Sansei Sushi and Seafood

This contemporary and westerized sushi restaurant is a hidden gem in the midst of Waikiki. Sansei is located on the third floor of the Waikiki Beach Marriot.

As loyal customers of Sansei, we've been here more than we can count. Most of the time, we go for the early bird special they offer every sunday and monday.

The early bird discount begins at 5:30 pm till 6:00 pm. Make sure you get there at least by 4:30 because the line gets long, and not everyone gets seated :( but other than that, who doesn't enjoy a 50% discount for being an early bird? So of course we take advantage of that and end up ordering more than we can handle. I highly recommend the Sansei crab cakes with crispy noodles. The sauce is just amazing and one of a kind. You can't go wrong with Agedashi tofu. It has a light shoyu sauce that seeps right into the flash fried tofu.

Another favorite is the Panko crusted ahi sashimi roll. Comes with a sauce similar to the crab cakes. Calamari salad is also a great sharing appetizer, be sure to ask for extra sauce! My favorite sushi roll that we ordered is the Dynamite roll, which is a california roll wrapped in smoked salmon and baked scallops on top.

The only thing that kicks the bill up is the 20% service charge that's automatically added to the bill. If you want really fresh out of the ocean seafood though, you might want to try somewhere else, but if you're craving some good ol' comfort sushi, Sansei is the place to be. We know we never leave with any room in our stomachs.

2522 Kalakaua Ave.

Honolulu

(808) 931-6286

Reservations accepted except for early bird special!

Moke's Bread and Breakfast

Kailua is known for great breakfast spots like Cinnamons and Boots and Kimo's. We know most people don't want to wait 30 minutes for a seat so we found the perfect alternative. Moke's Bread and Breakfast lies in the heart of Kailua. Serving breakfast/brunch, and lunch, this hole in the wall restaurant has its own Kailua kick with dishes named after landmarks. This quaint restaurant is known for their homemade bread. We ended up waiting for around 15 minutes for our seat. I don't know if was just us, but the first thing we noticed was how blue it was in there. Blue is supposedly an unappetizing color and it was just overwhelming.

Decor aside, we ordered the rib eye loco "moke," which is a regular loco moco but instead of a burger patty, you get a whole rib eye steak drizzled with brown gravy. The steak definitely punch up the loco moco and made it a whole different dish. For $11.25, its a great price for some savvy steak.

It came with a side of dark rye bread and it was warm and crunchy on the outside, chewy and moist on the inside. It paired perfectly with the lilikoi butter.

We also ordered a Moke's Sunrise Special which was $8.50. The homemade honey butter biscuit was the best part, and everything else was old fashion breakfast chum.

The portion sizes were smaller than expected, but at least we weren't stuffed when we walked out. Moke's definitely stands out with their freshly baked bread. I'd try one of the omelets next time and their famous muffin of the days. A helpful hint is that from 12-1 pm, the serve both breakfast and lunch but from 1-3pm they strictly serve lunch only.

27 Hoolai St
Kailua, HI 96734

(808) 261-5565

Shabu Shabu Bangkok

We’ve been wondering about Shabu Shabu Bangkok but always turned to Sweet Home café just because we know it is good. The only real turn off about Sweet Home Café is the looong wait every single time we go. We came to Shabu Shabu Bangkok on a Friday night at 6:30 hoping to just be seated right away. We were right and noticed that this place was not packed at all, in fact there were only three other tables dining. This is a hot pot style restaurant with a separate a la cart menu also available with all the classic Thai dishes.

Now on with the hot pot goodness! Wehad a choice of chicken, beef, vegetarian, curry, or tom yum broth, and of course being die-hard tom yum lovers, we chose that one. We ordered the vegetable combo, which was just a bunch of different vegetables for $14. We also ordered raw beef and pork dumplings.

The hot pot came with five individual sauces, my favorite was the ginger garlic sauce. The soup broth comes with free refills so it felt like eating a huge bowl of hearty tom yum soup that never ended. The pork dumplings had a decent amount of pork filling.

This place does not come with free rice, and each small bowl of rice was 2 bucks. I guess I’m only complaining because of being spoiled by Sweet Home’s free carb-fillers. This place does offer brown rice though for all you healthees.

This restaurant has interesting Thai inspired décor and makes a great date spot. The bill came out to be a little more than what we usually paid at Sweet Home Café. All in all, if you want some hot pot action but don’t want to be bumping into everyone while getting your food, check out Shabu Shabu Bangkok!

949 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816

(808) 732-7666

Let's Begin at Ninniku-Ya

First post :) We are super excited to run a blog so follow us as we eat and drink our way around Oahu! Read more about us in the About Us section. So lets start out with……

Ninniku-Ya, a garlic restaurant.

The two of us have been driving upand down Waialae Avenue for quite some time and have always noticed blue Christmas lights surrounding a dimly lit restaurant. We finally decided to give it a try and upon entering the restaurant, we immediately smelled the strong garlic. The restaurant was separated into inside and outside seating and we were seated inside. The garlicky aroma was a bit overwhelming especially for people who aren’t so thrilled of garlic, so beware it sticks to your clothes and hair even after you leave.

We waited for around 25 minutes until our first dish arrived. For starters, we had the $10 garlic Caesar salad. The salad was very crisp with the perfect light amount of dressing. Only thing different from the others is it comes with thick cubes of salami and chewy garlic bread croutons.

Our carb of the meal was garlic rice with shrimp, and egg. At first sight, we were pleasantly surprised it came in was purplish red rice, instead of the expected white. The shrimp was cooked perfectly juicy and springy to the bite. The unexpected bursts of pineapple added a nice sweetness to the rice. It came in a generous portion size and we didn’t’ even finish it. Totally worth the $20.

For main course, we ordered the 18 oz rib eye. The waiter came out with it sizzling on a hot plate and did a cutting show. He seemed kind of bored. Apart from that the garlic butter looked sinful as it melted on top of the thick steak. Some veggies came on the side and three dipping sauces for the steak. I personally preferred the white sauce, which tasted very milky. The other two were a Thai style sweet and sour sauce, and garlic soy sauce. The meat continued to cook on the plate as we ate and produced quite a bit of smoke. The rib eye was good, a bit dry for my taste, but good. It had great peppery flavoring and came with a big scoop of garlic on top so definitely didn’t lack in flavor. Rib eye came out to be $38.

Matt insisted that the meal wasn’t complete without the honey and garlic ice cream (even though I was extremely full). It was too sweet for my taste; just a whole lot of honey and not enough garlic, but he loved it. I didn’t think it was worth the $6 though.

Overall, the food was satisfying but the service lacked a bit. Food came out very slowly one after another, but the wait staffs were friendly. Ninniku-Ya is on the pricey side, but great for talking business or date nights. If you like garlic and its spicy tingly goodness, this is the place to go.

3196 Waialae Ave

Honolulu