Remember when we left A Taste of New York, well this is where we ended up at Cafe Laufer. After leaving A Taste of New York we were basically up for anything. We strolled the streets, scanning the menus tapped to the windows of each eatery. The cute European style decor of this place hooked us and we decided to stay for lunch.

Cafe Laufer is the kind of place where you want to say and have coffee all day but fail to do so only because you feel bad for taking up a whole table because the place is small and busy.

But this is the ideal place to take a long time friend to catch up or reminisce of the old days over some coffee, tea and a slice of cake.

Oh, decisions, decisions . . . I’ll take a tiramisu. It just seemed to fit the ambience so I went with it.

This looked better than it tasted. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Tiramisu could quite possibly be the best dessert ever when made properly. To be honest with you, I never made a tiramisu in my life but I probably have eaten more tiramisus than anyone should ever consume in their entire existence. With a palate as sensitive as mine, I’m quite sure what a good tiramisu should taste like. Tiramisu is made with ladyfingers that are kissed with a mixture of coffee, rum, and sugar. When you bite into it it should be light, but not too rich and a small hint of sweet, creamy, coffee and rum should linger on your tongue after each swallow. The ladyfingers tasted like small slices of the bottom of a dry cake. Also, I couldn’t taste any rum, which was the biggest disappointment for me. The cream was a little over the top and the whole thing was so dry. I’m not saying it was awful, I don’t think I ever had tiramisu that was so bad I didn’t eat. Let’s just say out of all the tiramisu I ever had, this makes it in the bottom 10. The slice cost me somewhere around $5.00.

This was my entree, Thai Satay Chicken Salad, $10.75. It was very tasty, but little bit too dry. I thought the white plate gave it a nice, clean finish.

Gourmet Sandwich, $9.85. All sandwiches are served with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and pickle. You pick your choice of filling, cheese, and bread. Ray got chicken salad filling, cheddar cheese, and french bread. He couldn’t have been happier with this plate. He said it was the perfect amount of food, they were generous with the chicken salad filling and everything was tasty.

Large Pasta Salad, 6.95. This was perfect for Shane because I don’t know anyone that loves pasta salad more than he does.

Here’s another quick story for you. So I’m taking pictures of my food and the lady next to me goes, “what are you gonna do with all those pictures,” I pause, well, it was more like hesitated to tell her that I have this food blog because she was so cute and old and if she reads my blog she’ll find words on it like, biznatch, donkey dick, whore, ass rape, need I say more? But my hesitation made it look like I was conducting a top secret, food review and of course stirred up more curiosity from not only grandma but from the surrounding tables as well. I manage to spit out, ” I write for an online food site.” And of course being old and fragile she fails to hear what I had to say and goes, “huh?” Now Ray and Shane decide to take it upon themselves to answer for me and say, “she’s a food critic.” Of course the waitress happens to be walking by just as they say that. She shuffles to the back and I’m sure tells everyone a food critic is in the building. Also, all the tables around hear I’m a food critic, some poke their heads into the conversation and say, “what’s the site called again?” with pen and paper in hand. I hesitate again and then decided it’s my food blog, I’m gonna own it, “its called cheap places to eat in oahu Hawaii dot com.” Now the waitress comes over with more soda for Ray, ask if we need anything, if she can get us anything, you know really good service.

I have to say I kinda felt like I was a celebrity. Which is funny because I know in real life I’m totally not. But if I get good service or free food for it, two words, “fuck yeah.” You got that, need me to say it again? You bet your ass I’ll take free food, good service, VIP treatment, leftovers. That’s my dream, to hop from place to place like that Samantha Brown chick in Passport To . . . on the Travel Channel or Anthony Bourdain in No Reservations. So all my loyal fans out there, go, run, tell every business owner you know to send me some free coupons, gift certificates, cookies, in the mail. I will take it with open arms and I will use it or eat it. Then I will come back and report to you exactly how it went, even if I have to be brutally honest. What can I say, I don’t know how to lie.

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Cafe Laufer
3565 Wai’alae Avenue 107
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 7357717

Don’t let the name fool you. If your in the mood for European food this isn’t the place for you. I think the only thing that can be considered French here is the croissant and the French bread or baguette that the sandwiches are made with. At lot of Vietnamese dinning establishments will refer to themselves as “French” this is because in 1900 Vietnam became a colony of France with the French in control of all the levels of government. That all for the fun facts lets get on with the food. I got a steamed pork sandwich. If you have never had a Vietnamese style sandwich and your totally open to trying new things, then you should definitely have one. I’ve been eating steamed pork sandwiches ever since I was a little girl. My mom use to take me to the Vietnamese sandwich shop in San Jose, California. I love them. However, they aren’t for everyone. My fiance absolutely loves sandwiches, but refuses to even try these sandwiches. He won’t even take a bite because he says he already knows he’s not gonna like it.

A very friendly China-men greeted me at the window. I don’t know if he was nice to me because I was of the same ethnic background and spoke to him in Cantonese or maybe he was physic and knew I wrote a food blog and he wanted me to give him a good review. I guess we’ll just never know.

A typical “French” (Vietnamese) sandwich will consist of cilantro, steam pork meat, sweet and sour (pickled) radishes and carrots, meat paste spread, mayonnaise, raw hot peppers and sometimes cucumber.

The sandwich cost me under $5.00. I asked for extra pickled radishes and carrots and it was given with no additional charge. Pickled radishes and carrots are used a lot in Vietnamese food. I brought my sandwich home and ate every last bite.

Among sandwiches they also have milkshakes, fresh coconut, fruit, and shaved ice. Yum. The French cafe is located in the heart of Waikiki on Kalakaua St inside the International Market Place. There’s a large food court there so if you don’t fancy yourself a “French” sandwich that’s cool, eat something eles.

Directions to French Cafe