6/9/08 - Sometimes you just gotta add some balance to your life. This site may be about food, but all eat and no play makes Aku one fat boy. I consider losing weight and staying fit as a major goal, not just for health's sake but also as an incentive to be able to eat better food! After all, the man who burns off a lot of calories can also take in a lot of calories, right? The faster we burn it off, the more we can eat!
If I'm not getting a good form of workout somewhere, I can eat just a half-plate or less and still not lose weight, but when I'm working out hard, especially weightlifting, I can lose weight even while downing full plates! Besides, even beyond trying to fit into our high school-sized jeans, I'm sure we've all noticed how a meal is soo much more enjoyable after hitting the gym, or even a long bicycle ride, a nice hike, a few rounds of tennis, or anything else that gets the heart pumping.
Today it was a jog on the beach in Waimanalo. I will tell you one thing, though - I haven't been able to exercise nearly as much since I got started with this site! Wifey and I spent several years since we met surfing at least four or five times a week, sometimes with daily-doubles thrown in, so it's been an adjustment for both of us, that's for sure! But, there's a time for everything, and in everything, we're happy. I always tell her "mark my words, we shall indeed wax them boards up again one day!"
After the quick beach run we hit Bale (pronounced bah-lei), the Vietnamese shop first famous for sandwiches but nowadays more so for their hearty bowls of pho. Most Bale stores are not really sit-down restaurants but rather casual stops where orders are placed at the counter, although some of them, like the one at the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, do bring meals out to your table. The taste and menu seems to vary at different stores, but the Hawaii Kai location is a reliable one and my personal favorite.
If you're ever in Hawaii Kai, make sure to stop by Bale.
The inside is nothing fancy, but it is air-conditioned and comfortable, with a small area around the backside with views of the Hawaii Kai Marina. Besides ferrying food out to you, they also clear the tables, so please leave a buck or two for them once in a while, as many people just leave everything there and walk out. I know it's as casual as a plate lunch house, but the plates are made of plastic, not disposable paper, and someone's gotta clean them tables!
The other day we ended up taking out, so the next few pictures are of pho housed in styrofoam containers. Although pho comes in many flavors, such as chicken, pork, seafood, or veggie, by far the most popular variety is beef. The broth is made from beef bones but could also include pork or chicken bones as well, and comes with any number of fragrant herbs and spices like star anise, cardomom, ginger, cloves, and even cinnamon, all of which makes a huge difference with their inviting aromas and exotic tastes.
I'll skip the technique of pho-eating just because I already mentioned it in the main section of Vietnamese restaurants, and will no doubt touch on it in further "closer look" pages to come. Just don't forget to use the combination of dark hoisin sauce and red chili sauce or paste, which can be added to the broth itself or added incrementally to every mouthful.
Here are the generous portions of bean sprouts, basil, lime, and rice noodles given with every order of pho.
The beef pho comes with all the above-mentioned items, as well as a serving of raw beef, which they pack half-frozen. It's a good thing, too, since this is a take-out order. Another aspect of take-out is that they give you the rice noodles on the side instead of in the bowl of broth like they normally do - it prevents the noodles from possibly getting mushy by overcooking in the hot liquid.
Wifey can seldom get away from the pho and venture into other parts of the menu. Who can blame her, actually?
You'll never go wrong with one of these.
Big Al first turned me on to the beef stew pho a while back, and it has since always become a worthy competitor to the regular beef pho. One look at this bowl and I'm reminded of the kind of soup I like to make myself - the kind with unidentifiable "floatie's" and "thingie's" all over the broth, like an all-natural fruit juice that leaves particles of sediment after sitting for a while. It almost gets me warm and fuzzy because you just know it's full of all that luuuv, not like the strained and re-strained soups they like to make at those modern, fancy restaurants! Do you know how much fiber and natural goodness is thrown out when they do that? Gimme it all, baby, and that's including the fat! I know it's pretty gross' realizing those particles will eventually coagulate into globby-white particles if left to cool off, but that's all part of the luuuv. Everything in moderation, yes?
Anyhow, as you can tell by the name, it is a mixture of beef stew and pho, so it is much thinner than a stew but is very hearty, indeed, for a broth. It is served with all the condiments of a regular pho and eaten in the same manner, including the use of the hoisin/chili sauce mix. Inside you'll find generous portions potatoes, carrots, onions, green onions, and of course, beef. The softness of the beef sometimes fluctuates, but it is usually fork tender and oh, so delicious!
Luuuv-lee!
Although the pho is good here, with all the great Vietnamese restaurants out there I can't say it's the best. There are, however, a couple of dishes at the Hawaii Kai Bale that I do consider the best. These are the plastic cups of flan, which are nothing fancy but smooth as silk and fabulous (I'll have a pic for you one day!), and also the spring rolls. When these good-sized rolls are fresh, watch out! I don't know what they do differently, but they are simply the best spring rolls anywhere, and that's including the ones on Mr. Lau's manapua truck back in intermediate school!
Unbeatable.
Heading back to the actual Hawaii Kai Bale, wifey and I had another meal there. Yes, I had to twist her arm a little bit to get her to try something other than a bowl of pho, which we sometimes split between us. Along with a couple of spring rolls, it's the perfect portion for a lunch light enough to not get that "weighed down" feeling.
The first item that day was the one that put them on the map - a Vietnamese sandwich. These French baguettes, made at the headquarters in Kalihi that supplies all Bale shops, are split sub-style and stuffed with julienned carrots, pickled daikon (white radish), cucumber, chinese parsley, and meats of your choice. Although you can hardly see any, today it was turkey. Yeah, they don't put much meat in there and it gets waaay drowned out by the strong taste of pickled daikon, but it is healthy and really popular. If you want more meat taste then get the meatball sandwich or one of their grilled meats instead of the sandwich variety stuff.
Where's the turkey?
The main course, which wifey and I split as we did the sandwich, was one of many different combination plates available. This shrimp and lemongrass chicken order was pretty low on the number of shrimp (four pieces, probably in the 31/35-36/40 size) but high on taste. Understandable, though, at prices in the $6-$8 range. The lemongrass chicken portions were a lot more substantial, and came with subtle hints of lemongrass but bold declarations of fish sauce and hoisin. They were both served on top of a large mound of jasmine rice and a small side salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber.
One of many delicious combination plates available.
As always, we left well-satisfied. Bale is a great place for a cheap, substantial meal that can be just as great as one of your more expensive sit-down Vietnamese restaurants. The variety is also a plus - it seems that I can always order something new, but at the same time revert back to all my tried-and-true favorites that always seem to work.
I gotta admit that I haven't tried every Bale store out there so I can't really say that it's flat-out the best, but of the ones I've tried, yes, it definitely is.
Speaking of the best, I'm wishing you all the best, and hope you all have some memorable dining experiences in this wild and wacky world of eats. Just remember to get in your exercise and "clean yourself out" on your "down time" as much as possible so you can better enjoy more of the fine flavors so readily available out there, and I'll do my best to listen to my own advice, as well!
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