my side

Menu for today, Chicken was SOLD OUT :(

Poke Bowl - Pele's Kiss, Shack Specil, with Seaweed and Clams as sides

Lau Lau - steam pork and butterfish

Unwrapped Lau Lau

Dumplings at the Famous Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung originated in Taiwan and expanded into a worldwide phenomenon for their undeniably delicious and consistently perfect dumplings.  I have tried Din Tai Fung in the United States, and in Hong Kong, but one must not settle until one has eaten at the motherland of Din Tai Fung.  The Taipei 101 Din Tai Fung was awarded one Michelin Star, so that was yet another compelling reason to wait at the front of the restaurant 40 minutes before opening to beat the crowd of hungry tourists and locals.

I opted for the Crab Roe Xiao Long Bao as opposed to the traditional pork ones due to its uniqueness. As far as I know, the Din Tai Fung in America did not offer such a filling.  The skin was delicate and of the perfect thickness, but also without being overcooked and mushy.  The filling was juicy and flavorful, and each bite reveals pockets of soup, bursting with flavor (lucky for me, they actually cooled the dumplings so that the bursting soup was not boiling hot!). Every dumpling was consistently made to order... I mean, have you seen how the chefs work?  Din Tai Fung (at all locations) make a point of encasing their kitchen behind glass so that customers can gawk at the speed and skill required to make these dumplings.

The Xiao Mai (Shrimp Pork mixture) was also delicious, but was not like the typical dim sum Xiao Mai.  It was more like a Xiao Long Bao with a slab of shrimp paste at the top. While it was delicious, I would not actually consider it as the real Xiao Mai.

The first real Din Tai Fung location was obviously not at this location (Taipei 101) but somewhere else but my hotel accommodation was right next to the Taipei 101 so I opted for the closer one. One secret tip that the lovely waitress revealed to me which the other locations I've been to did not bother to tell me was that the BEST way to to dip your dumplings was to have a 3-to-1 ratio of vinegar to soy sauce. This is a MUST try if you are in Taiwan! They even brag about how "Best Mannered" their staff are by showing the top 3 each month to set a bar for their other staff to match.

Name: Din Tai Fung
Address: 110, Taiwan, 府路45號B1樓
Phone: +886 2 8101 7799
Google Maps: Click Here!

Store Front

3-to-1 Ratio of Vinegar to Soy Sauce

Perfection

Crab Xiao Long Baos

Spicy Shrimp Wontons

Shrimp on top of Xiao Long Bao

Potstickers

Dumpling Masters hard at work!

Delicious Beef Brisket Noodle Soup!

This is slightly different from the Taiwanese version. The Hong Kong version focuses more on the simplicity of the dish and wants you to appreciate the TLC (tender loving care) they put into slow cooking their beef brisket with minimum seasoning. It was served with some lettuce and a clear beef stock broth that was designed to complement with your beef brisket and noodles. You also got the option between choosing wide rice noodles or egg noodles. I prefer wide rice noodles but I'm sure egg noodles would taste just fine as well.  I am a huge fan of simple dishes that have the ability to transform a meat into such a tender, moist, yet flavorful state with minimum ingredients and without overpowering my food palette. This is one prime example of a dish that does this. It cost about 27 HKD dollars or about $3 USD dollars. Not bad at all! Asia really serves a lot of amazing food with friendly budgets.

I also ordered a side of Fried Fish skin. Not sure if many people would like it but it goes very well with any soup based dishes. It gives another texture to your meal and it's fish! Fish is usually the healthier way to get your daily protein so why not! A side of that costs about 27 HKD dollars or about $3 USD dollars as well.

This place has an English name but there's no English sign apparently but no problem I'll share the Google Maps location so you don't need to struggle. It's called Kuen Kee Cafe.

Name: Kuen Kee Cafe (權記粉麵茶餐廳)
Phone: +852 2393 4718
Google Maps: Click Here!

 

Store Front

Beef Brisket Noodle Soup

Fried Fish Skin Chips

Chef hard at work!

Yummy Takoyaki (Octopus Balls)

I was fortunate enough to have a local friend in Japan show me around and introduce me to the best foods that Japan had to offer. In particular this one was located in Tokyo, the heart of Japan. It was called Gindaco and they specialize in making Takoyaki (Octopus Balls). Takoyakis usually consist of flour, eggs, bite-size pieces of octopus, and sometimes some dried red shrimp. These tiny morsels are super hot so you need to wait for it to cool before consuming or else you'll burn your tongue/mouth and you'll suffer from not being able to taste your food for a couple days! You usually need to consume them right away though or it won't taste as good. They are cooked on a super hot cast iron with many half-spherical molds. It's quite a skill to cook these balls because you can easily under cook it  or overcook it. Especially when they usually cook a huge batch at a time, time is of the essence here or you'll be in big trouble. A good Takoyaki chef must know how to use the chopsticks while it's cooking in the cast iron to form the ball. You can add toppings to it if you like or you can stick to just original (as is and no toppings). Usually dried bonito flakes are sprinkled over the Takoyakis for not just presentation but also for some additional seasoning. Also mayonnaise is usually drizzled over it as well. For about 400 YEN or $4 USD dollars, you can get 4 Takoyakis which isn't too bad in terms of pricing. Definitely this is worth a try!

Name: Gindaco(築地銀だこ)
Address: 4 Chome-10-6 Roppongi,Minato, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan
Google Maps: Click Here!

4 Takoyakis!

Store Front

Look at these beautiful morsels!

Beginning process of cooking the not so obvious Takoyakis!

Bottom layer before more batter is poured on top after adding the Octopus pieces

One of the Best Yakitori I've had so far...

This place has honestly exceeded my expectations in what they offered. Each grilled item was cooked to perfection and tasted super fresh! They also grilled the meats using Charcoal! I prefer Charcoal grilling over Propane grilling because there's a more smokiness flavor/aroma infused to the meats grilled and it gives it that more natural taste that you don't quite get from traditional Propane grilling. I had a local friend tag along who wasn't even aware of this place since I guess he's not that much of a foodie who would proactively look for places to try and even he was really impressed with this place so this place has got to be legit! This food spot basically serves every part of the Chicken and doesn't waste any part of it. They offer Pork as well but the main star here is the Chicken! This may be more on the adventurous side for some people but I was definitely down for trying it since I came all the way to Japan; might as well see what they had to offer since I'm sure I wouldn't find these kind of food items back at home.Good thing they had English menus! Such a relief!

These were the items I tried:

Liver, Gizzard, Cartilage, Neck Skin, Heart. The highlight was ordering the Tsukune which was minced chicken cooked on a skewer and served with a fresh egg yolk. It was so unique and delicious (refer to the picture below)! I also wanted to try raw chicken too but my other friends didn't want to do it so we ended up not trying it! Apparently eating raw chicken in Japan is not very out of the ordinary. There's no real concept of getting Salmonella here as Chickens raised in Japan are treated much differently than say for example how USA and probably rest of the World raises their Chicken when it comes to cleanliness of the farms/food they are fed/way they are treated/harvested/etc.  Let's get to the details of this establishment! We initially had some trouble finding this place but luckily for you I have the exact coordinates on Google so it'll be a breeze for you to find it! This is definitely a place to go in a group so you can try and share the various items they have. The items we ordered were about 315 YEN or about $3.15 USD dollars per plate which usually can feed about  2-3 people but varies depending on what you ordered. Surprisingly it's wasn't as expensive as initially thought but obviously it'll be more costly than your average Yakitori where they usually focus on cheap eats/cheap meats.

Name: Sumibi Torito (炭火串焼 とりと)
Address: 左京区川端東入る東丸太町9-5神原ビル１階, Kyoto, Japan 606-8395
Phone: +81 75-752-4144
Website: http://www.sumibi-torito.jp
Google Maps: Click Here!

Chef Sampler - Pork

Chicken and Green Onions

Tsukune (minced chicken with raw egg yolk) - must try!

Cartilage

Chef Sampler - some grilled nut

Chicken Liver

Stewed Vegetarian Rice - not much flavor

Another Stewed Vegetarian Rice - not much flavor

Gizzards

Chicken Skin

Chicken Thigh with Quail Egg

Awesome chefs in action!

Fatty Pork

 

Delicious Hokkaido Ice Cream!

Ok I promise I'll start sharing about some great non-dessert items in my next posts but this has to be shared! Without further adieu, I give you Hokkaido Ice Cream! It's the best ice cream you will have I guess outside Hokkaido! It is super creamy and full of flavor. They keep it simple with only two flavors (Matcha Green Tea and Vanilla) and with fresh ingredients all the way from Japan! There's always a lineup to this place so you definitely know they are churning Ice Cream like crazy and clearly it's good. Hong Kong eaters are one of the most pickiest eaters so you can always know how a place is based on the busyness of their establishment. With so much focus on quality, it's not too cheap. Depending on what you want (Matcha only, Mixed, or Vanilla only) it'll cost about $30 HKD dollars or about $3.50 for a cone or you can opt for the cup but I think if you are looking for quantity, I think you may get a little more for the buck if it's in a cone! Definitely recommend giving this place a try. This is also in Hong Kong! Oh how I love Hong Kong!

Name: Sweets House Cha Cha
Location: Inside a mall near the City Supermarket
尖沙咀廣東道17號海港城3樓city'super內 
Phone: +852 2375 8222
Google Maps: Click Here!

Matcha only and Twist respectively

Menu

Store Front