O.K. so I’m gonna take this time to be a little racist and stereotypical and I feel totally o.k. being this brutally honest because I’m here at home, safe, behind the screen of my laptop. I’ve devised this theory; Asian people treat their shaved ice the way White people treat their ice cream sundaes. I never come across an Asian that goes crazy over a sundae and vice versa, but Asians love their shaved ice and White people love sundaes, even on Mondays. Also White people go crazy with sundaes, they put all kinds of shit in it: strawberries, pineapple, chocolate, marsh mellow cream, nuts cherries, carmel, whipped cream, the list goes on and on. Well, same goes for Asians and their shaved ice. We put beans, mochi balls, tapioca, fruit, jelly things, condense milk etc.

Here are some pictures of some yummy shaved ice toppings from a Chinese shaved ice cafe in Los Angelos.

You get my point?

Now when it comes to ice cream for Asians, we keep it simple, ice cream and maybe one other topping, otherwise it starts to look like something I regurgitated back up and am still consuming only because I’m too cheap to let it go to waste. I don’t want to fuck up my ice cream by mixing all kinds of crazy shit into it and of course white people feel the same about shaved ice, just ice and flavored syrup. As a matter of fact, most hales have never even heard of shaved ice with anything else. Ray, my half white, half Mexican fiance, who mine as well be white, goes, ” Babe, I never knew Asians loved shaved ice so much and all that crazy shit that you guys put on it. You would hate shaved ice in Texas, just ice and juice. Beans as a desert, it just doesn’t sound right,” he says. Oh, but it taste so good. Now Ray, and Shane still refuse to eat my shaved ice, they just can’t get past the bean thing. Ignorant fools, such poor unfortunate souls. Shaved Ice is not just ice and juice. And yes, I can tell you right now honey, I will despise it in Texas, that’s why I’m here and not there. Shaved ice is an art that I take very seriously. It’s not just about the toppings, but also the consistency, texture, fluffiness, the amount of condense milk in ratio to the amount of ice. You get my point.
Now that I’m done ranting, I’ve found a place that so far is one of my favorites on this island. Tropicana has shaved ice as light and fluffy as the clouds of heaven.

My only gripe was that they didn’t have as many toppings as that Chinese place in L.A.
All their specialty shaved ice comes with azuki beans, ice cream, condense milk, and mochi balls. I ordered the #8 lychee berries shaved ice. It comes with vanilla ice cream and is amazing. Ice cream and shaved ice, the best combo ever. The shaved ice was perfect. The way it dissolved in your mouth, like butter on hot toast. One way of judging good shaved ice is the ice itself. If it’s at all crunchy, or hard, it’s no good, move on, you deserve better than that.

On a separate occasion I got the #3, strawberry flavored shaved ice with strawberry ice cream. This time it came in a different bowl, but still just as yummy.

I had to get another one. This time the #2, Mountain Coffee with coffee ice cream inside. Again, I loved every bite.

And this is what it looks like on the inside

Ray got shaved ice with two flavors for $2.00.

On a separate occasion I got the #12 Green Tea, with green tea ice cream, $4.50. If your a fan of green tea your gonna love this. Its cool, refreshing and who knows, might even be healthy.

Also, all prices include tax, so you don’t have to worry about factoring that in. The price you see is the price you pay. Now if shaved ice just doesn’t excite you, that’s cool. To each one own, right? They also have bubble drinks, floats and a nice selection of ice cream. I suggest the shaved ice. Even Ray agrees that it’s just better here, but he still refused to eat the beans.

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Tropicana
3036 Waialae Ave,
Honolulu, HI
(808) 739-2098

Kalapawai Cafe & Deli is the offspring of Kalapawai Market. Apparently business is doing well at the market so what else to do but venture out into the dining business.

This is seared marlin fish plate. The menu had a better description, but I didn’t memorize it and they don’t have to go menus because apparently it always changes.

Salmon Papaya Salad.

Roasted Potatoes

Salmon Bruschetta

This trip was taken a while back so I can’t go into too much detail about it. What I can tell you is that we all loved this place. From the outside it looked like an affordable deli; perfect for a quick, affordable bite to satisfy our hunger after a long day at the beach before we head back home. However looks are deceiving as we all know, so once we were inside we felt a little under dressed in our damp T-shirts, board shorts and left over sand that molded itself into the cushions of our tender, sun baked skin, so we sat outside in the patio. Service was great. The menu was, wow, really affordable. $8.00 for fish, sweet! I don’t have to force myself to order the cheapest thing on the menu. However, like I said, looks are deceiving, and when the food came out we were a little displeased with the inadequate portion size. I guess you get what you pay for, affordable, small, palatable dishes that left us wanting more. And that’s exactly what we did. It was so good, we order a bottle of cheap wine and another dish. Actually, we ordered this bottle because of its name, “Fat Bastard.”

Just like we ordered “Bitch” wine from, coincidently, its mother market Kalapawai Market because of its name.

Kalapawai Cafe & Deli is a great place, with good atmosphere, food and service at a decent price. One plate wasn’t enough for any of us, so come here with good company that makes taking of more interest than eating.

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Kalapawai Cafe & Deli
750 Kailua Rd
Kailua, HI 96734
(808) 262-3354

Sushi Robot is another place outside of Don Quijote. It’s not a bad place. They’re reasonably priced and fast. Actually, all the food is already made and wrapped up for you, just grab, pay and eat. There’s plenty of covered benches right to the side. I wasn’t really in the mood for meat today so I got some kind of vegetable dish. I’m not sure if it even had a name, but it looked decent, different and it was cheap. You get white rice, an egg patty, steamed lotus root, mushrooms, potato balls, carrots and pickled radishes to the side for under $3.00. If only all my meals were so cheap.

Ray got a small tray of sushi. Nothing crazy, just the typical radish, tofu and tuna roll. That too was under $3.00.

We brought bottled water, as I always do. I make it a habit to bring bottled water everywhere I go. It’s healthy and saves me money. If your on vacation I recommend you to go to Costco, Walmart, or Don Quijote, since it’s right there, and buy a case. This will probably save you around $45. dollars as oppose to buying a drink every time you go out to eat. Buying individual bottles will not save you money. Anyway, the sushi was good. Service was fast, I didn’t get that fat lard feeling afterward and best of all, I spent less than $7.00. If you want directions click below.

Directions to Sushi Robot