 |
 |
Seafood Village, a closer look
 Trip Advisor reviewers on Seafood Village Hyatt! |
 Yelper's on Seafood Village Waikiki! |
 Official Seafood Village Waikiki page! |
Aloha!
2/4/11 - One of the top ten Chinese restaurant in the nation?!!!
For anyone interested, you can check it out right here. Seafood Village at the Hyatt Waikiki was not named the sixth-best Chinese restaurant by a skewed, possibly foodie-uneducated, American Idol-like polling of the general public, nor a bureaucracy of non-Asian journalists perhaps more comfortable with other food types, but by none other than the Chinese Restaurant News, a huge National organization. And if you take a look at the website, you'll see right away - it's completely and totally Chinese!!! That's gotta be saying something, right? Ever since being awarded with such heady credentials early last year, I've since been ever-inquisitive, so it was only a matter of time before we actually made it out...
For those outside the islands, you may or may not know that Waikiki eateries like these can carry quite the reputation with locals for being over-priced, over-glamorized, and more tourist traps than anything else, but while that may be true in many instances, there are also a huge number of places in Waikiki that do offer some truly great cuisine, no matter which way you look at it! In fact, some of the best Pacific Rim/Hawaii Regional Cuisine restaurants on the island reside right here in Waikiki, as well as a large number of excellent Japanese spots, American-style restaurants, and Steakhouses, many of which offer great Kama'aina (local) specials, to boot!
There are no Kama'aina benefits available at Seafood Village, though, nor are there any Happy Hour specials, but I did catch wind of an ad in the Star-Advertiser's Dining Out insert. Posted was this delicious-sounding New Year's Special menu for $38.80 per person, 4-person minimum:
|
-Bacon-wrapped Shrimp and Scallop
-Shark's Fin Soup with Crabmeat
-Braised Chinese Angel's Hair with Dried Oysters
-Lobster with Ginger and Scallion Sauce
-Roasted Peking Duck
-Flounder
-New Year's Jia
-Fried Rice with Dried Scallop
-Mango Pudding Dessert |
Sounds excellent, especially for $38! So excellent that I gathered the crew together and called Seafood Village that very day for a reservation later in the week. When our big day finally came, we first pulled-in to the parking lot of the Hyatt Waikiki and left our car with one of the valet guys, who kindly explained that there was no charge (both of us knowing tip was mandatory!) with validation, and that we could also self-park in the structure for a small charge if we chose to do so. With both ways being roughly the same costs, we may as well get some service, no?
From the valet area, it was a short walk past the giant waterfall and part-ways through the beautiful, open-air lobby, then a quick left towards Kalakaua Avenue. Once in the entrance hallway, face to face with the giant Buddha, you'll see a stairway descending down one floor to the actual restaurant.
The dining area is bright and elegant, with almond-colored walls, large chandeliers, gold trim, dark-wood chairs, ornamental glass, and other such fancy ware. Private rooms are also available, along with a few overflow sections not being used on this particular evening.
For sure, Seafood Village attracts its fair share of famous and powerful clients, from local stars like Konishiki and Kelly Hu to heavies like Michael Jackson and even George W. Bush!
Anxiously awaiting our 9-Course New Year feast-a-thon, imagine what we felt like when we were told that the menu was no longer available! Whaaat? Didn't you folks just put that ad out this very week, only a few days ago?
Oh, well. Momentarily miffed, yes, but no big thing, really, as nothing could put a damper on our evening out, especially not after those Happy Hour pitchers of Kona Longboard Lager at La Cucaracha Mexican restaurant, only moments before and a few steps away! Oops - forgot to mention that particular part the story's timeline, I did!
Besides, the courses that were available didn't sound too shabby, either:
| $24.95 |
$30.95 |
$36.95 |
| -Chicken Salad w/Oriental Dressing
-Bacon-wrapped Scallop and Shrimp
-Country-style Crab
-Honey and Walnut Shrimp
-General Tso's Chicken
-Sauteed Vegetables
-Steamed Rice
-Mango Pudding Dessert |
-Shredded Chilled Jellyfish Salad
-Bacon-wrapped Shrimp and Scallop
-Seafood Soup
-Country-style Crab
-Roasted Peking Duck
-Diced USDA Tenderloin in Black Pepper Sauce
-Crispy Lettuce Wrap w/Peking Duck
-Steamed Rice
-Mango Pudding Dessert |
-Jellyfish/Sichuan-style Pork Platter
-Deep-fried Crab Claws
-Drid Scallop and Bamboo Fungus Soup
-Lobster in Cheese Cream Sauce on E-mein
-Steamed Fish Fillets w/Ham, Mushrooms, and Vegetables
-Golden Fried Crispy Chicken
-Seasonal Vegetable with Crab
-Seafood Fried Rice
-Mochi Balls in Sweet Ginger Soup |
We dispensed with the "Not too big" and the "Not too small," settling upon the "Juuust right" offering in the middle. Still sounds pretty darn good, ey?
Here's the first course:
No, these are not crinkly chow funn noodles, but strands of noodle-like jellyfish meat. Gotta say, this wasn't my favorite version of this particular creature, as I'd rather have a jellyfish salad at any Vietnamese or Thai restaurant in town. Seems everyone else agreed, too, since the 6 of us could only manage to collectively finish half of this single plate! I found it a bit sticky-mushy, bland, and, truthfully speaking, a rather unpleasant dish over-all.
The second course was much, much better!
Not sure how Chinese this really is, but we're all good with a little fusion, right? How can you go wrong with bacon, shrimp, scallop, a seafood cream sauce, and a good 'ol deep-frying? It was only one piece each for everyone, but these little horse-dover's were picture-perfect, with a light, crispy batter on the outside and the sheer goodness of matching bacon with any type or types of shellfish!
Perhaps the biggest reason I was excited for the evening was that after all these years, having virtually no recollection of the sharks-fin soup I vaguely remember having once as a kid, I was finally able to try it once again. For all intensive purposes, it would be the same as trying it for the very first time. Of course, the New Year's Menu being a no-go as it was, I'd have to settle for a seafood soup instead, which tasted exactly as its name implies, along with an egg-flower aspect that matched well. Who needs shark fin, anywayz?
Actually, if it was any consolation, seated with us tonight was our good friend Renee, who happens to be a former Miss Chinatown and who is still directly involved with training aspiring beauty queens for various pageants, including former Miss Hawaii Olena Rubin. She says that shark fin soup is good, but it was more novelty than anything else and hardly worth the extra tab, as it tastes very similiar to a dried scallop soup or something else along those lines. Whatever the case, If I'm gonna try it, I better do it soon, as the sale of shark fin soup in Hawaii will be illegal on July 1st of this year, as signed into effect by former Governor Linda Lingle a short while ago. Hey, what's the difference between a shark and a tuna? What's with the complete ban? Why not just regulate it, like every other fish, and put those guys out of business who simply chop fins off and discard the rest for deep-water crabs! Those Californians and folks elsewhere in certain areas of the Mainland love shark steak, and when people become accustomed to them here, I'm sure they'd create more of a market! I guess some things, I just don't understand...
Our fourth course was a giant plate of crab, which I knew would be dungeness:
There were a total of two whole crabs that made a decently-sized portion here on this platter, but I must say, I was kinda disappointed in the relatively small size of these critters individually. To be sure, the taste of the crab-infused black bean sauce, which also included bits of savory pork, was fantastic, as I could have spooned this mix over hot rice and been very happy, indeed. Only thing was, it was extremely difficult getting past the tough shells and into the actual meat in any sizeable, intact sections. Besides being small to begin with, none of the shells were partially split or cracked for easy access - grabbing crab legs with your bare hands is sloppy enough in itself, but add to that a wet gravy? We're talking kids playing in a mud bog! Instead, I just cracked every leg with my teeth, and sucked whatever I could down while painstakingly spitting or otherwise removing broken pieces of shell from my mouth in the process!
Hey, is that a belly button there?
Aaaah, Peking Duck! I am, without a doubt, a duck-fat kind of guy, and I couldn't wait! Would it be a half or a whole duck? Probably a half, seeing that there were 9 courses in all. Would it be a beautiful skin of glistening-red, or a shiny-brown? I bet red, being such a fancy place. Would there be a neck and head, too, just for effect? Shark-fin being nullified as it was, this was my personal most-anticipated dish!
Here's what arrived on our table:
I guess the beautiful half-duck I was expecting, or at least an entire breast, all cut into portions and re-assembled on a giant platter, along with some warm, white, pillow-soft bao (buns) and a sauce of sweet hoisin, the usual set-up for Peking Duck, wasn't gonna be happening tonight! Presentation and portions aside, to be fair, the duck inside was excellent, with the same crispy-fried skin, layer of tasty fat, section of dark meat, and an already-applied hoisin sauce, only, c'mon now - you can't deviate from da bao! These tortillas will never work quite the same!
Next up - Diced USDA Tenderloin in Black Pepper Sauce. But what did USDA tenderloin mean? Was that a USDA Select tenderloin, USDA Choice tenderloin, or a USDA Prime tenderloin? I don't wanna be so hard on a place, but when someone brings a steak to our place on the weekend, I scold them when they bring a USDA Select or Choice instead of a USDA Prime! No, I'm not that bad and ungrateful, of course, but these guys look forward to the steak, which I always do on hibachi nights, and I've politely explained to some of them in the past not to expect a magic trick by me making a juicy Prime ribeye out of a Select or Choice! It's just not the same, and you can tell not only visibly by the reduced amount of marbling, but also by the much leaner, much dryer taste.
Fortunately, the sections of beef on this particular platter were so soft, I could only surmise that, unless it was treated and tenderized, they did, in fact, use a Prime grade. Hard to tell for sure, of course, because of the heavy gravy.
Only problem was, the meat was actually old and stinky! I guess some pieces were ok, but there were also many that were obviously past-due, and even through the delicious black pepper sauce, you could still taste signs of spoilage inside. Needless to say, we could each only manage a few pieces, but instead of sending the plate back, we just decided to lay-back and let it ride, not saying a thing to our kind waitresses. I guess we were in a happy and forgiving mood tonight, was all!
Our last savory dish was a crispy lettuce wrap with Peking Duck meat:
The mix of crispy vegetables and duck meat was done well, no complaints, other than the fact that lettuce wraps don't necessarily put me in the Chinese meal mood!
And finally, a dessert of mango pudding sealed the deal for us tonight:
What type of deal, I'm not sure, though. This mango pudding was extremely hard, and the dollop of whipped cream, cherry, and milky sauce was rather simple and very unexciting a presentation, in my opinion. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would have changed everything, and maybe a cookie stick or something else would have given it a look and feel a little more conducive to a premier restaurant in a premier hotel like this.
I dunno, I guess you can probably tell by now that I wasn't exactly pleased with the evening's results, but then again, I was not alone in my assessments. I mean, the blandness of the jellyfish, the tiny crabs (though very tasty!), the skimpy duck presentation (though the duck itself was great!), the old beef, and the hard dessert - it all added up, and I couldn't in good conscience possibly put too shiny a face on it. Of course, there were plenty of bright spots, too - the bacon-wrapped shrimp/scallop, seafood soup, and the sheer great taste of the duck and crab, even though size or portion-challenged. Even the tenderloin would have been great if the meat were ok, and I can only assume our partially spoiled platter was a blue moon kind-of-thing. In a fancy, big-name place like this, perhaps we were just expecting too much? Or perhaps the availabe courses running for almost $100 per person is where a place like this really shines, not in the $30 meals we had tonight? Who knows?
We still had a great time hanging out, though, and the servers were all friendly and helpful, so it's aaall good! Later, after leaving the restaurant, we wandered down busy Kalakaua Avenue looking for a better dessert, hoping for good things at nearby California Pizza Kitchen, where they do have some delicious, super-sweet deals! Have you tried their butter cake and tiramisu? Aaaah, to die for!
 |
 |
Unfortunately, there was a 40-minute wait there! What's the deal these days? Waikiki is packed!!!
Being right around prime-time for dinner, we suspected the same at any of the popular spots around here, so we made our way back, just behind our original location at the Hyatt, to King's Village Shopping Center. Pretty interesting place, it is, with excellent Japanese restaurants Tanaka of Tokyo, Gyoza no Ohsho, and Odoriko housed inside, among others. A team of dancers drew quite the crowd there:
Check out this day-time shot:
Ever pass-by a place so often, always curious but, for some reason, you never find the time to actually check it out? Well, Rock Island Cafe, for me, was one of those places. With its jukeboxes, life-sized Elvis statue, Greased Lightning-like cars, and over-all retro theme, it definitely carrys some swagger and begs for attention! We walked in, if for nothing else, just to experience it once and for all! Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures inside except for a designated area, but that didn't stop me from putting-on my best lost tourist impersonation and snapping a shot anyway!
Of course, none of us were expecting great food, but we figured "Who can spoil beer and ice cream sundaes?"
Sure enough, an order of buffalo wings were terrible, but the sundaes and Kona Longboards were great! No problems here!
Hey, hope you're all having a wonderful and fantasmic day! SuperBowl weekend is upon us! Not that I care, though - I didn't even know who was playing till I overheard the boys at work talking about it a couple of weeks ago! My cousin is visiting from the San Fran area right now, and she completely disowns me!
It's aaalll good!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
Post a Comment or just say hello! Don't worry about leaving REAL names if you don't want to! No e-mails will be posted without consent, last names will be abbreviated, and if you don't want me to post all or any part of your correspondence, please state so! Hope to hear from you all!
