Category: Updates

Heavenly, the new restaurant in Hawaii Kai, will open for weekend dinners – Fridays through Sundays – beginning this Friday (Feb. 9).

The swanky, healthy-dining eatery on the marina at the Koko Marina Shopping Center, will take reservations with seating beginning at 5 p.m.

Heavenly has been open only for breakfast and lunch, from 7 a.m. daily, and its unique seating — with regular tables in the front half of the restaurant, and comfy, unusual sofa and cozy chairs in the zone fronting the marina — has been a hit.

I popped in for breakfast this morning – my second –following an early doctor’s visit at 7 a.m. —  and was surprised the long lines weren’t there today. Since my Jan. 5 surgery to remove my problematic gall bladder, I’ve been gradually consuming appetizing meals like Heavenly’s egg benedict, with choice of salmon or Canadian bacon, beneath the poached egg. ‘Twas my first reintroduction to eggs and boy, was it yummy, with hollandaise sauce with lilikoi butter, three fingers of Okinawan potato, and salmon. A small kale salad was included, it’s not my choice salad greens.

My earlier visit, before my surgery, was a sensible pancake duo with berries and a splendid homemade syrup. I would have had this again but opted for something new.

The restaurant is gorgeous if you’re seating facing the marina; the view is spectacular, and with sliding glass windows fully open, it feels like you’re dining at a waterfront resort with real palms and vine as part of the charm. The near hour I spent at breakfast, there were no pesky flies.

The décor, with a surfboard on one wall, reflects a  lifestyle of a surfer. Indeed, a surfer opened the first Heavenly in Waikiki in 2014 and a decade later, Hawaii Kai is blessed with this second option from Zetten Inc., Japanese owners who operate six other restaurants in Waikiki.

I had a peek at the dinner menu for the Hawaii Kai restaurant, and the offerings will range from steak to lamp chops to mahimahi, cold and hot tapas including lettuce wraps and jumbo shrimp cocktail to fried Takoyaki to Kauai garlic shrimp, fish and shrimp tacos to Koko Head loco moco, and custard pudding ala mode to itoen matcha tiramisu, and special drinks such as smoothies, lemonade, fruit drinks and special coffee drinks. For now, however, not all items on the menu will be immediately available.

Can’t wait to have a dinner experience here; it took Heavenly like a year and a half (perhaps longer) to finally open at its location next to the reopened Assaggio, and it should be a greater neighbor.

Moena Cafe, the upscale breakfast place, may have lost some customers with Heavenly just a few doors down. Its major nighttime competition might be Roy’s Restaurant at the Hawaii Kai Towne Center on Kalanianaole Highway, but hey, all restaurants have their devoted following based on cuisine.

If you like haupia and kulolo, two popular Hawaiian desserts, you should enjoy the hybrid product called Haulolo, produced by a Kailua company and sold locally in select stores. I have some reservations, however.

The “hau” refers to haupia, the pudding-like white treat made from coconut milk. The “lolo” refers to kulolo, the healthy and tasty purple-ish dessert made from taro.

I found and bought the Haulolo at Foodland Farms. Times Supermarkets should have it, too, and perhaps a few 7-Elevens. You’ll find it where poi, the Hawaiian staple, is sold in a refrigerated  (not freezer) shelf.  At Foodland, seek Haulolo next to the poke counter.

So, how’s the taste? Sweet and  delightful. But you’ll find more haupia than kulolo, and the kulolo sticks to the bottom of the plastic bento-type tray, and there’s perhaps a quarter inch of the purple treat, beneath about an inch of haupia. When you cut the product, you can’t get the kulolo to stay  ‘neath the  haupia, so I spooned the kulolo and placed it atop the white haupia. In the accompanying photo, you’ll see traces of kulolo on top of the haupia — not pretty, but it (sorta) works.

 It’s a bit messy to serve, but it’s ono –  too bad the kulolo can’t be firmer to serve as a crust…like a graham cracker bottom of a chocolate pudding pie. Perhaps the better notion would be to purchase haupia and kulollo separately, in portions to your liking.

I had my first dinner outing last night, since my recent gall bladder removal surgery Jan. 5, and it was a joyous occasion.

The destination was Gyotaku, the Japanese restaurant at the Niu Valley Shopping Center,  and my entrée choice was one of my favorites: misoyaki butterfish teishoku.

Familiar turf + familiar meal = a happy camper.

I had been having mini meals at home, comprising the likes of miso soup with soda crackers, beef broth with cone sushi, chicken noodle and chicken vegetable soup, and chazuke with broiled salmon, vegetable salad with tofu and imitation crab,  and my tummy was agreeable to these.

So, the misoyaki butterfish – and the accompanying bowls of rice, miso soup and salad – were within my palate choices.

Because Gyotaku regularly serves its butterfish in a tiny plate with a yellow border, it looked like any other pic I’ve shot at the restaurant over the years.

But this ol’ friend was a something I relished and cherished.

No more fried chicken, Korean kalbi or traditional steak for me till I know my diet regimen can handle ‘em. For now, I got no complains.