Category: Hawaii Accommodations & Dining

Deeming Yakiniku Sizzle “Oahu’s best yakiniku” restaurant may be hyperbolic but considering our small sample size of one (1) such non-chain Japanese barbeque establishment in the past 10-or-so-years, we are sticking with our assessment and our enthusiastic recommendation. Also, it’s close to the HAT Blog Home Office, it’s quite reasonably priced, and it’s run by […]

A recent visit to Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii Kai at Koko Marina Shopping Center on Oahu was remarkable for a few reasons. First among them was realizing it was just my second time at the brewpub since its opening in 2003 (I grew up in Hawaii Kai, but I have been a Honolulu Downtowner […]

As July approaches, so does the peak of Hawaii mango season. With it comes an endless supply of mango bread, mango chutney, pickled mango, mango salsa, mango smoothies, and every other imaginable culinary iteration of the sweet tropical fruit. It’s also harvest season for a variety of other endemic Hawaii fruits. Hawaii is a tropical […]

Sunny’s is a coffee shop and breakfast/lunch joint located on the western “edge of Waikiki”. It’s about a mile and a half from the Honolulu Zoo at Waikiki’s eastern end. So, a fairly short walk from just about anywhere in Waikiki, and well worth it. Sunny’s Local Grind – keeping it local Sunny’s Local Grind […]

We wrote about the famous Liliha Bakery here at the HAT Blog a decade ago. We’ve been back many times since, and, frankly, nothing has changed (it opened in 1950). That is a wonderful thing. Much has been written over the years about the venerable old diner, many fawning and cutesy local news segments produced […]

A friend of the HAT Blog, Chef Adam Gilbert, opened Monarch Poke in Pearl City in November 2022. Located in a nondescript strip mall near Pearlridge Shopping Center, the dishes on offer belie the workaday tedium of shoe stores, auto body shops, and plate lunch joints that typify the area. A recent Friday lunchtime visit […]

The wind and rain continue to howl and lash here in Honolulu, and throughout most of Hawaii, with no sign of letting up any time soon. It’s fine, though, except perhaps for my wife’s new clutch of doomed houseplants and the Aloha State residents who’ve been inundated by turbid floodwaters or had their property whipped […]

One of the most common concerns we hear from visitors regards tipping in Hawaii. Who should be tipped? When? How much? Food and beverage industry workers should be tipped, certainly. Parking valets, too. Leaving a few bucks for the cleaning staff at your hotel/resort/vacation rental is also a fine way to express your aloha for […]

After my recent dinner at Moku Kitchen, I’m eager to share all about this fantastic restaurant. For our 13th wedding anniversary, my wife and I decided to forgo our tradition of dining out at a fine-dining Oahu steakhouse and opt for something different.  We were after something more casual, and with a more eclectic selection […]

We don’t often write about restaurants here but very often we’re asked where to get locally sourced meat. This is mostly because we tend to eat farm-fresh at home, making most of our food purchases from local farmers, ranchers, and butchers whom my wife has come to know over years of shopping at a weekly […]

Summer is heating up, and so is the world of professional sports. While a Hawaii vacation is a chance to leave the everyday routine of home and work, vacationers bring along their sports fandom just as sure as they pack a swimsuit and clean underwear. There are plenty of Hawaii sports bars, some sprawling and […]

The Hawaii Aloha Travel Blog recently returned to the Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu after a long three years. We are happy to report that it remains one of Waikiki’s “must-do” establishments. The food is great, the prices are reasonable even for Waikiki, and the location is central to pretty much everything there is to do […]