Comfort food. An unbeatable way to eat yourself through the holidays.
I’m not a big foodie by any stretch, but if there’s one foodie film I can set on repeat-play, it’s Ratatouille. My favorite part is when the curmudgeon of food critic, Anton Ego, takes a bite of ratatouille and the taste propels him back to childhood memories of his mother’s home cooking.
Okay so maybe my sentiments of “home cooking” aren’t exactly the same. But it’s what I felt when my mom arrived in Korea with a bento plate on Christmas day and it was from Hawaii’s own Kabuki Restaurant in Waimalu Shopping Center.
Musubi (rice ball wrapped with seaweed) and potato hash.
“Broke da mouth ono! “, this ultra-simple food been a favorite of mine since childhood. Bought with the loving hands of my dad (who drives down to pick it up) and toted overseas by my mom, my Kabuki bento packs the flavor of the Hawaiian Islands and the uncomplicated and cozy taste of home. It’s been my aloha meal pack whenever I’ve left the islands to return to a surrogate home and the dish which welcomes me each time I reunite with family.
I’ve not set foot in nor eaten at Kabuki restaurant, yet I’m convinced the cook in the kitchen must look exactly like my mom.
There’s something in home cooking, which makes me willingly pull out all my stubborn anti-meat and rice eating laws. All the rice in Korea couldn’t replace the quality smack of home-ono in a Kabuki rice ball (and I began declining my school lunch rice this late semester; I don’t enjoy the taste that much)! And the potato hash? Aside from the fact there’s a teeny bit of meat mixed into it, it’s savory milky taste makes it chopstick-licking good!
So take me to veggie hell! With my mom and my Kabuki bento in front of me, Christmas in Korea was certainly something to Ho-ho-ho and feel jolly about.
Kabuki Restaurant
808-487-2424
98-042 Kamehameha Hwy. (at Waimalu Shopping Center)
Aiea, Hawaii 96701
Are there any holiday comfort foods which make you go weak? What foods would you sin for?
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