5 Notable New Restaurants
Where you’ll find the city’s best seafood laksa, along with excellent jerk chicken and catfish po’ boys.
Octopus ala gallega and seafood paella. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
Opened last spring, El Cielo is Honolulu’s second Spanish restaurant (the other is the half-Spanish, half-Italian Rigo). Dishes by chef Masa Gushiken draw from his Argentine childhood and time spent cooking in Spain, Tokyo and Hawai‘i. Those dishes include grilled octopus with chimichurri, three paella offerings and his mother’s ground beef empanadas with paprika and raisins.
346 Lewers St., (808) 772-4533, elcielo-hawaii.com, @elcielo_hawaii
SEE ALSO: El Cielo Is an Oasis of Spanish Tapas in Waikīkī
Seafood Laksa. Photo: Thomas Obungen
HK Café is an outlier on Maunakea Street—a retro-trendy answer to the neighborhood’s busy but worn mom-and-pops. Its condensed milk-splashed toasts, tomato macaroni soup and arguably the city’s best seafood laksa evoke British colonial-era Hong Kong; jook and a slew of noodle dishes are homey and traditional.
1113 Maunakea St., (808) 200-5757, @hkcafehawaii
SEE ALSO: Chinatown’s New HK Café Has Retro Vibes and Legit Noodles
Irie Jerk Chicken. Photo: Gregg Hoshida
Kadeen Goldcamp’s first brick-and-mortar is on Bishop Street—a we-have-arrived address considering Irie Jerk’s beginnings as a food truck that roved from Waikīkī to Kewalo to Schofield Barracks. Recipes are from Goldcamp, her grandmother and their native Jamaica. Excellent jerk chicken and oxtail stew are by themselves worth a visit to this takeout eatery.
1088 Bishop St., Suite 101, iriejerkhi.com, @iriejerkhawaii
SEE ALSO: Finally, Amazing Jerk Chicken and Oxtail at Downtown’s New Irie Jerk
Hu Tieu. Photo: Thomas Obungen
Tiny Pate Vietnamese Cuisine in Ke‘eaumoku’s Samsung Plaza has five tables and big flavors. Its pride is sauce-tossed dry hu tieu noodles heaped with toppings. But the pork sparerib plate, the riblets marinated in sweet-tangy fish sauce before grilling; and hearty, perfectly spicy bun bo hue noodles may outshine them.
655 Ke‘eaumoku St., (808) 940-5432, patehi.com, @patehiofficial
Photo: Melissa Chang
Biscuits and gravy, buttermilk fried chicken, catfish po’ boys: Continuing the trend of buzzworthy finds in unlikely places, Southern Love, opened in midsummer in a Kaka‘ako nook formerly occupied by a sake brewery, draws locals and food-sick expats from the South. Order ahead or allow extra time—chef Corey Love runs a one-man show, and it’s worth the wait.
753 Queen St., (808) 762-0223, @southernlovehawaii
SEE ALSO: Biscuits and Gravy and Po Boys: We Love Southern Love in Kaka‘ako
