Posts Tagged ‘Mussels’

Steamed mussels

The first time I had steamed mussels was at the now defunct Belgian restaurant called Belgo in NYC.  The restaurant was dark and resembled a beer hall with long wooden tables that were shared with other diners.  I remembered the Belgian style steamed mussels came in a white wine sauce and served with a side of pomme frites.  It was a delicious meal.

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Dinner from Olive Tree Cafe

AM suggested having a date night this week.  We had done this once or twice in the past but because of financial constraints, we had halted this practice.  It was a great suggestion because we have been cooking a lot at home lately and wanted to mix it up a bit to tickle our palates.  We had heard about this great little Greek place in Kahala called Olive Tree Cafe so we decided to take this opportunity to go check it out.

The cafe is situated near the Kahala Mall.  There is a small parking corner and when we got there, we didn’t have to wait long to get a spot.  Olive Tree Cafe is a small establishment with no waiter service.  You order at the counter from the menu posted on the board.  It was quite busy when we got there around 6PM.  There are about 10 small round tables inside that would fit two people comfortably each.  There are also more tables outside, which reminded me of a sidewalk cafe.  There are hardly any sidewalk cafes in Honolulu, which is a shame.  NYC is full of side walk cafes and I love having a casual brunch or lunch at one.  It is nice to sit outside with the elements and to people watch.

The Olive Tree Cafe does not serve alcohol but they do allow BYOB.  Conveniently enough, there is a wine and liquor store right next door!  There were a lot of people enjoying bottles of wine in the cafe.  The cafe charges $0.50 for using their glasses if you BYOB and provides a corkscrew at the counter for your bottle.  The staff at Olive Tree Cafe are super nice too.  We decided to take our order to go because all the tables were taken.  The guy at the counter told us to call our order in next time so we didn’t have to wait and proceeded to write down their phone number for us.

On to the food!  We ordered hummus with pita bread, a Greek salad, mussels ceviche, and a New Zealand lamb souvlaki.  Everything was delicious!

Hummus with pita bread

The hummus was really good but not too garlicky like a lot of versions out there.  It actually had a sesame and somewhat peanut buttery taste.  Very unique and tasty.  The pita were sliced on the thin side.  I think I would have preferred a bit more pita and larger pita wedges because we had leftover hummus even after we slathered each pita slice full with the spread.

Greek salad

The Greek salad was very colorful, which means it had a variety of vegetables so it is super healthy.  It was also very fresh!  Crisp lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes that were not mushy.  I really liked the feta cheese and the homemade dressing.  We finished this salad with no lettuce leaf to spare, not even an olive.  We really enjoyed it.

Mussels ceviche

The mussels were cold as they are a ceviche and is topped with a lime ginger herb sauce and capers.  It was a very tasty combination.  The saltiness of the capers offset the tartness of the lime and went really well together.

New Zealand lamb souvlaki

The New Zealand lamb souvlaki was very tasty.  The meat is served kebab style in a pita bread with good amount of tzatziki sauce.  The lamb was tender and very well seasoned.  It was so good.  The other souvlaki choices on the menu are fish and chicken.  This dish comes with a side of salad and like the Greek salad, we polished this one off as well.  It must be that delicious homemade dressing.

There was baklava on the menu too but we thought it would be too much so it will an excuse for us to visit again and not only try the dessert but also the other items on the menu.

Price: $33.00 plus tax
Verdict:  TASTY!  I would definitely recommend Olive Tree Cafe to anyone looking for delicious Greek fare in Honolulu.

Olive Tree Cafe
4614 Kilauea Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 737-0303
Open daily 5PM – 10PM
Cash only