These Are a Few of My Faaavorite Things: Oxtail Soup, Asahi Grill, Honolulu

So...the EF has been felled by her ancient nefarious nemesis...food poisoning.

Once you've clocked a certain number of hours grasping porcelain for dear life, it's important to get right back on the horse and shove some nutrients back into your betrayed body. 

It's times like this that we bust out our personalized short lists of Never-Fail Food (one notch more crucial, particular and reliable than mere comfort food).

As I rubbed my wounded, whimpering belly in a guest room in Virginia, one thing kept coming to mind:

 

Meet the Hawaiian answer to Jewish penicillin: Oxtail soup.

Sadly, most of the oxtail temples of my childhood have shut down since I've swapped to the East Coast, but my last visit home, my BFF Allison clued me in on Asahi Grill, a newer kid on the block with old-school sensibilities and killer oxtail soup.

There are no frills involved; just tender, bone-in hunks of long-cooked oxtail suspended in consomme-clear broth scented with star anise, cilantro, peanuts and ginger.  No matter where you order this is Hawaii, you'll always get 2 scoops of rice and a little bowl of grated ginger to go with it.

Ironically, it's been an exact calendar year since I was sitting at Asahi Grill with my family, coating my insides with collagen-rich broth.  As I slurp down conciliatory Campbell's, I concede that this may be a sign from mischievous deities that I should visit the motherland more often.

Or at the very least, call Allison more.  Alli, I MISS YOU, I LUV YOU...SEND SOUP!

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Asahi Grill
515 Ward Ave
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 593-2800

Few other Faaavorites: Loco Moco, Kimchee Fried Rice, Miso Butterfish

Comments

[et]

Oh, No! Poor you :(

I hope you feel better soon.

My boy was ill with food poisoning too (possibly because he went to Maui without me ;P ) so our date last night was over some deliciously soothing jook.

I miss oxtail soup too... am definitely checking out Asahi Grill next time I'm in town!
xo

[Allison]

EF/BFF, I miss you too! Awesome shout out to me and Asahi Grill! I hope you found something better than Campbell's soup to cure your physical illness and more importantly, your emotional tragedy! I wish I could send you periodic bowls of oxtail soup from Asahi Grill! Just an FYI if I hadn't mentioned it when I introduced you to Asahi Grill, the chefs are the former Kapiolani Coffee Shop chefs, that's where their oxtail soup and kim chee fried rice recipes come from. Kapiolani Coffee shop, arguably the best oxtail soup provider in town, still serves it up, but from a different location than you remember. They are now in the Kapalama area, in the same shopping center as some other foodie favorites such as Young's Fishmarket and Utage (one of the best okinawan shoyu pork sources in Honolulu. KCS's new home is at 1286 Kalani St, #107 Honolulu, HI 96817. I'll have to get you some oxtail soup from there next time you come home!