Alright, I’ve been holding off on writing this post long enough. If you’ve been a good little fan and reading all my post then you’ll remember when I said Metis, or Rainy Day Cafe is the best internet cafe on this island in one of my previous post on Morning Brew. Metis just recently changed its name to Rainy Day Cafe. I personally thought the name Metis was more fitting. The manager was hired to give the place a nice douche job. Although the cafe was nice before I do notice a few subtle changes that really enliven the place.

As you can see, this cafe is pretty spacious. Unlike a lot of internet cafes around the island, there’s plenty of space. There’s seating at the counter, couches, and at the tables. Like a good internet cafe, they have computers for your using pleasure, not that kinda of pleasure you sick, sick man, for a small fee of course. Now, if you already have a laptop, sweet, because if your a computer whore like me and can easily spend countless hours with your laptop, then you’ll appreciate all the power outlets they provide. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to an internet cafe and been forced to leave only because my computer ran out of power. If your hungry they have a small selection of food and if you want something sweet they have a nice array of pastries and tarts to choose from, all which look very tempting. Also, the restrooms always looks clean and inviting, which is a nice bonus, as we all know coffee is a laxative. Every time I go into the restroom to do my thing, I regret not taking my fully charged laptop with me. I swear I can hear the toilet say, “come in old friend, my how I missed that sweet ass of yours. Come sit on my face.” And I respond, “don’t mind if I do.” I think a bidet would look quite nice in here. Anyhow, internet isn’t free. I know I mentioned many times that all business should give free internet but if your a noncorporate internet coffee shop, then I guess it’s okay. The fee is $3.00 per user but Ray, Shane and I like to all go in and pay for only one user and pass the access code around. There’s been days where we are the only ones in there and still we pay for only one user fee. I know they’re not stupid and have to know but they probably just don’t care or know that we are just loyal customers and would rather spend the money we save on food. Here’s what we bought.

This Bagel Sandwich, $4.95. Yes only $4.95. There’s not a lot of places that have food for under five bucks so even if you don’t have any desire to use a computer and you just want to to grab a quick bite that’s cool too.

This bagel sandwich comes with fresh romain lettuce, cheese, tomato, cucumber and a creamy pesto sauce. Everything works in conjunction really well. The creamy pesto gives it a nice gourmet touch while the cucumbers really balance out the strong natural flavors of the salami.

Next we have the New York Lox Bagel, $6.50. The last lox bagel I had was at Bogarts and apparently if I go back there one of the workers will jizz in my food. She’s a female so I’m assuming in order to do this she would have to squat over my food. Either way, no thanks, besides the one at Rainy Day Cafe is cheaper. Like all Lox Bagels it comes with cream cheese, slices of thinly sliced onions, tomato, smoked salmon and capers. Ray and I ordered this before and we’re ordering it again because it was just that good.

Did I mention that they have pastries. I notice that they pastry selection changes from time to time, which is good because that means we’re always going to get something fresh. On this day they had a huge array of baklava. I’m not Jewish, or Russian and maybe that’s why I’m not really crazy about baklava, but it just looked so pretty that I had to get one.

I got one and it came in this over sized container.

Side view of my baklava.

Top view of my baklava. It was a really small piece and cost my somewhere around a buck fifty. This one had pistachios and like all baklava’s, was soaked in honey. I’m glad I didn’t get two because one is usually all I can eat. I like sweet, but baklava’s are too sweet for my liking. Lets me on.

On a separate occasion I had cake. The chocolate cake was moist and spongy and the cream was the soft whipped kind. I’m sorry but I don’t remember how much this cost me, I’m guessing around $3.50, but I do know that it was worth every penny.

There you have it folks. This place is by far the best internet cafe on the island. Lets face it when it comes to internet cafes, it’s all about the ambiance. This place makes for a nice work space. It’s a little hidden right outside the mall which is probably why it’s not always ridiculously busy.

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Rainy Day Cafe
1601 Kapiolani Blvd # 150
Honolulu, HI 96814

(808) 945-9944

After the disappointing creme brulee at the Garlic Restaurant we decided to have dessert elsewhere. I remembered a few days before Ray and I had this awesome little chocolate cake at the new Coffee Bean inside the Food Pantry and Sara’s been meaning to try this Red Forest Cupcake they have so everyone was sold on the idea. For those of you that don’t know, the Coffee Bean is the newest addition to Food Pantry down in Waikiki. In my opinion it was a great idea. The Food Pantry was looking a little old and outdated but now that the coffee bean is there it looks a little more fresh and welcoming. There’s one table outside and a few inside.

One reason I love coffee shops so much is because they always seem to have the best varieties of pastries at a very affordable price.

Here it is, the awesome little Hostess Cupcake Ding Dong knock off,$2.29. It’s like finding a Nike shoe knock off in a small shop in China and realizing that you like the knock offs better because they have a certain graphic design and comfort you won’t find from the original. This cake was delicious, so much better than the original in looks and taste. It had a thick fudge-like skin sheltering a soft chocolate cake that covered a sweet creme core. Yum!

Here’s a picture of an original hostess cupcake ding dong so you can compare for shits and grits.

Sara’s little Red Forest Cupcake, $1.99 and not worth it even if it was given to us for free. This was the driest cupcake ever. Sara was so disappointed. She’s had her eye on this cake for a while now, eye-fucking the hell out of it every time she walks by, and now that she’s finally had a taste she couldn’t have been more let down. Seriously, don’t be fooled by its looks, this cupcake was dry like Oprah’s pussy. Sara started eating it and the top just fell right off.

This is Sara’s way of saying, “Fuck you Red Forest Cupcake, you suck donkey dick!”

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownie, $1.99. Shane was happy with his pick.

I ordered the most adorable carrot cake I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. I just have to say, I love pastries like this, where I can have my cake and eat it too. I don’t want to buy a gigantic whole cake that I probably can’t even fit into my refrigerator, so I’ll have to leave it out only to find a trail of ants next morning, carrying pieces of it back home.

This was good, no more no less. I ate half of it only to find that I really didn’t like it by the time I reached the second half so I stopped eating it. I definitely wasn’t fresh because it was a little dry, but not as dry as the red donkey dick cupcake. I’m sure if it had been fresh I would of loved it.

That’s it folks. Besides a few mocha’s and lattes we had a great time winding down at the Coffee Bean.

So I can’t get enough of this place. Here we have a picture of the Pumpkin Crunch, $2.19. It was tasty, but I think they should rename this pumpkin treat because there was no crunch whatsoever. The bottom was chewy, and perhaps it was once crunchy but got soggy and chewy from the moisture of the pumpkin filling. And if that’s the case, well then it just leads customers to believe that they had just purchased an old dessert. If it’s not the case, well then having the word “crunch” in the dessert is misleading and customers will think that they have just been deceived. Either way, not very good. I suggest Pumpkin Dream. But like I said, it was tasty, I was just a bit disappointed because there was no crunch to be had.

On a separate day, I came home from work realizing that I still haven’t had dinner. It was late, I was tired and the only thing that sounded good was some dessert. Ray and I walked over to The Coffee Bean and purchased this little Coconut Bunt Cake, $3.29. It was a plain white cake, with white frosting and coconut shavings all around.

It was good, but I was bored with it by the time I got half way through. It was yummy, but nothing special.

This time I came home from a horrible night at work. Oh, work, it’s like this love hate relationship I have with you. But, I have to say I hate you more than I love you, sorry. I was venting out my night to Ray when he decided it was time to go get some sugar. How is it that food, in my case, dessert, can completely transform people. Is this what it’s like to be bipolar? As soon as I stabbed my fork into this Chocolate Indulgence, $3.29, laid it upon my tongue to compressed it up to the roof of my mouth and smear it all around I felt whole again. Chocolate Indulgence, you complete me.

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The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
2370 Kuhio Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 923-9831

The Contemporary Museum is the only museum in Hawaii committed solely to contemporary art since 1940. It’s educational, entertaining, affordable, interactive and a perfect way to spend the afternoon. I came here with a group of friends. It cost $5.00 each to get in and parking was free. When we arrived the cafe was full and had a 45 minute wait so we decided to put our name on the waiting list and go through the gallery first. I was impressed with all the interactive art that was offered. After what seemed to be one hour we headed to the cafe for some grub. I was mentally prepared to spend a little more since I was at a museum but pleasantly surprised to find that lunch here was quite affordable.

There is seating both inside and outside

We started off with two Spinach & Artichoke Dips, $7.00 each. It came with slices of warm pita bread. I loved it, thought it was really tasty and wished everyone had their own bowl, or at least I wished I had my own bowl. Shane is the one who is crazy about spinach & artichoke dip, especially the one from California Pizza Kitchen. Every time we go there he orders one thing and one thing only, spinach and artichoke dip. He said this one doesn’t compare. I beg to differ but, he has more experience in this dish than I do.

We also got Hummus & Pita, $6.00. It was served with warm pita bread, tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, feta cheese & kalamata olives. I have nothing bad to say about this dish. It’s pretty hard to fuck up hummus and fresh vegetables. Not that I really know how to make hummus. I guess the real work comes in presentation and to me it looked yummy and that it was. Everything tasted fresh and the bread was warm to the touch.

Sara ordered the Portabella Mushroom Burger, $10.50, baked portabella mushroom on a kaiser bun dressed with sun dried tomato pesto, basil pesto, lettuce, tomato, & gorgonzola cheese. It was accompanied with some more hummus and chips. This dish was delicious. The mushroom was cooked to perfection and seasoned just right.

Huumm, I wonder who ordered a sandwich? Could it be Ray the whore of most sandwiches. Yes Ray ordered this sandwich, the Cuban Style Ham & Turkey Sandwich, $11.00. It came with fresh turkey, black forest ham, pickles, mayo, lettuce and tomato all on a soft baguette. Ray said the bread was much too hard, so hard that he started eating the insides and left the bread for dead. He also said that it was a petite sandwich that didn’t serve his hunger justice.

This dish too came with chips and hummus.

And here is my dish. I was quite content with my pick, Shrimp Roasted Shallot & Tarragon Salad, $12.00. The tarragon dressing was lite, slightly sweet and oh so good. The sauteed onions were a little over done but the shrimp was grilled to perfection.

When we got to the cafe we were one of the last 3 tables. It took about 45 minutes to get our food after we had already ordered it. This sucked because we had already waited 45 minutes just to get sat. My friend, Ona actually cancelled her Turkey Avocado Wrap because she was tired of waiting and irritated that all of us had gotten our food already. The service wasn’t bad, it was the waiting when it wasn’t busy that annoyed the hell out of us. By the time we got our food we were the only ones there. It just didn’t make any sense. But I do want to say that we were the last table and they were probably just getting ready to close down lunch. After we ate we went for a walk around the garden. Here are some pictures I took.

Pretty cool place right? All I have to say is, today was a good day. My experience here was whimsical.

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The Contemporary Museum Cafe
2411Makiki Heights Drive
Honolulu, HI 96822
(808) 532-3362