Birthday Dinner Out

I decided that I wanted a dinner out tonight for my birthday day. I have been wanting to try Roy's Hawaiian Fusion restaurant for a while now, and tonight seemed the perfect time since we will be leaving on Saturday for a Hawaiian vacation. Roy's restaurants are the creation of Roy Yamaguchi who was born in Tokyo but vacationed in Hawaii with his grandparents and there started his fascination with fusing the flavors of Hawaii and Tokyo. Gerry and I loved all aspects of our dinner out tonight.

We started with cocktails; a 1988 for me and a Hawaiian Martini for Gerry. 1988 is the year that Roy started his original restaurant in Honolulu and hence the name of the signature cocktail. The 1988 is a mixture of Absolut Ruby Red Vodka, Soho Lychee Liqueur and Patron Citron Liqueur. Gerry's Hawaiian Martini was Skyy Vodka, Stoli Vanilla Vodka and Malibu Coconut Rum. Both of these drinks had the perfect blend of sweet and tart ingredients. The cocktails were served with edamame which had a spice blend sprinkled over them rather than salt. Gerry enjoyed the spice blend, but I kind of missed the salt.

We then shared Roy's Canoe Appetizer for Two which had two pieces of each of the following: Seared Tiger Shrimp, Spicy Tuna Roll, Grilled Szechaun Pork Ribs, Lobster Potstickers, and Wagyu Beef Dim Sum. Everything was absolutely delicious. It was impossible to pick a favorite out of the five.

Gerry followed the appetizer with a Walnut Apple Salad which consisted of a bed of baby greens with crumbled goat cheese, walnuts, and slivered apples dressed in a spicy and sweet Chili Dressing.

I feasted on Sweet Butter Seared Scallops served on a bed of Macadamia Nut Pesto Risotto with a Lobster Curry Sauce which was garnished with some baby greens, slivers of red pepper and slices of taro (I actually had to ask what the taro was since it was something I had never had before). Gerry had the Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish served with steamed rice and a Sweet Ginger Wasabi Infusion. The presentation of both dishes was wonderful, but Gerry's had the most impact with the sauce presentation. What we loved the most about what we ate was all the sauces that had the perfect balance of sweet and spice which really made the meal.

I rounded out my meal with a Macadamia Nut Bread Pudding which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I only ate half (half turned out to be the perfect serving size for me).

The reason I chose Roy's for tonight is that we will be flying out to Hawaii this weekend and trying the Roy's on the island of Kauai. I wanted some basis of comparison to know how much better (if so) the Roy's is in Hawaii. If the Roy's on the island is better than what we had tonight, I can't imagine how good it will be.

We will be flying out on Saturday and I will be bringing my laptop so I can blog about both our travel and of course about the food consumed in the process. Tonight's dinner was just the appetizer for our trip.

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