oahu 0902-04
september 12, 2002
<waiks: corner of royal hawaiian and kalakaua>
some people tell me they really hate waikiki. i personally don't get it.
sure...it's completely geared for tourists but then again hawaii is a tourism state and that's their main source of livelihood. i find that the benefits of being there outweighs the cons. in waikiki, if you're a japanese national visiting, you won't even need to know how to speak a word of english because all the signs, customer service, television channels and menus are catered to you. i personally find o'ahu to have a nice balance of city life mixed with natural rural scenery. because where else can you find public transportation so easily accessible, taxis/buses/shuttles/trolleys running all over the town, fantastic restaurants and food within a 5 mile radius, souvenirs galore, late night strolling, a street of shopping/mall that puts rodeo drive to shame, astounding views, breathtaking scenery and friendly folks all in one place? and did i mention the "tan me up" sunshiney weather? what the hell are people complaining about? i say, if you don't want touristy, stay at home. :x
as for me, i'll take it anyday.
whenever i'm there, i like to hit the dfs galleria because i like to check out the no tax stuff they have. inside the shopping center, the duty free store is housed in a 'cruiseship' type of facade. if you're a u.s. resident, you can only access the first two stories while the third is restricted only to foreign travelers. on the levels that you can access, they have brands like anna sui, lesportsac, tori richards, ralph lauren, coach, etc. the rest of the shopping center is called waikiki walk, which takes you down memory lane to a faux 1920's kalakaua avenue. shopping during the daytime there is great because there's not too many people around but come nighttime, everyone is out buying souvenirs up the ying yang. :p
i didn't get a chance to hit sam choy's diamond head this time but i did make it to their breakfast lunch and crab locale for dinner though. we started dinner off with a beer sampler featuring 6 types of in house brewery. i only took a sip of each one and thought that #2 and #3 were the best. or was it #4? i used to be a huge recreational drinker back in the day but now, i'm a lightweight through years of non-practice. in fact, ever since i've been diagnosed with so many fuckin food allergies, i haven't drank much at all. [i still have all my bottles of napa wine stashed away somewhere!]
sam choy's is pretty famous for their fried poke. it's usually very very good but this time, the poke was nearly completely cooked through which meant we were pretty much eating cooked cubed fish. d'oh! after raving about how good it was there, i think i lost credibility in my group because it really sucked bigtime! i mean c'mon, people tend to trust me on food (you do don't you??) and here we are having the appetizer and it's completely not what it turned out to be. :\ but i swear, it's usually very good albeit a bit on the salty side.
to be completely honest, the next three photos will show 3 of the entrees some of us ordered. i can't quite remember what everyone ordered but let me have a stab at it even though they all kind of looked the same.
[author's note: i really must be getting old since my memory is shot. back during my japan travelogue, i remembered every damn thing! see what work does to me? :P]
fishpimp ordered the monchong fish stuffed with crab meat. check out her sauce, it looks exactly like the sauce in the next photo! i should say that her dish was *really* delicious! it was the special of the day actually.
i ordered the chicken breast with mango (!) papaya sauce over garlic mashed potatoes. but that surrounding sauce must be the mystery sauce du jour! =:o mine was good too but i should have gotten seafood though. stupid!
for the life of me, i cannot remember what this is. i *think* it's some sort of fish but regardless, it looks like it got the mystery sauce du jour as well but with some added color to it. maybe my travelmates can remind me what this is.
i have to say though that another person in our group ordered the prime rib. and it was horrible. he got the very chewy tendon-y part and according to him it was "the second worst prime rib" he's had in his entire life. #1 being norm's. i do NOT know why people order prime rib at a seafood place and i do NOT know why people think you can't go wrong with prime rib because it can go very wrong, very easily. i spent the rest of evening trying to compensate for it by apologizing. overall, i felt very bad that this particular person didn't enjoy his meal and also for the fact that the fried poke completely bit the dust.
i'm so ashamed...but then again, the rest of us had a good meal and the beer made me sleepy. :d :x
