O’ahu is the island most visitors know Hawai’i as Honoulu, Waikiki, Pearl Harbour, and if you’re into surfing, Pipeline and Sunset. After being in Kaua’i for about two years, we were curious about O’ahu. While we love the Garden Isle and the beautiful gem that is Kaua’i, we were wondering if it’s time for a change. Or at least more choices for food.

So we booked a short trip to O’ahu.

While I was in the bathroom at the Kaua’i airport, navigating that finicky seat cover, I heard an announcement. They wanted to know if anyone was interested in taking an earlier flight. Yes, please! So we headed to the gate. A very helpful airline staff helped us change our tickets and just like that, we were on our way to O’ahu. We already had a few dim sum ideas for when we land.

Because we took an earlier flight, our car reservation wasn’t ready and so they upgraded us. Soon, we were heading toward Diamond Head and Waikiki in a sleek BMW X4.

Our first stop was lunch. I thought a restaurant with the old school dim sum carts would be fun and so we decided on Happy Days. It was easy to find, with plenty of parking. We were quickly seated near the fish tank and ordered a variety of dumplings, egg tart, rice rolls, pineapple buns, and steamed char siu bao (aka steamed pork buns). I was stoked; it’s been quite a while since I had dim sum and the first time having it with Wade. A very satisfying meal.

We stayed in a timeshare right in Waikiki, which made exploring this area on foot very easy. It was strange being in a highrise again, in a very busy city, especially after living rather quietly on Kaua’i the last several years. After we checked in, we did a grocery run at Whole Foods. Back home, we only have Big Save, Safeway, Times, and Foodland, along with smaller natural health shops such as Hoku Foods, which we love. So it was a novelty shopping at Whole Foods, finding quite a number of things to try.

Aside from meals at the timeshare, we also tried a few restaurants. For lunch the next day, based on a recommendation, we tried Camado Ramen Tavern. Our waitress was actually from Kaua’i.

Wade had the Tonkatsu Ramen and since I don’t eat pork and their soup is only made with pork, I went with Takoyaki.

Our most exciting find was Furusato. Because this sushi restaurant does not take reservations, we decided to walk down earlier for dinner before taking a walk at the beach. We were seated shortly after 5:30 PM and Wade ordered our dinner, which was amazing and delicious. It was our new favourite restaurant.

We were only in town for a few days and wanted to get a feel for the city. We looked at a couple of apartments, drove to Kailua, and one night, I booked in a massage. It was a whirlwind trip and we were excited to be moving here.