So back to the blogging...
MINI GARDEN
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| shredded chicken vegetable on crispy noodle |
On Monday my co-workers and I went out to lunch. We chose Mini Garden on Beretania Street since it had been a while since most of us had been there. Co-Worker #1 chose the shredded chicken and vegetables over crispy noodle, Co-Worker #2 and I decided to share a beef bitter melon black bean and a steamed sea bass with ginger and green onions. CW1 received a huge plate of noodles smothered in shredded chicken and veggies. The veggies were mostly beansprouts which was good because CW#1 doesn't like too many green things on her plate.
Our dishes came to the table after CW#1 had started eating. I had originally asked for pork bittermelon with black bean but we ended up with beef instead. The beef was nice and tender and the black bean sauce was just right, not too salty and not very smelly at all. The bittermelon were not very bitter at all and was still slightly crispy which is the way I prefer to eat it. The steamed sea bass with ginger and green onion is one of my most favorite seafood dishes at a Chinese restaurant. ***Yes, I do love the shellfish dishes too but I have GOUT so I do my best to stay away from them.***
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| steamed sea bass with ginger and green onion |
For those of you who have had this dish, I have tried this at many different places around town. The sauce at Mini Garden is a little on the sweet side unlike Asia Manoa which is more salty to taste. I've had the dish at On On at McCully but prefer their sea bass with g&go gravy style so I don't order this there. I've also had it at a few places in Chinatown but none were spectacular enough to talk about.
On a side note, I heard yesterday that the owner of Panda Cuisine on Keeaumoku has changed and the food isn't as good. Anyone have any ideas if they've opened up shop somewhere else. I did enjoy their food although I haven't been there in a few years.
PS... The food in the pictures were piping hot when I snapped the photos, thus the steam on the lens made it a bit blurry.
These last 3 pictures are from the last time I was at Mini Garden, about a year or so ago.
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| soft gau gee cake noodle... |
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| pork bittermelon black bean |
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| honey garlic chicken |
KIT N KITCHEN
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| creamy chicken and spinach spaghetti |
Today CW#1 and I decided on a quick lunch down the road from work at Kit
N Kitchen. Kit N Kitchen was a frequent stop on my radar when I used
to live in town but now I may get there about once every other month.
The good thing about starting this food blog is that I can go revisit
restaurants that I've previously been to if only to get new pictures and
re-sample a bunch of my faves.
CW#1 ordered the creamy chicken and spinach spaghetti. It was a hefty portion and I'm not a big fan on cream sauces unless I make them myself so I decided not to take a bite. Instead I opted for the grilled pork with chimichurri sauce and fried egg over the top. I've eaten their chimichurri sauce many times before but this was a great batch. I'm not sure if it was the bottom of the tub or if one of the chefs spilled some extra chili peppers into the sauce as they were preparing it but it was much hotter thank I had remembered and gave the sauce a much richer flavor and quite a kick. For those of you who have never tried chimichurri sauce, it's from South America. There are many different ways of making it but most inlcude... parsley, garlic, shallots, chili peppers and some type of sour citrus. I personally make mine with a mix of flat leaf and Chinese parsley, shallots, chili peppers, lots of garlic and a mix of lemon and lime juices.
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| grilled pork with chimichurri sauce and egg |
The pork in the dish was very tender and complimented well by the sauce. The rice is jasmine rice which I often have a craving for since I don't make it at home. The egg on top of the rice was a little too over done for me as I wanted it to run all over my dish to create and added sauce to my pork and rice. The plate also came with a little salad on it which is funny because the lunch special comes with a house salad that I had finished off just before they set my plate in front of me. BTW, the house salad comes with carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and daikon radish sticks along with a miso/ginger dressing which is heavy on the ginger. I like it but I love ginger...
With your entree you can also order their garlic pillow toast which we opted not to do this time because we were trying to stay on the healthier side. I believe it cost under $3 and is a must have if you love garlic. Again, I have pictures of it from a previous visit so you can see what it looks like. I also have a picture of the sloppy eggplant which has to be one of my most favorite dishes at Kit N Kitchen. I order it medium spicy just because I like a little heat in what I eat. You can get it on a bed of spaghetti noodles or jasmine rice and it's under $10 for almost all of the lunch specials. I also recommend the red wine oxtail soup and the sandy wing appetizer. My wife also likes the spicy ground beef spaghetti with broccoli and will drink a pineapple squash whenever we get a chance to eat there.
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| sloppy eggplant (medium spicy) |
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| garlic pillow toast |
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