Happy birthday Mommy! We woke up very early to catch a 7am flight to Honolulu. My sister and I decided to take her on a little weekend trip for her birthday! We boarded via Hawaiian Airlines. It was my first time flying this airline! They gave complimentary beverages and a breakfast.
Breakfast included a breakfast bake that has egg, green onion, cheddar and Parmesan cheese bake, a granola bar and a Honolulu cookie! It was very hot and looked almost exactly like Costco’s chicken bake. We were super excited to try it, but we were so disappointed. It was a mush of eggs and some cheese. Disgusting! Good thing my mom brought Vietnamese food for breakfast instead.
After my mom generously bought us matching hats, we walked 20 mins to Ono Seafood to get some poke bowls to eat by the beach. Luckily, there was a small ABC market across from our hotel that was selling these pretty cute and black Hawaii hats for $6 each. Thanks mommy!!
SHOYU AHI. Green and white onion, limu, kuikui, chili pepper, sesame oil. I got a half/half mix of my poke bowl. The first half (right) is shoyu ahi. It was lightly sweet and refreshing.
SPICY AHI. Creamy mayo sauce, ginger, green and white onion. This had a mild kick to it from the finger. This ahi is also more creamy from the spicy Mayo sauce. Both tunas were very fresh and composed of huge chunks in square shaped pieces.
It’s weird to come back here and see no line at all! I remember when this place was so packed pre-Covid! Each bowl also came with a free drink. I chose the strawberry guava nectar, which was delicious and sweet
We walked back about 20 mins to the beach and ate our poke bowls while looking out into the ocean.
After we took a recovery nap, we woke up at 7pm to barely make our 730pm reservation at Sushi Murayama. We treated our mom to an omakase that’s 10 pieces for 150pp. However, our Japanese chef is very nice and hooked it up with two extra courses. The portions are huge! We weren’t even hungry and even at halfway through we were stuffed.
House shoyu scallop. Our first course is their scallop that is brushed with a light shoyu sauce. The scallop tasted fresh. It was a nice, plump piece. I notice that they don’t have sauce bowls for the soy sauce and wasabi for you to dip it. Instead, they brush it with soy sauce or shoyu for you if they feel it is part of the course.
Lightly fried tuna belly with daikon and shishito pepper. Soaked in soy sauce. The tuna belly was cooked very tender and soft. I wish the shishito pepper had more char. The daikon didn’t do much for me.
Fresh saba with old sea kelp wrapped in seaweed. We were wondering about the fish bone presentation and if we were also supposed to eat it. The chef laughed and said it is for presentation only. If not, I joked that our mom can clean the bones! This was a nice and refreshing take on a spring roll.
Baby sea bream with red snapper topped with honeycomb and sharp cartilage. I loved what the honey did in terms of flavoring the fish. I didn’t appreciate that it still had cartilage because it made taking bites more difficult.
Hamachi brushed with light shoyu. This was a typical nigiri I appreciated. The hamachi was fresh and simply dressed.
Snow trout from Japan seared in lemon and oil. The texture of the fish was so perfect between the lightly seared and the freshness from the rawness.
Local big eye tuna with homemade garlic miso oil. This looked like a lot and hence was cut into halves for us. The tuna piece was huge!
Hokkaido kinky rock fish. I swear I heard him say kinky!!! It was an interesting fish but still very good. The texture of the fish was smooth and soft.
Japanese sea eel cooked in house cooked in sea salt, wasabi and lemon. This was cooked very tender and very soft. I liked it a lot! My only fear is accidentally getting a small bone stuck in my throat because there will a lot of tiny bones in it.
King salmon with Hokkaido king salmon eggs soaked in shoyu. Oh my god we were so full at this point. The salmon was a generous piece. The eggs were lightly salted from being soaked in shoyu. I appreciated the combination of both.
Hokkaido black wagyu a5. We’re like wait!! We already had 10! The chef was kind and said he always tried to give a little extra! This was all of our favorites. The wagyu was so tender and soft. The fat juices from the wagyu flavored the rice so well.
Toro and Russian sea male and female urchin. We learned that the male urchin is always the darker color and the female is the lighter color. He also says females are more expensive and better quality.
My mom was completely stuffed. She couldn’t completely finish the last course and said no more food! She says she will starve tomorrow to make up for how much food she had today! We will see about that!
Happy birthday mommy! I love you!
