Hawaii: Food Highlights Part 2

I’m back with part 2 of my food highlights while in Hawaii. I recently posted Part 1 featuring delicious food I ate on the Big Island of Hawaii. Today, I’m going to feature food from Honolulu, Oahu.

Hanajuban – Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii – Nice spot for a quick lunch when we first arrived in Honolulu. It’s very small and the lay out is that of a noodle bar.

Shoyu Ramen

Bali Steak & Seafood Oceanfront – Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii. Great service and ambience and the food was great. The malasada bites were like heaven and something my mom had been looking for our entire trip.

Entree – Roasted mahi mahi with spiced mango butter. We all shared a few sides which were sweet potato fries, Yukon gold potato puree, and corn & edamame succotash
Dessert – Warm malasada bites with lilikoi custard and salted caramel

Tropics Bar & Grill – Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii – Great service once again, even though they were super busy during the lunch hour. Plus, it is outside near the beach and by one of the hotel pools so a lot of people come here for lunch, but the staff handled it like pros and everything was prompt and yummy. My food tasted so fresh and I loved everything on the plate!

Pepper seared rare ahi tuna salad (Hirabara greens, edamame, wasabi ponzu dressing)

Fresco Italian Restaurant – Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii – This restaurant is surprisingly large once you walk around the different dining areas inside. I wasn’t sure what to expect here because besides traditional Hawaiian fare, I think of seafood as what you would typically get in Hawaii or on many islands. I was pleasantly surprised! The food was delicious and the view was very nice too as we were seated right by a large window. I’ve also learned that macadamia pesto is amazing and I want to try to make it myself.

Appetizer – Insalata Caprese (kamuela tomato, mozzarella cheese, macadamia pesto, Hawaiian black salt)
Entree – Tortellini al pesto (tri color cheese tortellini, macadamia pesto, cream, squash, semi dried tomato)

Roy’s Waikiki – Honolulu, Hawaii – We enjoyed Roy’s Waikoloa so much on the Big Island that we decided to go to the flagship restaurant in Honolulu for our last night in Hawaii. It was a bit different than the one in Waikoloa (a bit louder and not as spacious) but the service and food was still excellent. I got 2 appetizers and a 3rd shared one for my meal. The ribs were so good and I’m glad that with the appetizer portion, it’s just a small plate of ribs and nothing else. The salad I only ate a little bit of because it was more bitter than I like. I also ordered a dessert, but was also surprised with a slice of chocolate cake for my birthday, which was later that week.

Dynamite T.N.T Roll – Spicy tuna, unagi peanut sauce, candied macadamia nuts
Sweet home waima-nalo salad (nalo mesclun greens, creamy herb dressing)
Kinase smoked Szechuan baby back pork ribs
Chocolate cake
Pineapple upside cake

Tropics Bar & Grill – Back to Tropics for lunch on the day we were leaving to go home.

Kalua pork & pineapple brick oven pizza (queso fresco, hoisin sauce) and I asked for no cilantro because I hate cilantro!

And no trip to Hawaii would be complete without some shaved ice! I got the lemon-lime flavor. I don’t remember the name of this stand. It was at the USS Missouri.

Lastly, this isn’t really a food in terms of a meal or restaurant, but it does fit into the food category. Every trip I have made to Hawaii, we also make a point to visit the Honolulu Cookie Company. There are soooo many cookies to choose from and they’re always coming up with new ones. We always leave with a bag full of different size boxes of all different kinds of cookies to stock up on as well as some gifts for people back home.

A glimpse from the outside of the shop and a glimpse of the shopping bag filled with cookie boxes. The boxes you see are just the top layer! A few boxes are for ourselves and there’s a few boxes there for some relatives, neighbor, two friends etc.

That concludes my food highlights Hawaii edition!