Honolulu’s Best Dining

Sandy Kanemura

The rise of Pacific Rim cooking has given food fanciers across the globe a whole new realm of enjoyment. And it could come from no other place in the world than Hawaii, where a melting pot of cultures share their traditional ethnic foods with one another. Simmering out of Hawaii’s culinary creativity has come the much celebrated "Hawaii Regional Cuisine," a blend of East and West with a dash of exotic Polynesia that has placed Hawaii’s chefs on a well-deserved elevated status. If you want to experience superb dining in beautiful Honolulu, it simply doesn’t get better than this.

Heading the list of Hawaii’s luminaries is Chef Roy Yamaguchi, the originator of Hawaii’s Euro-Asian cooking. Roy’s Restaurant opened in 1988 at 6600 Kalanianaole Highway, along the shores of Maunalua Bay in East Honolulu, and it quickly became a dining destination among both kama‘aina (locals) and malahini (visitors). Favorite entrees include Flat Top Seared Large Shrimp with creamy crab basil sauce, Roy’s Original Blackened Island Ahi in spicy-hot soy mustard butter sauce, Crispy Thai Stuffed Chicken with fresh fruit chutney and red Thai curry peanut sauce, and the Char-Broiled Garlic Mustard Short Ribs. Each is a masterful blend of island flavors with worldly sophistication.

Roy also prepares two fabulous fish entrees: Steamed Fresh Hawaiian Fish (your choice) prepared Chinese-style with sizzling hot peanut oil; and Flat Top Seared Hawaiian White Fish laden with Roy’s original macadamia lobster sauce. Simply heaven-sent. Top it all off with Roy’s famous Melting Hot Chocolate Soufflé with raspberry coulis and anglaise, or his Fresh Mango Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with macadamia caramel.

Throughout your evening at Roy’s, you’ll find ample justification for the accolades that have been heaped upon this innovative chef, from the "James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest" to high rankings among Hawaii and the nation’s top restaurants in such publications as Forbes, Conde Nast Traveler and Zagat’s Hawaii Survey.

Having already stepped into the global marketplace with two restaurants in Japan, Chef Yamaguchi most recently teamed with Outback Steakhouse, Inc., to develop future Roy’s Restaurants across the U.S. and internationally, adding to his operations on all the major Hawaiian Islands and in Guam, Pebble Beach and Newport Beach (California), Seattle (Washington), Scottsdale (Arizona), Bonita Springs (Florida), New York and Cherry Creek (Denver). If the entrepreneurial Chef Yamaguchi has his way, there could soon be a Roy’s Restaurant in your city.

As the flavors of the Pacific continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1990’s, it was indeed fortunate that the biggest and best-kept culinary secret became a secret no more. The reputation of Chef Sam Choy, an imaginative chef of large stature with a passion for homegrown foods—and plenty of it—swept through the local dining scene like a tidal wave, and his popularity shows no signs of subsiding. Chef Choy, who grew up on Oahu’s North Shore, opened his first restaurant on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1981. Any islander who headed for the Big Island soon heard that it was a must to stop by Sam Choy’s. Today, eight restaurants bear the Sam Choy name, including one in Tokyo and one in Guam.

Sam Choy’s Diamond Head Restaurant at 449 Kapahulu Avenue, on the east edge of Waikiki, is his first restaurant on Oahu; it has been booked well ahead of time since its opening in 1995. The restaurant itself is tastefully attractive, but not so plushly upscale that you feel uncomfortable. There is a warm, island feel the moment you are greeted at the door that never leaves throughout your stay.

Chef Choy’s unique rendition of “Hawaii Regional Cuisine” uses only the freshest local seafood, organic produce and meats. Local-style dishes, from shrimp to ahi or opakapaka to steak, are flavorfully prepared and presented in Chef Choy’s signature generous portions, which most times appear to be made for two.

If you enjoy the Diamond Head restaurant, you’ll want to make a beeline for Sam Choy’s Breakfast, Lunch, Crab & Big Aloha Brewery. Located in Honolulu’s industrial district at 580 North Nimitz Highway, the restaurant is a distinct departure from Chef Choy’s conservative Diamond Head operation.

This venue features a warehouse appearance complete with big boilers for Sam’s microbrewery and a Hawaiian sampan in the middle of the dining area. In the open kitchen, you can watch as fresh crab is steamed, calamari and popcorn shrimp are fried, and ahi or Cajun seared sashimi (raw fish) is prepared. If sashimi is too exotic for you, there’s the standard shrimp cocktails or oysters on the half-shell, too. Or try a wok of Manila clams steamed in ginger miso broth. Equally delicious is the wok of shellfish featuring clams, mussels and Florida golden crab legs in garlic white-wine broth.

For entrees, the house favorites are definitely the whole, steamed Dungeness crab or the steamed Maine lobster, both served with drawn butter. It’s more than finger-lickin’ good. For non-shellfish eaters, select from Garlic Roasted Island Chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, a grilled 20-ounce T-bone steak, Sam’s Onolicious Rack of Ribs or a grilled 8-ounce New York steak.

Desserts at both Sam Choy restaurants are ample as well, and any choice is a sweet-tooth tamer—from the Key Lime Pie, a signature BLC creation, and Wahiawa Pineapple Cheesecake to Kokoleka Haupia Profiteroles, four miniature cream puffs filled with rich chocolate haupia and topped with chantilly. A favorite is the Warm Apple Cobbler, baked in individual servings and topped with vanilla ice cream. Good until the last bite.

It’s no wonder Nation’s Restaurant News named Chef Sam Choy one of “50 Tastemakers” influencing America’s $360 billion food-service industry.

lan Wong, a "James Beard" award-winning chef, opened Alan Wong’s Restaurant at 1857 South King Street in Honolulu in 1995; he quickly gained a following, winning numerous “Hale Aina” awards from Honolulu magazine and Ilima Awards from the Honolulu Advertiser. Ethnic ingredients are creatively blended to provide the diner with a truly exhilarating experience.

House favorites include the Shepherd’s Pie with lobster, shrimp and scallops flambeed with Pernod, Grilled Huli Huli Spiced Chicken Breast with Shrimp & Scallop, Sauteed Shrimp and Clams with a spicy lemongrass black bean sauce, and Grilled Mahimahi on Stir- Fried Vegetables.

Save room for dessert because they will not disappoint—not with such concoctions as "The Coconut," haupia sorbet in a Hawaiian vintage chocolate shell served with tropical fruits and lilikoi sauce or the Banoffee Pie of bananas, toffee and coffee cream on a macadamia crust with mocha almond fudge ice cream. A real original is the Shave Ice, pineapple granite atop a vanilla parfait in a white chocolate cone splashed with Blue Curacao, Pineapple Martini and Strawberry Liqueur, which is also available in non-alcoholic syrups.

If the restaurant fare pleases you, you can also sample the culinary expertise of Chef Wong for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Pineapple Room in Liberty House at the Ala Moana Center. Creativity and a connection with the ethnic foods that are a mainstay of island dinner tables make Alan Wong’s cooking a perennial favorite.

After an illustrious career as executive chef at such distinctive Hawaiian prope

rties as the Halekulani hotel in Waikiki and the Four Seasons Resort on Maui, celebrity chef George Mavrothalassitis, who goes by the shortened monicker of Chef Mavro, decided to open a restaurant of his own in Honolulu. The eponymous Chef Mavro is appropriately located at 1969 South King Street. The only restaurant in Hawaii to offer a perfectly paired glass of wine with every item on the menu, Chef Mavro’s offerings are truly fit for a king.

The Marseilles-born chef’s Provence-inspired version of "Hawaii Regional Cuisine" is served in an elegant atmosphere of award-winning design. Warm and welcoming like the chef himself, the restaurant has easily become a home to Honolulu’s more discerning diners, who are most gratified with the experience.

At Chef Mavro, you may dine a la carte or sample one of three prix-fixe menus with or without wine pairings. Your choice might be the Crispy Moi (an island fish) on Pink Lentils with wilted baby romaine and oyster sauce. Or perhaps the Rotisserie Island Chicken served with hulihuli-style sauce.

The best advice for your first visit would be to select the chef’s signature dish, Onaga Baked in a Hawaiian Salt Crust. This tasty, well-presented fish entree has earned Chef Mavro a masterful reputation in the islands, in addition to a GQ Magazine award. That’s the epitome of "Hawaii Regional Cuisine," a gentle blend of East and West with a touch of exotic Polynesia. To this is added an exotic touch.

Perhaps not quite up to "Hawaii Regional Cuisine" status in innovativeness, The Willows, located at 901 Hausten Street, is nonetheless worth a visit for its variety of savory island favorites and its beautiful tropical-island interior design. Originally opened on July 4, 1944, The Willows enjoyed decades as Honolulu’s garden restaurant, serving homestyle island food and its trademark "mile-high" coconut cream pie; however, a lagging economy eventually caused owner Randy Yee to close its doors a few years ago.

Since its "soft" reopening in late summer last year, the new Willows has received an unexpectedly high volume of business on word of mouth alone. Diners rave about the wonderful renovations by new owner GDK, Inc., including etched-glass windows that look out onto a waterfall and pond, a dancing courtyard fountain, a chapel with stained-glass windows for small weddings, a large banquet hall and private dining rooms.

Executive Chef John Stack has created a lunch buffet featuring such local favorites as Willows corn chowder, poke, lomi salmon, Willows Famous Curry with chicken, shrimp or vegetables, lau lau, chicken long rice, teriyaki chicken, prime rib, roast turkey, glazed ham and a saimin station where you create your own nigiri saimin (soup with noodles).

There’s also a create-your-own sundae station, as well as pies and cakes featuring taro and haupia. During dinner, Roasted Portabello Mushrooms and Suckling Pig are added. For fine dining, Top of the Willows upstairs offers an appetizer menu with Seared Ahi Katsu, Fire-Roasted Portabello Mushrooms and Thai Summer Rolls. Willows Clam Chowder or a Classic Caesar Salad serve as your prelude to such enticing entrees as a 14-ounce grilled New York steak, fresh opakapaka, shrimp scampi or a mixed vegetable grill.

For dessert, it’s your choice of baked apples in filo or vanilla bean ice cream and fresh berries. You’ll leave more than pleased.

Whenever you’re in the 50th State, do what the islanders do and go where the islanders go for the best eating in the islands.

Sandy Kanemura owns a public relations/marketing company in Honolulu and has authored freelance travel articles on Hawaii for various in-flight publications.