Summer travels took Honolulu Star-Advertiser staffers on dining excursions to cities near and far. They discovered great food everywhere — and, of course, took pictures.
Summer travels took Honolulu Star-Advertiser staffers on dining excursions to cities near and far. They discovered great food everywhere — and, of course, took pictures.
YOUSEIGOU
Yokohama, Japan
Wandering around Chinatown in Yokohama, I came across Youseigou, a dim-sum shop selling cute harinezumi (hedgehogs). The yummy, custard-filled, fried dough manju was only 100 yen (less than $1)!
— Chris Sykes, Star-Advertiser
WIN GIFT CARDS FOR YOUR BEST FOOD SHOTS
Team Crave is offering $50 restaurant gift cards for the two best vacation food shots.
Send a photo of a dish you enjoyed anywhere outside of Oahu. Include your name, details about the dish and where you ate it. We’ll publish the best in Crave and more online.
Email jpg images to us at crave@staradvertiser.com or submit your photos via Instagram; use the hashtag #cravesummerpix.
Deadline is Sept. 30.
RELATED STORIES
>> What I Ate on My Summer Vacation: Boston
>> What I Ate on My Summer Vacation: Across the U.S.A.
PLAZA ESPANA 9
Madrid, Spain
My family trip to Europe was ending and we’d hardly experienced any local food. No tapas in Barcelona, no fresh-made croissants in France. It was turning out to be a mediocre, hotel food-filled vacation (not my plan).
Finally, in Madrid, my brother, sisters and I found enough free time to get some real paella — not from a food court or a bus stop, but saffron- scented, crispy-bottomed paella from a restaurant.
Yelp directed us to a pub down the street, just three blocks away. “Three blocks” turned out to be a kilometer and “down the street” meant up a steep hill.
Perhaps it was the forced exercise, or being able to get away from the tour guides and tourist traps, but that paella, filled with shrimp, Spanish crayfish, calamari and artichoke hearts was one of the best things we ate on that trip. Not bad for a last day in Spain. The cold beer in the 90-degree weather wasn’t bad, either.
— Joe Guinto, Star-Advertiser
KIBI-YA FOOD STAND
Lake Toya, Hokkaido, Japan
My wife, Flo, and I vacationed in Hokkaido, spending severals days in the Lake Toya region, known for hot springs (thanks to the active volcano, Mount Utsu).
On our daily walk we came across this snack stand, about a half mile from our hotel and just up the street from the lake. It only sold a few things — grilled musubi, potato tempura and grilled corn on the cob.
This area is surrounded by farmland, and they take freshness seriously. I ordered the corn and the lady in the stand walked out. I thought, ‘Where is she going?” Turns out she crossed the street to get one ear of corn from another stand that just sold fresh corn. That’s her in the pink, carrying the corn back.
She grilled it and dipped it in a shoyu sauce. It was big and juicy, and only cost about 200 yen.
— Bryant Fukutomi, Star-Advertiser
