Chao Brings Modern Vietnamese Shine to an Unlikely Stretch of Nu‘uanu

Photo: Melissa Chang

What I heard, standing in the kitchen on Chao’s opening day in July: “Modern Vietnamese.” “Traditional homestyle.” This is going to be interesting, I thought. If you’re wondering, as I did, how these seemingly competing themes could live on the same menu, it turns out Chao does it very well.

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The new restaurant sits just above H-1 between old-school bar Shinsho Tei and O’Reilly Auto Parts. It’s two doors down from Paradise Poke, which has the same owners and seafood source, and around the corner from Sam’s Delicatessen and a laundromat. The point is that on this unlikely stretch of Nu‘uanu Avenue, Chao is the nicest full-service restaurant in living memory—and it’s worth a visit no matter where you live.

Photo: Mari Taketa

This is a place I’ve been to four times in the last month. The pho, especially the succulent, meaty chicken pho in a long-simmered broth with slick fresh noodles ($19), is bedrock solid, anchoring the traditional side of the menu along with standards like spring rolls. The other side is where the fun happens.

Photo: Mari Taketa

Chao’s modern Vietnamese touches spin dishes like the beef carpaccio ($16) and smoky grilled Spanish-style octopus ($22) with nuoc cham, chiles, fried shallots and garlic and micro herbs. Both are among my must-orders.

Photo: Mari Taketa

So is the ceviche of scallop, shrimp and calamari in a coconutty, limey bath with a light flash of heat ($14); you eat it on the fluffiest shrimp chips. Herbs and chiles similarly top roasted Mishima wagyu bone marrow ($16). And of the soft-shell crab pasta’s two components ($22), the thick noodles are bathed in a creamy, lemongrassy beurre monté and the twin crabs, deep-fried, are sweet and crispy.

Photo: Melissa Chang

Rice people will like the Pork Fried Rice ($16), made with nutty, chewy broken rice and chicken fat and capped with roasted pork belly. With this or with anything, you can add a poached egg for $3; breaking the yolk into your pho makes it rich.

Photo: Melissa Chang

There is a bar, where I park myself on every visit and where if you like smoky, sour and bitter cocktails, you’ll appreciate the mezcal-forward Night Market Fun ($18). If you prefer something whose gingery burn feels like it’s healthy for you, get the Chao Penicillin ($17) with Chivas and honey. Other choices include a Chao Old Fashioned and a popular dirty martini. I lead with cocktails here because I think they’re perfect on the way home with a bowl of pho and a plate of crunchy gai lan ($12), which are enough to sate two light appetites or one large one.

So I haven’t touched on Sunday brunch because I have yet to go; or happy hour, where I do know a luscious hamachi kama lives. One of Chao’s owners, Chancellor Kim, comped it one day as they were trialing it, which is how I know this melting collar is reason enough to show up between 2 and 5 p.m. Brunch includes some of the above pūpū plus a braised brisket loco moco on chicken fat rice ($25), shrimp XO congee ($23) and a five-spice duck confit and waffle ($24).

You wouldn’t think parking at low-key Nu‘uanu Shopping Plaza fills up; well, now it does. Carpool if at all possible—other options nearby are virtually non-existent. Or better yet, TheBus stops right in front.

Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday brunch 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 1613 Nu‘uanu Ave., Nu‘uanu, (808) 888-0166, chaohawaii.com, @chaohawaii

Mari Taketa is editor of Frolic Hawai‘i and dining editor of HONOLULU Magazine.