The origin of the term saimin was not made clear to us because every time we asked the Chinese, they told us that it was from Japan. When we would ask the Japanese, they told us the Chinese came up with it. Saimin is essentially ramen, a hot noodle soup with scallions, fishcake, scrambled eggs and ham. If you know anything about Filipino food, I would say that this is more the invention of a hungry Filipino like me.
Hamura's Saimin Stand looked like an old-school diner with its Formica U-shaped counters. The sign urging customers not to stick gum underneath was put up by the Filipino women who run the place. For an hour in Kauai, I was home, talking to them in Tagalog about our separate lives in Hawaii and New York.
We ordered two saimin bowls with our chicken and beef barbeque skewers which were definitely a Filipino addition, because they were sweeter than your usual teriyaki. We also tried the lilikoi, or passion fruit, cake for dessert.
Hamura's Saimin Stand
2956 Kress Street
808/245-3271 |
