Honolulu Archives - Wander Wonder Wonton

Best Vietnamese Fusion in Honolulu – Piggy Smalls

February 11, 2018

Enter Piggy Smalls on Ala Moana Blvd in Honolulu, a funky and busy restaurant serving Vietnamese fusion, different to anything you’ve tried before.

Their cocktail list is refreshingly different, a range of mature cocktails, twists on classics but not the sugary cliche types that you will find in Waikiki.

The menu is short but sweet. I like it that way, less to deliberate over. It’s heavy on the fusion, the meals are unique and it’s still difficult to chose which to go for!

I cheated slightly, I must admit. The guys next to me ordered before us and their food came out looking AMAZING so I made my choice on that.

To start with we had LFC twice fried chicken wings and crispy umami potatoes. Get both of them. No questions. Happy times.

Next we shared the Weekend At Burmese Salad, it was amazing!! First of all, it comes out, perfectly portioned and separated. Then the waiter mixes it in front of you and explains the dish, to which I can do no justice. Check out the pics, it was refreshing, crispy and fresh. Great cleanser to start the entrees.

My biggest decision was over the pho French dip and the Manila clams and the black truffle and sausage tagliatelle. Right here are two of my favourite flavours. Pho, and truffle. Two of my favourite textures. Pasta and soup. It was a hard choice! But like I said, my neighbour settled it and although I had FOMO, the black truffle and sausage tagliatelle won out.

And boy am I glad it did!!! The pasta was perfectly al dente, the truffle heavy enough to be tasted but not overbearing, the house made duck sausage (OMG) a fantastic flavour to compliment the sofrito, kale and parmesan. I smashed the whole plate. Even after all those starters, I went to town on that dish!!!!! And I would again too.

Piggy Smalls was an excellent find, not too far outside Waikiki too if you’re visiting. Just grab an uber and have a happy tummy!

Why I Love Staying at Shoreline Hotel, Waikiki

October 18, 2017September 28, 2017

I love Hawaii. It’s my happy place. From the stunning beaches to the rugged mountain ranges, lush jungle, delicious local dishes, fun happy hours and the wonderful locals, it’s where I go to explore and unwind.

Every time I visit, there are soooo many choices on where to stay and it can become overwhelming. I enjoy a more boutique hotel. Something a little more fun, funky and relaxed than a corporate chain. Last time I stayed at Shoreline‘s sister hotel, The Coconut and had a wonderful stay so this time I figured it was only right to check out Shoreline Hotel! Plus my fave cafe in Waikiki, Heavenly Island Lifestyle is right downstairs – quite convenient, don’t ya think?!

After a huge day exploring Maui, I arrived at Shoreline in the middle of bustling Waikiki. The reception area is relaxed and funky, a projector showing fun clips along the back of the wall and huge couches to chill out on. I loved the welcome board with my name on it outside the lifts!!

I had the junior suite for my two night stay – a huge bed and room all for me!! Eep! The room was really spacious, the bed was HUGE and there were more wonderful little touches around like ear plugs by the bed. Little touches make me happy. As did the view! A stunning city line view of Waikiki looking towards the ocean.

A few times a day I would make my way to the reception to fill up my water bottle with the lemon, lime and cucumber water – it’s so refreshing before hitting the heat outside.

While there is a great complimentary continental breakfast spread in the lobby every day, I had other plans. Each morning I would visit Heavenly Island Lifestyle Cafe. If you follow my blog you would have heard me rave about it before – it’s full of healthy and sustainable food options, sourced from local growers. It has a funky vibe to it and the acai bowls, juices, kahlua pork eggs bene are all to die for! You can read more about that here.

Oh! I nearly forgot to mention, the rooftop is awesome! There’s a pool and it’s the perfect place to watch the sunset from with some friends.

The hotel is right by fantastic shopping, great restaurants and bars and the beach – it really is right in the heart of Waikiki.

PS. If you book direct you get 15% off – winning!

**This stay was discounted by Shoreline Hotel, however is completely true and authentic.

Hawaii Day Seven

June 6, 2013

Today was one of my fave days.

I got up early and went snorkelling at Hanuama Bay. Such a beautiful place, and great snorkelling. Unfortunately for us it was a little choppy and I managed to get completely sunburnt but it was awesome.

I met Caity, a really lovely Aussie chick from Canberra. We were each others snorkelling buddies and we spent a few hours chilling on the beach and chatting. I told her about some local food joints I wanted I check out and she was keen to come so the awesome bus driver dropped its off right by them.

Holy wow they’re amazing! I will do a local food blog but Ono’s, Rainbows & the blue hole in the wall are amazing. Plus Leonardo’s for donuts! Yum.

We walked home – was so long and hot! Got changed and spent the afternoon chilling & swimming at Waikiki beach.

Yard House for dinner – they have so many different beers! Largest draft selection in the world. I had lobster garlic noodles with prawns and crab. Didn’t realise lobster and crayfish tasted so different. I definitely prefer crayfish.

Home early to get a decent sleep.

So sad tomorrow is my last day.

Hawaii Day Six

June 4, 2013

Up far too early for Pearl Harbour!
I was exhausted after partying the night before. Self inflicted, I know.

Tour was fantastic, really glad I went out there. I’m not huge on history and after visiting Hiroshima I didn’t think I’d visit another war site again because I found it so overwhelming and eerie.

We did a Roberts Tour – they seem to be the dominating company around here. As always excellent service, this time with Brandon.

You start the visit with a movie, didn’t realise there was so much raw footage. Thankfully it’s not too upsetting. Then a boat ride to the Arizona Memorial, over the USS Arizona wreck.

Back in Honolulu we visited some sights and I was falling asleep pretty much the whole time so I can’t remember much!

Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory – Omgeee – that one gets its own blog! Amazing.

After a nap I booked tomorrow’s tour for some snorkelling and got ready for dinner at Duke’s.

Dinner at Duke’s was also incredible! It will also have it’s own blog. Really cool place. Not surprised its number one for Waikiki on Urban List!

Kyle sweetly showed up with home backed cookies – one with double butter and one without (for my lactose intolerance) AND he had two beautiful fresh Lei’s for me!! I was so shocked. Was definitely blushing. Aussie & Kiwi boys need to up their game!

Hawaii Day Four

June 2, 2013

I took a day off from tours to recover. Spent the day wondering around Waikiki and my friend Linby arrived at lunch! Really excited to have a friend here.

We went to the Ala Moana Mall for lunch – it’s the 15th biggest in the US and its MASSIVE! I can’t imagine how big the other 15 are.

Lunch was awesome – I had a poke plate – raw tuna with salad and rice. Delicious – I could eat it every meal.

By the time we got of the pink trolley home it was time to get ready for our sunset cruise.

Beautiful evening out on the water, apart from for the few who were spewing overboard from sea sickness. Haha I shouldn’t laugh but it was a little comical.

We watched the sunset on the boat then the Hilton had their Friday night fireworks. They were awesome!

Back on land, Hard Rock Cafe was our first stop for cocktails and nibbles. Great live music as cool ceiling guitar display.

Walking to the next bar we got totally distracted shopping and were kicked out of Victoria’s Secret as they had closed 10mins earlier at 11pm.

Dukes was pretty quiet around midnight so we were off home for a decent sleep before tomorrow’s adventures

Hawaii Day Two

May 30, 2013

Day two in paradise.

Even though it poured down a lot of today it was still stunning.

I got up at 6am (gaahhh) as I had to meet the bus at 6.50 around the corner. That’s my excuse for being exhausted.

Took the bus to Kualoa Ranch. What a magical place. Those mountain ranges take your breath away. They are HUGE. I can’t even begin to tell you how big.

Kualoa ranch is a 4,000 acre working cattle farm.

I paid $70USD for a full day including transfers. I didn’t want to do their main two tours, horse riding and ATV riding so it was a lot cheaper. Unfortunately for me, because of the rain the creek flooded and I couldn’t see what I wanted to, which was the movie sets. I still had a great time though.

I met Gopher, an awesome local who works there as a tour guide early in the morning. We ended up chatting and he had spent some time in NZ so he offered to help me out with some notes of things to do. Luckily for me, Hawaiian’s love Kiwi’s!

First tour was pretty slow, Ancient fishpond and tropical gardens. Nothing wrong with it, maybe not quite my interest. We saw lots of flowers and fruit then took a flatbed boat over the fishpond. I had the wrong idea about the fish… I thought they’d be pretty but turned out to be barracuda, trevally and the like.

Next up was the Ocean Voyage. It was great, the tour guide was cracking me up. I guess they talk to me coz they feel sorry that I’m alone. We went out to Mokoli’i Island, commonly known as chinaman’s hat. Spotted three turtles!

Lunch was a boring affair.. Nice but boring. I opted for the Hawaiian burger – I am in Hawaii after all!

Movie sets and ranch was next. The highlight of this tour for me was meeting Jesse. A lovely guy from Jersey and his son, Jay Jay. I hope to have dinner with them later this week. This was why I came to the ranch, I wanted to see Fifty First Dates, Mighty Joe Young, Jurassic Park etc sets but the creek was flooded as the bus couldn’t make it through.

My last tour was the Jungle Expedition which my mate, Topher took us on the jeep around the island for an hour. Deep in the jungle as driving rough, it was fun. Topher was great and improvised with some cool pics even though it was raining. After the tour he stayed back with me and wrote me a locals guide – pretty excited about that.

My phone finally carked it – well and truly blew up. Luckily apple replaced it on the spot.

Dinner was awesome! Went to the udon place I couldn’t be bothered waiting in line for. Arrived before I was too hungry and the line wasn’t too long. Think I waited maybe 30mins? Beautiful food. Will do a whole other blog on it when I get the chance.

Big walk, chilled on wifi in lobby then upstairs to sleep. Except I got distracted writing this so now am on my way back downstairs to upload 🙂

Mahalo

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