Giovanni's Original White Shrimp Truck

Address: 83 Kamehameha Highway Kahuku, Hawaii

Phone: 808-293-1839

There are many shrimp trucks operating around Oahu Island, but Gan and I only go to this truck whenever we visit Hawaii, the Giovanni's Original White Shrimp Truck at North Shore. The truck is usually parked at the side of Kamehameha Highway in Kahuku and it serves a very simple menu: spicy, garlic, or lemon-and-butter shrimp. Gan and I have tried the spicy shrimp during our first trip to Oahu together, and it was the best darn shrimp dish we have eaten. During this recent trip, we arrived at the truck around 4pm (last order is at 6pm) and there was just Scampi left. But the Scampi was out-of-this-world as well, so we were just as happy! (Imagine big juicy shrimp with LOTS of garlic) Each plate cost around $12 and comes with 2 scoops of rice and 12 pieces of jumbo shrimp. Be sure to also check out the truck next to Giovanni’s for some pretty good non-alcoholic Pina Colada, which goes really well with the shrimp dish.

Scampi with 2 scoops of rice

Where I got my non-alcoholic Pina Colada

Wendy's Free Burger

I love summer in the city. There are so many events and food fairs happening, and from time to time, you can get some pretty nice stuffs/food for free. Today I found out from my co-workers that Wendy’s is giving out free burger near where I work and we went there to check it out. I almost did not believe that I was going to get a free burger, and I thought there must be a catch. But I was wrong! They were really giving out Free Burgers, absolutely free burgers, and a can of soda for each person.

So thank you Wendy’s for the delicious free burger and soda. You guys made my day!

Ihawan

Address: 40-06 70th Street, Woodside, NY

Phone: 718-205-1480

There are so many reasons why I love Filipino cuisine, but the main reasons are that it’s cheap, it’s good and it reminds me of home. The noticeably between Malaysian food and Filipino food is that Filipino food has more Spanish influence since it was a colony of Spain for about 300 years. It’s common to find Spanish ingredients/seasonings such as the Adobo spice and bay leaves in Filipino cooking.

We have checked out quite a lot of Filipino restaurants in the city, but our all time favorite is still Ihawan in Queens. Some of our favorite dishes at Ihawan are Ginitang Sitaw (string beans with dried shrimp and pork), BBQ Pork, Fried chicken skin with vinegar dipping sauce, Pancit Bihon (fried vermicelli), Chicken/Pork Adobo, Bistek (Beef Steak on sizzling hot plate), sisig (chopped pork ears on sizzling hot plate). We also love the Sago Gulaman drinks and Halo Halo desserts at Ihawan. The place is usually crowded during the lunch time in the weekend, but t’s worth the wait.

** I was just told by my Filipino co-worker that Ihawan is actually a branch of the original restaurant in the Philippines. So there you go, it can't get more authetic than that!

Pancit Bihon

Bitter melon with shrimp, pork and eggs

BBQ Chicken

Ginitang Sitaw

*pictures taken with iphone camera.

Shokudo Japanese Restaurant & Bar

Address: 1585 Kapiolani Blvd, Honolulu, HI

http://www.shokudojapanese.com/

Phone: 808-941-3701

I thought there are some pretty good Japanese restaurants in Honolulu. You can find mom and pop Japanese restaurants such as Mr. Ojisan serving more home cooked style Japanese food, or you can get more contemporary, high quality Japanese restaurant such as Shokudo.

The dishes at Shokudo were quite unique and I was thrilled like a kid in a candy store when browsing their very exciting menu. I definitely recommend the sushi pizza, char-siu pork with Japanese scallions, and Angus Beef on a hot stone plate if you go there. The Melon float, a typical beverage in Japan was delicious as well. I kind of regret not tasting the famous Honey Toast dessert (thick white toast drizzle with honey and topped with ice cream) since we were already full. Maybe next time, or if we are lucky, Shokudo might just open a restaurant in NYC!

Melon Float

Sushi Pizza

Char-Siu pork and Japanese Scallions

Angus Steak on a Sizzling Hot Stone Plate

Hot Stone Unagi rice - option to eat as a chazuke dish.