New and Coming Eateries on O‘ahu: January 2023, Part 2

14 (more) new O‘ahu restaurants, dessert and snack shops, plus a craft beer tasting room to add to your list.

January 30, 2023

Mari Taketa,

Bishop ‘Onokai

Photo: Mari Taketa

The promise of an Italian-Korean fusion restaurant is taking shape in the lobby of downtown’s Executive Centre, where Bishop ‘Onokai is slated for a February grand opening. Featuring dishes by David Jung, former chef of the Ramada Seoul Hotel, the restaurant will serve lunch and dinner in the space formerly occupied by Hukilau Honolulu. Look for Jung’s takes on antipasti, pastas, risotto and steak dishes, along with black bean jajangmyun noodles and their traditional sweet-sour pork accompaniment, tang suyuk. Later this year, the restaurant will start turning out prepared Korean dishes for takeout upstairs when 88 Mart, formerly of Ke‘eaumoku Street, reopens at street level as downtown’s only full-service grocery.

1088 Bishop St., (808) 200-1362

Doraku Kapolei

Photo: Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Kevin Aoki’s third O‘ahu venue for his izakaya and sushi chain opened in December at Kapolei Marketplace. This one, 5,000 square feet in the old Ho Ho Chinese restaurant space, is replete with touches like logo sake barrels and a sea of hanging lanterns emblazoned with the kanji for Aoki. The full menu of fusion and traditional izakaya dishes is there, including the signature garlic hamachi roll. Unique to this Doraku location: a cigar bar on the lanai.

590 Farrington Hwy, (808) 888-6300, dorakusushi.com/kapolei, @dorakusushi

Gelatissimo

Photo courtesy of Gelatissimo

This Aussie chain, launched in Sydney in 2002 and now found from Singapore to Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia, opened its second U.S. location in Royal Hawaiian Center in December. Twenty-plus flavors include Chunky New York Cheesecake, Wicked Double Choc Brownie and a “Tastes of Hawai‘i” collection with Dragonfruit and Lychee, Guava and Pina Colada. Gelatissimo’s first U.S. store is in Houston; the Waikīkī one is a standalone kiosk near Tiffany & Co.

2201 Kalākaua Ave., gelatissimo.com/stores/waikiki, @gelatissimousa

L1 Iniki Popcorn

Photo: Mari Taketa

Its best seller is Volcano popcorn—freshly popped and mixed with butter, furikake and mochi crunch—but its claim to fame is the popcorn lei. L1 Iniki Popcorn, born in 2016 at Windward Mall and since expanded to two more locations at Pearlridge, opened a fourth spot in December next to Wingstop in Kalihi. The area is undergoing redevelopment as Kapālama Kai, a sprawling mixed-use project running along the canal, with lots of new and existing restaurants and food businesses. Also in the shop: fruity Rainbow popcorn, caramel popcorn, cotton candy, crack seed and boba drinks.

1210 Dillingham Blvd., (808) 428-6235, l1inikipopcorn.com, @l1inikipopcorn

Kitchen Door Wai Kai

Rendering courtesy of Studio Goga.

‘Ewa’s upcoming waterfront eatery is a sister restaurant to Kitchen Door Napa. Set to open in February at Hoakalei Resort, Kitchen Door Wai Kai will also be helmed by Todd Humphries, whose Martini House in St. Helena earned a Michelin star. Kitchen Door Wai Kai will have two levels: an upper-level dine-in eatery serving salads, pizzas, noodles, seafood, steak and dessert; and a takeout counter with open-air seating on the lower level. The restaurant is currently in hiring mode.

91-1621 Keoneula Blvd., kitchendoorwaikai.com, @kdwaikai

Koho Chocolates

Photo: Thomas Obungen

The luxe local bonbons that look like works of art have found a permanent home. Koho, Hawaiian Host Chocolates’ entry into the world of craft chocolate after generations of producing AlohaMacs, Maui Caramacs and MacNut Crunch, has closed its Ala Moana Center pop-up and opened a flagship boutique in Waikīkī. Under glass—speckled, psychedelic and gleaming like jewels—are delicate bonbons made with O‘ahu-grown chocolate and Big Island macadamia nuts in flavors ranging from liliko‘i caramel, Hawaiian sea salt caramel and macadamia nut praline to the new vanilla caramel and cherry blossom caramel. Koho’s upscale chocolate bars fill out the selection. Find the shop on the ground floor of the Outrigger Waikīkī Beach Resort next to Tori Richards.

2335 Kalākaua Ave., kohochocolates.com, @kohochocolates

Noods Ramen Bar

Black garlic tonkotsu ramen has a new home at Windward Mall. Kāne‘ohe fans who drove to Kaimukī and waited in line outside the tiny shop have been celebrating since late last year, when locally owned Noods expanded with a counter in the mall’s food court. The menu in Kāne‘ohe is smaller, with fewer varieties of conventional and vegan bowls on offer, but the gyoza is there, and the char siu garlic fried rice, and the lemony ricotta with naan bread.

46-056 Kamehameha Hwy, (808) 376-0413, restaurantji.com/hi/kaneohe/noods-ramen-bar, @noodsramenbar808wwm

Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman

Peter Merriman’s first foray into Waikīkī is slated to open this spring or summer at the Outrigger Reef Waikīkī Beach Resort. This will be the chain’s second O‘ahu eatery—the first opened at Ko Olina a decade ago—and its fourth statewide. Separate from Merriman’s eponymous high-end eateries and from Moku Kitchen, the upcoming Waikīkī location will feature happy hour, three dozen beers on tap served at 29 degrees, hand-tossed pizzas and favorites like poke tacos and Pumpkin Patch Ravioli stuffed with kabocha and sprinkled with goat cheese.

2169 Kalia Road, monkeypodkitchen.com/dine_ka_waikiki

Obake Honolulu

Photo: Tracy Chan

Noa Laporga, owner of Skull & Crown Trading Co. tiki bar, is bringing a multi-concept vibe to the old Ethiopian Love spot in Chinatown. Obake Honolulu is gearing up to be a high-quality craft matcha café by day and L.A.-inspired handroll bar by night, open til 2 a.m. on weekends, with an open-air courtyard where you can grill your own meat sticks beside a koi pond. “I always had my eye on this spot,” says Laporga. “A lot of the artists who’ve tagged up our walls used to do shows with me in the ’90s and early 2000s. I wanted to pay homage to the stuff we used to do in old Chinatown.” The name obake, Japanese for “ghost,” is a nod to Laporga and partner Angelina Khan’s other projects, including Haunted Plantation and the Halloween pop-up Nightmare, and their love for all things spooky and supernatural. Targeted opening is as early as February. —Tracy Chan

@obakehonolulu

Oyster Hale by Crush

The menu at this Japanese-inflected fresh seafood specialist centers on oysters—served raw, topped with caviar, baked with cheese, as oyster shooters, you name it. Other seafood dishes include sashimi, carpaccio treatments and sushi rolls and cooked dishes like miso butter salmon and steamed sake caper mussels.

346 Lewers St., (808) 926-7674, oysterhale.com, @oyster_hale_by_crush

Paté Vietnamese Cuisine

Pate Vietnamese Cuisine Hu Tieu Thomas Obungen

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Viet noodles have appeared at Ke‘eaumoku’s Samsung Plaza—and we’re not just talking pho. Paté’s extensive menu does include pho, but there are bigger highlights: a slew of hu tieu noodle bowls in broth or with broth on the side, bun dishes of vermicelli rice noodles and meat, and a prominent bun bo hue spicy beef noodle soup. And yes, there’s paté, served on crisp rounds of toasted baguette.

655 Ke‘eaumoku St., (808) 940-5432, patehi.com, @patehiofficial

Sachi Sweets

Photo: Martha Cheng

This Instagram-to-brick-and-mortar bakery opened recently in the old Pho Thinh space next to Mama Woo’s BBQ on South King Street. Think ube mont blancs, matcha and hojicha soufflé cheesecakes, and tiramisu cups combining cheesecake with cream and fruit including liliko‘i—a lineup that melds Japanese dessert favorites with local influences. It’s only open four days a week, so best to check Instagram for latest hours.

2080 S. King St., @sachi_sweets1

Ululani Hawaiian Shave Ice

Photo: Melissa Chang

The owners of Maui’s popular shave ice chain grew up, met and married on O‘ahu, so it may have been only a matter of time before they brought Ululani Hawaiian Shave Ice to their home island. House-made syrups with hefty doses of fruit purée and toppings like sugary toasted coconut are now on offer on Kapahulu Avenue from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily. The new store is one of several new and coming franchise locations for the chain, which is expanding in the Islands and on the Mainland. Word is O‘ahu’s second Ululani store is coming to Waimānalo.

909 Kapahulu Ave., ululanishawaiianshaveice.com, @ululanishawaiianshaveice

Village Bottle Shop & Tasting Room

Coming to Leeward O‘ahu late this year: a second location for Kaka‘ako’s Village Bottle Shop. The new spot in Kapolei Commons will be 1,000 square feet bigger than the current one, including 900 square feet of outdoor seating. Food will include smash burgers, salads and a build-your-own-sausage option where you choose your meat, toppings and bun, fries or salad. Owner Tim Golden promises a bigger version of his current shop, with the state’s largest craft beer selection, a retail section with 500-plus beers in cans and bottles, and taps featuring beer, wine, cider and hard kombucha.

@villagebeer