Kit N Kitchen

This weekend, we tried Kit N Kitchen, a small restaurant located near UH. There was an ad in the newspaper promoting their $20 four course meal. It sounded promising, so we decided to check it out.

Ambiance:
Looked as if they were trying very hard to look artsy, but ended up going a bit overboard. Otherwise, not too bad. (It seems that they buy their dishes from Walmart: our friend has the same water cups at his house).

Service:
The servers were very friendly, but friendliness doesn't serve you water. Just kidding...mostly. The service was haphazard at best. One of the waiters was new, so it was forgivable. We ended up spending two hours in the restaurant.

Food:
We started off with soup or salad:

• Milano Tomato Soup: a pretty standard tomato soup. Looked like it was made from fresh veggies. Also appreciated that they didn't try to go too fancy.
  
• Salad: A small salad with a ginger dressing. Came with daikon, corn, carrots and cucumber. The daikon added an interesting zing.

Next up, the appetizers:

• Escargot Wellington: basically, snails in puff pastry. Wasn't as buttery as other escargot, a welcome surprise. Other than that, pretty standard.
• Beef Chimichurri: thin slices of beef covered in LOTS of garlic. Very tender, cooked on the rare side.
• Garlic Basil Shrimp: standard, yet again. Two pieces of shrimp with a bit of pesto on it.

Entrees:

• Pepper Rack of Lamb: two very small pieces of lamb. To call it a rack would be a bit of an understatement. Came with a mound of rice and a disproportionate amount of sauce to meat. Sauce was overpowering to the lamb. Just ok. Tasted more like beef than lamb, and as if it were something made by a cafeteria. On the plus side, the cab sav made it wash down a bit easier.
  
• Pan-fried Basil Salmon: Alright. The salmon wasn't overdone, though it was on the drier side. Got this dish with noodles. Like the lamb, found the noodles to be a bit heavy on the sauce. Very rich. In addition, the side of mushrooms were a lot saltier than the rest of the dish. Chardonnay was alright.

Dessert:
Let's get this straight. We don't usually like to order dessert with our meals. But we ordered anyway since it was part of the deal.

• Sundae: a small scoop of ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
• Chocolate cake: tasted like a Costco cake.

Value:
A good promotion and for $20, lived up to expectations. A little on the generic side, but if we were going for something higher quality, we'd have to pay a lot more.

Overall:
Offering upper-end foods for a reasonable price. Caters well to the college crowd.

Camellia Pearl Kai

This is one of our favorite Korean restaurants. Located near Champa Thai in Pearl Kai, Camelia is perfect for those in the Aiea/Pearl City area.

Ambiance:
This is a very casual restaurant. Be prepared to smell like grilled meat since yakiniku is one of the menu options.

Service:
Outstanding. It's what keeps us coming back again and again. The two waitresses that work here feel like family. They have such a good memory that they remembered who we were and what we ordered. They even remembered how we suffered from the spiciness of the kim chee jun kol and let us order it more mild the next time we came. Very friendly and hardworking.

Food:
What's nice about Camellia is that the side dishes are different every time. We've had kim chee, broccoli, iriko (not sure what the Korean equivalent is called), fishcake, beansprouts, potatoes, and more. Even better, our waitress kept offering us more vegetables!

• Kim chee jun kol: soup for two. It's like a mini hot pot served on a burner. Sooo spicy and sooo good. Definitely clears the sinuses. It comes in a dark red broth with kim chee, tofu, bits of beef, mandoo and long rice. We've gotten this three times so far and it has never disappointed.

Value:
An excellent value. With an abundance of side dishes and more than enough soup, we always leave Camellia with a happy stomach and an equally happy wallet. Tip included, we spent a little over $30.

Overall:
A wonderful place to dine. Camellia has it all: wonderful service, delicious food, and affordable prices. Check it out!

Eastern Paradise

An Eastern Chinese restaurant, located at the corner of King Street and Keeaumoku Street, a tasty find, a splendid treat.

Ambiance:
An odd mix of Chinese decor, and a supplemental Korean menu page, this restaurant sang of conversations in Japanese. We've been to a northern Chinese restaurant before, and this had a similar menu.

Service:
We went at a somewhat busy time, but the waiters and waitresses were friendly and helpful. When trying to figure out what to eat, the waitress suggested we try this or that; the house specialties were this and this; sorry, but it's not in season. Friendly. We were in for a surprise, though.

Food:
At the suggestion of our waitress, we got the hot and sour soup, the fried garlic fish, and the black bean noodles.

• Hot and sour soup: More variety than what we're used to, this hot and sour soup tasted more like an egg drop soup with black pepper, and a hint of sour. The variety included shrimp, beef, egg, seaweed, and many other ingredients. Not too hot; not too sour. Just right.
  
• Fried garlic fish: It was a bit too fried and battered for our tastes.
• Black bean noodles: It was a bit too oily for our taste. But it wasn't too salty, and the noodles were nice.

Value:
A rather prime location, the price per entree was a bit more than an average Chinese restaurant, but the variety in each of the plates was a nice touch. It was good, but we'd pay a little less than the price on the menu. The total, for the three plates and tip, came out to about forty dollars.

Overall:
A bit pricey.

Happy pi day!