Golden Goodness! (Part 1)
Another local favourite, besides Kihei Cafe, you’ll be able to find several Da Kitchens throughout Hawaii. In particular, the one we visited on this occasion was the Kihei location. Although lookin’ a little sketchy from the outside, it turned out to be a quaint surprise!
You’ll be quick to notice that at this particular one, “Express” is part of the signage. This is due mainly to the fact that there is actually a main one located in Kihei as well (don’t worry…that’ll be covered in a separate review!)
Pretty standard breakfast affair: toast, eggs, sausage (portugese though!), and potatoes. It’s….breakfast, don’t know what else to say about it lol.
This bowl is called “Da Saimin”. Saimin is one of those local Hawaiian foods that I never really understood the phenomenon behind; It tastes like a mix between instant noodles and/or ramen noodles. In this particular instance, the noodles, tasted as expected (nothing spectacular), and came in broth with beef.
This is where the title “Golden Goodness” comes from. Yum, Chicken katsu, if that’s one dish you can’t get enough of, then you’ll be in 7th heaven if you come to Maui. With a distinct crunchiness on the outside and savoury flavour on the inside, it’s like the perfect yin and yang of deep fried foods! With it, you get 2 scoops of rice and “Salad” (I put quotes around salad because it’s very likely that instead of Greens, you’ll just get Macaroni Salad which, in my books, I don’t really consider salad…)
One of the few things that I ate that wasn’t deep fried in Maui was the Teriyaki Chicken. Despite the chicken looking rather “beefy” in this picture, I can assure you, it is no trick! It is chicken! It actually wasn’t overly sauced or anything so it had the right proportion of flavours. Like with the Chicken Katsu, it comes with 2 scoops of rice and “Salad”.
Lastly, we have “Won Fat Guys’ Chow Fun”. I don’t what’s up with the name…were they trying to be funny, racist, etc…who knows. Anyways, the dish consists of fried noodles mixed with teriyaki beef and vegetables. Nothing really stood out with this except maybe the odd name.
Good:
-Cheap
-Big Portions
-Deep Fried stuff is done well
Bad:
-The “Asian” (or Asian imitate) stuff should be avoided
-If you’re an eco-warrior, you’ll cringe at their use of styrofoam and lack of recycling…
-Some stuff is overly greasy
-Breakfast is just sort of meh…
Closing Comments: For lunch or dinner, hit this place up! It’s a good bang for your buck and your palette! (as long as you avoid the asian stuff…)
Overall Rating: 4.3 PBJ’s out of a possible 5
