Tachi *.

Tachi is a stand-up sushi bar where you have 30 minutes to finish up your 11 nigiris and one handroll. It costs $45 + tax and no tips. I enjoyed my experience here - just be mindful that it is VERY RUSHED. I went once with P and another time with my friend. When I went for the second time with my friend, the servers came over to do the payment on the 3rd last course of the meal. My friend spoke out about how they should wait until we finish our meals before proceeding with the payment or to revamp their management to have the payment happen before the meal. I completely agree with my friend because as rushed as we are trying to finish our meals, we also have to dig out our wallets and pay during our munching session. Anyhow! Hope they fix it up with management because I've heard similar feedbacks about this.

This place is good for a quick meal alone / with one other person because there are only 8 spots available for each time slot. Be sure to book online because the 'seating' is very limited. 





I came here twice for omakase! Technically not really omakase because you're free to substitute anything that you do not like, which I prefer! Note that water/ hot water is not an option.. (which is the part I didn't like) if you want any kind of drinks, you have to choose from their drink menu.





I thought the highlight of the nigiris were:

* Scallops
* Otoro & Chutoro 
* Seabream

Tachi

Sushi Bars, Japanese

111 Richmond Street W
Toronto, ON M5H 2G4

Mira Mira *.

My friend suggested Mira Mira for lunch and I'm hooked! 






Their kimchi chicken is delicious - it's grilled chicken with kimchi sauce on top. 
It's very juicy and there's a lot of flavour. It comes with kale salad which is sprinkled with cheese, seeds and chickpea sprouts. I haven't tried other items on their menu yet because I keep ordering this haha. It is pretty pricey for a lunch time meal - costs $18 + tax.

Even though it's on the pricier side, I'd highly recommend it! :) I actually ordered it and brought it home for dinner once - I'd ask them so separate the salad & grilled chicken. That's a tip if you're not planning to eat this right away, the sauce makes the kale salad icky if you leave it on for too long. 

Mira Mira

Juice Bars & Smoothies, Breakfast & Brunch, Coffee & Tea

111 Richmond Street W
Toronto, ON M5H 3K6

Toshi Ryoriten *.

My friends brought me to Toshi Ryoriten for dinner and we decided to try their Omakase set! 

This was actually a looong time ago but I haven't had a chance to update the blog - it's for my birthday back in December! Thanks double Js for organizing and treating :) 

We went here on a weeknight so the restaurant had a lot of room. One thing to keep in mind is that the restaurant has limited seating. I'd suggest that you book a table in advance instead of walk-ins.
Service was excellent.

We ordered the Tsukidashi sushi course, the highlights were:

* Gomaae (Boiled green bean or spinach with sesame sauce) - a must-get at Japanese restaurants, one of my favourite light appetizers!

* Seared Foie Gras Nigiri - That foie gras melt though! Yummy!






* Uni x Fish Roe - The uni was fresh and it paired nicely with the big fish roe bits.






* Small noodle bowl - It was light and tasty, a clear broth to cleanse your palette.





😻  These are the other dishes that we've ordered:

* Steamed fish in a broth - I didn't really enjoy this one, didn't have much taste to it.




* Sushi set (which comes with the Omakase) - My favourite nigiri is the scallop <3 nbsp="" span="">




* Grilled Cod Fish





* Another shot of the sushi set





* Shrimp Tempura





* Topped off the meal with a tofu dessert

Toshi Ryoriten

$$$  Japanese

1380 Major Mackenzie Drive E
Richmond Hill, ON L4S 0A1

Banán - Waikiki, Honolulu *.

Banán - one of my favourite dessert places out of all the ones we've tried in Honolulu! 
After a long day of outdoor activities, this is the perfect place to go to for a healthy snack.
It's located on the main Waikiki strip.

I'm so glad P was craving desserts or else we would've never stopped here. 

😻 Here's P choosing which one to get! 😻

The store front is tucked away in a little alley where people park their surf boards - it is great for photo ops by the way!

I'd recommend:





* THE ORIGINAL (5/5)

Comes with papaya, pineapple, strawberries, puffed quinoa, shaved coconut and honey. I really liked the flavour of the banana soft serve! I feel like the original is always the best go-to for trying new things. Glad I ordered this! A healthy choice if you're craving something nice and cold by the beach :)

Banán

$  Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt, Food Trucks

2301 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
United States

Marukame Udon - Waikiki, Hawaii *.

Marukame Udon was so delicious! We visited here 3 times during our trip to Hawaii! If you're looking for quick eats, I'd recommend this place - but visit during odd hours, the queue gets really long during prime time (12pm-1pm and 5pm-7pm). At first we're were both like.. we should try to eat at other places instead of coming here again.. but omg.. it's too good!!





😻 Queuing! 






😻 Chefs hard at work! Everyone was very friendly :)


When you're queuing for your order, note that all items needs to be purchased in the pick up line prior to finding a table. They have a notice up mentioning not to reserve seats. Tables free up really quickly :)


I'd recommend: 




* NIKUTAMA (5/5)

This udon comes with beef and onsen egg (runny egg). I usually request for more soup because it's more tasty! The broth is sweet and full of flavour. I'd suggest adding more Tenkasu  toppings (tempura crumbs) for more texture.

P recommends:




* CURRY UDON (5/5)

This is a mild Japanese curry with shredded beef and onions. Not spicy at all! It is a sweet curry with a thicker broth. My fiance prefers a stronger tasting udon - I enjoyed this too!

(Fair to say that this is just a girl's preference vs a guy's preference in udon flavours here :P)

Marukame Udon

$  Japanese, Noodles

2310 Kuhio Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
United States

Goofy Cafe & Dine - Waikiki, Hawaii *.

Goofy Cafe & Dine is one of the restaurants that were highly recommended on Japanese variety shows. We came here to check out the hype! The food was really good and our servers were very attentive and friendly but what made the experience drop to a 3/5 is because of how we saw the host treat another table of diners. I also agree with previous yelpers for this restaurant because I found it really weird how the host wanted people to stand at the side and not "block the windows" when the menu is at the windows.. lol





Story time: 
There was a family of 10 who were waiting for a table. They decided to split their large group to 5 and 5 to make it easier to get a table since there was a long queue at the time. Two tables that could fit 5 people cleared up so the family walked in. Once the host realized that the family split into groups of 5 and 5, he told the group that he will not serve them. He had basically asked them to leave the restaurant. Of course, the dad in the family of 10 got very angry and started demanding the host for an explanation for why he would not serve his family - by which, at that time, there were more tables who left (meaning more spots for this family to be seated). There was some #worldstarhiphop shenanigans going on and everyone at the restaurant was pretty much wide-eyed at this point because we had no idea why the host wouldn't serve their group. They weren't about to close or anything. Perhaps the host wanted to watch the Friday fireworks lol. Anyways - I think the host had OCD (refer back to the "do not block our windows even though the menu is there" policy above).


TLDR: The host rejected a family of 10 without an explanation.





Now back to the food:

I loved the my choice of the loco moco! 

DRINKS: Local beer and lemonade (Don't order the lemonade, it tastes so watery)

We ordered:





* BIG ISLAND LOCO MOCO (4/5)
(Ground beef patty, 2 local eggs, homemade gravy & brown rice)

I loved this!! The only improvement I'd suggest is that the brown rice be cooked to a softer texture. It was a little rough with the rest of the combination. I loved the flavour though - I'd recommend this!

* PORTUGUESE SAUSAGE/KALUA PIG (3/5)

On a hot plate! P ordered this - we would like it more if the Kalua pig was less dry! The sauce and sides were delicious, but the main deal was the pig :( Poor thing - I feel like P always choose the less yummy things because he's more "adventurous".

Anyways! That was a long review.. I'm done :D

Goofy Cafe & Dine

$$  Cafes, Breakfast & Brunch, Diners

1831 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96815
United States

Heavenly - Waikiki, Hawaii *.

😻  First day of February! 😻  

Waikiki, Hawaii

I've heard lots of great reviews about Heavenly so my P and I decided to check this place out ourselves! 
This is the very place where we experienced the local 'take it easy' term. We were waiting in line to get in the restaurant with one girl waiting in front of us 

We've also watched variety shows where people have visited this place. Mainly Japanese variety shows so that's why their menu has both Japanese and English on it (smart advertising).

The interior is very nicely decorated a warm, homey beach-vibe. There was an emphasis on the ingredients because most items that were indicated on the menu were locally grown.





Here's my experience for breakfast:

We ordered - 





* ACAI BOWL (4/5)
(Served with Big Island Bee honey & Hawaiian granola)

This was deeelish!! The only thing I'd like to see more is the granola - I would've given this dish a 5/5 if there were more crunchy bits! I'd recommend this if you want to cool off eating something healthy :) 





* LOCAL EGGS BENEDICT (4/5)
(Homemade hollandaise sauce with lilikoi butter, poached local eggs served with Okinawa purple potato & fresh local salad. Wheat muffin.)

My fiance ordered this one and I'm glad he did! The hollandaise sauce was done so well! It was creamy, smooth and the flavour was not overpowering the other foods. What surprised me was the Okinawa purple potato - it tasted very sweet and refreshing! I was hoping we would get more portions of this :)


----------------------------------------------------


We came back for dinner because we loved our breakfast experience. We ordered:




* KAUAI GARLIC SHRIMP (5/5)

Loved everything about this dish! The sides included locally grown corn, brown rice and kale salad. The shrimps were marinated nicely and was deep fried so you can also eat its shell! So yummy!





* LOCAL PORK  BIG ISLAND GINGER SAUTE (2/5)

My fiance ordered this one and I tried some of it - despite it being highly recommended, it doesn't live up to our expectations because the pork came out a bit dry. We should've gotten the loco moco instead!! The table beside us ordered it and it looked so good :(

😻 Here's my picture from our breakfast sesh! 😻 

Heavenly

$$  Breakfast & Brunch, Juice Bars & Smoothies, Hawaiian

342 Seaside Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
United States