Hawaii Day Four [March 13, 2010]

Our forth morning, began with a swim in the ocean, and then I took a quick dip in the pool (in which I got water in my ear that refused to be gone for a week!). Afterward, we decided to hunt down breakfast while en route to the zoo (which we had passed the day prior, but were distracted into going to Hula's instead).

We came across a cheap Chinese Breakfast buffet. The food was filling, and good. (Nothing particularly special here, other than perhaps most times one eats Chinese, it is not breakfast.) We had fried rice, scrambled eggs, pickled cabbage, egg rolls, cucumbers, Jin deui, fresh pineapple and other miscellaneous food.


The Husband and I had a wonderful time at the Honolulu Zoo, and the number of pictures we took were well into the hundreds [Note: Our entire trip, we took 1,074 photos.]. To conserve space, I made a quick collage.


After our trip to the zoo...we were...imagine this...hungry! After a little bit of walking around, we came across Puka Dog - which The Husband had also seen on No Reservations - and decided to try it out. Both of us went with the polish sausage, although I opted to go with hot chili pepper sauce and papaya relish, while The Husband got the hot chili pepper sauce and lilikoi mustard. Although you might not think it, the sweet flavors of fruit (attached to the spicy kick) were really good with the sausage!

Stuffing the polish sausage in the homemade bun!

The huge variety of sauces and relishes!

We finally made it back to the hotel, to relax with some Yebisu before going to go watch the WVU NCAA Tournament game at another bar. Instead of Moose McGillyCuddy's, we went to Kelley O'Neil's (which was just across the street). We won the game against Georgetown, and the gentleman performing that night was kind enough to sing the first verse of Country Roads for us (he would have sung the rest, but didn't know the lyrics).

I really wish I could remember this guy's name!

After one last celebratory drink, I proceeded to ask one of the regulars where a good yakiniku joint was (as I wasn't really keen on going back to Gyu-kaku quite yet.) and told me that there was just down the block, in an alley. He noted that it wasn't the type of place you'd go into normally, but the food was fantastic.

True to his word, the yakiniku joint existed, and it was called Ginzayen (or Ginzawon, I'm not sure. On Japanese sites, it's romanized Ginzawon, but their sign romanized it as Ginzayen...), and being that it was their 12 Year Anniversary, the first draft of Kirin was only $0.95! Quite a deal, being that you can't even buy a soda that cheap in most restaurants. Feeling a bit braver this time, we ordered the Gyūtan (aka Beef Tongue) and "Inner Part of Ribs" (whatever that is). Initially, I must admit, I was quite weary, but the Gyūtan was fantastic. It was quite honestly, some of the best yakiniku I've ever eaten. Go figure, right? The flavor was akin to a sirloin steak, with a very similar texture. It wasn't chewy at all, nor was it tough or iron-y tasting like perhaps I was expecting (because I really didn't know what I was expecting honestly!).

The beef tongue is the one further back, and slightly pinker in color.
It looks hard, because it's frozen before it's cut, so they can get it into thin slices.

I wish I would have gotten a photo of the t-shirts the waiter's were wearing. They were essentially a billboard for the restaurant's anniversary special written in kana and kanji. I really really wanted to buy one, but they said they were all out. :(

Tummy's full (temporarily of course) I drug The Husband to the closest LeSportSac store, to pick up what I decided to be my souvenir from the trip. You see, not only do I love LeSportSac (it's super cute and super functional!), but it turns out they have several prints that are exclusive to Hawaii, and some that are exclusive to Hawaii and Guam (since they are very similar). I ended up getting a Deluxe Shoulder Satchel in Onolicious (which is exclusive to Hawaii and Guam) and a Tissue Case in Lei Aloha.

Heading back to our hotel now I decided I was, once again, hungry. We had eyeballed a place across the road from our hotel called Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin. Tonkatsu happens to be one of The Husband's favorite Japanese dishes, and not being one to ever turn down Asian food, in we went!

We started off with a few Kushiage (we chose the enokitake, quail egg, and for the life of me I can't remember the third) which were all quite tasty.

When we were seated, we were shown a display of kushiage was brought to our table for us to look at - much akin to how a dessert tray is brought at the end of the meal!

The Husband eating a Quail Egg kushiage.

For our main course, The Husband went with traditional Tonkatsu, while I ordered the Katsudon (which I had never eaten before, but The Husband suggested I would enjoy it).

My Katsudon! Totally delicious.

The Husband's Tonkatsu - it's hiding behind the pile of cabbage...

Perhaps the only peculiar thing about the restaurant, was that it was quite popular with escorts. This made the atmosphere awkward and a little uncomfortable (the was nothing lewd in of itself, nor were they lasciviously dressed, but their conversation and general crass behavior was unnerving!). All of the food, however, was delicious, and it was a fantastic meal to end the evening on.