Niu Soft Serve’s Hot Kūlolo Sundae Is Its Top Seller (and It’s Vegan)
‘Aiku‘e and Kekahu Napoleon-Ahn opened a coconut-based ice cream shop. They didn’t expect to spend more of their time making kūlolo.
Textured like smooth lava, thick and caramelly, the star of Niu Soft Serve’s hot kūlolo sundae pools around a creamy swirl like a warm, luxuriant lagoon. It’s a boon and a bane. ‘Aiku‘e and Kekahu Napoleon-Ahn, brothers who co-founded the tiny vegan dessert shop in Mō‘ili‘ili, wanted a signature item that would speak to their Hawaiian heritage and draw locals to their coconut-based swirls. They debuted their kūlolo creation in 2021, never dreaming that the several dozen pounds of kalo they went through in a month would turn into several hundred pounds. Warm and cold, chewy and crunchy (from toasted macadamia nuts), hot kūlolo sundaes are by far Niu’s top seller.
Photo: James Nakamura
Why a bane? The glistening sauce of kalo, coconut milk, brown sugar and salt takes 24 hours to cook. Both brothers and their parents take turns nursing fresh batches four to six days a week.
“I have customers tell me, ‘I’ve been coming here for two years and I’ve been thinking of trying something else, but every time I have to get a kūlolo sundae,’” says ‘Aiku‘e Napoleon-Ahn. “We are an ice cream shop, first and foremost, but I swear we spend more time making kūlolo than anything else.”
2320 S. King St., niusoftserve.com, @niusoftserve
Mari Taketa is editor of Frolic Hawaii and dining editor of HONOLULU Magazine.
