Lemon Crunch Shave Ice? Blueberry Cream Cheese Crush? Farm-to-Spoon Shave Ice Comes to Diamond Head Market & Grill
Kelvin Ro’s cheffy shave ice creations are the latest new iteration at the 26-year-old eatery.
Photo: Noelle Chun
What does it take to keep evolving a 26-year-old classic? Maybe buying the whole farm. That’s the approach from Diamond Head Market & Grill, which recently debuted a farm-to-spoon shave ice stand next to its storied market on Monsarrat Avenue.
It’s the newest endeavor for the eatery and its chef and owner, Kelvin Ro. Chef-driven shave ice flavors highlight pikake, mango, guava and citrus grown at Ro’s 5-acre farm at the base of Koko Head. The evolving menu takes direct inspiration from the bakery’s most iconic treats.
“We have a new resurgence of interest in shave ice now,” says Ro. “As a chef, I wanted to do it with my own niche. It would look different, it would present different, it would be more along the lines of artisan with actual fruit I made into my own syrups, compotes and sauces.”
Photo: Noelle Chun
Ro takes his signature lemon crunch cake—an airy cake pierced with flashes of lemon curd, white frosting and toffee crunch—and brings its best qualities into the new Lemon Crunch Shave Ice ($12). Using an industrial-strength shave ice machine he bought two decades ago for $10,000, Ro shaves the ice feather-thin, soft as the first snow. He builds a Mauna Loa-like mountain, lightly packing a bottom base so that it doesn’t collapse, then layering on a softer mound. Atop this dome, he drizzles on honey syrup followed by a house-made tart lemon curd sauce. The finale is a rich scoop of vanilla ice cream and toffee crunch.
Photo: Noelle Chun
Another flavor, Blueberry Cream Cheese Crush ($12), harkens back to the market’s popular blueberry scone. It oozes with house-made blueberry compote and cream cheese sauce, the same ingredients Ro uses for the scone but adjusted to saturate the fluffy ice. Meanwhile, Hawaiian Da Kine ($12) references the grill’s coconut breakfast pancakes, using haupia sauce and pineapple compote.
Photo: Noelle Chun
The new pikake shave ice ($15) is a standout. While pikake is treasured in the Islands for its sweet fragrance, chefs rarely attempt to spotlight its delicate characteristics in food, particularly since growing the flowers is labor-intensive, scarce and costly. Ro lets the pikake bloom on the vine and picks the blossoms at sunrise when the oil content peaks. He cold-steeps them, like rosewater, into a sugar syrup and laces the airy shave ice with it, garnishing only with fresh strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. A finessed version of shave ice, its sweet floral notes are gentle like a whisper.
Photo: Noelle Chun
Ro’s chef-driven take on the classic rainbow shave ice ($12) replaces artificial food colorings with scratch-made fruit coulis, a pulpy sauce that is thicker with more crushed fruit. He swaps out neon blue, red and yellow syrups for liliko‘i, lychee and guava coulis that bursts with fresh fruit flavor and clings to the ice crystals instead of pooling in the bottom.
Recognizing that not every customer wants a gourmet dessert—especially kids and families hunting for an after-school snack—Ro also keeps a traditional lineup on deck ($7 keiki, $9 regular) with 12 classic syrups, including blue vanilla, strawberry, pineapple and the quintessential rainbow combination.
Photo: Noelle Chun
The shave ice project traces its roots to 2022, when Ro started growing salad greens, fruits and fragrant flowers to use at his bakery, grill and lei-making business. It’s his latest novel approach. Ro revolutionized the greasy-spoon plate lunch by bringing fine-dining standards and healthier ingredients to casual staples, turning Diamond Head Market & Grill into a neighborhood gourmet destination. He swapped fry-and-flip fare for seared ‘ahi over greens, charred kalbi with brown rice, and twice-marinated grilled chicken thighs—items that remain popular today.
Over the years, the brand has continued to expand. Ro recently opened a lei shop in Waikīkī and absorbed the culinary talent from James Beard semifinalist Nami Kaze after that restaurant closed.
“At 60 years old, all my friends, my age, are retiring,” he says. “And I’m like, really, what are you guys going to do all day at home? How about starting a farm, a shave ice stand, a lei store after 60? You’re just beginning.”
3158 Monsarrat Ave., Lē‘ahi, diamondheadmarket.com, @diamondheadmarketandgrill
Noelle Chun is a contributor to HONOLULU Magazine and Frolic Hawai‘i. @aiyanoelle
