We make a quick trip to Honolulu. Unfortunately it wasn’t for pleasure but we did have some time to enjoy dinner. There used to be a really good yakitori and izakaya restaurant in the now closed Kyo-ya Restaurant building in Waikiki called Hanabi – few people knew about it. When Kyo-ya closed, so did Hanabi. The good news is that Hanabi has re-opened on King Street near University. Its a bit hard to find since there’s no sign – the restaurant’s copy is “the reknown restaurant without a sign”. Its a small place but everything is good here – yakitori, homemade croquette, tempura chazuke.
Update: Unfortunately Hanabi closed at the end of May 2010 – they are opening a new restaurant in New York City.
Our hotel included breakfast. I wish more breakfast buffets had natto (fermented soybeans) – its an acquired taste but really good for you. I can’t vouch for the combination I had: natto, rice, smoked salmon, eggs, sausage, and bear claw.
For some reason, we had a variety of tonkatsu – katsu-don, kurobuta-tonkatsu, katsu-ni – once at Bairin and the other time for quick lunch at Shirokiya – something about fried comfort food. Looking forward to having really good tonkatsu in Japan.
A sea turtle off Waikiki.
