Setsuna

Good Japanese food in the Northgate area? Hmmm interesting.  I had seen this little Japanese restaurant a while back, but it is set in an area of town that is a bit shady so never tried it out.  However, the Yelp reviews seemed great and the craving for some good Japanese food was there so here we go!

Setsuna is tucked away in a street off of the main street of Roosevelt.  If you drive too fast you can miss the entrance.  There is plenty of parking in the back of the restaurant as well as a few on the side.  Walking in, there is a pleasant warm family feel to the restaurant with plenty of lighting and cute hand wrapped Japanese paper chopstick covers over each pair of chopsticks.  Our waiter appeared to be either the owner or the owner's wife and was very polite and friendly with us.  She came back consistently to make sure that our waters were filled and that everything was ok.

 

I decided to try the $10 dinner combo which came with a bowl of miso, rice, salad, as well as 2 entree choices of which I picked vegetable tempura and chicken karaage.  Those two seemed to be the most popular dishes when reviewed.  My friends both ordered the tempura udon combo.  We also ordered an appetizer of Albacore Tataki which is seared tuna marinated in a Ponzu sauce.

Albacore tataki

Our food came out quite fast and was delicious! We enjoyed the tuna tataki as our appetizer. There were many pieces of fairly large tuna. The slight searing along with the ponzu sauce really made it a unique dish.  Little pieces of cucumber also gave it a crunch and texture to the dish.  Definite yes to order again!  For my main dish, I enjoyed my miso soup very much.  It was definitely not from the package and was hot and flavorful with bits of tofu in it as well.  The tempura was fantastic!  Lightly coated in a panko like breading, very crispy and light.  There was a variety of pieces that all tasted wonderful.  I had 2 pieces of shrimp, two green beans, and two kabocha pumpkins. I could have just eaten that with rice and would have been full, but I also had the chicken karaage.  It was marinated in a sauce and then fried with a cornstarch breading.  The flavor was good, but I would have liked there to have been more of a crunch to the batter.  Overall though, it was a good complement to my tempura.  The salad had a wasabi type dressing to it which was very good and helped to cool my tastebuds from all the fried things on my plate. 

Tempura Udon

Chicken Karaage & tempura combo

We were all completely full and satisfied from our meal.  Did I ever mention that I like hole in the wall places? This is one that you should not drive by if you like good, affordable, authentic Japanese food.  I will definitely be back to try more on their menu!


Setsuna Japanese Restaurant and Bar
11204 Roosevelt Way NE
(between 111th St & Northgate Way)
Seattle, WA 98125

Manicotti blues....

Two weeks ago I had the urge to make lasagna.  I bought some ricotta cheese from the store along with some fresh button mushrooms to make a vegetarian lasagna.  Where is the lasagna noodle you are thinking? Well, I thought that I had some stashed away in my pantry to be used for a special day, but turns out when I went to look, lo and behold they were manicotti noodles! Ok, no big deal, just a change in plans.  I can make stuffed manicotti, same ingredients just different technique and look.

The ingredients!

I combined16oz of ricotta cheese with a vegetable mixture of sauteed sliced mushrooms, onions, and spinach, and added extra shredded mozzarella to that for extra cheesiness and then stuffed those manicotti noodles.

Cheesy Stuffed Manicotti
- 1 package of manicotti noodles cooked
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
- 1 16 oz container of ricotta cheese
- 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 package of spinach
- 1 container of sliced mushrooms
- 1 onion diced

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cooked manicotti noodles as directed on the package, drain in colander carefully so that noodles do not break and set aside.
3. Saute onions, mushrooms, and spinach in a separate pan and let cool
4. Combine ricotta, mozzarella, and sauteed vegetables together
5. Stuff manicotti carefully as noodles are breakable.  
6. Spread about a cup of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan and lay manicotti in rows.  Spread the rest of the spaghetti sauce on top of the dish and layer with extra mozzarella.
7. Place in oven and cook for about 30 minutes covered and leave the last 15 minutes uncovered 

Boiling manicotti

Getting stuffed

Layered in dish

Voila!

The manicotti did not come out as I expected.  The filling tasted too much of ricotta and not enough of the stringy salty cheesiness of mozzarella.  I would definitely add another cup of mozzarella to the filling and would have also added more sauce to the entire dish as it thickens and dries up as it bakes in the oven.  Overall a sad dish for me.  Lesson learned today, make sure I have all the ingredients I need in the pantry before I go to the store!

Cute photo of the day!

No food today, but enjoy this cute photo of a bulldog we passed by in the parking lot!

hello, i want to play!

Visit to the Islands- Part IV

Craving for saimen? Here's a place, Ramen Ezogiku in Puck's Alley close to UH.  They have some good ramen with side orders of mandoo for a reasonable price.  I haven't been there in a long time, but right around the corner is the famous Bubbies Ice Cream where we headed to after lunch.

Ramen time!

I had the Chuka Ramen which consisted of noodles, bamboo, one piece of Japanese char siu, and a piece of seaweed in shoyu broth along with a side of mandoo.  Our mandoo came out quickly and were fried fresh with nice fry marks on the side.  Our ramen followed not much later and they smelt great! The noodles were chewy, yet firm and had a good consistency to it which is a plus for me as I don't like mushy noodles.  The broth itself was also quite good, not too salty and flavorful.  It is a small restaurant and filled up quickly during lunch, but for the quality and prices of the ramen it is worth going to.  

Mandoo with dipping sauce

Chuka Ramen

Next stop, Bubbies!! It's been a super long time since I've had Bubbies and I was excited to go.  I shared a huge chocolate, oreo, coffee ice cream cake slice and ate my own guava ice cream mochi ...... YUM! I love mochi ice cream and Bubbies is the best as far as different types of flavors like Azuki Bean, Green Tea, Guava, Lychee, Mango, Passion, Raspberry White Chocolate, Sakura, Strawberry, and way more! It is home made too which makes it even more ono! It was a good way to end the afternoon.... high off of sugar.

First layer- chocolate, second layer- coffee, third layer- oreo all on an oreo crust!

Ezogiku

2146 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815

Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream and Desserts

1010 University Ave
Honolulu, HI 96826

Visit to the Islands- Part III

Kuru Kuru time!!! For those of you that have not heard about this place, it is a boat sushi place out in Aiea and is always packed! I had heard about how great the sushi was there, but never tried it until this trip home.  We arrived at around 10:30 am and no, the place was not open at the time, but diners need to come early just to put in their name on a list for the 11 am opening.  The line and crowd was getting a bit large at 10:45, but my friend and I had gotten our name down for two seats at the belt.

Prices ranged from $2.40-$5.75 depending what plate color you chose and options for donburi are also available for $7.95.  The prices are a little higher then Genki Sushi, but the fish quality and selection are much better here.

Cute menu

The first round!

Somen salad

Mmmmmm!

I love sushi!

We ate till we were stuffed! Can I just say that I am a sushi lover, especially for good sushi!! There is currently only one Kuru Kuru on the island in Aiea, but one will soon open out by Kahala Mall so for all you east siders, you can now enjoy good sushi on that side.  The place gets packed and they are open both for lunch and dinner.  For good quality fish at a reasonable price, come here!

Kuru Kuru
98-199 Kamehameha Highway
Aiea, HI 96701-4821
(808) 484-4596

Visit to the Islands- Part II

Here are some things I ate here and there.......

Boots and Kimo in Kailua for some huge breakfast!

Pancakes with Mac Nut Sauce

Corn beef hash omelette

I love fresh cold mangos from home the best out of anywhere! The best feeling is having that juice roll off the side of your mouth as you bite into the juicy, orange, middle of that mango mmmmmmmmmm!

Scoop, slurp, mmmmm!

Late night plate lunch at .... (I don't remember the name). Literally a hole in the wall place that only opens at night for the night owls. Their menu consists of only several items.  It's so simple, cheap, and onolicious!

Shoyu chicken with beef curry combo

Whats being at the beach without a little bit of bbqing! We had kalbi, sausages, and shrimp kabobs all marinated in a special sauce by a friend. 

Kalbi, shrimp kabobs, sausage

Of course also need to hit up Zippy's for a late night ice cream fix! It never fails to amaze me that there are so many people at all times of the hour at this local joint.

Banana Split!

Ok, enough of food for now.  I enjoyed many other things including friends, family, the beach, and sunsets! So many things you take for granted until you do not have them right there. I am thankful for all that God has blessed me with.

Surfing into the sunset

Aloha 'Oe... until next time

Visit to the Islands - Part I

I just got back from a lovely 2 week vacation home to the island of Oahu! I apologize for the lack of posts while I was there, but to make it up I will be posting several blogs on my visit back.  It was bliss to just lounge, surf, and of course eat my little heart out.

The very first night I was lucky enough to be taken to one of my all time favorite restaurants, Roy's, out at Ko Olina.  I've only ever been to the Roy's located in Hawaii Kai which is fantastic, but the same great standard of service and food was here as well.  This night was special as I got proposed to! Yes, it was a very eventful vacation. So, now engaged I will happily begin to describe my eating adventures.  I didn't get the name of the dishes and the pictures didn't quite turn out as good as I would like, but then again everything that evening all went by in a blur of happiness.

The door awaits...

Upon arrival we were seated promptly as we had reservations and our waiter proceeded to lay our napkins across our laps and hand a menu to each of us while explaining the specials for the evening.  As we were deciding on our dinner, we were given a complimentary appetizer of edamame beans flavored ever so slightly with a spicy sauce.  It is one of the best edameme's I've ever had I must say. We took some time looking at the menu, but finally decided on two dishes.  I tried their classic four dish that included mahi mahi, seared ahi, opakapaka, and their signature miso butterfish.  It was delicious! I can not even describe how great each of the flavors of each fish tasted.  They all were unique and distinct and it's a shame, but I don't remember how they were prepared and it is not listed on their online menu.  All I can say is that if you make it out to Roy's, it is a must try dish! The other dish we ordered was a trio of large grilled prawns, pulehu ribs, and salmon. Delicious again! The ribs were cooked to perfection and were falling off the bone and the shrimp was flavorful and succulent.  We were full and completely satisfied with our dinner.  

Classic Four

Prawns, pulehu ribs, salmon

It was a perfect evening to a first day back in the islands! This was the first of many meals in Hawaii.  I ate and ate and ate.... what a life! More to come!

Roy's

92-1220 Aliinui Rd
Kapolei, HI 96707

(808) 676-7697