Metromix tasting at Gazen

Readers join Melissa Chang on a dining adventure

By Melissa Chang
Special to Metromix

At long last! I got to meet the three Metromix-reading foodies who promised to be good dining companions on a tasting trip to Gazen Izakaya. We went on Wednesday night, and the restaurant was unusually crowded — so crowded, in fact, that we had to double park or seek spaces at Market City Shopping Center.

Here we are shortly after we met. From left to right, Shayna Lum (Mulansha), Ed Morita (NctrnlBst), me and Jan Harada (JMH).

Interestingly enough, although we had not met in real life before, I found I had a connection to each of them. Ed and I follow each other on Twitter (he’s NctrnlBst, I’m Melissa808). And as we Tweeted over dinner, Jan mentioned that her friend is on Twitter a lot. Turns out it’s my longtime PR colleague, Amy Hennessey. Meanwhile, I kept thinking that Shayna looked familiar, and finally, I figured it out: She's the sister of The Advertiser's Manoa blogger Kristen Lum Brummel.