Sweet Home Cafe

Americans have fondue, Japanese have shabu shabu, and the Taiwanese and Chinese have hot pot.  It all involves cooking thinly sliced chicken, beef, or pork, and other items such as cabbage or crab cakes in steaming pots of broth, but the similarities end there. While shabu shabu uses Japanese dashi-style broth, Taiwanese hot pot offers a wider range of soup styles, from spicy to lemongrass to curry.  Many islanders are more than familiar with shabu shabu, but hot pot has yet to reach that level of popularity. Well, the other day my friends and I tried Taiwanese hot pot and it was awesome.  It was just a really fun (and relatively inexpensive) experience for a group of people.  You can sit around, talk, BYOB, and cook whatever suits your fancy.

Sweet Home Cafe (map) is a complete and total hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is very easy to miss.  The only thing noticeable about this place is the massive line of people waiting outside.  Wait times vary, but it's not unusual to have to wait 45 minutes to get a seat.  That was the first thing that told me this place would be good.  When a local, run down restaurant in the corner of a parking lot is packed, you can be pretty confident the food is delicious.  In fact, they don't have a hostess at all.  You write your name on a clipboard hanging on the front door and wait until you're called.  Since this is a BYOB place, we just brought two 6-packs and drank while we waited.  No big deal.

The Hot Pot of Broth

Before you're called in, they will also ask you if you know what broth you want to order as well as what meats you want.  BE PREPARED.  This is a no nonsense place and they don't have time for your dilly-dallying.  So they have a few broths to choose from:  Spicy, Lemongrass, House Specialty, Curry, and Sour Cabbage. We had the spicy and lemongrass.  Both were delicious.  The waiter recommended trying to curry next time, though.  When you sit down, they bring out your broth and a few small plates of thinly sliced meat. We did beef and pork.

  

Refrigerators With Food to Cook

Then you can get up and go to the refrigerator and get anything you want.  Things are priced by the color of the plates.  So, for example, a blue plate is $2.95, green plate $3.95, and orange plate $4.95.  The plates vary by size and ingredient.  We went and got rice noodles, crab cakes, octopus, garlic tempura (fried garlic), fish balls, lobster balls, watercress, and some other stuff I don't remember.  There were plenty of CRAZY items that we were not brave enough to try, but everything we got (except the fish balls) were really good.  You can also get all sorts of spices and "add ons" for your meal.  For example, they have spicy garlic paste, green onions, thyme, garlic, red pepper, and other weird Asian stuff that I didn't ask about.

Spices

Then at the end of the meal, they bring FREE shave ice.  Now, admittedly it wasn't the best shave ice in the world, but it was good enough and it was the perfect palate cleanser after the meal.

Shave Ice

The Verdict on Shave Ice

I tried my second shave ice this weekend.  This time, I made it all the way to the North Shore and tried the famous Matsumoto's.  I am happy to say that the deciding between the two premier shave ice stands - Waiola or Matsumoto's - was not a difficult decision.  In fairness, I did not try the same type of shave ice.  At Waiola, I had the Sundae shave ice while at Matsumoto's I had the Rainbow w/ice cream shave ice.  However, I am confident that ordering the same thing would not alter my opinion.

Without further ado, the winner is...Waiola's Shave Ice. 

Matsumoto's was still good.  The rainbow w/ice cream shave ice includes three flavors: Pineapple, Vanilla, and Strawberry over vanilla ice cream.  Again, the large is PLENTY big enough for 2 people.  The benefits are that it is not as sweet as Waiola's sundae shave ice.  This makes it somewhat more refreshing, but not enough to warrant victory.  It was not as sweet, but both were pretty sweet.  The ice cream mixed with the shave ice was the best part, but you really have to dig for it.  It takes a while to eat your way through the mound of shave ice they put on top.  Another good thing about Matsumoto's is that it is, in fact, cheaper than Waiola's.  A large at Matsumoto's is $2.75, or for another $0.25, you can get a highly-recommended (and re-usable) holding cup to prevent dripping on your hands.  A large at Waiola's is $4.50.

Matsumoto's Rainbow Shave Ice w/Ice Cream

The primary negative of Matsumoto's (and the reason it lost in the taste test) is texture.  It was too "commercial."  Matsumoto's was much closer to a snow cone than "shave ice."  Matsumoto's is so popular and the line is so constant that they "pre-shave" their ice.  They then transfer it to a freezer where they scoop it out like ice cream.  This has the unfortunate side effect of slightly melting the ice and re-freezing it such that it more closely resembles an ice block than "snow."  Waiola's, on the other hand, is shaved for each individual customer and hand-packed by the attendant.  This makes a world of difference in terms of texture.  Matsumoto's also seems more commercial in the sense that you can buy t-shirts, coffee mugs, hats, and other such tourist crap while in the store.  Waiola's is hidden in the middle of a neighborhood available only to locals who know to go there.

The Real Waiola's Shave Ice

Interesting side note:  Waiola's Shave Ice was shown in Hawaii Five-O's November 1, 2010 episode Ho'apono.  However, the Waiola shave ice stand was pictured as being along Ala Moana Beach.  In the show, Waiola's is in front a picturesque ocean front complete with picnic tables and grass, completed by happy people walking by. HA! Waiola Shave Ice is the dessert equivalent of a dive bar.  It is everyone's favorite place precisely because it is NOT set in a picturesque setting frequented by tourists.  It is located in the middle of a fairly run down neighborhood with no picnic tables, limited parking (at best), and certainly no scenic surroundings.  The real Waiola Shave Ice stand, however, would have made for some crappy TV, so the oversight was probably deliberate.  Importantly, I think it is telling that the producers/directors/decision-makers still decided to have the cast eat at a "fake" Waiola's rather than some other shave ice establishment.  Even the fake Waiola's beats the real Matsumoto's.

UPDATE:  In looking through other Shave Ice reviews, I came across Aoki's, which is next to Matsumoto's on the North Shore.  It is separated only by a small church and parking lot.  I actually saw Aoki's when we went to Matsumoto's, but given that no one ever mentions it in serious Shave Ice debate, I ignored its existence.  Anyway, it turns out that at least one person finds Aoki's to be better than Matsumoto's.  Therefore, it seems that another comparison/competition needs to be held.

Shave Ice

Shave Ice is a Japanese dessert that was introduced to Hawaii when Japanese plantation workers immigrated to the islands and brought it here a long time ago.  It is NOT the same as a snow cone, though many people equate the two.  Shave ice is an ice-based dessert made by shaving a block of ice. While the product can resemble a snow cone, snow cones are made with crushed, rather than shaved, ice.  Snow cones on the mainland are made with crushed ice and fruit syrup, and are often re-frozen so that when you get them they're pretty much one chunk of flavored ice. Shave ice, on the other hand, is actually shaved off a big block right in front of you into a fine powder so it's easy to eat. Then it's topped with any one of countless exotic tropical fruit flavors. Shaving the ice block produces a very fine "snow" with an extremely fine texture.  It's nice because the syrups added to it are absorbed by the ice rather than simply surrounding it.  If you've ever had a snow cone, you know the flavored syrup can actually be sucked out of the ice, leaving just a giant ball of ice with no flavor.


Hawaiian shave ice is traditionally served "rainbow" with three flavors and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom.  You can also get sundae shave ice with hershey's chocolate syrup or shave ice with mochi balls and/or azuki beans.  There are countless options.  There is a debate among locals here about which shave ice location is the best.  There is Matsumoto's on the North Shore and Waiola's near the University of Hawaii. A quick Google search will yield a variety of reviews.  I think it's safe to say that Matsumoto's is the most famous, but I think Waiola holds the title of "Best Kept Secret."


One reviewer had this to say about Waiola:  
my favorite shave ice ever. the softest, finest, smoothest shave ice. and i've been eating this for so many years, well before their now fancy schmancy colorful signs!  To me, it's way better than Matsumotos, Aokis, Ice Garden, and the rest of the list.

Sundae Shave Ice from Waiola's

 Another reviewer thought Matsumoto's was the best:
This place is absolutely amazing. I was told it was a must in northshore and who ever told me this, he was right! The shave ice can't be more perfect. The presentation was amazing, the taste was really good, and the price was really affordable. It was worth all the driving.


I have not had Matsumoto's yet.  I live around the corner from Waiola, though, and had my first ever shave ice experience the other day.  Have you ever had something ruined by unreasonably high expectations?  Welcome to my shave ice life.  Everyone told me how amazing shave ice was.  Then they told me that the BEST shave ice on the island was Waiola (to be fair, I think there is a rivalry between the North Shore crowd and the Honolulu crowd with the former recommending Matsumoto's and the latter recommending Waiola.).  So I go to the window and order the Sundae Shave ice.  I get it with Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate.  It came with Hershey's syrup, condensed milk, and a little ice cream.  It was definitely good.  We ate the whole thing (note: these are big enough to share!).  However, I was expecting an explosion of flavor to overwhelm my tastebuds such that I was temporarily disabled with orgasmic sensations.  No such luck.  It had a weird texture.  It was like rating flavored snow.  It was refreshing and unique, but not quite as good as ice cream.  As for price, it was about what I expected.  For a bowl large enough for two, it was $4.50.  I have heard Matsumoto's is cheaper, but then again you have to travel to the North Shore.

Of course, this is just my first impression.  I only had one kind of shave ice (sundae bowl) from one place (Waiola).  It was definitely good enough to have again and I will continue to experiment with different flavor combinations as well as different vendors.  I may even venture a trip the whole 48 minutes to the North Shore to sample Matsumoto's (maybe I'll even buy an over-priced t-shirt).