As Kaka'ako residents, we have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the Aoki Group's 2nd restaurant in retail space of Ala Moana's condominium complex called "The Collection". But, due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, we've been practicing social distancing and made sure to make our dine right at the start of their soft opening, 5PM.
We were immediately greeted and given a short introduction to the Aoki Group's latest restaurant, Qing Mu and its menu. Mr. Kevin Aoki graciously spoke with us and provided more contact information that I could input onto this business page. Looking around, the décor pulls you into a Southeast Asian street, no, not quite like the traditional Hanoi open air market but you'll be comfortable sitting on slatted wood benches and at rough hewn wood tables. We immediately understood Qing Mu is a Pan Asian Noodle and Sandwich shop. There's a lot of seating in this space so you can place your order at the counter and take a seat while they prepare your food.
FOOD:
-Spring Rolls (chả giò): this appetizer consisted of 6 (halves) golden-fried, tight and evenly filled and rolled Spring Rolls. Served with lettuce leaves, sprigs of fresh basil and mint, cucumber slices, vermicelli and đồ chua (pickled carrots & daikon) to use as hand rolling the Spring roll in. Use the accompanying dipping sauce, which wasn't fish sauce strong, to enhance the seafood filled hand rolls. These rolls were delicious bites of flavors and textures to start our meal. $6.25
-Grilled Pork Belly Bánh Mì: the locally sourced (La Tour Bakery) baguette was an excellent "canvas" for the flavorful sandwich filling. The baguette's exterior crust was crisp but not palate-cutting or mouth-shredding when bit into... the bread had a very nice chew and pull to it as it supported the layers of pâté, tender and tasty pork belly slices garnished with more pickled carrots and daikon and sprigs of cilantro. I'll admit as a porkaholic, this bánh mì was MY Jam! $7.25
-Mekong Phở: we ordered this menu item and really didn't expect the huge portion size (not complaining). The humongous bowl was half-filled with narrow flat and slightly chewy rice noodles, shrimp, calamari, ground pork and tender-cooked pork ribs in a clear and clean-tasting pork-based (not the typical beef base) phở broth. We added in some Huy Fong's Sriracha and hoisin sauce as we usually do but certainly appreciated the clean, clear and non-greasy pork broth. The phở was not served with traditional vegetable condiments like at other Vietnamese restaurants so fortunately, we had leftover basil and mint from our Spring roll plate that we were able to add into the steaming hot noodle soup. This huge and delicious bowl of phở costs $13.95 which is quite comparable to other Vietnamese restaurants for large size.
We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at Qing Mu as we got to meet Mr. Aoki, Chefs Dien and Mandy. We'll be back and we welcome this new restaurant to Our Kaka'ako.
NOTE: I wondered about the restaurant name, Qing Mu, which appears to be Chinese. I looked around for any Chinese characters to convert and realized that Qīng Mù is 青木 pronounced in Mandarin or Chīng mùk in Cantonese. The Chinese characters translate the Japanese surname "Aoki". read more