Honolulu

I will be in Honolulu for a couple of days next week, and have no idea of what to try. I am frightened by the notion that Spam is such a local delicacy. Seafood is preferred I suppose. But any suggestions will be appreciated.

Glenn

When I asked a similar question almost exactly three years ago, Erik M. sent me to onokinegrindz It turned out to be excellent advice. The suggestions I followed up from there were much better than the suggestion I'd gotten from a recent NY Times article.

I see that most recently, onokiegrindz is talking about London. But the linked post has a list of other Hawaii food bloggers and I can certainly recommend time searching the archives as well.

There's also info to be found on that other board.

High end by arguably the best chef on the islands can be found at Alan Wong's www.alanwongs.com beats the pants off of Roy's.

Portuguese malasadas (doughnuts, some with filling) at Leonard's www.leonardshawaii.com

Gina's for plate lunches www.ginasbbq.com

I'll look in my notes, there is also a Vietnamese place close to Waikiki that is very good (and cheap)

Spam isn't bad when on the islands.

I just returned from a conference in Honolulu (I was staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki) and while I didn't have much time for free exploring and dining, I did get out one evening for a nice meal at the Ocean House restaurant in the Outrigger Hotel, which was just a little ways down the beach from the Hilton. The room was basically open to the outside, and our table was right at the edge, overlooking the beach. They specialize in local seafood and everything was fresh and well prepared. We started with an ahi tartare and some lobster satay and then I had the Kamehachi with a soy ginger glaze.

I'm not sure you should go out of your way to eat here in you are staying in a different part of Honolulu, but it certainly seemed to be the best option right on the beach in Waikiki.

2169 Kalia Rd, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815-1989
Ph: 808-923-3111 Fax: 808-924-4957

I depart for Honolulu in a few days. Any recent intel or recommendations anyone would like to share? Links to helpful resources also welcome...

My girlfriend won't stop raving about Mitch's Sushi, which is apparently on the way to the airport. According to their website, all of the fish is flown in directly from Japan. I'm sure the product is great, but considering Hawaii is an island in the middle of the Pacific, I'm a bit baffled by why you would need to fly fish in from anywhere. Anyways, I think I will check it out.

http://www.mitchsushi.com/

Here's what I wrote about a year ago in the Maui thread. Much of it is really about Honolulu. In a word, ramen. (And a burger at Halekulani, trust me):

Back from Hawaii; thanks to everyone for the tips. I really like Hawaii, particularly Honolulu. It's a real town with some rough edges behind the spectacular beach/shopping/humanity on parade extravaganza that is Waikiki. It's similar to Miami's South Beach or Santa Monica (I love both), but for me better than either. In Santa Monica, the beach is mostly a backdrop. The sand and surf is integral in Miami, but South Beach is nearly fatally tainted by hair gel and Axe body spray in a way that Waikiki is not.

This alley giving public access to the beach in Waikiki sums it up. To your left, old ladies and strippers doing laundry in coin-operated machines 100 yards from the sand.

To your right, the Royal Hawaiian, one of the most splendid of the seaside "pink ladies" (like the Don Cesar in St. Pete, still going strong after 100 years).
I could see Charlie Chan, Jack Lord or Dog the Bounty Hunter chasing bad guys down this alley.

Please don't throw a shoe at me, but after 9 days in Hawaii, I'm still of the opinion that it ranks pretty low in terms of tropical destinations for food. Certainly, all of Mexico and much of the Caribbean offer much more interesting and delicious food at both the local and "fancy" levels. (Never been to Thailand but can only imagine.) If you expand the comparison to summer seaside regulars such as New England, Florida and the Carolinas, I'm afraid the 51st state also lags. Local fish is maddeningly hard to find. I had a car and wasn't afraid to use it to get away from tourist zones for in-condo dinner shopping. No dice. NB, oddly enough, local beef is pretty easy to find, in burgers usually, and is terrific. More below on this.

Islanders swear by the ahi poke at Safeway, for example. While quite good, the tuna comes frozen from Asia. Even local-ish places such as Eskimo Candy and Alexander's in Maui mostly use frozen imported stuff. Allegedly local mahi was a fairly ubiquitous exception, though dolphin isn't a favorite of mine and it tended to be cooked into tough oblivion. One local fish was new to me and pretty swell: monchong, a formerly disfavored critter like so many other tasty fish. Had it a couple of times, including at Stella Blues in Kihei, Maui. I'll admit, it reminded me of grouper. And, Stella Blues gave me a serious sense of déjà vu. How is it that mid-scale restaurants in beach towns can be so alike, thousands of miles apart?

The one area where Hawaii stands tall, food-wise, is Japanese. Decades of free-spending, gastronomically patriotic/xenophobic Japanese tourists have made Hawaii, Honolulu most especially, a great spot for ramen, sushi, izakaya, okonomiyaki, you name it. If I could have convinced my family, I would have eaten Japanese each and every meal while in HI. As it was, Japanese meals were a strong plurality.

One of my favorites was Ramen Nakamura, smack in the middle of the main drag in Waikiki. Known for oxtail and tonkotsu, this shop often had a long line of Japanese tourists outside. Despite some language hurdles, our family was very welcome and some of the older Japanese tourists seemed equally astounded and pleased to see us slurping ramen at the bar. By the way, everyone knows this, but I was still blown away by the frequency with which Japanese tourists document their meals. I mean, the average Japanese tourist puts the most snap-happy LTHer to shame. Something like half the diners at this ramen shop were photographing noodles. Same thing at the Cold Stone and the Starbucks. Anyway, my pork bone(tonkotsu)/shoyu ramen was terrific. [The sign says cash only, Yen or US Dollars accepted.]



I also enjoyed the much more grungy Nisei ramen place across the street -- Ezogiku. Ambience was similar to Hamburger King, and the ramen was pretty good. The wide variety of not-necessarily-traditional condiments (Korean, Viet and Chinese stuff) lets you amp up the OK broth in a way you wouldn't with the serious, subtle stuff at Nakamura. There's ramen in airports, it's everywhere. The sheer number of options and the very high bar set by Japanese tourists has me thinking Honolulu is right there with LA and NY, very possibly better, for ramen. While Hawaii deserves its reputation for ridiculous tourist-gouging, I found the Japanese-oriented places to be real bargains, both relatively within HI and objectively as compared to mainland cities. I chalk it up to high standards and a Japanese economy that has been on the rocks much longer than ours.

Other than Japanese, Hawaii is good for, what else, Hawaiian. This cuisine has its limits. The best plate lunch or bowl of Spam saimin is still lunch truck or steam table fare. I sought out and went to the place that locals often cite as the best example of down home island food --maybe the Moon's Sandwich Shop of ono grinds, if I may. That place is Sam Sato's, currently operating out of an industrial complex near the airport in Maui. Closed on weekends, long waits, almost entirely locals-only. If there's a GNR in Hawaii, this is probably it.





Burgers, good. Breakfast (eggs with rice, spam and linguica (universally called "Portuguese Brand Sausage", regardless of the actual "brand")) very good. Dry saimin with fried egg and Spam on top, terrific.

Another noteworthy place is Home Maid Bakery, near Sato's and the airport in Maui. This place, to me, was like Andy's on Division (RIP) in a Hialeah-meets-Uptown space. Home Maid distributes around Maui and possibly on other islands. But you need to walk into the store and talk to the Filipina baker-ladies to get the best stuff. That best stuff includes terrific Filipino sweet bread (ensaymada) and malasadas, the Portuguese-ish paczki doppelgangers. The malasadas at Home Maid rival the best paczki here, though the Polish austerity of good paczki is missing, in a good way. These babies were filled with some of the best pastry custard I've ever tasted, and the custard-to-pastry ratio was way out of whack in favor of custard. Sorry, I ate the pictures.



Not much noteworthy and nice for me to say about the places in Maui closer to the beach. Like I said before, Stella Blues was pretty good. We also tried the much-heralded Japanese/Hawaiian fusion mini-empire Sansei. Food writers go gaga over this place's sushi and fish. I thought it was just pretty good. I tried to keep them honest by ordering [nigiri] sushi, even though the place is very much oriented toward lovers of wacky-ass crunch rolls with sweet mango teriyaki bbq mayo sauce -- i.e., not aimed at Japanese nationals, none of whom were apparent in the packed place. To my tastes, the sushi ranged from very good (yellowtail and ahi, presumably local) to something you might get at the mall, to be charitable (ama ebi and tako -- cooked, cold, rubber, both). I will note that the tamago was exemplary, which I know is a big deal to sushi fetishists. In Maui, Sansei is certainly among the best restaurants and should be visited. I just don't think many folks here would get that excited about it if the place were in a big mainland city.

I cooked a lot and found myself stymied time and again in my search for fresh local fish and produce in Maui, where we were 7 of the 9 days. Damned hard even to find local papayas and mangoes, though some local stands had good stuff. I have a feeling I'd have better luck in the outskirts of Honolulu. Suffice to say, the Gulf, Chesapeake, Low-Country, Door County, Cape Cod, whatever crab shacks, oyster shanties, fish camps and lobster shacks that I love do not happen at the beach in HI. Or, if they do, they are much, much harder to find -- on foot, by car, on the Internet. Good thing I like ramen about as much as fried fish. Oh, and the local coffee deserves its reputation. Good local stuff just about everywhere.

A few stops on the way out are worth noting. The beachside restaurant at the Halukelani (one of the 3 classic old hotels in Waikiki, along with the Surfrider and Royal), House Without a Key (apparently of Charlie Chan fame), is well-loved by locals. Delightful. Not a word I use, but it was. The place is all class in a very unpretentious way. Although the menu is geared toward the Japanese who seem to pick this serene hotel over the other somewhat more lively grand dames, it holds a secret -- one of the best burgers I ever tasted. Loosely packed local beef from mellow Hawaiian cows cooked over charcoal was about as good as a burger gets. The problem is, I ordered the ramen (what else). Very nice, but not as good as my kid's burger.

Last, know that the plate lunch place in the Maui airport is a very fine example. For ten bucks, get the hand-carved roast beef, a ton of fried rice and a scoop of mac salad.

Anyway, I loved Hawaii and liked the food. [Addresses to follow, sometime.]

Here's what I wrote about a year ago in the Maui thread. Much of it is really about Honolulu. In a word, ramen. (And burgers n' mai tais at Halekulani, trust me):

JeffB wrote:Back from Hawaii; thanks to everyone for the tips. I really like Hawaii, particularly Honolulu. It's a real town with some rough edges behind the spectacular beach/shopping/humanity on parade extravaganza that is Waikiki. It's similar to Miami's South Beach or Santa Monica (I love both), but for me better than either. In Santa Monica, the beach is mostly a backdrop. The sand and surf is integral in Miami, but South Beach is nearly fatally tainted by hair gel and Axe body spray in a way that Waikiki is not.

This alley giving public access to the beach in Waikiki sums it up. To your left, old ladies and strippers doing laundry in coin-operated machines 100 yards from the sand.

To your right, the Royal Hawaiian, one of the most splendid of the seaside "pink ladies" (like the Don Cesar in St. Pete, still going strong after 100 years).
I could see Charlie Chan, Jack Lord or Dog the Bounty Hunter chasing bad guys down this alley.

Please don't throw a shoe at me, but after 9 days in Hawaii, I'm still of the opinion that it ranks pretty low in terms of tropical destinations for food. Certainly, all of Mexico and much of the Caribbean offer much more interesting and delicious food at both the local and "fancy" levels. (Never been to Thailand but can only imagine.) If you expand the comparison to summer seaside regulars such as New England, Florida and the Carolinas, I'm afraid the 51st state also lags. Local fish is maddeningly hard to find. I had a car and wasn't afraid to use it to get away from tourist zones for in-condo dinner shopping. No dice. NB, oddly enough, local beef is pretty easy to find, in burgers usually, and is terrific. More below on this.

Islanders swear by the ahi poke at Safeway, for example. While quite good, the tuna comes frozen from Asia. Even local-ish places such as Eskimo Candy and Alexander's in Maui mostly use frozen imported stuff. Allegedly local mahi was a fairly ubiquitous exception, though dolphin isn't a favorite of mine and it tended to be cooked into tough oblivion. One local fish was new to me and pretty swell: monchong, a formerly disfavored critter like so many other tasty fish. Had it a couple of times, including at Stella Blues in Kihei, Maui. I'll admit, it reminded me of grouper. And, Stella Blues gave me a serious sense of déjà vu. How is it that mid-scale restaurants in beach towns can be so alike, thousands of miles apart?

The one area where Hawaii stands tall, food-wise, is Japanese. Decades of free-spending, gastronomically patriotic/xenophobic Japanese tourists have made Hawaii, Honolulu most especially, a great spot for ramen, sushi, izakaya, okonomiyaki, you name it. If I could have convinced my family, I would have eaten Japanese each and every meal while in HI. As it was, Japanese meals were a strong plurality.

One of my favorites was Ramen Nakamura, smack in the middle of the main drag in Waikiki. Known for oxtail and tonkotsu, this shop often had a long line of Japanese tourists outside. Despite some language hurdles, our family was very welcome and some of the older Japanese tourists seemed equally astounded and pleased to see us slurping ramen at the bar. By the way, everyone knows this, but I was still blown away by the frequency with which Japanese tourists document their meals. I mean, the average Japanese tourist puts the most snap-happy LTHer to shame. Something like half the diners at this ramen shop were photographing noodles. Same thing at the Cold Stone and the Starbucks. Anyway, my pork bone(tonkotsu)/shoyu ramen was terrific. [The sign says cash only, Yen or US Dollars accepted.]



I also enjoyed the much more grungy Nisei ramen place across the street -- Ezogiku. Ambience was similar to Hamburger King, and the ramen was pretty good. The wide variety of not-necessarily-traditional condiments (Korean, Viet and Chinese stuff) lets you amp up the OK broth in a way you wouldn't with the serious, subtle stuff at Nakamura. There's ramen in airports, it's everywhere. The sheer number of options and the very high bar set by Japanese tourists has me thinking Honolulu is right there with LA and NY, very possibly better, for ramen. While Hawaii deserves its reputation for ridiculous tourist-gouging, I found the Japanese-oriented places to be real bargains, both relatively within HI and objectively as compared to mainland cities. I chalk it up to high standards and a Japanese economy that has been on the rocks much longer than ours.

Other than Japanese, Hawaii is good for, what else, Hawaiian. This cuisine has its limits. The best plate lunch or bowl of Spam saimin is still lunch truck or steam table fare. I sought out and went to the place that locals often cite as the best example of down home island food --maybe the Moon's Sandwich Shop of ono grinds, if I may. That place is Sam Sato's, currently operating out of an industrial complex near the airport in Maui. Closed on weekends, long waits, almost entirely locals-only. If there's a GNR in Hawaii, this is probably it.





Burgers, good. Breakfast (eggs with rice, spam and linguica (universally called "Portuguese Brand Sausage", regardless of the actual "brand")) very good. Dry saimin with fried egg and Spam on top, terrific.

Another noteworthy place is Home Maid Bakery, near Sato's and the airport in Maui. This place, to me, was like Andy's on Division (RIP) in a Hialeah-meets-Uptown space. Home Maid distributes around Maui and possibly on other islands. But you need to walk into the store and talk to the Filipina baker-ladies to get the best stuff. That best stuff includes terrific Filipino sweet bread (ensaymada) and malasadas, the Portuguese-ish paczki doppelgangers. The malasadas at Home Maid rival the best paczki here, though the Polish austerity of good paczki is missing, in a good way. These babies were filled with some of the best pastry custard I've ever tasted, and the custard-to-pastry ratio was way out of whack in favor of custard. Sorry, I ate the pictures.



Not much noteworthy and nice for me to say about the places in Maui closer to the beach. Like I said before, Stella Blues was pretty good. We also tried the much-heralded Japanese/Hawaiian fusion mini-empire Sansei. Food writers go gaga over this place's sushi and fish. I thought it was just pretty good. I tried to keep them honest by ordering [nigiri] sushi, even though the place is very much oriented toward lovers of wacky-ass crunch rolls with sweet mango teriyaki bbq mayo sauce -- i.e., not aimed at Japanese nationals, none of whom were apparent in the packed place. To my tastes, the sushi ranged from very good (yellowtail and ahi, presumably local) to something you might get at the mall, to be charitable (ama ebi and tako -- cooked, cold, rubber, both). I will note that the tamago was exemplary, which I know is a big deal to sushi fetishists. In Maui, Sansei is certainly among the best restaurants and should be visited. I just don't think many folks here would get that excited about it if the place were in a big mainland city.

I cooked a lot and found myself stymied time and again in my search for fresh local fish and produce in Maui, where we were 7 of the 9 days. Damned hard even to find local papayas and mangoes, though some local stands had good stuff. I have a feeling I'd have better luck in the outskirts of Honolulu. Suffice to say, the Gulf, Chesapeake, Low-Country, Door County, Cape Cod, whatever crab shacks, oyster shanties, fish camps and lobster shacks that I love do not happen at the beach in HI. Or, if they do, they are much, much harder to find -- on foot, by car, on the Internet. Good thing I like ramen about as much as fried fish. Oh, and the local coffee deserves its reputation. Good local stuff just about everywhere.

A few stops on the way out are worth noting. The beachside restaurant at the Halukelani (one of the 3 classic old hotels in Waikiki, along with the Surfrider and Royal), House Without a Key (apparently of Charlie Chan fame), is well-loved by locals. Delightful. Not a word I use, but it was. The place is all class in a very unpretentious way. Although the menu is geared toward the Japanese who seem to pick this serene hotel over the other somewhat more lively grand dames, it holds a secret -- one of the best burgers I ever tasted. Loosely packed local beef from mellow Hawaiian cows cooked over charcoal was about as good as a burger gets. The problem is, I ordered the ramen (what else). Very nice, but not as good as my kid's burger.

Last, know that the plate lunch place in the Maui airport is a very fine example. For ten bucks, get the hand-carved roast beef, a ton of fried rice and a scoop of mac salad.

Anyway, I loved Hawaii and liked the food. [Addresses to follow, sometime.]

JeffB wrote:A few stops on the way out are worth noting. The beachside restaurant at the Halukelani (one of the 3 classic old hotels in Waikiki, along with the Surfrider and Royal), House Without a Key (apparently of Charlie Chan fame), is well-loved by locals. Delightful. Not a word I use, but it was. The place is all class in a very unpretentious way. Although the menu is geared toward the Japanese who seem to pick this serene hotel over the other somewhat more lively grand dames, it holds a secret -- one of the best burgers I ever tasted. Loosely packed local beef from mellow Hawaiian cows cooked over charcoal was about as good as a burger gets. The problem is, I ordered the ramen (what else). Very nice, but not as good as my kid's burger.

The Halekulani is wonderful! Such an effortlessly elegant hotel. Beachfront dining room-yes, JeffB- serene, as is the entire hotel- open to the breeze, romantic, private, in a word, perfect restaurant setting for a dinner for two. Impeccable service. Fish options with Japanese flair.

If you can only go there for a more casual evening, such as with kids in tow, there is some very good Hawaiian music on the terrace in the evenings, and you can get a terrific mai-tai (the real version) and a meal at the terrace restaurant without dressing up. Perhaps they serve the JeffB-endorsed burgers there as well.

Anyone going to Honolulu should reserve there ahead of time for the Sunday brunch. (It is very well booked up, and even as hotel guests, we were not sure we could get in without a reservation.) This was without question the best brunch buffet I have seen anywhere (my companion, a veteran of professional food service, agreed). There was an entire section of poke and Japanese breakfast items that required two plates for me, as well as lechon with crispy skin (don't know if they call it that there) along with the rare beef at the carving table. Setting totally idyllic, polished, impeccable. Later, we got involved with a long conversation at the airport with the airline clerk who checked us in about the brunch at the Halekulani. I smiled because you could tell she was "one of us," raving about the high tea there and the scones in paragraphs, as the other folks standing in line to check in looked on puzzled.

Will post pics if I have time.

With respect to JeffB and his one-word piece of advice (ramen), if you want authentic, what-the-locals-eat, things, I'll take three different tacks:
in one word, saimin
in two words, plate lunch, and
in one hyphenated word, shave-ice. (NOT "shaved" unless you be one haole).

(My very abbreviated response to his post is simply that while Japanese food...or Chinese, or Portuguese or Filipino...is very good in the islands, I think he underrates the local cuisine. You can get great examples of Japanese/Chinese in Chicago. Don't you want to try something you CAN'T find in Chicago? And while JeffB clearly wasn't particularly taken with the local stuff, I love it. To each his own. But I think you owe it to yourself to at least try this stuff.)

Now, in each of these cases, I should emphasize that this is, um, everyday folks kinda food. Cheap...but oh so ono (delicious!) In the interest of time and effort, I refer you to Wikipedia for reasonable discussions of what each entails.

Sadly, it has been too long for me to offer recommendations that I can any longer be assured are reliable. Hopefully others will post with current recs.

Hey, now. I went through a lot to get to an industrial park in Maui to eat saimin and spam at what the "locals" mostly concur are the best ono grinds in the whole damn state, Sam Sato's. It was very good, in a very GNR setting. Here I eat regularly at Hamburger King and Aloha. I never said I disliked anything. I said that I like grinds less than the food in Mexico and a few other vacation spots known for their food. That and I noted the maddening relative lack of local seafood options and the general populace's acceptance of frozen from SE Asia at the Safeway fish for poke.

Again, here's my thought about Sato's:

"Other than Japanese, Hawaii is good for, what else, Hawaiian. This cuisine has its limits. The best plate lunch or bowl of Spam saimin is still lunch truck or steam table fare. I sought out and went to the place that locals often cite as the best example of down home island food --maybe the Moon's Sandwich Shop of ono grinds, if I may. That place is Sam Sato's, currently operating out of an industrial complex near the airport in Maui. Closed on weekends, long waits, almost entirely locals-only. If there's a GNR in Hawaii, this is probably it."

I didn't mean to impugn either Sato's or Moon's (one of my favorite restaurants) by this comparison. The opposite.


PS, I do think ramen at a very high level is so unusual and special it should be sought out in HI and that the best bowl of saimin isn't as majestic a creature as the best bowl of Ramen. And I love HI, esp. Honolulu.

If I offended, I apologize.

You focused on "Hawaii is good for, what else, Hawaiian." I focused on "The cuisine has its limits." My take was that you just weren't thrilled with the food there...after all, you ended your post with "I loved Hawaii and liked the food." I took that to mean you were less than happy. But I sure didn't think of my post as a slam. We disagree. Ain't no big thing. And isn't that what LTH is all about, anyway? You loved the Japanese food there; I prefer the local stuff. Different focus, that's all.

No matter what you eat or where you go, Habibi, enjoy! There's a lot to like in Hawaii, even in Honolulu!

No offense taken. Last year when I wrote that I might have been a little hyperbolic and probably cranky for having returned to a Chicago winter from HI.

Well I think Honolulu has some of the best food in the world, but that's probably because I grew up there.

I agree that Honolulu is great for Japanese food (and I really miss the ramen!), but think that both local food and hawaiian food are really worth checking out. I haven't lived in HI for 14 years so my information is out of date and I can't really recommend any specific plate lunch trucks or local places. But it does look like my childhood favorite for local style japanese bentos is still around and getting great reviews:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/okata-bento-honolulu
http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/ono_ki ... bento.html

The platonic ideal of chicken katsu (I prefer the bento over the plate lunch; it comes with non-spam-brand luncheon meat, tamago, mahi mahi, and takuan), also absolutely perfect katsudon.

But you really need to try some Hawaiian food (as opposed to "local" or creole/hybrid cuisine, aka plate lunch). In this "Oahu beyond Honolulu" thread (viewtopic.php?f=15&t=30981) I recomended Ono Hawaiian:

Ono Hawaiian on Kapahulu. It's famous, but rightly so. Get the Lau lau, squid luau (taro leaves, coconut milk, octopus), lomi ahi (hand-torn tuna chunks), poke ahi (chopped up tuna), poi and rice. Also maybe the kalua pig (pulled pork). Then walk a few blocks up Kapahulu and get hot malasadas (Portuguese donuts) from Leonards.

Laulau and Luau are great, especially if you like intense cooked-down greens. Laulau is a hunk of pork or chicken seasoned with salted butterfish and hawaiian salt and wrapped in taro leaves. This is then wrapped in ti leaves and steamed. The pork fat and taro greens and salt melt together into something really fantastic, especially with chili pepper water and raw onion to taste. And I don't know where Ono's fish comes from but it doesn't taste frozen.

Here is some more Hawaiian food info and suggestions: http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/ono_ki ... index.html

Many places that sell Poke will sell two grades of fish - local and previously frozen, and you can tell by the price. Often small general stores will have the best poke. On my last trip to HI we stayed outside of Honolulu on the north shore and found Kahuku Superette, a little general store with fantastic Poke, so if you end up driving the Kam hi-way along the north shore you should stop here:

Kahuku Superette‎
56-505 Kamehameha Highway
Kahuku, HI 96731

Oh, and finally, Spam Musubi can be really great, and are available all over, at every 7-11, ABC store, gas station, etc. But most will also sell BBQ Chicken Musubi, which are probably better (if you didn't grow up with spam). The chicken is the Hawaiian version of Korean BBQ chicken.

Good luck.

Some blogs:

http://tastyislandhawaii.com/
http://www.onokinegrindz.net/?p=1048

(Ono Kine Grindz seems to be more focused on fancy food than it used to be, but the archives on typepad should be a great resource)

Thanks for all of the recommendations - ramen, poke (the expensive, non-frozen kind), saimin and burgers burgers burgers are all on the radar for me.

http://www.poke-stop.com

There's another spot to try if you have transportation. I believe all local fish. Like an artisnal poke place.

Again, love HI, esp. Honolulu, love Hawaiians, really like the food -- especially the Japanese, Korean and Filipino-Portuguese baked goods, appreciate plate lunches but think one can only do so much with rice, gravy and mayo. PS, I also think a very good luau is well worth the time and cash -- pig, lomi lomi salmon, lau lau, lu 'au, opihi, poke all u can eat? Forget about it. Great stuff.* Don't cut corners here -- for the food and show, pay for a good one.

*(But other tropical paradises may have even better food....)

Some pics from the Halekulani:


photo.JPGon Flickr


photo.JPGon Flickr


photo.JPG on Flickr


photo.JPG by Josephine2004on Flickr


photo.JPG on Flickr


photo.JPG on Flickr
A plate of poke.

Habibi -

Try Puka Dog if you get a chance:
http://www.pukadog.com/waikiki

The Oahu location is a bit more touristy and certainly less scenic than the Kauai original, but we're used to waiting in line for sausages in Chicago, so it still makes sense to me. I go original garlic / mango / guava mustard. It is fast food, and seems to be a you-get-it-or-you-don't type of item. But for some, it has the potential to haunt your continental dreams with aromas of sun-warmed fruit, roasting meat, and fresh bread, as my posting history on the topic suggests. They also have veggie dogs.

A specific izakaya I've heard good things about is Gaku:
http://www.funtouristattractions.com/a/ ... u-usa/1875

Several friends I trust were there while at a conference in July and raved. RIP Momomo.

Just got back from 10 days (including 2 VERY long flights ) on Oahu and Hawaii. In Honolulu we stayed right on Waikiki beach at the Surfrider. Gorgeous and amazing and we were lulled to sleep by the surf sounds (and a little bit by the drinks we had every night before going to dinner). We had the breakfast buffet, which was fine, if not particularly inspired. It also had the Japanese breakfast section as described in a post above (including natto). The lovely thing was the beach bar, sitting right outside under a Banyan tree and watching the sun go down.

Places we ate were:

Hana no Sato/Bento Box
2410 Koa Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-9635

Little tiny box of a restaurant - they have sashimi bowls, curry noodles, etc. Totally Japanese, steps from the beach. Very good, very fresh, not expensive as Hawaiian restaurants go.

Sushi Izakaya Gaku
1329 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 589-1329

Make a reservation! We watched many people get turned away. This is not a place you go for sushi, though they do have sushi. You get lots of little dishes, kind of Japanese tapas, and in theory drink a lot. No one we saw was drinking out of hand, everyone seemed to be enjoying the progression of very good food. My favorite was salmon skin salad, and seared chu toro. They had a good selection of sake (though the one I first ordered was out) and I really liked the one I had. They tell you up front that you will have your table for 2 hours. This way they don't (usually) have people standing around waiting. There is a tatami section in the back, and even the bathrooms were pretty and "zen". I would go back.

Ono Hawaiian Foods
726 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 737-2275

Fun and definitely an LTH kind of place. We both ordered poi, and the owner came out and said "you taste this, then tell me for sure you both want poi". Yah, no. Loved the Lau Lau pork, but then I'm a cooked greens kind of person. There are supposed to be 3 really good really traditional luaua food sort of places, this is one of them.

Place we didn't eat, but wanted to:
Iyasume Musubi
2410 Koa Ave
Ste 4
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 921-0168
www.tonsuke.com/eomusubiya.html

This place is known for Musubi, especially Spam Musubi. It does not, though, have inside seating, or much outside seating for that matter, and it was raining, so we ate at the next door place, Hana, listed above. But if you are needing some Spam Musubi to take back to the beach, it's supposed to be perfect!

When we went to Honolulu last year, we loved the poke at:

Yama's Fish Market
2332 Young St
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 941-9994
yamasfishmarket.com

We went to the amazing Saturday Farmer's Market at:

Kapi'olani Community College
4303 Diamond Head Rd
Honolulu, HI 96816-4421
(808) 734-9000
kapiolani.hawaii.edu

I've been to some excellent farmer's markets around the country, but where else can you buy cooked abalone and eat it from the shell? Lots and lots of cool stuff.

We ate dinner at Gaku twice. It was excellent!

Tokkuri-Tei is another izakaya. I liked it more than my wife who at this point was tired of eating Asian food and was ready for a salad.

Just got back from a brief trip to Honolulu while my wife interviewed with a hospital there, and I can definitely echo some of the recommendations here. Puka dog was a lot of fun, and made for a very agreeable dinner on our first slightly jet-lagged night when we happened to wander by while looking for a quick bite and remembered it from Santander's post. Just note that while one hot dog is never enough (for me) here in Chicago, 2 at Puka is too many. It will haunt my dreams occasionally

Ramen Nakamura was a great stop for lunch one day. My wife has worked her way through much of the menu between this trip and a conference in Honolulu, and swears the oxtail is the best option. I thought the gyoza were good as well, but the fried rice was something I could happily do without in the future.

Gaku is phenomenal. I wouldn't say that it isn't a place you go to for sushi though, as we had some excellent nigiri there. I would say it's a place that you don't go to just for sushi, as bypassing the kitchen offerings would be a huge mistake. Chutoro tataki was excellent, as was the spicy negihamachi tartare. Do not miss the Japanese fried chicken - succulent and juicy with a light yet flavorful breading.

Friends who live in Waikiki swore by Waiola Shave Ice as the best you can get, and I'm inclined to agree based on my samplings. Did not get to Matsumoto though, in all fairness. Waiola's shave produces a fluffier ice than any other I tried, and it does make a big difference.

Malasadas from Leonard's were a great breakfast treat. My wife loves mango so we grabbed a couple of the flavor of the month mango custard filled, but I found the plain to be more enjoyable. On Saturday we had malasadas for breakfast, ramen from Nakamura for lunch, and dinner at Gaku. Easily the best all around food day I've had in a long time.


Pretty good chance of us relocating to Honolulu in 6 months, and if that happens I'll endeavor to beef up the recommendations quite a bit. Questing for the best pho/best sushi/best korean bbq/best poke and so on is intriguing

The Puka Dog in Waikiki is now Hula Dog. Nothing has changed other than the name. I asked an employee about it and there was some sort of split between owners. He made it sound like it was for ease of franchising, but rambled on quite a bit so not entirely sure on that. Dogs and toppings were just as enjoyable as remembered, regardless.

Ramen Nakamura still superb. Ate there twice on this trip, and left full and very happy both times. My wife still swears by oxtail as her favorite, but she was a big fan of the spicy and kimchee varieties as well. Seated at the end near the kitchen the second time, we enjoyed watching one particular cook alternate between stirring various bowls and hand filling and shaping their delicious gyoza.

Side Street Inn is pretty great as long as you don't mind something of a sports bar atmosphere. Spicy garlic fried chicken is the only chicken crack I need (sorry Tony). They have an ale brewed by Rogue that was fine, but not really memorable in any way. One of the owners or top brewers from Rogue has a home in Hawaii Kai, and must be a fan of Side Street Inn as well.

Marukame Udon is another great, inexpensive Japanese option in the Waikiki area. Don't let the long lines send you elsewhere - turnover is very quick, and it's worth the short wait. Broths were nice, but the highlights were the freshly made noodles and some perfectly done tempura shrimp and sweet potato.

Kapiolani Community College has a trial going of a Tuesday night farmers market, since the Saturday morning one has become such a circus. It's smaller, but so much less crowded that I'd recommend giving it a shot if they keep it going beyond this summer. Kailua farmers market on Thursday evenings is quite nice - got some brilliant lilikoi and mango butter from a woman who hand churns a number of varieties, and Ono Pops have a deservedly great reputation. Madre Chocolate in Kailua do some wonderful bars using local chocolate as well as cacao from the Dominican Republic and other areas. They buy the actual beans and work from there, offering classes at least once a month on how to go bean to bar.

No pictures this time around, but we're going to be moving to Oahu next month, and I will start getting some pics up from various farmers markets and any new and worthy finds.

If you're driving along the eastern coast towards Kailua, you might encounter a food truck that specializes in seafood in the Waimanalo area. It's the only truck I've seen along that route, will have to go back and figure out the name for sure, think it was Ono Steaks & Shrimp. Anyway, keep on driving. They cooked all of the life and goodness out of the two different ahi specials my wife and I ordered, leaving me wondering if that's how they always cook their ahi, or if they were just trying to disguise some aging fish. Either way, this is not the shrimp truck you're looking for.

Thanks for the update!

Any thoughts on the new beer and cocktail bar, Pint and Jigger?

Just got back from 5 days in Honolulu. Ate very, very well.

Ono Seafood -- Very nice poke, I had a regular bowl with half shoyu tako poke and half spicy ahi poke. I thought the texture of the tako poke was great. High quality and very fresh tasting. Husband got a Super bowl with shoyu ahi and Hawaiian ahi. Overall, their poke comes with more onions and the dressing is more spicy than others we've tried, but the poke here is overall very good. Takeout with one picnic table outside. People here were so nice, too. Would definitely become a regular if we lived in Honolulu. Closed Tuesdays; their Yelp listing is wrong.

Leonard's -- Went twice. Grabbed a bunch for breakfast one of the days. Hot, soft, fresh malasadas. Tried all the non filled ones: sugar, cinnamon, and li hing mui. Liked the li hing mui one best. They looked like they would be heavy, but were quite light.

Of the filled ones, tried them all as well. They were coconut, chocolate, custard, and flavor of the month, guava. Delicious! My favorite was the custard.

House Without a Key -- Great atmosphere, service, and live music. Liked the drinks (a little sweet) and the beef curry puffs. The lilikoi daiquiri was great, the hale passion was a bit too sweet for me. The Mai Tai was decent ad strong. But husband's burger with avocado was great (thanks for the tip, JeffB!) My catch of the day (Opah) was mediocre, though I liked the bok choy. It was raining right after we arrived so they moved us inside. Got a nice spot to enjoy the live music, ended up ordering dinner, as we were enjoying the show and didn't want to go back out in the rain just yet. Should have just stuck to drinks and appetizers.

KCC Farmers Market on Saturdays -- Great market and worth the trek! Crowded but not insane at 7:30am. Got worse closer to 9am. Had a banh mi with egg from The Pig & The Lady, delicious. Good pickles. Tried kimchee fried rice with Portuguese sausage and scrambled eggs from Grandma G's. I think their fried rice had additional sausage inside as well. Short lines, ate at the picnic tables by P&L. Tried the BBQ abalone, too, which was fun, but maybe not worth waiting too long for. The line was only about 10-15 minutes long for us luckily. Picked up some passionfruit butter (drool) and fresh strawberry-red bean mochi from Made in Hawaii foods. The strawberry-red bean mochi was so good! Even my husband who normally does not like non-ice cream mochi liked it. Also had a fresh pineapple juice, which was so good and so sweet, as well as a delightful coconut and pineapple smoothie. Lots of free samples around, too. Super friendly vendors. Lots of fun walking around and wishing we had a full kitchen to cook with during our trip. Thought about hiking Diamond Head afterwards but I somehow hurt my foot the previous day, so we just went back to the hotel to relax instead. So we ended up skipping Diamond Head Bar & Grill. Oh well, but I was able to squeeze in a late lunch at...

Ono Hawaiian Foods -- Ono is right! Kalua pork, rice, pork lau lau, lomi salmon, pipikuala, onions, haupia pudding. Only $22 for the combo plate, enough food for two. Loved the smoky and salty kalua pork. The lau lau was also good, very fatty, the leaves provided an interesting contrast, husband though it tasted a bit like seaweed. The pipikuala was also awesome! Extremely satisfying. Would come back again and again. Closed Sundays, I think.

Waiola Shave Ice -- Good shave ice, maybe a little too melty for my taste. Grumpy service at the location just off Kapahulu. Had mango/passionfruit with vanilla ice cream and a snow cap. Thought Ululani's on Maui was much better in terms of consistency. And it didn't melt so quickly. Became soup after a few minutes! Perhaps shaved TOO finely?

Chef Mavro -- Lovely dinner here. We did the four course prix fixe with some substitutions for me (foie gras and lamb). The abalone with hearts of palm, green apple, corn, and grapes was excellent. Chewy but tender and flavorful abalone. I loved my foie gras with fig and balsamic. Not a terribly creative dish, but very well executed. My husband had the catch of the day with ratatouille. This was also good but not really exciting. We both liked the foie better. I had the lamb with harissa for my meat course; husband had the guinea fowl with chestnut purée. Both were well executed and cooked perfectly. But the real star was the lilikoi malasadas. With lilikoi ice cream, lilikoi custard, lilikoi whipped cream, yogurt whipped cream, candied pistachios, and lilikoi sauce. An explosion of passionfruit! Not sure if it really distinguishes itself when compared to Mainland expensive restaurants but it was very enjoyable if you're looking to do an intimate white tablecloth dinner away from Waikiki.

(So yes, it is possible to do the KCC Farmers Market, Ono Hawaiian Foods, Waiola Shave Ice, and Chef Mavro all in one day!)

Orchids Sunday brunch -- Pretty good...for a pricey hotel buffet. Decent poke, sashimi, gravlax. The salmon benedict, guava crepes, waffles, and suckling pig with crackling, also fair but not excellent. Popovers and waffles were much better when smothered in lilikoi butter. All you can eat slices of their famous coconut cake, too, if you like tons of cake for breakfast. Pineapple juice is not fresh & and unappetizing brown color. Gross! I ate tons of fresh pineapple and papaya, while husband ate a whole plate of poke and rice. Beautiful setting but watch out for the birds. Not sure we would come back esp for $57pp. Felt like we were stuffing ourselves just to get our money's worth.

Nanzan Giro Giro -- Wow! Loved this place. Open kitchen, modern decor, friendly and laid back staff, excellent food, and a stellar price. A genuine but modern kaiseki meal for only $50? Dessert and matcha $8 more? Four glass wine pairing for $25?! Reservations requirements I believe as every seat was taken when we arrived and they only do two seatings a night.

The opening sakizuke dish of chawanmushi with ume, abalone, and chestnut was excellent. Tasted wonderful, smelled like the ocean, in a good way. Followed by the zensai appetizer platter: sweet potato with gobo sauce (the best tater tot ever), shimeji mushrooms with ikura (savory and briny), poke with almond purée (unusual and oh so good), cucumber with cabbage tartare (best dip ever), and a very thin slice of pickled daikon around herring roe (delightful). Next up was white miso soup enhanced by monkfish liver in the broth (!), with steamed monchong, as the wanmono course.

Then my favorite dish of the night for the oshinogi course: two slices of medium rare steak served with fresh raw kampachi, and a dollop of uni, all piled onto some rice with a shiso leaf. Damn! I jokingly asked for another and our charming and hilarious server said he'd check with the kitchen! I quickly took it back and he mentioned they can usually do it when asked! Then came the next course: grilled yuan shirako (cod milt), chicken meatball, tempura dashi. Strange, tasty, great broth. Now I can say I've had fish sperm! Wow. Next course was a bit of a palate cleanser: crab meat salad, served cold, with a tomato broth, a little paprika on top.This was fine, but it was the next course that was stunning.

For the last savory: very thin somen (I think) noodles in broth with perfectly cooked Hawaiian snapper, shredded tofu skins, marinated shitake mushrooms, mitsuba, all full of umami and a tiny bit of heat from a little yuzu kosho. Really excellent, deeply flavored, stick to your ribs broth. Served with some refreshing pickles of daikon, Japanese cucumber, and more on the side. Dessert was matcha tea with three petit four like items: marmalade ice cream in a tiny cup, cinnamon cake with apple jam, and a small Japanese black soy bean flavored macaron. Overall, a really fun meal. We lingered for a while afterward, chatting with the staff, the chef, and other guests. So great! We'd definitely come back again and again.

Morning Glass -- Loved the atmosphere, service, location. The Egg-Uh-Muffin was excellent. Housemade English muffin, pork sausage, gruyere cheese, runny egg, arugula, tomato jam. Wish this were in my neighborhood!

Ailana Shave Ice -- Was only OK. The texture of the ice was a bit coarse. We had the mango, papaya, coconut, with condensed milk and ice cream combo. Ice cream was great. Syrups were very stingy. The bottom half of the bowl was ALL unflavored ice. Meh.

Sushi Izakaya Gaku -- Awesome place. So glad we made reservations in advance.

Liked the spicy hamachi and green onion tartare, topped with a quail egg yolk. Fun to make little cones with the seaweed wrapper. The flavors all went really well together. The baked crab also was great. Like the best crab cake ever. Wonderful flavors, no filler. The Japanese fried chicken was also excellent. But maybe not a standout in comparison to the other dishes. Also tried the tako with basil sauce. Incredibly tender. Our favorite though was te awesome seared chu toro tataki. Fatty. Smoky. Melts in your mouth. This dish will haunt my dreams. Perfect.

Ramen Nakamura -- Arrived at 6pm to a mostly empty restaurant. And left at 7pm to a line of about a dozen people. Had the oxtail ramen combo with gyoza (good) and fried rice (OK, not really noteworthy). Ramen was very good. Liked the noodle texture. Broth was very good. Flavorful and comforting. Oxtail was tender and served three pieces on the bone, more flavorful when dipped into ginger and soy sauce. Yum. A ton of food for $20.

Island Freeze at International Marketplace -- One of the few places in Waikiki serving Dole Whip! Tried the pineapple flavor. Delicious. Not sure how it compares to the one at the Dole Plantation, but this was really good.

Nice. That's a Da Beef-like itinerary. (Though to be fair to him, maybe more like 2 days of his schedule.)

The Dole Whip is pretty much the Dole Whip no matter where you get it There's also a stand in the food court of the Ala Moana Center that offers it, along with the usual Dole Whip floats made with pineapple juice.

I don't have much to add about Ramen Nakamura that hasn't already been said upthread except that I was there last week and truly enjoyed the oxtail ramen and gyoza. Rich broth with three large tender oxtails. The gyoza were pleasantly crisp on one side and tender on the other. Another place I never would have experienced without LTH - in fact, even knowing about it I walked right past it while looking for it.

Another place I enjoyed but haven't seen mention of is the Rainbow Drive-in. Its a "plate lunch" place with a very friendly atmosphere and it seemed care was put into the preparation of the food. I had the beef curry plate which was good, but I could have used some more spice. I guess they produce a very good representation of the Hawaiian plate lunch. If you go there I would recommend a stop at Bailey's Antiques and Aloha Shirts down the street for a nice shirt.

kathryn wrote:Thanks for the update!

Any thoughts on the new beer and cocktail bar, Pint and Jigger?

This is much too late since you've long since made a visit to Honolulu, but I did finally get to Pint and Jigger on Friday night. We get very few nights out without our 2 year old, and have been using them on places like Morimoto's, Alan Wong's, and Sushi Sasabune or Sushi Izakaya Gaku. We had some friends in Waikiki offer to have their babysitter watch our little guy along with their kids so we could all get out for a night together though, and we ended up at Pint and Jigger after some drinks and very delicious coconut cake at the Halekulani Hotel.

Pint and Jigger is a great spot for food and drinks by local standards. They have a good beer list, which is rare here, along with a large selection of whiskeys and a decent selection of mixed drinks. Food is all done as small plates. Very small plates, really, with most individual dishes only being suitable for 2 people to share. For a party of 5 we ordered two of any dish that everyone wanted to try. Their burger was surprisingly good, as were dishes like the bacon and strawberries with mascarpone cheese, their scotch egg and the fish and chips. Everything else we had was fine, if not memorable.

Pint and Jigger, REAL and Salt are all very welcome gastropub-type options in Honolulu. None of them would stand out at all in Chicago though. Of the three I think Salt has the best food and the best cocktails, but the least interesting beer list. P&J has the second best food, second best beer list and second best cocktail list. REAL has the best beer list by far, but the most forgettable food and I don't even know about the cocktails as I've never seen anyone not order beer there.

It's also worth noting that by about 9:00pm Pint and Jigger starts feeling much more like a meat market than a gastropub, with a large influx of well-dressed younger folks crowding the area near the bar and just ordering drinks and mingling.

enjoyed only a few days on oahu, honolulu and spent most time in waikiki - didn't make it to all of the places on our list but here are some highlights:

Sushi Izakaya Gaku - great things have been said upthread and on other sites - our experience: great reviews are still accurate. this place could easily gave Katsu some steep competition. we ordered ala carte and tried a mix of sushi and kitchen small plates - next time we won't hesitate to go omakase - each dish was excellent.
favorite dishes: a pork/scallop dumpling (blew away other versions including san fran dim sum icons); the sweetest hotate sashimi (other great sushi options, too - best to ask for what's best that day or in-season); Japanese mackerel; misoyaki butterfish (aka sable/black cod); Negihamachi Tartare; the fried chicken was finger lickin' good!; the service was warm and attentive and we felt the value was great - total was a fraction of a similar meal at Katsu. reservations are taken until 7p and then it's walk-in only.

Marukame Udon - wow! perfect, satisfying, casual, easy lunch & never managed to run a tab over $10pp! it's counter-service & there's always a line out the door (and sometimes wraps around) but it moves very quickly (this from someone who abhors waiting in line!). after returning more times than we'd care to admit, I have to say my favorite is the kamaage udon - simple and delectable. here's the menu: http://www.toridollusa.com/menu-waikiki.php you can watch them prepping the dough and cutting and cooking the noodles to order while you wait in line. order your udon (by number if you like - most are available cold or hot) from a staffer and them help yourself to tempura options and musubi. they're open for breakfast from 7-9a with a limited menu and then 11a-10p with a full menu.

Lucky Belly - came highly recommended and while I didn't get a chance to try their much-loved ramen, we enjoyed excellent cocktails and a wonderfully refreshing daikon salad special and refined dumplings and buns. they serve dinner until about midnight. http://www.luckybelly.com/index.html

Ramen Nakamura - tried a few ramen options - the gyoza were ok - nicely pan-seared but not really anything to write home about. the ramen is tasty, inexpensive and they're open late - serving 'till after 11p. cash only.

Char Hung Sut - very detailed account of this place on yelp and story backed by more than a few locals - tried a number of menu items and will stick with the manapua (char siu pork bun) and pork hash (rich & delicious - think siu mai) - the half-moons didn't impress as much (not bad at all, though). calling ahead and pre-ordering for pick-up is super easy - parking was not a problem. they do package for travel - 1 dozen manapua fill a box perfectly and flight attendants and row-mates are more than happy to help make them disappear. fyi, manapua are about softball-sized & very filling! currently $1.50ea. cash only.

Honolulu has a very friendly, if smallish, food co-op - http://www.kokua.coop/ - health-conscious musubi, great dried local pineapple in the bulk section, excellent local, sustainable coffee options, a tasty produce section and great local proteins if you have access to a kitchen.

Sushi Izakaya Gaku
1329 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 589-1329

Marukame Udon - Waikiki
2310 Kuhio Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 931-6000
http://www.toridollusa.com/menu-waikiki.php

Lucky Belly - downtown Honolulu (near Chinatown)
http://www.luckybelly.com/

Ramen Nakamura - Waikiki
2141 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-7960

Char Hung Sut - downtown Honolulu (Chinatown)
64 N Pauahi St
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 538-3335

Kokua Market Food Co-op
2643 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 941-1922
http://www.kokua.coop/

Were just there again a week ago. New things to add:

We ate at Lucky Belly and had the ramen. It's tasty, but not my favorite - the broth has a lot of Miso flavor, which I don't prefer. I did really like the buns, and I think we had a nice salad too.

We went to the alternate location of Iyasume Musubi in the Pacific Monarch Hotel. There is a little seating there, and they make the little bundles right there for you. Yummy!
Musubi Cafe Iyasume
2427 Kuhio Avenue,
Pacific Monarch Hotel Ground Floor
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 921-0168
http://www.tonsuke.com/eomusubiya.html

Finally, we really wanted healthy breakfasts a few days, so we went to Heavenly - and it was. Fresh, local, tasty. My first Açai bowl, but definitely not my last. They have eggs and pancakes, but also salads ("good for jet lag") and local fruit.
HEAVENLY
342 Seaside Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 923-1100
http://www.heavenly-waikiki.com

OH! And we had a nice plate lunch from Gilligan's. I had garlic shrimp, my husband had cocoanut shrimp. Both were quite good.

Gilligan's Beach Shack
Duke Kahanamoku Beach
Lunch Truck on Beach
Honolulu, Oahu, HI 96815