FORKED UP

Metro-021017-ForkedUp-Marukame

ONTAMA BUKKAKE UDON
MARUKAME UDON
1104 Fort Street Mall, Honolulu
Phone number (808) 545-3000
website toridollusa.com

How anyone who works downtown resists eating at Marukame Udon every day is beyond us. It’s cheap (so cheap!), delicious and reasonably healthy. What’s not to like? We like to pass humid days with this cold noodle dish, topped with a heaping scoop of green onions and tempura flakes — and a soft-boiled egg, of course. But if you have more unorthodox tastes, you can also get a Vegetable Udon (with avocado and lettuce) or even a Teri Chicken Udon (with salad and grilled chicken) before you heap the tempura on your plate.

Metro-021017-ForkedUp-ArancinoKahala

AFFETATO MISTO
ARANCINO AT THE KAHALA
5000 Kahala Ave., Kahala
Phone number (808) 380-4400
website arancino.com/arancino-kahala

Those unfamiliar with Italian will be pleased to know that this is really just a familiar charcuterie board — but oh, what a delicious one. We can’t tell you what anything on here is, really, but we can say that that cone of bologna-like meat was probably the best fancy bologna we’ve ever eaten in our lives. The prosciutto also was top notch. It’s one of Arancino’s pricier appetizers, but it’s the perfect start to probably the best Italian meal you’ll eat on this island. Our tips: Go for the Spaghetti ai Ricci de Mare (aka uni pasta) and the Bianco Mangiare (panna cotta) for the dessert.