oahu 05
november 19, 2005
by day 4 and not having had the chance to even step foot in ala moana mall, i griped about how i was losing time in the shopping department. call me a girl or whatever but i love shopping at ala moana. they have a lot of things we don't have on the mainland and since it's outdoors, i can work on my tan while shopping. win win situation i say.
this reminds me of why lilo likes to take photos of those haole tourists with
their lobster-ish sunburns.
not wanting to sacrifice my shopping time nor my beach time, i resorted to going to waikiki beach that morning. after visiting a couple of quiet, serene and tranquil beaches in the past two days, it was a shock to return to a beach where the next person is only a few feet away from you. but i guess it's variety you can say.
after working on my tan for an hour and a half, i went back to the hotel to get ready for my shopping adventure at ala moana mall. being that it was already saturday, it meant that shoppers were out in full force and parking spaces were at a premium.
to make maximum use of time, i decided to eat at the mall and where did i end up going to? jackie's kitchen. yes, that restaurant opened by jackie chan. truth be told, it wasn't my decision. in fact, i was grumbling the whole way up to the ho'okipa terrace but once i read the menu and got the food, i was pleasantly surprised. TGILW was let off the hook. heh.
me perusing the menu with jackie's face on the back. and may i ask, why that photo of jackie? i mean, didn't he have any that were better? on a sidenote: my hair really did not cooperate during this trip. the humidity did a number on it and i didn't have a chance to get my roots done before the trip. grrrrr. it's not too bad is it? =:x instead of blow drying it straight everyday, i ended up just tossing it around and making it the messy look. it's called, effortlessly disheveled. har har.
we were really famished by the time we arrived at the restaurant. we didn't have breakfast and so it was fair game to order as much as we wanted. it was hard to narrow down the dishes but we finally got our menu together. we were seated in the bar section and the bartender was our waiter - a very funny guy with a lot of charisma. it definitely made our dining experience more enjoyable that's for sure.
crab wontons - fresh crabmeat with cream cheese, water chestnuts
and green onions. surprisingly, this was pretty good. sounded like gimmick
on the menu but in reality, it was delish with the dipping sauce. either that
or i was super hungry.
mr. nice guy wings - honey garlic chicken wings with cucumber
namasu. yes, they do try to name everything on the menu with names from jackie's
movies. it gave me a chuckle but was silly to order it with those names. kinda
reminded me of the rooty tooty fresh and fruity pancake from ihop.
i didn't really like these chicken wings as much as i thought i would - the
flavors were too overpowering and masked the natural flavors of the chicken.
fries with dragon sauce - there was a special name for the
fries but i forgot what it was. but the fries are seasoned with garlic (?),
lemongrass and five spice seasonings. the dragon sauce is like a spicy mayonaise-y
thousand island. those who really know me will know that i am a french fry
freak. i LOVE french fries.
they are my weakness but they have to be good french fries though. none of
that soggy stuff or overly crunchy shit. it has to be slightly crunchy with
give on the outside but light and fluffy inside. yes, fry freak talking here.
oh, and the fries are good here. i practically finished the whole plate by
myself.
warm duck salad - tea smoked duck on okinawan spinach, baby
spinach, fresh mango, macadamia nuts, and sweet onions with a mango vinaigrette.
of all the things on the menu, i was adamant about ordering this. it was delicious!
i am normally not a duck person because it tastes too much like liver sometimes
but this one was so well flavored with smoked tea leaves that it was fantastic.
the duck meat mixed with greens and the light mango vinaigrette was the perfect
combo. i think i ate all of this.
shrimp chow fun - shrimp wok fried with long beans, shiitake
mushrooms and onions tossed with chow fun noodles. ok, i gawked when someone
(read: TGILW) wanted to order this. chow fun?! you gotta be fucking kidding
me! but i relented and you know what...it was pretty good. i was surprised.
the flavors weren't too heavy and it wasn't oily either. they gave me plenty
of shrimps and they were the large ones too, visible to the unaided eye at
that!
shanghai sundae - macadamia nut brownie w/ bubbie's ice cream,
hot fudge, caramel and whipped cream. i opted for one scoop vanilla and one
scoop butter pecan ice cream. OK OK - i didn't have to order this
but c'mon i'm on vacation now. besides, i wasn't planning to try on clothes
at the mall that day. at least there was no way to after gorging on a meal
like this right? but at least this powered me up to shop for about 2-3 hours
straight without rest. :p i was purely running on sugar and grease.
jackie's kitchen
ala moana shopping center, 4th floor
honolulu, hawaii 96815
808.943.CHAN
ok, the bottom line? i will go back there again if it happens to be a choice on the dining agenda. looks like a fun place to dine with friends for drinks and some good solid food.
currently listening to: psapp, cosy in the rocket
..... because i love grey's anatomy!!
