HRodenberger's Blog: Food Fo Fill Dah Belly in Honolulu

Foods from many countries can be found in Seattle and other cities around the world but here in Hawaii ethnic foods from other cultures are adopted and often adapted to fit the tastes of the locals as well as the original importers. Some dishes have become staples and "fill dah belly" any time any place.

The Hawaiian musubi is a takeoff on the Japanese omusubi or onigiri and is a very popular snack throughout the islands.

There are lots of Japanese tourists so many stores, especially in Waikiki and the big malls have signs in both English and Japanese.

The musubi below are typical. A block of rice topped with fried spam, avocado, sweet scrambled egg, or other protein and wrapped with dried nori (seaweed).

Samples of musubi (left), onigiri (center) and bento (left)

In this store they also had typical Japanese onigiri, rice balls filled with chopped pickle, umeboshi (pickled plum) or shredded salted salmon and wrapped with nori. To the left are bento boxes with a simple box lunch of rice, protein and pickle.

Poke is an old Hawaiian preparation of dried salted fish that could be carried on ocean journeys. In the old days it was often made of the scraps cut from fish when preparing the steaks or fillets. In the 1970's the concept began to spread and soon became popular as an appetizer or entree using Ahi (yellowfin tuna) and other fish and shellfish. Now it is made from many kinds of fish, shellfish, octopus, squid and even vegetables and tofu. There are a variety of sauces so the choices are many.

Poke counter at Don Quijote supermarket wihere I counted 28 kinds of poke.

Across the street from our condo is a local pass through window of a famous poke restaurant in Chinatown. We got some poke bowls to eat in our condo.

The Maguro Brothers take out window across the street.

Ramen is another common food in Hawaii. When walking to the beach this ramen place, Nakamura Ramen, caught my eye. They serve ramen with several kinds of sauces, with or without a soft boiled egg and with various kinds of protein.

The sign on the window says "Oxtail ramen."

I wanted to try their oxtail ramen so ordered the oxtail ramen set which included the ramen, some fried pot stickers (gyoza), a dish of fried rice and a bowl with ground ginger and soy sauce to be added as desired for extra flavor. I ordered the small plate of kimchee on the side.

The oxtail ramen set was well worth the price.

The ramen was very good although the price was a little high at $23.50, but that included the other parts of the set so altogether not so bad.

Testimonials from famous visitors from Japan.

There is a Japanese food court in the Ala Moana Mall. When we visited there I ordered a special ramen with soft egg and pork belly. It was delicious even though the sauce was quite rich.

Ramen at the Shirokiya Food Court had pork belly, soft boiled egg, chopped seaweed and green onions. Delicious.

Udon is another noodle dish found in Honolulu. There is a popular udon place about two blocks from our condo so I found myself having breakfast there the other day.

Plastic display dishes out front.

My udon with soft boiled egg and tempura fried Hawaiian sausage and mushrooms. It made a fine breakfast.

Cafeteria style udon restaurant with various kinds of soup and extras.

When you've had enough food it's time for shave ice. Shave ice is a completely different dish from what we on the "Mainland" know as a snow cone.

Here in Hawaii the block of ice is put into a machine with a razor sharp knife on the bottom. The block of ice is locked in place then rotates while a very thin shaving of ice falls from the bottom. Many newer shave ice places have a machine that puts out an ultra thin layer of ice, almost like snow. It's every bit as smooth as the best of the rotating machines but not as authentic.

The ice is packed gently into a dish, some places put a layer of ice cream on at this point, while some places add a flavored syrup here. More ice is packed on top then the people get creative with different kinds of syrups, fruit or other toppings and then sweetened condensed milk is often drizzled over the whole thing.