Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express

I love Grants! Their garlic chicken was THE BOMB and affordable; $ 5 bowls and $ 7 – 8 regular plates. Too bad they weren’t open for too long, they closed down after a year I think and THEY NEED TO REOPEN!

FYI: This restaurant is closed.

I don’t know what it is about the Kalihi/​Palama area, but looks like I have yet another lunch spot that I can go to for cheap ono local grindz. Thanks to fellow Unilocaler Cin T., I decided to visit this hidden hole in the wall plate lunch eatery.
Located on the corner of Dillingham Blvd. and North King St. in King’s Gate Plaza, Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express really is a hidden gem in this small strip mall. Although I was seriously tempted to order the boneless kalbi, I decided to go with the fried mandoo plate being that this was my first visit. I figure that if you have the word «mandoo» in your name, it’s gotta be good right?
While I am by no means an expert on mandoo, what I can say without a doubt is that the mandoo at Grant’s Grill is downright scrumptious. Fried just right to a crispy brown texture and filled with I’m guessing a moist combination of both ground pork & beef, this mandoo just hit the spot for me. Another aspect of Grant’s mandoo that I liked was that there was not an overabundance of chives in the filling like a lot of other Korean places.
Although Grant’s menu is fairly small, I will definitely be back to try their kalbi and fried garlic chicken. With their portions being so large, one plate is actually big enough to feed 2 normal people unless you are one really hungry person on a personal quest to win the battle of Man vs. Food.

Grant’s Grill has the best Garlic Fried Chicken and Kim Chee Fried Rice. The Owner, Grant is always friendly and takes care of his customers. Everyone should go try his food. It’s the best and the price is very reasonable.

Thanks to fellow Unilocaler Pomai S, I’ve found a new favorite plate lunch joint.
I was on my way to visit a friend and decided to pick up lunch on the way. I asked Grant over the phone if he had a combo plate that had a little bit of everything for me to try (mainly wanted the kalbi, mandoo and garlic chicken). He suggested the «Grant’s Special» and went on to list all of the different items that was in it.
I arrived a little later than expected and was worried that everything was going to be soggy and cold by the time I got there. I was greeted with a warm hello by Grant at the entrance. Before ringing me up, he opened up my box to show me the goods and took the time to describe to me what I was getting. It still looked great and I almost wanted to eat it up asap in my car, fearing that my friend was gonna steal my food!
The Grant’s Special cost a grand total of $ 9.95 (tax included and worth the pricetag imo).
2 Pieces of crispy garlic chicken: It trumps all the other garlic chicken joints I’ve had (Sugoi, Fukuya, Mitsuken & Mitsuba being a few of them). Despite being cold (my fault for being late in picking it up), the moist chicken still retained it’s crunch and wasn’t at all soggy or greasy. Although the glaze was too sweet for my taste, I appreciate that it wasn’t over-​sauced like the above mentioned places (yes, I prefer my fried chicken more on the savory side).
1 BBQ Pork Spare Rib: Good sized portion for one. The tender meat and cartilage cleanly fell off the bone. I was so glad that I didn’t go through with substituting the pork for more kalbi. Grant assured me over the phone that he was gonna change my mind about bbq ribs and he succeeded in doing so with this deliciously cooked piece of meat!
Boneless Kalbi: Although it was more well done than I’d prefer, the meat was flavorful and had that nice smokey grilled flavor. I’m definitely a fan of this item. Next time, I’ll attack the plate right away because I think it continued to cook a bit more during the time I got lost and arrived late, lol.
Fried Mandoo: Amazingly, these 2 little tasty pieces stayed crunchy. The tasty meaty filling was very much to my liking. I DON’T like it when my mandoo/​gyozas gets masked by the strong taste of chives, which a lot of restaurants do. Grant’s had the perfect balance of meat and veggies and it was not at all greasy. These crunchy delights are giving my favorite gyozas at Taiyo Noodles some real competition, they taste similar. I prefer it fried (heck I like anything fried) but I will be back to try it steamed to see how it holds up to Taiyo’s.
According to Pomai’s blog, they sell their frozen mandoo in bags of 50 for $ 20. Check out his blog for more details:
The piece of fried fish is the standard Hoki fillets (an ugly but decent fish commonly used in place of cod) you’d find at Zippy’s and Mcdonalds. Although it wasn’t homemade, it was still cooked perfectly: crunchy, non-​greasy and I was surprised at how moist it was (not the usual dried-​out fillet I’d get at Zippy’s.
The only downside is that there’s no tables to enjoy your meal on the spot, strictly take-​out. Big ups to Pomai for his great review and to Grant for my kanak attack, I’m definitely a fan and will be back for more.

Tucked away in King’s Gate Plaza (where Jiffy Lube and KFC is) on the corner of Dillingham Boulevard and North King Street in the Palama area of Kalihi, you’ll find the relatively-​new Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express.
Owner Grant Hamura explained that he got his start with this doing benefit fundraisers for his church, New Hope Chapel. Then three months ago he turned his efforts into a business reality and opened shop.
Over the course of the last couple weeks, we tried Grant’s:
Boneless Kalbi
Rating: 5 stars
Notes: Deeply-​penetrated marinade flavor. Kinda’ Teriyaki-​ish, while not really heavy on Sesame Oil or Chili Pepper; sort of a Teriyaki-​meets-​Korean Kalbi hybrid. This definitely gives Dean’s Drive Inn in Kaneohe and Kahai Street Kitchen right down the street in Kalihi some serious competition for the ‘Best Teriyaki/​Kalbi’ Beef Plate Lunch on Oahu’ Award.
Garlic Fried Chicken
Rating: 4 Stars
Notes: «Karaagi-​ish», with a sweet-​meets-​garlic-​meets-​shoyu flavor penetrating the chicken meat fibers. The batter is light and delicate and seasoned to perfection. Other notes were «This (Garlic Fried Chicken) is way better than Mitsuken (Okazuya) and Sugoi’s.
BBQ Spare Ribs
Rating: 4
Notes: Cliché once again, yet to-​the-​point, it was very flavorful, moist and seriously fall-​off-​the-​bone tender. Flavor profiles of the sauce include: sweet/​shoyu/​tomato/​acidic. «Papa’a”/“Koge» edges from grill flame-​ups (almost literally) seal the deal.
Aku Bone
Rating: 2
Notes: Needs more seasoning (garlic salt and pepper?) and/​or sauce (teriyaki perhaps?) coating it, and/​or a dipping sauce (perhaps Ponzu). On a positive note, the insides of the meat near the bones were super moist and flaky. I’m also biased on this, as I’m not a big Aku fan, so consider that a factor in my rating on this one.
Mandoo
Rating: 4 – 5
Notes: Ever heard of a «Mandoo Machine»? If not, enter Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express, where they have what it touted to be the only imported-​from-​Korea automated Mandoo-​making machine. It truly is a work of art and very, very efficient at cranking out great quality mandoo by volume! Topping that off, the Mandoo ingredients are all made in-​house from SCRATCH, including the Wonton Pi wrapper.
Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express has three different Mandoo wrapper flavors, including standard Wonton Pi, another colored Orange from Carrot Juice, and the third colored Green from the leaves of Cucumber. How’s that?! The filling is a dense mixture of ground pork, ground beef, glass noodles, cabbage, chives and seasonings that he stresses have NO MSG. It’s deep-​fried to perfection with a considerable chewy-​crunchy texture in a GREAT way. Yet, my favorite are the steamed mandoo, where you can taste every nuance of the wrapper and filling. Up to you, but I highly recommend you go STEAMED.
Other notes: Grant’s Kim Chee is well-​marinated, yet on the light side, spice-​wise. His Korean style Potato-​Mac Salad has plenty going on (all kine stuffs mixed in it) and can either be a hit or miss, depending on what you’re expecting: either «local style» Mac Salad or one with a Korean twist. While I personally thought I could taste relish in it, giving it this Tartar Sauce-​like flavor profile.
They have an «issue» with their rice, as on both our visits, some of the scoops (not all) were dried out like day-​old rice ready for making fried rice. Yet I’m writing that off as blunder that’s easy to fix, and not factoring it into the overall rating here.
Ultimately I’d say Grant’s Grill’s greatest thing going on is the AWESOME, super-​marinaded, super-​tender and grilled-​to-​perfection Boneless Kalbi, along with his also-​excellent house-​made-​from-​scratch Mandoo. Which, that alone warrants a 4-​star Unilocal rating. If that sounds good right about now and what you’re craving, then you MUST hit-​up the new Grant’s Grill & Mandoo Express! While Grant’s BBQ Pork Ribs and Korean style «better than Mitsuken and Sugoi’s» Garlic Fried Chicken ain’t no slouch either.
As always, see the photo section for pics of the dishes mentioned in this review.