Tanabe Superette

I walked by yesterday, 1÷27÷11 and there was a sign that said «closed for business until further notice». Umm. I wonder what happened.
I always loved their musubis! They are gigantic and pretty cheap. My favorite was the spam and egg. The taegu musubi was pretty good too. I once forgot it at work once (in the staff frig) and I became known as the taegu musubi girl for several months.
I did stop going when I saw their expired poke in the frig, still for sale. It was pre-​wrapped in those fish/​seafood containers with saran wrap. It was a couple of days old and kinda purplish. Hey, its okay to forget to throw stuff out once in a while, but OMG, imagine if they let me buy it.

The musubi’s here are awesome, my favorite is the bbq hot dog musubi.
I stopped by to pick up a couple musubi’s for lunch, unfortunately the store was closed for business. There was a big coke truck picking up their vending machine so I’m assuming they are closing. I will miss Tanabe’s and it will be hard to find musubi’s comparable to Tanabe’s.

Breakfast Roll!!! That is the only thing I’ve eaten from this place and Good Lord was it good. The b-​roll itself warrants 4 stars for an establishment I have never stepped foot in.
My BF called me one morning to see if I wanted a musubi for breakfast — didn’t tell me where from. When he described what was in this breakfast roll I wasn’t very thrilled, but on an empty stomach I will agree to almost anything. I’m not really a spam or musubi fan, but I inhaled this roll of deliciousness. I had to frantically dig the wrapper out of the trash because I forgot to look at the name of the place on the wrapper. Can’t believe no one else mentioned the breakfast roll. It’s $ 2.69 and totally worth it. It has rice, spam, egg, cucumber, daikon, sesame seeds/​furikake, and what tastes like a wasabi/​mustard mayo all wrapped in nori — holy crap I was in heaven!
Sometimes I’ll be sitting at my desk swirling my icky, yet healthy instant oatmeal wishing I was was devouring a breakfast roll from Tanabe’s…then my phone will ring and my BF will ask me if I want him to grab me anything for breakfast — BREAKFAST ROLL, MON!

AWESOME musubi’s! I drive by here all the time and finally decided to go in! My friend had raved about their musubi’s, saying it was better than Manabu’s! So of course I had to check it out!
It’s very ghetto and the crowd that passes through there is definitely a little sketch, but there’s a few parking stalls right in the front so it’s easy and fast! CASH ONLY!
The workers in there are helpful and nice. :) I went at around 9:30am and there weren’t that many musubi’s left! For the price and taste, I can see why they sell out so quickly!
I had to try their spam musubi… it was SO good! It was warm, just made, soft spam soaked in that magical teriyaki sauce, and it had just enough time to meld with the rice and soak in! SO tasty!
I did also see the bologna musubi! They have a LOT of variety and you can tell their made with love. It’s a different type of musubi variety than ManaBu’s, but still very enticing!
They had a brownie for sale… it was only $ 1.99 and it was HUGE! Like seriously 4×4! I poked it, and boy was it soft! I’ll be back for that one my love!
I can’t wait to try all the other musubi’s!!! They also have lunch specials and someone cooking out on a hibachi in their parking lot so there’s a LOT of things to try! This is an awesome mom and pop superette!

So, if dingy little superettes that sell random grocery items, poke, and beer aren’t your thing then perhaps Tanabe’s isn’t your thing, but it certainly is mine.
Growing up in kalihi i was surrounded by places like this and i’ve found they are like oxygen to me. I try to stop at as many superettes and poke places like this as possible, which is exactly how I found Tanabe.
Loved their musubi selection. I had a spam takuwan musubi. Furikake mixed through the rice, triangular form and all wrapped up in nori. The fried shrimp was okay. I bought it at about 10 am and it was already soggy so either they made them at 6am or I got some day olds :/​
Honestly, I don’t really care. I am just so in love with little shops like this and what you see is what you get, so four stars for being a quaint little family-​run business.
Cash ONLY!

This place may look a bit daunting and grubby from the outside but rest assured the food inside will be delicious. My favorite is the Bologna musubi. Yes you read right B-​O-​L-​O-​G-​N-​A musubi!!! This is the first and only place I found this scruptous delight. They also have a variety of other types to the regular spam musubi, to hot dog ones to brown rice types. They also have different types of meats and bentos to accompany your special musubi. Ohhh ok if you like fried chicken skin and I mean just the skin this is the place to go. Yes I can feel my arteries clogging already but if you ever tried one from Tanabe’s you would be hooked. It took me awhile to try one as I was very skeptical at first but after I did I was like now I know what I have been missing out on when all my other co workers were devouring them. Hint: you need to go early for them as they sell out quickly. I would go by 7am.
They also have a huge selection of bottled sodas and energy drinks to satisfy everyone’s desires. Check Tanabe’s out…

Go early or don’t go. By lunch time there’s just a few things left, most are fried, and no longer crispy.

This place is a lot more cleaner on the inside than what it looks at on the outside. Face value, Tanabe’s looks like it’s about to crumble to the ground from rust or termites. Once you get inside, it’s a clean well organized little local market.
Looking around we just got some miso and kaarage chicken to eat later on. It really was «different.» I’m not sure how to describe it, but I think we’ll give Tanabe’s another chance in the future and try some of their many other food items for sale. They sell plenty of bento style and plate lunches. The girlfriend noticed the huge nigiri there also.
Parking is right off of busy Keeaumoku Street and parking is limited. It seems that most of their business is just walk-​in locals.

Tanabe is kind of like your basic 7 – 11 in the Bay Area but in their warmers they had so many different varieties of spam musubi which were really inexpensive. I got the portuguese spam masubi and it was great. Cheap food in Hawaii is always a plus!

Never thought a musubi could be so ONO until I had the ones at Tanabe’s.
Not just a plain spam musubi, there’s the Shogun musubi ($ 1.95) which is furikake rice shaped to a triangle and topped with a spam cooked in a shoyu/​sugar sauce and a takuan. Wiped with nori this is a meal in it’s self. I’ve had many Shogun’s for breakfast.
Other ono items are:
Fried chicken skin — Ono! This one you have to go in the morning and eat it in the morning. If you wait until lunch it’s not as crispy.
Shio musubi — yummy!
Carrots and Gobo musubi — really good!
BBQ chicken plate — yummy! Grilled in the parking lot during lunch.
Salmon musubi — Ono!
There are lots of choices in the mornings so I’d suggest you go here for breakfast.

On Friday, I had an appointment on Kapiolani and Piikoi Streets, so I hopped on the express bus from chinatown to ala moana center with the intention of quickly grabbing something to eat at McD’s and getting to my appt on time. i got on the wrong bus and instead took the B which left me at S. king and Keeaumoku. Panicked, as I had not eaten anything yet and get shaky if i do not eat, I realized there was a McD nearby, so headed off there (and figured I’d cab it down to my intended destination about 7 blocks away – it was so hot and humid that day I had no desire to hoof it. lol.
anyway, I had always seen this place in car so I opted to come inside and grabbed a bunch of items. Some portuguese sausage cooked, some shrimp, a cherry pepsi, a few other things and a saw this styrofoam container of their beef stew. they had a ‘plate lunch’ area in the back, but at this time it was past lunch and I had no desire for that.
I have to say, that beef stew was the best i’ve had on this island. I am generally not a fan of the ‘plate lunch beef stew’ you find here in Hawaii, having grown up on the mainland, it just never was ‘right’ to me. But this beef stew was incredible. Lots of beef and I am not talking about the usually ‘bones’ with a little meat on it. NO BONES, lots of carrots, potatoes, onions and I swear there must have been cabbage. I may be wrong about the cabbage, but it tasted like it and it was gooood. I am a convert and cannot wait to stop by again and get an even large plate of this. (I just wont put it on rice however. beef stew and rice? naaah.)

Tanabe popped my musubi cherry!!!
It’s been four years since I first arrived on this tropical rock in the middle of the pacific and I’ve managed to not eat a musubi until today when I stopped by Tanabe for a tasty beverage and I was lured in by all the saran wrapped handmade goodies. I had two, I had a portuguese sausage musubi and a musubi-​genji (chiso). Alright, bear with the white girl here, I haven’t the foggiest of what the hello the second was besides fabulous; it’s purple, there’s seaweed, and I devoured it.
God Bless America, I love these dives. From the outside this place is so ghettorific with loud signs announcing it has an ATM (they don’t accept plastic) and that they have been there since the dawn of time among other things.
Well, Tanabe, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me. I’ll be back for more!

Musubi BBQ Bologna — $ 1.65
Musubi Portuguese Sausage — $ 1.69
Yum!
A good selection of snacks, but YUM with the musubi of various flavors!

GAH! I’m so bummed that I wasn’t the first one to review Tanabe’s Superette! Well, it’s not like I was the first one to buy take out hot food from there, it has been in business since 1917.
Tanabe’s has everything you need and everything you want in your digestive system. Good, hot, delicious food. From the delectable Spam Musubi to a variety of fried fish, sausages and fluids, there’s a whole meal and a half waiting for you in here.
Whether you’re taking your conquest back home or to the beach, this is a stop you must make before heading back out.
Oh, before I forget… there have been stories of a magical dish… Fried Chicken Skins… that locals have been keeping secret for thousands of years… and I have only been privy to this phenomenon once. Hell, it sells out if you don’t get there by 7:00 am. In the morning!!! It is Oh-My-Gah…the best piece of chicken skin you will ever put in your mouth. Salty, crunchy and melt in your mouth sinful.
Is it fat-​laden? Most definitely.
Is it bad for you? Maybe.
Should you buy it? What are you still doing here? Fly there and line up for it!

Running out of good food and I had to ask our driver, «where do you guys eat?»
He directed me to this little small grocery store for some spam musubi. The spam musubi is good and healthy, made with brown rice, voted as second best. I have no idea who’s first, but give me two please!!!
stinky tofu

A study of the people of Hawaii’s ethnic make-​up through a sampling of prepared sausage one may purchase here:
Lup cheong = Chinese
Lil’ Smokies (sauteed with onions) = Haole (caucasian)
Kim chee sausage = Korean
Chorizo = Puerto Rican & other hispanic
Longinisa = Filipino
Portuguese Sausage = Portuguese (duh)
The Japanese and Okinawan population is represented by all kinds of sushi and musubi (shrimp tempura sushi and salmon musubi looks good, but I don’t eat it cause I don’t eat seafood). There’s andagi, furikake onion rings (how cool is that?!), and lumpia available by the registers in the front.
I’ve been calling this place «The Good Musubi Store» for years now, because they make my favorite musubi, «The Shogun», which is furikake rice in a triangle shape with teri-​spam on one side and takuan on the other side, all wrapped in nori.
Also available: tons of li hing products, kakimochi/​arare, homemade poundcake, sliced ready to eat fresh tropical fruit and melon, beer, beef stew and Hawaiian plate items (lau lau, yep!), Lion Gold coffee.
Closed nights and Sundays. On Keeaumoku St. drive or walk towards Ala Moana Shopping Center (makai). Tanabe’s will be on the right after you cross King Street, but before you hit McDonald’s. There’s about 6 parking stalls.