Shaka's Hawaiian Cuisine - A Moveable Feast Part II

A preview of coming attractions – my Spam Musubi:

Ever since having read this thread on Chowhound about Shaka’s Hawaiian Cuisine, I’ve been dreaming of bacon fried rice. I decided that a little bacon fat is just what fried rice needed to give it that luscious unctuousness.

So Hollywood Bowl Picnic time rolled around again and I was torn between going classy (Fra Mani salumi and mortadella; fresh mozz; gamberi con fagioli; caponata; and pomodori ripieni, with a bottles of Prosecco and Zin) or going “theme”; since we are seeing "South Pacific", Mr. Sales suggested that we go Polynesian. I quickly chose the latter since I finally had my chance to get some bacon fried rice.

We started off with the “Shaka’s Sampler” which had Spam Musubi, Sesame Chicken Wings, and Teriyaki Beef Skewers. The Sesame Chicken Wings and the Skewers didn’t travel very well but the Spam Musubi was absolutely delicious! And I don’t even like Spam! Next time I will order the Manupua (Char Siu Bao) along with the Spam Musubi.

For entrees we brought bacon fried rice, Kalua Pig, Teriyaki Steak (I forgot to tell mumsy to get the Kalbi instead), and the Teriyaki Chicken.

Let’s get the Teriyaki Chicken out of the way by saying that this was a dish for people who are afraid of real food: it was a dry boneless, skinless chicken breast covered with a sauce that was a bit wan. The rice was good though.

Mumsy really liked the Teriyaki steak but like I said earlier I wished that she had gotten the Kalbi; even so, this dish was still pretty good.

The Kaula Pig was great and was served with a steamed cabbage that tasted slightly pickled. The cabbage complimented the pork really well.



Ah, the bacon fried rice: it was sublime! We received enough to feed ten people and it was packed with bacon and Portuguese sausage. It also contained slivers of Kamaboko (fish cake) which I normally do not care for but in this case it really added a certain je ne sais quoi to the rice.


Let us not forget about the macaroni salad. I actually liked Shaka’s version; it was very minimalist (and wasn’t runny and gooey like most) and I could detect a bit of grated onion in the dressing. I was really tempted to bring an ice cream scooper so that I could have put two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad on everyone’s plate.

Here’s our tropical cocktail (sans umbrella):

Shaka's really took us to Bali Ha'i!

Shaka’s Hawaiian Cuisine
101 W. Main Street, #C
Alhambra, CA 91801
http://www.shakas.com/