BEST OF THE REST |
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Chinatown Honolulu’ s Chinatown is home to a wealth of culinary delights, from moon cakes and manapua( steamed bun) to char siu bao( steamed pork bun). Inside Oahu Market, you’ ll find butchers chopping roast pork with salty, crunchy skin; fruit( introduced to Hawaii from China), including lychee and pomelo; fish; and poultry. Visit Youpo Noodles for spicy, hand-pulled biangbiang noodles and dim sum. |
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image: stockfood |
made with chilies, water and salt. A classic combination is to place either kalua pork or lau lau in a bowl next to a scoop of poi and top it with lomi salmon and chili pepper water. The warm smoky, salty meat, paired with starchy poi, chilled lomi salmon— for acidity— and chili pepper water for spice, results in a well-balanced, perfectly seasoned dish.
Watching Craig work behind the counter with his wife and kids reminds me that food and family is at the heart of Hawaiian cuisine, both traditional and local-style.
MODERN HAWAII CUISINE
In the early 1990s, Hawaii’ s cuisine began to evolve again. Twelve classically trained chefs began Hawaii’ s farm-to-table movement, coining it Hawaii Regional Cuisine( HRC), in a bid to support local farmers during a time when resorts and high-end restaurants focused on European cuisines and only used imported ingredients. The new style focused more on the flavors of Asia and the Pacific, using high-quality ingredients grown, raised and caught in Hawaii.
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Hawaiian pork belly
Today, in Honolulu, the chef best known for taking local cuisine to the next level is arguably Ed Kenney. Opened in 2015, Kenney’ s restaurant, Mud Hen Water, breathed new life into both Hawaiian and Hawaii local cuisine, pushing past HRC to introduce a more modern yet rustic way of cooking that still held all three preceding cuisines in high regard. Every dish tells a story, giving diners a sense of place. For example, hand-cut pasta is paired with a ragu made from wild axis deer— an invasive species on Maui, Moloka’ i and Lana’ i. For Kenney’ s fried breadfruit— one of the original canoe crops— he pairs chili pepper water aioli, which combines a Hawaii local condiment( chili pepper water) with a classic French sauce that was often used in HRC( aioli). Or take the roast pork belly dish, made from ingredients you could find in a Hawaiian plate lunch— slow-cooked pork, cabbage and poi. Instead of Hawaiian kalua pig, Kenney’ s preparation is closer to Chinese roast pork; the cabbage is braised with bacon— an ingredient originally from Ireland— and the poi is turned into a French vinaigrette.
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Kaka’ ako Farmers Market Every Saturday, from 8am to 12pm, over 100 local farmers, artisans and food vendors gather here to sell their wares. It’ s a great opportunity to get to know local producers and ingredients. In 2025, Kaka’ ako was named # 3 Best Farmers Market in America by USA Today.
Waikiki Stix Asia— Waikiki Shopping Plaza’ s food hall— is modeled on Asia’ s street food markets. Try the garlic-chili fried chicken, pork fried mandoo and tteokbokki at Good Chicken, and Japanese tea and soft serve at Nana’ s Green Tea. Enjoy a balmy evening stroll to the corner of Kuhio Avenue and Kapuni Street, where you’ ll find a cluster of food trucks, including Thai Tacos, serving succulent Thai grilled beef, chicken satay and crispy pork belly tacos. Or head to Ohana Hale Food Truck Park, home to over a dozen vendors. Be sure to head down side streets to find some of the neighborhood’ s best poke and plate-lunch spots, like the popular Maguro Brothers on Royal Hawaiian Avenue.
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SPRING 2026 • 55 |