Octie Appetie: Honolulu

Showing posts with label Honolulu. Show all posts

24 July 2025

Musubi Cafe Iyasume

Previously:

Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery

Musubi is a Japanese nigiri with Hawaiian twist. Like any nigiri which is compressed steamed rice and topped with protein then wrapped with nori seaweed. But musubi, they use grilled spam with some sort of teriyaki sauce. There are many other toppings to choose from but each of them will come with a slice of grilled spam. Their musubi doesn't look so big but was very filling. Normally, I have two pieces for my breakfast and I was so full.

Apart from the location of this shop which is so close to our hotel, their musubi are delicious and fast service, price is also reasonable. That is why while we stayed at Stay Hotel, we had our breakfast here every single day. We tried a few different spam musubi as well as some rice balls and other dishes. They do delicious karaage, their poke bowl also spot on. A little disappointed with their rice ball though, I got the salmon and salmon roe but it was way too salty and the filling was too little. Above all, the winner for me was the eel, egg and avocado spam musubi. Sounds a lot of things going on here in one small musubi, but all items complimented each other and went well together.

I've noticed that there are a few branches across Honolulu, but the Waikiki branch seems to be the busiest one. They open early in the morning, I believe it is 6:30. Recommended to be there early to avoid peak hour breakfast, anytime before 8am, before the queue builds up.

In the store, they also sell varieties of merchandises with a touch of musubi. They made a good souvenir or as gifts.

Bacon and egg spam USD 2.98

Eel and egg spam USD 4.48

Double bacon & egg spam USD 3.68

Avocado eel & egg spam USD 4.88

Salmon roe and salmon rice ball USD 4.28

Ahi poke bowl USD 11.98

I like poke bowl like this, original and no need any other items to make them look pretty. It is just rice and fish. The saltiness from soy sauce and the nice smell from sesame oil made this dish complete.

Bento box of grilled salmon, kaarage and yakisoba USD 7.98

Musubi Cafe Iyasume (Waikiki Monarch branch)

2427 Kuhio Ave, Honolulu

Ph: +1 808 921 0168

You can check out their website or simply click on the link above to find out more locations and menus.

Stay tuned for the next blog still in Hawaii:

18 July 2025

Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery

Previously:

Pearl Harbor National Memorial and Historical Sites

Finally, we got to try the well-known malasadas from Leonard's Bakery. Malasadas is a Portuguese originated fried doughnut coated with sugar and cinnamon. Somehow this doughnut is very popular in Hawaii. One late afternoon on the way back to hotel, it was maybe nearly 6pm, we stopped to buy this malasadas. At first, I was doubting how good could that possibly be! There were a few people on the line but the display looks empty. I thought they were all sold out because it was nearly closing time. They server said malasadas are all still available. Oh!! I didn't know that. They actually make them fresh inside, that is why nothing on the display shelf, they were only a few cakes and other sweets. So, we gave it a go and ordered only half dozen of them. We got 3 plain sugar and sugar cinnamon then another 3 with custard filling and chocolate filling.

We could not wait and tasted straight away at the carpark and OMG!!!!! Yes, that was exactly what I felt. Jaw dropped... No kidding!!! That was the best doughnut I had ever eaten in my life. The dough was so light and airy, not oily at all. You get a bit of crispy outer layer too. Not so sweet, even the one with the filling, just perfect as what I like. We're a little disappointed to order only 6 pieces. But too lazy to queue again. (Hint: the day after we bought another 2 dozens of these delicious goodies, keep scrolling down for more details)

The original shop is located on the main road heading to the highway. So, if you are going to travel around the island like visiting Pearl Harbor or North Shore, you will definitely pass this shop. However, they only do takeaway. After you order through the register inside the shop, then when your doughnuts are ready, they will call up your number and you need to pick up your hot doughnuts from the window outside.

There are carparks outside the shop but when the peak hours, it could be hard sometimes to get a spot. But they normally come and go fairly fast.

Original USD2 (excl GST)

Custard filling USD 2.45 (excl. GST)

Second round here

The day after we bought another two dozens, yet we still crave for more

Clockwise from the top left: Li hing, cinnamon, and original

Anyone wondering what is li hing flavour, li hing is the dried salted plum powder that Hawaiian like to use on their fresh fruits, candies and sometimes on drinks too. It has a distinctive taste of sweet, salty and sour. However, to be on a doughnut, tasted a bit weird for me. It wasn't my cup of tea.

Clockwise from the left: chocolate, ube, guava, and haupia

Haupia filling

This one comes with haupia filling or kinda like coconut custard filling. It reminds me of eating a Southeast Asian dessert. Smells good and tastes great. According to our verdict, this is the best one out of all. The flavour is still lingering in my mouth while I'm writing this. Oh, how I miss this so much!!

Flavour of the month: Ube/sweet purple potato

Guava

My favourite is for sure that haupia and second best is the original. I wish they open a shop here in Sydney, so I can have them every week. If Leonard's owner is reading this, I urge you to consider opening a shop here - you can count on me as a dedicated customer from day one and I'm confident many others will follow.

Leonard's Bakery

933 Kapahulu Ave, Kalanianaole

Open: 05:30am - 7pm

Stay tuned for the next blog still in Hawaii:

Musubi Cafe Iyasume

15 July 2025

Pearl Harbor National Memorial and Historical Sites

Previously:

Helena's Hawaiian Food

Hawaii in summer is very lovely. Although the sun is so strong but doesn't make my skin burn (but of course you still need to apply some sunscreen). And the breeze is cool. It is just so nice enjoying things outdoor.

Today we went to visit the historic sites of Pearl Harbor. I felt like everything in Hawaii is so pricey, especially for entry fees. If we converted to AUD, to visit all of sites here at least it will cost us AUD $160 per person. With a family of 2 adults and 2 kids, all together would be somewhere near AUD 500, and this is just for one place, imagine how many places that we can visit or do here. It's gonna cost me a fortune. We ended up do only 2 sites which were Submarine and Battleship.

There are 4 sites that you can visit. Here the list and prices as well:

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum (USD 29.99 for adult and USD17.99 for child)

Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum (USD 25.99 for adult and USD14.99 for child)

Battleship Missouri Memorial (USD 39.99 for adult and USD19.99 for child)

Arizona Multimedia Tour and Virtual Reality Center (USD 20.99 for adult and USD16.99 for child)

** For all 4 experiences, costs (USD 99.99 for adult and USD 49.99 for child) and valid for 2 consecutive days **

For USS Arizona Memorial Movie and boat tickets, you need to pay again on top.

So lucky to spot this giant sea turtle

When we bought our picture with the submarine from them, we also got to choose a pearl for free. They offered to make it as a jewelry too but it's also fine if you don't want to, you still can keep the pearl.

At night, we planned to have some dinner from Saigon as they have a good review, however, there was no car park anywhere around the restaurant. So, we went for the second choice that popped up on Google, this restaurant called Pho Old Saigon.

When we arrived, there was literally no one else beside us, the place was so quiet. At first, we kinda had a bad feeling about this. But their menu looks good anyway. We ordered a bowl of beef pho and nem neuong. Their pho wasn't felt quite right. It is just ordinary. But their pork platter was really delicious. Meats were full of flavour. Pickles and vegetables were fresh. It also came with some roasted peanuts and spring rolls as well. The dish was so complete. The portion is big too, enough for 2 peoples.