Home sweet home. Check out these places that I try to frequent every time I'm in town. This is a living list so I'll keep updating it when I get a chance.
Food:
Fancy Places:
Alan Wong's
You'll need reservations, but it's worth it for Alan Wong, who is consistently one of Hawaii's best chefs. "Da Bag" (clams, pig and mushrooms baked in a foil pouch) is great starter. For your main course, any fresh fish is usually prepared superbly (usually done in a "Local" or Asian style) and the Twice Cooked Short ribs are excellent. Can't recommend "The Coconut" (coconut custard sorbet) enough for its visual presentation and flavor. He has a casual restaurant called "Pineapple Room" in the Macys at Ala Moana which is not as good (but decent).
Sushi Sasabune - Honolulu
Best sushi I've had so far (in my life). Omakase (chef's choice) all the way. You can choose between the Western Omakase (standard, more fish-centric) or Eastern Omakase (more adventurous, with more shellfish or other things). I've had each one time and both tasted amazing. Reservations also required (might be easier to go during lunch when they aren't as busy).
Casual Restaurants:
The Pig & the Lady
Best of the newer restaurants in Honolulu. Modern take on Vietnamese food done with local influences. Absolutely worth it.
Piggy Smalls
The Pig & the Lady's 2nd restaurant. Similar kinda thing, but they've broadened their range of foods and influences. I've only been once so far, but I'd rate this to be just as tasty as its big brother.
Sushi Murayama
This small, casual sushi place is a hidden gem. They do Omakase as well, so you could trust the chef to dish out an amazing meal. Or, opt for ordering a la carte, which is what I did. There are some really fantastic things they produce here. Just be sure to ask what "off the menu" things are available on the day. Some of the highlights include a Wagyu beef musubi (so fatty and flavorful), Negi-toro hand roll (with generous amounts of fatty tuna, green onions, fried garlic chips and pickled daikon bits) and a Hibiki whiskey flavored gelato. I can't recommend this place enough and intend to visit more regularly when I'm back in the future.
Nico's
Good seafood. More crowded and more expensive than it used to be, but still good. Live music from time to time as well!
Side Street Inn
Best described as "Local comfort food". Show up hungry (i.e. Large serving portions). Kalbi, ribs, pork chops, kim chee fried rice are great choices. Also, two locations to choose from!
Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin
Traditional Japanese Tonkatsu (breaded, fried pork cutlet) that is done exceptionally well. Conveniently located in Waikiki.
Poke:
The local staple (Hawaiian-style, raw fish salad) has seen a recent surge in popularity (particularly on the Mainland US). Great to see it spread, but you can't get any better than in Hawaii. The best I've had include: Alicia's Market, (in Kalihi, just east of the airport) where you can get fantastic poke and some great Chinese-style roast meat, Tamura's Fine Wine (multiple locations) 10 exceptional poke types, and Ono Seafood (Kapahulu, east of Waikiki) tiny hole in the wall with really nice poke bowls. The Hibachi (in Kailua) is another small place with tasty poke too. If you won't be anywhere near these places, you could just as easily stop by any supermarket and the poke there will be pretty good too.
Takeaways:
Yamas Fish Market
Plate lunches. Hawaiian food and Local-style Asian too. Recommend choosing the Hawaiian food and/or mochiko chicken for sure.
Diamond Head Grill
East of Waikiki, within sight of Diamond Head. Good plate lunches. You can take out and eat in nearby Kapiolani Park or Diamond Head Beach Park lookout (east of the lighthouse).
Shirokiya's Japan Village Walk
Food court attached to the Shirokiya (Japanese department store) in the massive Ala Moana Shopping Center. Plenty of good Japanese food (e.g. ramen, bentos, curry rice, beer, etc.), some of which are on temporary rotation from Japan.
Saimin (sorta like a simple ramen)
A (relatively cheap) island meal. Two of the best on the island: Shige's Saimin Stand (in Wahiawa, en route to the North Shore) and Palace Saimin (in Kalihi, north west of Downtown). I've never been to either, but will need to change that in the future.
Brunch (in Kailua):
Great breakfast/lunch choices in this quiet neighborhood near what I consider the nicest beaches on the island. Boots & Kimo's is probably the most popular/well-known (i.e. insane lines), but the macadamia nut sauce pancakes are phenomenal. Cinnamon's (also a location in Waikiki) has a really great Guava chiffon pancake on their menu and many eggs benedict choices. Moke's Bread & Breakfast is in a quieter location and probably is the least packed (well, it was when I went) and is known for their Lilikoi (passionfruit) pancakes. New place, Over Easy, just opened in mid-2016 and it has been getting some good word of mouth (I'll update when I've had a chance to try it).
Sweets:
Liliha Bakery
Get the Coco puffs. The new Green Tea ones are good too, but the original ones are my favorite.
Malasadas
Portuguese Style donuts. Leonard's Bakery has some nice regular (and filled) malasadas and is favorite of locals and tourists alike. Kamehameha Bakery has a unique poi (taro) one. If you have a craving while near Kailua, check out Agnes' Bake Shop for their malasadas too.
Bubbies Ice Cream
Homemade mochi ice cream and just plain old scoops as well. Can't really go wrong with any choice here. Loved their ice cream pie/cakes growing up, but not sure if they still make those.
Shave Ice
Waiola Shave Ice is the old favorite with the finest ice and numerous locations. Uncle Clay's is pretty cool if you're over on the East side of the island (try the unique Kale-spin flavor). If you're on the North Shore in Haleiwa, Matsumoto's is worth a visit (though watch out for long lines as tourists frequent the area). Also, I've heard good things about Shimazu's, but have yet to visit myself.
Ted's Bakery
Known for their Chocolate/Haupia cream pie (with a double dose of dark chocolate pudding and coconut custard pudding), their other pies are also great (personally, I'd pick anything combined with Haupia). Also, you don't have to drive all they way to the North Shore to enjoy them as you can usually find their pies in the supermarket.
Hikes:
Lanikai Pillboxes
Not too strenuous walk up along the ridge leading to a fantastic view of Lanikai Beach and the Mokulua Islands. If you've got an hour or so (particularly nice for a sunrise hike), I'd recommend it. Then you can reward yourself with a sweet brunch at any of the places listed above.
Manoa Falls
A central location (at the back of Manoa Valley just up the road from the University of Hawaii) that isn't too hard to get to. Lovely waterfall at the end of a relatively short trail. Watch out of the mud if there has been any rain recently and always bring insect repellant (the mosquitos are vicious).
Koko Head Stairs
Just up the road from the famous Hanauma Bay, you have a daunting walk up a 1000+ "stairs" (old railroad ties) equating to roughly 800ft+/240m+ elevation gain. It's strenuous, but over before you know it and you'll be rewarded with a breathtaking 360º view of East Oahu. Another great place to catch the sunrise.
Makapu'u Point Lighthouse
Looking for something a bit less strenuous? This hike is uphill, but less extreme and fully paved the whole way. At the top, you get a look at the eastern most tip of the island and up the northeast, "Windward" coast. On a clear day, you can even look eastward and see the nearest neighbor island of Moloka'i. Again, great place to catch the sunrise. If you want an adventure, turn right off the paved pathway when you get to the whale watching sign (3/4 the way up) and head down to the Makapu'u Tide Pools. Be careful about big waves as they can be very dangerous if you're in/near the pool!
Kaena Point
On the westernmost point of the island. A relatively easy (if lengthy and exposed) hike along the coast. Two ways to get there from the northwest (through Mokuleia, the way I've been and not too far if you're coming from the North Shore) or southwest (through Waianae, pretty out of the way unless you're coming from Ko'olina). Great way to see Hawaiian Monk Seals, but don't get too close as they are protected (i.e. endangered). Don't leave valuables in the car as neither side is in a particularly safe neighborhood.
Other stuff
Shark Diving in Haleiwa
I think these are the guys we went with (~US$80/person...group discount...I think that includes a little extra for them to film us with their GoPro...bring your own or borrow one if you can). Ride out to the dive site can be a bit choppy for people sensitive to the sea so those folks should hop into the water first because you'll feel a lot better in the water. We saw whales in the distance and heard them in the water.
Last updated: Jan 2017
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Cabo 2014
I always enjoy starting a trip by visiting some of the exhibits on display at the airport. Just my luck, I had time to drop into the SFO Museum to see their exhibit on vintage Airline memorabilia. Good old Pan Am; "Gone but not forgotten".
Shortly after takeoff, I heard this great song come up on shuffle. Very fitting. You can have a listen to the song over here if you'd like: http://www.theriverbreaks.com/music/.
Thanks to my Mileage Plus Silver status, I got to sit up front. In addition to the extra legroom, I got a light lunch: shrimp salad with tomato bisque.
I touched down at SJD (San Jose del Cabo International Airport) in the late afternoon and stepped out into the 90+˚ heat. Hot, hot, hot!
The awesome view I had the pleasure of enjoying over the next few days at the Villa Vista del Mar. We spent ~90% of the time during this trip within the frame of this image (in the house or down at the beach).
Shortly after my arrival (everyone else had arrived a few days earlier), we started prepping the snapper for the grill.
The Cabo Crew in its entirety on the one night we had a full house.
Dinner time!
A beautiful sunset from the lanai.
Any time not spent eating or at the pool or at the beach, most likely got spent at this table. With these tiles.
Day 2. I'm still not sick of the view yet. You can see the early signs of sunburn on my cheeks.
We played a few other games too. But these tiles didn't feel the same...
Me, Troy & Cindy in the pool again. We had to kill time before dinner.
Another night, another dinner cooked on the grill. This time, we had marinated meats from the market (including carne asada and al pastor). A bit heavy on the salt, but very delicious.
Day 3 started out with some snorkeling and swimming at Chileno Bay. Click on the image for a (slightly) larger version.
We stopped off at the Costco on the way back to the house and picked up some excellent fixings for lunch. Then we busted out the sandwich press and made salami, provolone, avocado and mixed green paninis. So good!
Then, sadly, I had to say hasta la vista to Los Cabos. See you next year?
Despite being a very brief trip, I found it quite relaxing not to be running around all the time going from place to place. I got to lounge by the pool, eat a lot, splash in the ocean, catch a few waves, push around some tiles and do a bit of reading. Thanks so much to the Cabo Crew for inviting me to come along and share in the fun!
Monday, 21 July 2014
The Rest of June
As evidenced by the many pictures of mahjong over the last several months, you can tell it has become a big part of the weekly routine amongst our group. Above, you can see an example of one big hand I managed to put together consisting of the 4-5-6 pattern repeated in all the suits. Woo hop!
The World Cup (of soccer) started up and the Abbott R&D group became slightly less productive for about a month. In the pic above, we hid in a conference room to watch the opening game (Brazil v. Croatia).
Sadly, our dear friend James (at the center of the above pic) moved away from the Bay Area to start a new job (and new life) up in Washington State. The goodbye celebration began on a Thursday night with burgers/baos/beers at Buffalo, then migrated onto Honeycreek where we ate the pictured "honey toast" dessert (giant piece of toast with ice cream, oreos, fruit and chocolate sauce). Susanna, Justin, Steph and I round out the rest of the crew in the "dessert selfie".
After the significant number of steps I took during the trip to Yosemite the previous week, I regained the coveted 1st Place trophy for the week. So proud I made it back to the top of the mountain as my coworkers have been setting the bar so high that I've otherwise struggled to stay in touch of their lofty step totals.
The weekend marked an important milestone for a number of friends: Stanford graduation! First up, Susanna got her degrees (MS and PhD). Lisa, Scott, Me, Jason, Imran & Chandana dropped by to watch the ceremony and show our support (by screaming & applauding when she walked across the stage).
After the midday ceremony, I hustled on home to host some friends for a big World Cup clash between England & Italy. While not terribly high scoring, it featured quite a bit of back and forth action. Deryck even joined us via FaceTime to watch the game since he couldn't find a good way to watch the game in HK.
After that exciting game, the party moved to James' place for a final farewell dinner shindig. We'll miss you dearly James! Hope to visit you up in WA sometime!
Then the next day, the commencement action continued and this time we celebrated Scott being conferred his PhD!
My 10 yr old French Football jersey looked a bit dated so I decided to grab the latest one to show my support for the team at this year's World Cup. Though Adidas doesn't make them anymore, Nike did a nice job making a simple, yet very sharp design. Allez Les Bleus!
A monthly occurrence in the summer, the San Jose Bike Party draws large crowds of cyclists together for a nighttime ride in SJ (with frequent stops for food and fellowship). Some crazy folks in the picture above lit fireworks which drew some unwanted attention from the local authorities. So much excitement!
The Menlo Park Pace Gallery's second show featured works by Tara Donovan who creates large scale sculptures made out of everyday objects. Check out what they had on display!
Colony, 2004. The full work to the left (Susanna shown for scale) and an inset close-up of the pencils used to create the sculpture.
Bluffs, 2013. The full view on the left and a close-up on the right showing the glued together buttons which form this work.
Haze, 2003. Probably my favorite work on display, this cloud like sculpture (top) gets its form from a large number of plastic drinking straws stacked together (bottom). So simple, yet so beautiful. I might be inspired to do a bit of arts and crafts at home one of these days. I'll post a pic of my efforts...
Dueling close-ups of Haze (Susanna vs. Me).
They had a small room with some other works, including the carryover Calder sculpture from the previous exhibition. Jason and I admire the works as I skim through the catalog showing most of the Tara Donovan works that we saw (including the ones I've shown in this blog entry) have been valued > US$100,000. Amazing.
While respectfully admiring the artwork (no touching), we decided to have a bit of fun with the Untitled, 2000 cubes (from top to bottom: straight pins, tempered glass and toothpicks). Amazingly, these 3 foot cubes don't rely on any adhesive to stick together other. Just friction and gravity.
Last but not least, a picture of Me taking a selfie with Untitled (Mylar), 2010.
The Tara Donovan show got extended and, despite originally being scheduled to end in June, now will be at the Pace Gallery till August. Go see it if you haven't yet! Hope you enjoyed the pics. Stay tuned for the next post in which I vacation in a country I haven't previously ever visited!
Sunday, 6 July 2014
Yosemite 2014
The trip began with an early Saturday morning departure from SF. We (Andrew, Brian, Grant and I) arrived in the park and immediately hit the trail. Our target for the day: Mount Hoffmann. Here I am at our first landmark along the hike: May Lake.
After a bit more climbing, we got this lovely view looking back down towards May Lake.
Grant, Andrew & I continuing the ascent. I should've brought a hat.
After more elevation gain, we passed the tree line.
We stopped momentarily for a snack before pushing onward and after a few hours of vertical progress (which didn't feel like much progress at all no thanks to the high altitude), we got to an exposed area leading up to the final ascent.
Getting oh so close to the top! Looking back towards the valley, you can see how Mt. Hoffmann compares to the other major landmarks in the valley (Cloud's Rest left of center and Half Dome right of center).
We made it to the summit!
The nifty watch confirms that shortly after 1pm, we got to ~10,600 feet (or so). That sort of elevation really gets to your head!
Grant & Brian at the top (with Cloud's Rest and Half Dome in the background).
Shortly after we took that picture, we noticed this little critter running around. We spent a few minutes wondering whether it might be an "alpine squirrel" or something along those lines before a fellow hiker politely (and correctly) suggested it could be a Marmot.
After all the picture taking and marmot watching, we sat down and busted out lunch. Here you can see Brian cutting up some avocado to put onto our turkey sandwiches.
And then we rested a bit before our hike back down to the trailhead. Grant even stretched out for a brief nap.
When we got back down to the car, we drove into the valley and settled into our accommodations in Curry Village prior to seeking out dinner. We started out eating burgers, but that didn't quite satisfy our hunger. So, we ordered a pizza. We opted for a plain cheese pizza because toppings cost a whopping $2 each and we didn't deem it worth the high price. Instead, we cut up the leftover turkey from our lunch.
And we put it on the cheese pizza. Delicious.
We got a good night's sleep and then the next day, hit up the Mist Trail. The name of the trail (presumably) comes from the proximity to waterfalls (mainly Vernal Falls) which cause a great deal of water vapor (aka mist) to spray all over the trail. It not only helps to cool hikers along the grueling elevation gain, but also offers plenty of chances to see beautiful rainbows.
Vernal Falls in all its glory.
The squirrels aggressively approached hikers in search of food and many of them wandered close to us as we rested near Emerald Pool. Grant dared me to pet a squirrel and you can see me as I attempt to do so. I got as far as brushing its tail before it decided that it didn't really like that and bolted off.
After the Mist Trail, we packed our gear and headed on out of the park. Before we left the valley, we stopped briefly for this photo opportunity. You can see El Capitan on the left, Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls on the right and the Merced River flowing down the middle.
And there you have our brief but sweet trip to Yosemite! Definitely one of the best places in the state to visit and always a location that never disappoints. Thanks to my hiking buddies, Andrew, Brian and Grant for the pleasant company. Hopefully we'll get back out there sooner rather than later! Until next time, adieu!
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