Good evening friends and food lovers! Tonight I am writing my review for Chef Chai in Honolulu. Now, Thai food is not my favorite type of food, as the strong spices used in this type of cooking scare me with fire. Everyone that has ever met me, knows that I cannot eat spicy food, so when my boyfriend speaks up for the first time about where we should go to eat, I am not as excited as he would have liked. On the ride over I am biting my tongue as it's the first time I've asked and he didn't tell me; "Anywhere's fine." What if he never suggests something ever again? His opinion counts, so we headed over to Chef Chai on Kapiolani Boulevard.
When I realized that there were only 8 items on the Happy Hour Menu here, I used every last ounce of strength in my being to not make a comment about it. What if I really like some of the items? People always complain before they know for sure. Some of the items I really ended up not liking, but there were others that were very good. I recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting to explore strange flavors.
It is located over a mile out from Waikiki and tourist traps, you won't be bombarded by people at this tucked away spot.
I like alcohol, do you? I am one of those people who go to a bar, hoping they can make my favorite drink. When I am told that they don't have Jack Honey, I do not accept Jack and honey as a substitute. They weren't able to make it, but they did have something else I'm fond of. I am a big fan of lychee beverages, and got a lychee martini. Jake order himself a cocktail as well, and I was shocked. The only two things I have ever seen him drink were whiskey or beer, so seeing him with a girly drink made me step back a little. I learned that an Old Fashioned has whiskey in it, and suddenly everything made sense.
The inside is high ceiling and minimalist in terms of decor. Sort of like a hallway of tables, it was interesting. We sat at the bar to enjoy our Happy Hour.
The first item we had was sundried tomato and Puna (area in Hawaii) goat cheese wontons with mango chutney. The wontons looked like fishies and I thought it was adorable. The texture was light but not flaky, and the cheese inside was a creamy non-overbearing flavor, and went well with the slightly sweet chutney. This was a good item.
The second item we had was a seafood tortellini (lobster in lobster sauce) sauteed corn and edamame (soybeans) The sauce under it was savory and went well with the very creamy taste of the pasta. I felt that the lobster sauce was too heavy, but the soybeans were cooked through and left taste more than texture as it should. I liked this one too but not as much as the first.
The last item we ordered was sauteed escargot, prawns and Hamakua mushrooms in a garlic cream chili sauce. I did not like this item, and it had nothing to do with there being escargot in it. The sauce was too much. Consistency wise, it wasn't too heavy but flavor wise, the sauce was too flavorful for my taste. This tasted closer to a black bean sauce, than garlic or chili. I tried hard to eat this, and we had to order more bread.
It's a trend in American fusion cuisine to use more sweet flavors when fusing together a specific taste and feel, and unfortunately for this item, the sweet was too strong of a sauce. We've found this to be a common trait in fusion food, so it is good etiquette to understand the ingredients and ask if you are unsure of ordering a particular item. We went on to order a 4th item, which is the lobster bisque I used for the first image. It was made with butternut squash in the place of cream, I already knew that the taste would be a little sweet for my liking. I learned a trick back when I was a morning food prep cook for a local cafe in downtown.
Now for people who don't like sweets in their entrees (works especially well with soups) is to have them overheat it. The heat brings down a little bit of the sweet taste and allows for better blending and bringing out of flavor. I asked them to throw our soup into a volcano and it came out great, but slightly gritty feeling due to the squash. A clever recommendation by our bartender was to add just a little bit of Shiracha sauce. It cam out amazing, and the etra little bit of the heat caused me to ignore the texture, it was like a magic trick being played in my mouth.
To not get too much spice, I added a drop per spoonful until I found the correct amount to add.
Finished my meal with an amaretto sour made with Disaronno. The kicker here is that there is egg whites used in this cocktail and it is topped with a real maraschino cherry, anything brighter, and you have a low tier cherry for garnish. All in all, this food was far from the dangerously spicy Thai food I grew accustomed to, and I was pleasantly surprised. If you are planning a trip to Honolulu, I do recommend this spot as it will not be overrun by other tourists.
Want to check out my other posts from this week? You can find them here!
...Happy travels, and great dining!