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3660 On the Rise
Of the top-end Hawaii regional restaurants, 3660 will woo diners skeptical of white tablecloths. The dishes are sensible without being flamboyant and include familiar surf-and-turf ingredients that are either seared or pan-cooked. But the result is far from country-club fare thanks to the thoughtful additions of Hawaiian flavors. The restaurant is between 12th and 13th Aves.
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Alan Wong's
One of Hawaii's top restaurants, this high-energy place specializes in upmarket Hawaiian regional cuisine. Chef Wong is one of Hawaii's most celebrated chefs and offers a creative menu with an emphasis on fresh local ingredients. Appetizers include tempura 'ahi, while mains feature fresh seafood - such as Wong's signature dish, ginger-crusted onaga (red snapper). Each night there's also a five-course 'tasting menu'. Reservations are recommended.
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Auntie Pasto's
A local chain, this silly-named Italian-American restaurant is set in an atmospheric shophouse of windows and tiles. It doesn't seem very 'Hawaii' but locals come to look pretty and eat sensibly.
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Ba Le Bake Shoppe
A corruption of the word 'Paris,' this Vietnamese bakery-café is one of an islandwide chain established by a recent Vietnamese immigrant. The simple shop is best known for its chewy baguette sandwiches, but you can also scratch that spring-roll itch. For a caffeine jolt, there's an equally chewy cup of coffee served with loads of sugar and milk, either hot or iced. There is another outlet on N King St.
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Banyan Veranda
This courtyard veranda at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider offers both classic Pacific Rim and French cuisine in a thoroughly romantic setting.
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Bubbies
In a college strip skilled at pouring draughts, this neighborhood ice-cream shop is the sweet-tooth's alternative to beer. Homemade ice cream comes in luscious tropical flavors or decadent chocolate-on-chocolate creations.
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Cafe Laniakea
Chic and health-conscious, this café runs with an entirely different crowd than your average mess hall. Set in the courtyard at the historic Julia Morgan-designed YWCA, the café has a changing menu committed to local and organic (when possible) ingredients. And because Honolulu has never heard of pretension, the upscale meals are close to down-home prices.
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Chai's Island Bistro
This chef-driven restaurant draws accolades for both its food and presentation but what really makes it a one-of-a-kind experience is the music - some of the best in the islands - that accompanies dinner. The upmarket Pacific Rim cuisine, with such specialties as wok-seared lobster and brandy-glazed Mongolian lamb, is well worth a visit anyway.
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Chef Mavro
The most avant-garde of Honolulu's haute restaurants, Chef Mavro creates conceptual dishes using green tea-dusted zucchini-blossom tempura appetizer with a glass of German Moselle wine. Textures and fragrances are just as important as flavor and great care is used to pair food and wine.
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Coffee Talk
For a coffee-producing state, Hawaii hasn't been jolted by the 'café' culture phenomenon, making this Kaimuki hangout all the more unique. Start the day with a slow wind-up of java, people-watching and crossword-puzzling. And then chase it with a peanut-butter cookie or scone.
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Contemporary Cafe
This is a genteel treat, with a pleasant lawn setting at the Contemporary Museum in Makiki Valley. There are healthy nibbles from salads to sandwiches, and you can just pop in for lunch without paying the museum admission.
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Days of Aloha
Tucked behind the commercial strip Wai'alae Ave, this vintage Hawaiian-style café serves tasty salads and sandwiches, Italian sodas and coffee drinks. On Saturday night, there's live Hawaiian music, and you can bring your own beer.
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Diamond Head Market & Grill
Fast-food for an upscale neighborhood, this takeaway counter and deli market feeds families who don't want to heat up the kitchen as well as career bachelors with healthy versions of plate lunches. The salmon plate gets an approving nod from others in line and there are picnic tables beside the parking lot for immediate consumption. In the market, you can stock up on salads and picnic supplies.
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Down to Earth Natural Foods
Honolulu's largest natural-foods supermarket has a small sandwich and salad café with lots of vegetarian options. The grocery section has a decent selection of local and organic produce including Hawaii's tasty papaya and apple bananas.
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Duc's Bistro
Honolulu's power brokers hang out at this swank French-Vietnamese bistro with a tiny Manhattan-like bar. Fusion highlights include noodles in lime sauce, seafood paella, vermicelli with spring rolls, and avocado and green papaya salad. A small jazz combo performs on most evenings.
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Duke's Canoe Club
By common consent, Duke's is the most popular beachfront restaurant in Waikiki, located beachside at the Outrigger Waikiki hotel. Named in honour of a local surfing legend, the open air restaurant caters to a constant stream of locals and visitors alike, and features live Hawaiian music afternoons and evenings. The breakfast and lunch buffets are a bargain.
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Eggs 'n Things
Never empty, this bustling diner specializes in hearty breakfast fare, from thick pancakes done up with whip cream to steak and eggs. The odd hours reflect its clientele, early morning tourists, graveyard shift workers and post-clubbers.
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Ezogiku Noodle Cafe
This is where many Waikiki hotel employees go during their lunch and dinner breaks for steaming bowls of Japanese ramen, curries and fried rice. It's cheap, fast and the closest you'll get to a subway noodle shop this side of Tokyo.
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Fatty's Chinese Kitchen
Have a seat at this hole-in-the-wall next to the Miramar hotel for some of the cheapest and saltiest grub in Waikiki. The atmosphere is purely local, with a dozen seats lining a long bar just a grease splatter away from the cook.
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Fort Street Bar & Grill
Local foodies' favorite for dressed-down Hawaiian contemporary food, this unpretentious spot is Colin Nishida's latest addition to the Side Street Inn family. The office workers roll in after work for light plates and karaoke.
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Golden Palace Seafood Restaurant
It says seafood on the sign outside, but it is the dim sum around US$2 that brings in Chinatown's midmorning regulars. All the dim sum components are here: impatient wait staff, mystery meatballs, pink tablecloths and Asian kitschy art. You get only a quick peek inside the bamboo steamers and no accompanying explanation. Tasty requests include char siu bao (steamed pork buns), shrimp or chive dumplings and look funn (steamed rice noodles).
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Hale Vietnam
This top-notch favorite has delicious Vietnamese food at moderate prices. A delightful starter is the temple rolls, a slight twist on the familiar spring roll with the addition of steamed yam. The yellow curries are also excellent, and come in vegetarian, beef and chicken variations.
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Helena's Hawaiian Food
Wedged between a radiator shop and the highway, this humble Honolulu institution dates back to 1946. The menu is mostly à la carte dishes, some smoky and salty, others sweet or spicy. You start with poi (fermented taro) or rice, then add a couple of small plates of lomilomi (minced and salted, with tomato and green onion) salmon, briny shortribs or kalua pig, and you've got a mini-luau for under $10.
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Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas
The Honolulu culinary scene is all about East-West fusions, and chef Hiroshi Fukui adds his own personal stamp with his subtle, unlikely, delicious creations.
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Honolulu Café
This breezy café is set in the old Dillingham Transportation Building, one of the hubs of the US robber barons who ruled Hawaii's economy. The light fare features mainly sandwiches and salads and the café is an easy walk away from the franchise options at Aloha Tower Marketplace.
