Hale Aina Happenings in September

Sake dinner at Hakone, "Leading Ladies" at Alan Wong's, 5 bartenders pour drinks for Hiroshi's contemporary kaiseki.

September 3, 2014

Martha Cheng,

Hakone launches its very first sake dinner next Tuesday. One of Honolulu’s best buffets puts aside the groaning table for a six-course menu paired with nine sakes selected by sake sommelier (yes, there’s such a thing!) Ikuko Shimizu. Expect simmered duck breast with fried eggplant and tofu, grilled snapper with uni and, of course, sushi.

$90, September 9, 6 p.m. Reservations required, call 944-4494

Check out HONOLULU’s September issue on newsstands now, with profiles of four of Honolulu’s top female chefs. And then reserve your spot for the upcoming next generation dinner at Alan Wong’s, featuring the “leading ladies” in the kitchen. Alan Wong’s restaurant is helmed by chef de cuisine Miya Nishimura and pastry chef Vivian Wu, but other women in the kitchen and behind the bar also keep the restaurant running. This dinner highlights some of their creations, such as “fish and poi,” with salmon and fried pa‘i‘ai, star anise and cinnamon braised pork belly, and a dessert take on a lava flow.

$85/$135 with wine pairings, September 17. Reservations required, call 949-2526

The next Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas contemporary kaiseki dinner will actually be at Sansei Waikiki, and it will bring together some of Honolulu’s best bartenders around town for cocktail pairings. Drink experts Chandra Lucariello (of distributor Southern Wine and Spirits), Alicia Yamachika (Pint and Jigger and Nobu Waikiki), Kyle Reutner (The Pig and the Lady), Justin Park (The Manifest), and Stephen Tam Loo (Sansei Waikiki and d.k Steak House) will whip up cocktails for the five-course dinner, which includes butter-poached tiger prawns and snapper en papillote with a five spice butter and calamansi.

$85, September 18, 6 p.m. at Sansei Waikiki. Reservations required, call 931-6286

Have you voted for your favorite restaurants yet? Vote in HONOLULU Magazine’s Hale Aina Awards, now in its 31st year.

Vote now, and you’ll get 10 percent off your ticket to the Hale Aina awards event, Sunday, November 9, at The Royal Hawaiian, where we announce the winners and you get to graze from a dozen restaurants serving food, including Roy’s, Morimoto and Stage. You have until September 15 to cast your ballot.