Spices

Thai food? Kind of. This place has Southeast Asian fusion food you should try at least once. But I would come back just to try more ICE CREAM.

I've been ordering their food through Room Service in Paradise for a while now and although this is not my favorite place to get Thai food, I came here for the ice cream Kalei F, Ryan M and Kyle H talk about.

The weirdest flavors of ice cream, $7.50 for a three scoop sampler:

PANDAN - wow, this one was good. you guys were right!! Don't let the fluorescent highlighter green color throw you off. This stuff has a creamy vanilla bean flavor.

BANANA CINNAMON - this was the most normal flavor and was good.

DURIAN - WTF! I had to spit it out and wipe my spoon off and drink lots of water before I could do anything else. I was curious about this since I've never seen or heard of durian before. Apparently 95% of people who try this feel the same way I did, so if you are curious, just ask for a tiny sample, not a whole scoop since it's pretty nasty and um..."an acquired taste".

When the server asks "Are you enjoying your ice cream?" are you supposed to just lie and say, "it's great, thanks!" or tell him what you really think? Well, I told him how I really felt about that durian. I think he felt bad so he brought me two more flavors!

YELLOW CURRY - I've never had curry ice cream before in my life! This one tasted just like leftover cold curry from the fridge except it was ice cream! Interesting!

KAFFIR LIME and LEMONGRASS sorbet - the chaser at the end to cleanse my palate was zesty and a nice way to end the ice cream adventure.

Spices now has their own limited delivery service (for regular food, not ice cream) which requires a $30 minimum order and attaches a 20% gratuity to areas around Honolulu, call them to see if they'll deliver to your workplace for lunch!

Came here for dessert for their unique flavors of ice cream, todays offerings were.

Curry
Pandan (had to google this one)
Okinawan Sweet Potato
Ginger
Durian
Banana Cinnamon
Coffee

I got one scoop of everything except the Durian, it's basically $2.50 per scoop, no discount for ordering extra scoops.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Yg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w?select=XoCN5RdE_QWpYgKBVeDqnw
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Yg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w?select=CtsoPO-J9EQX_KZ_e1YoBg
They were all good, and taste exactly like what it says. The curry taste like.... well curry, i wanted some chicken katsu and rice to go with it. The Pandan tasted like a mix of sweet corn and green tea, interesting and also tasty. My favorite was the Ginger, it tasted like this particular ginger candy, sweet, spicy and refreshing.

Other flavors ive had in the past
Pineapple basil
Jasmine
Tomato
Rose (maybe)

If you feel adventerous and want to try something unique and different give this place a shot. They do serve lunch and dinner too but ive only come here for dessert. The flavors of ice cream change daily (i think theres a wider selection at night)

There's something to be said for trying something new and then there's a reason to stick to your favorites. Fortunately at Spices, the unfamiliar proved to be a stellar dining experience for our little group.

For starters, the stuffed chicken wing sounds familiar but yet there was something excitingly different about these five golden crusted pieces standing proudly on the plate like a crown. We oohed and ahhhed over the satisfying first crunch that led to a moist juicy piece of chicken. It's so good you just have to gnaw at the wing even though the meat is gone.

Our second appetizer, the Laotian "Laap," was not unlike Thai lettuce cups only this ground chicken and rice mixture is served with raw cabbage as the wrap. It was very flavorful but texturally the ground chicken was a bit mushy, sort of like tuna fish from the can.

We also ordered pad seyu with shrimp -- those flat noodles served in a savory sauce with carrots and broccoli -- and stir fry eggplant with beef. Note that each of these dishes can be ordered with your choice of meat (shrimp, chicken, beef) or vegetarian style (with tofu).

For the curry, we chose the Laotian "pony" curry with tofu and were completely satisfied with this fragrant green curry that gained a lovely heat from the spices. We were happy that "pony" was not the meat, and no animal was harmed in the making of the dish. Ladle it generously over sticky rice and it can easily serve 5.

On to the stunning finish ... fellow yelpers had raved about the pandan ice cream so we had to order it and we were not disappointed. The lovely green scoop of ice cream has a toasty coconutty-flavor but was unlike anything we had ever tasted. So delicious! Since there were five of us, we also ordered a scoop of the chili pepper lemongrass ice cream which was sweet at first bite but gave way to an incredible burn at the back of the throat. Nice.

Service was pleasant and quick even if we were competing with a group of twenty right behind us. We got there before 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night and found street parking right in front of the restaurant, score! Our friends parked in the lot behind the restaurant, having arrived even earlier. Oh, and it's BYOB, with a $5 corkage fee for wine. We'll be back!

Pretty nice place but the food is okei. If you're from Southeast Asia and your family cooks Southeast Asian food, then the food here is just okei. Open for lunch till 2 and reopens for dinner at 5.

Location: On south king street, on the right side if you're heading towards Hawaii Kai. It's a small little place in a building with a small sign so make sure to look for it. I believe their colors are maroon and black.

Parking - street parking along King st. in front of the restaurant, and according to the nice waitress, there's a driveway before the restaurant that you turn into? and then there's parking in the back? along the side? 8 unmarked stalls! I'm going to try and find it one day.


Just a note that the curry doesn't come with rice, so you'll have to order it. I didn't know but the waitress was good enough to ask me if I wanted rice with it. Sticky rice, ftw!

Drinks - sister ordered Spices Iced Tea which reminded me of a canned drink my mom would get from Chinatown that I didn't care for (but with heat to it).
I got the Limeade Perrier which could have used more sugar but I was fine without it. It was okei.

Dessert - I tried the ice cream sampler x 2. Sad part is that sampling one flavor might actually ruin the taste of another flavor.

They ran out of Pineapple basil (this was around 7:45!! on a Wednesday!!!) so I tried Pandan not as much of a wow as I anticipated based on reviews just because I was already familiar with this flavor - it did taste good though,

Banana Cinnamon - the best flavor I sampled
Ginger - needed more ginger
Okinawan Sweet Potato - light flavor but good.

Cost - not too bad. One dish is actually enough to make 2 people full from my guess and it costs around 13-16 dollars. Total cost without tip was $73.

Overall - Okei. I'll come back when I want good Asian curry (no, not that Coco Ichiban kind curry!).

PANDAN heaven!! What is this magical pandan you speak of 'O wise one? I had NO idea what this was before I tasted it!!

I had been here a couple of times before, but never had dessert. The food is very well spiced and seasoned, hence the name of the restaurant!! A very good variety of dishes, the pad thai is good, the soups and curries are very tasty! Not the best around, but you'll definitely find something you love! And watch out! Even the mild/medium is pretty spicy!

Now on to the BEST thing at this restaurant!! Truly a hidden gem! Pandan ice cream! My waiter said this was his favorite thing ever! I had to try it! So when I get this glowing green looking thing, I was pretty confused! Then I took the first bite......and drifted into space!! This was SO good! I had never tasted anything like this before! Every bite was more and intriguing and before you knew it, three scoops of ice cream had somehow disappeared!

So I guess pandan is a type of plant and it's the Asian version of vanilla. It doesn't taste like vanilla to me!! It's consistency is more similar to gelato, rather than ice cream, it's kind of gritty,and you can tell it's homemade!
This is really my FAVORITE ice cream! I got it twice in a week!

Try this and see! Save room for dessert!! I just can't describe the flavor!! So go try it yourself!! And get me a scoop too!!

Southeast Asian food...what's that? Thai food? Vietnamese food? Laotian food? Well it's a little of each!

I dined here the other night around six and it was empty (probably because of the football game), so getting a seat was not a problem. The inside of the restaurant is nicely decorated with various pictures and various oriental pieces. What really surprised me was how clean the restaurant was! From the outside you would think that the old looking building would be dirty, but I was completely wrong! It was spotless!

Since there was only two of us we ordered two appetizers, one curry, and sticky rice.

Our first dish was the Spicy Laotian Sausage http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=VTWSWZlEX2tZu9Yv2xXD2w&select=R0q9MOxz9sjkZKkNIz_Qog for $11.95. This was probably the better of the two appetizers. Its two pork sausages seasoned with lemongrass, chili pepper, kaffir lime, shallots, and some sort of chili sauce with cucumber and onion relish. It did have a little kick (go figure the place is called Spices) but in a good way. The sausage is flavorful enough that you don't even need the chili sauce; it's there just to increase the spiciness.

The second appetizer we had was Spices Wings http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=VTWSWZlEX2tZu9Yv2xXD2w&select=LSraY_2teDjgHdNEuPRddQ for $12.95. It's pretty much like the common wings found at other Thai restaurants. Chicken wings stuffed with ground chicken, veggies, and noodles served with a sweet chili sauce. It was good and served SUPER hot! You could literally see the steam coming out of your wing after taking the first bite!

The curry dish we got was the Chicken Massaman Curry http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=VTWSWZlEX2tZu9Yv2xXD2w&select=asAy9jQ5o_85P9WL3_OpPQ $13.95. It had potatoes, onions, and topped with fried shallots. The curry itself seemed to have cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, lemongrass and something else I couldn't place my finger on. I liked it since it didn't have a strong coconut milk taste! Very subtle on the milk.

I would probably give them 4 stars. But what sealed the deal for the final star was the unique and refreshing desserts http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=VTWSWZlEX2tZu9Yv2xXD2w&select=H_d54qh1uyDP9ILTASl8-g! At $2.50 a scoop, Spices has a variety of unique ice cream and sorbets which is a perfect way to cleanse your palate after all that spicy food. Their specialty is Pandan ice cream (the green one) which is made from a type of grass that sort of resembles vanilla in taste. I also tried the lilikoi (one of their weekly specials) and the kaffir lime & lemongrass sorbet. Sure the sorbet one may sound weird, but it was probably the most refreshing of the three! Definitely a MUST!

At the end of the meal I even got a chance to talk to the manager, Thanh (who looks super young). We had a nice talk and he said that they will soon be selling their ice cream and sorbets by the pint! He's guessing it will be around $8.50 and will contain 7-8 scoops, something to look forward too.

Overall I really liked it! I'm normally not a fan of Thai food, but I fell in love with the strange fluorescent green ice cream and it just sealed the deal! Sure the service may be lacking a tad bit, but the dessert will make up for that! Spices is also BYOB, which has a corkage fee of $5 a bottle and $1 per person for beer. Usually you won't need reservations for small parties but it's recommended to call ahead for parties of six or larger.

Don't forget to get dessert!

I have to start with honesty: I initially came here to help someone else find a great Green Papaya Salad, an item I had not previously known. Each Green Papaya Salad I had before this (Green Papaya, on Ke'eaumoku, for example) seemed to be my favorite. How could I have been so naive?! In this adventure, I found one of my new favorite restaurants.

The bright yellow walls and smooth music of the restaurant (about 10 tables) is inviting, and the staff is criminally friendly and outgoing. Upon our second trip to the restaurant, we were already thanked for coming back when we walked in the door! The neighborhood is chaotic with UH traffic and loud kids wandering around, but inside the restaurant is serene, and the picture glass window makes that concrete world outside seem like a portrait.

NOW, the most important part: the food. The Green Papaya Salad is AMAZING, and though I still search for something even better, I wouldn't be displeased to find that Spices has the absolute best in Honolulu. You have spiciness options that elevate from tame to "Spices Spicy" which is (I do not exaggerate, and my masochistic taste for spicy foods is documented) SUPER HOT. Well, the Green Papaya Salad was super hot. The curries and stir fry that I had at "Spices Spicy" were pretty bearable.

Everything on the menu seems delicious, and deciding which one to select is truly an ordeal. What's even more hypnotic is the made-in-house ice cream that graces the last page. The flavor choices are outlandish, but if you've read ANY Yelp review about Spices you'll know there's something special about them.

Pandan, for example, is a grainy-textured ice cream flavored with lemongrass and a "leaf juice" that imparts a flavor that fits with its bright green color a little too perfectly. Sounds weird? Eat it. It may feel like you're eating leaves at first, but by your second bite you'll be seduced.

Other incredible ice cream options include Sweet Potato (the purple kind), curry, and durian. No, I haven't had the huevos to try the durian yet. We shall soon see.

Why I come back: Incredible service, rich and extremely spicy flavors, great ice cream, sticky rice

Spices is freaking awesome. It's a great combination of unexpected Laotian food in a nice date-y setting or a place to take your parents. Dark lighting with artsy pictures of foreign places and foods on the walls. Parking is around back. BYOB with corkage fees, $5 for wine and $1 per beer.

First up, we had the spring rolls: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Yg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w?select=MW4V3kHPk6JjBckWt8bWuw

Clearly not the frozen kind that 99% of spring-roll-serving restaurants will give you, and it came with a side of mint, lettuce and cucumber to wrap it all up in.

Second, we had the grilled eggplant appetizer.
http://www.yelp.com/writeareview/biz/Yg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w?return_url=%2Fbiz%2FYg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w
This was AMAZING. Smoky eggplant with fresh sliced shallots and mint with herbs in a sweet chili sauce (but not so much it was overwhelming). This was my favorite dish of the night.

Third was the Laotian curry:
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Yg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w?select=fxmNRVr8llb1tPXZgTamQA
Person who ordered this wanted a mild curry with no garlic due to allergy- this fits the bill. Comes with LOADS of dill so you better like dill. Super creamy and the dill made a really nice change from the usual taste of curry you're used to. Was excellent with brown rice.

I had the Khao Soi
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Yg-pfUb3TsocbaHsyx5p-w?select=FmpS8_lg9cGAzplnafcmXw
Egg noodle in yellow curry with crispy noodles on top for a nice texture pairing. Had with chicken and medium spice- the spice really adds nicely to it although 'medium' i felt was too mild. REALLY filling and just a little too salty in my opinion but good overall.

For the finale, the HOMEMADE ice cream sampler: Pandan (the famous neon green ice cream) and banana-cinnamon. Both were really, really good and definitely tasted homemade. The waiter told us pandan is a type of grass that the owners actually grow here on island to use as an herb in their cooking and to make the ice cream. The flavor is almost indescribable. Sort of like vanilla with a hint of burnt sugar or caramel with some spice. It's just good, trust me. Banana cinnamon was good, a little more banana and needed a bit more cinnamon.

Our service was awesome, very attentive and easily helped us pick out foods to get around dietary and allergy issues. The great food, great ambiance and service makes this 5 stars in my book. It's also one of the only places to be able to try laotian food pretty much any day of the week for lunch or dinner (sorry Cafe Joy) .

Mmm Mmm Mmm, this place was bomb. Everything we ordered was good if not REAL good. I give it 5 stars b/c service & food were both awesome. We got there 30 min before they opened for dinner and they still served us.

Our waiter was super friendly and was glad to tell me what was good on the menu. We ordered the grilled eggplant appetizer. It was good but a little too sweet for my taste and kinda pricey for grilled eggplant. $9 some odd dollars. The waiter also said that the pad thai was the best in the state so i just had to order it, especially after such a bold statement. Honestly, it was good but definitely not the best best bestest I've ever had. He set the bar too high for me. =/ For our last dish, we had the Laotian Curry. *jaw drops* OMG this was SOOOO good. I love dill and it had lots of it. It was spicy, peppery, "dilly" and just so freakin good. It's like thai curry but with a twist - a Laotian twist. Try mixing the curry with the pad thai together. Actually, I think anything w/ the curry would taste really good.

We had so much food leftover again. It was tasty even after nuking it the next day. This place has one of the best curries I've ever had.

bling, bling, bling, bling, bling! that's the sound of 5 stars!

A small yet amazing restaurant with bold Southeast Asian (Thai, Burmese, Laotian) flavors and food. Service was friendly and felt 'family owned'.

I especially like the Laotian curry, a creamy rich curry with a good amount of dill, Laotian eggplant and other yummy ingredients. This dish was deliciously prepared and went well with my choice of sticky rice. So I heard the ice creams are to die for. Hence, I could not resist not getting the Durian Ice Cream. It served its purpose and settle my craving for Durian as it was very smooth and delicious!

I took one star off since parking can be a sticky situation...