Musubi Monster a tiny new Hawaiian place (about 3 weeks old) located near CHOC / St. Joseph’s Hospital in the same strip mall of Hollingshead’s Deli. This little place has 6 tables of 2 (so don’t bring your entire office) and is run by a couple of super friendly guys. The menu is simple, you can choose between a variety of Musubi, starting from $2.50 and then there’s the Hawaiian poke menu either in tuna or salmon, starting at $7.95.
As a first timer, and not sure what to get, I chose the Bento box, which is a choice of two musubis (teri-spam, chicken katsu or kalua pork), and a quarter serving of poke, any flavor, and a fountain drink for $9.95.
What’s a Musubi?
Musubi is a popular snack and lunch food in Hawaii composed of a slice of grilled meat (spam being the most popular) on top of a block of pressed rice, wrapped together with nori (dried seaweed).
Poke is a raw fish salad common in Hawaii and means “section” or “to slice or cut”. Ahi poke is generally the most common but raw salmon, smoked octopus, to various shell fish can be used. Aside from the common basic ingredients such as soy sauce and sea salt, poke can be seasoned with ingredients such as, inamona (roasted crushed candlenut), sesame oil, limu seaweed, chopped chili pepper, fish eggs, wasabi, green onions, Maui onions, sriracha, mayonnaise and avocado.
The food was made fresh to order, so our Bento box took about 10 to 15 minutes. For our bento box, I chose the teri-spam musubi and the kalua pork, while Karen chose the teri-spam and the chicken katsu. We told the guys we wanted to share, and they cut the Kalua and Katsu musubi in half for us.
The guys said they’re busy during lunch time, so you should probably call in your order ahead of time. While the portions were quite generous, the rice was a little dry The flavor, however, was just fine. I really liked the kalua pork musubi. It had a nice smoky flavor and was over a thin layer of kim chi. I would pick that again.
Overall a good experience, and I’m looking forward to try another menu item in the near future
You must be logged in to post a comment.