Oahu - Fresh Catch (Pearl City)

We were finally visiting "home", the four years away seemed like forty. And it wasn't without some apprehension on my part. I wondered if Covid had changed the Hawaii that I knew. How were things going to be, what had changed, had I changed? 

It was drizzling as we left San Diego.

The remnants of the "atmospheric river" that pounded San Diego for over a week. On the other hand, back home, rain is seen as a blessing.....

We flew Hawaiian Airlines and while the food wasn't stellar, unlike most domestic first class, HAL seats will lay flat, so you can actually take a nap if you want to.

But I shouldn't have worried...once we landed, it felt like "home". And like the Missus says, "once you get here you walk different and talk different". Some things never change.

Of course as soon as we landed poke was on our minds. Unfortunately, due to our schedule, we weren't able to visit two of our favorites as Tanioka's was closed the day we arrived and Ono Seafood was closed on the day we went into "town".

Still, we wanted our poke fix, so I did some searching and found that Fresh Catch had opened a location in Pearl City at the end of 2020. So, we decided to head on over to grab some poke for an afternoon "snack" of sorts.

The young man working was really friendly. While looking at the offerings, the Missus pointed at the Oio Lomi, the scraped bonefish that's really an acquired taste. She wanted to try it....well, the Missus had really enjoyed aged poi, so I thought "why not" and got a quarter pound of it.

Unfortunately, She found it much too gooey and "fishy" for Her taste.

I, on the other hand had eaten my share of this growing up and thought this was a decent version. I enjoyed he tongue coating texture...yes, it does "taste like fish". It was a bit on the salty side as was everything else we got from here.

The "Hawaiian Blend", basically Ahi Limu was really salty and the fish was on the more "chewy" side.

Too much salt, too much shoyu. Some really tough pieces with too much "tsuji" - connective tissue.

The Ahi Wasabi was a bit better.

Though again, we thought the quality of the fish wasn't quite up to what we enjoy. Still a bit overly salty which muddled the heat from wasabi, a bit too overly sauced as well.

Kind of a bummer overall as we'd enjoyed our visits to the Kaimuki location on previous visits.

Fresh Catch
98-371 Kamehameha Hwy.
Pearl City, HI 96782

Of course, we had jiaozi for dinner. We had really missed my MIL's handmade jiaozi! Over the years it's become comfort food for me. I basically ate this whole plate. In fact, when my MIL asked us what we wanted for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it was jiaozi! We can't get anything close to this in San Diego.

And then we had baozi for breakfast!

With some potstickers!

Before we headed off to the Big Island.

It was so good to be "home"!

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[kat]

nice!

[Som Tommy]

Mmmmm poke

[Soo]

That's great you were able to go home for potstickers.

[RedDevil]

Nothing like home! Have a nice trip!

[Reece]

Ah, be sure to stop at Leung's near the Hilo airport for gau gee and kau yuk!

[Kirk]

We had a blast Kat!

Yes, lots of poke ST!

And to celebrate Lunar New Year with family Soo!

Thanks RD...we're back home now; it was much too short.

My goodness, Leung's Chop Suey, talk about a blast from the past. My friends lived in Hilo for several years, so I remember the place! We didn't spend a great deal of time in Hilo, so we'll try next time Reese! Thanks for the recommendation!

[James]

It's so hard to keep track of when places are closed (looking at you Masa and Joyce) when you're only there for a few days!!

[Kirk]

So true James!

[Sandy]

I'm so envious of the homemade jiaozi and potstickers! It reminds me of the homemade dumplings that my grandmother could whip up (from scratch) in her sleep.

[Kirk]

We just couldn't get enough of it Sandy! It's kinda sad that we can't find anything close to this here.