Guest Blogger – Lulu
I'm taking over this post since I really enjoy experiencing new restaurants and talking about them. Usually the Florida Cracker and I eat at moderate restaurants (ironically the Cracker's favorite restaurant is Cracker Barrel). However last night we were treated by our son Keith and his wife Elizabeth to a five-star dining experience at Alan Wong's restaurant in Honolulu as our Christmas gift. We joked last week when they presented us with a homemade certificate that the restaurant would just accept that piece of paper. But they had it all arranged – even making the reservation for us from DC – so all we had to do was show up and eat.
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| Whole Tomato Salad |
And eat we did. We started by experiencing some local juices – Harry had a drink that tasted sort of like a liquid Dole Whip (a favorite) and I had a watermelon fountain soda. Our waiter, PJ, was a cherubic Hawaiian young man who enjoyed educating us on the menu items and talked a mile a minute. He rattled off signature dishes sounding like competitors on the Food Network. Thank goodness for iPhones so we could google ingredients like "eryngii" (a type of mushroom), "shiso essences" (an oil from a flower), and "avocado salsa stack" (it is what is sounds like). My appetizer was something called a whole tomato salad and Harry's was a mini taco that was the result of a daily cooking competition of kitchen staff – according to PJ.
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| Harry's Dinner |
Our entress were superb – mine short ribs and shrimp and Harry's a strip steak. The official menu names were more involved but that is basically what they were. I did some investigating before we got there and had to have the desert called the coconut which was a chocolate shell filled with a coconut-type ice cream/pudding.
It turns out that Alan Wong's is quite the place for A-listers and PJ did not hestitate to tell us that Elton John and Neil Patrick Harris were there the night before and that the it is a favorite of the Obamas who visit every time they are in Hawaii.
Our dining experience took about two hours and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We walked the two miles back to our hotel to burn off some calories. Thanks Keith and Elizabeth!
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| Mountain View From Dining Room |
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| Taco Surprise |
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| Lulu's Dinner |
Our Certificate and Dessert
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