Front: opera cake, Basque cheesecake, pavlova. Back: ube cruffin, dark chocolate calamansi cruffin, brownie, haupia cake. Photo: Katrina Valcourt HAla Tree’s 100% Kona coffee has been in my phone’s “Favorite Coffees” album since 2023. I’ve been ordering it through Grok Coffee because the Hala Tree Café in Ka’a’awa was too far for a Hawai’i Kai girl like me. not anymore That location closed in early June, and Hala Tree’s new flagship opened in Lilia Waikīkī 12 days later. The entrance is on Kānekapōlei Street, just off Kūhiō Avenue. This whole blog is new to me – my grandmother he lived…
Author: kissnearme
Your guide to which City and County of Honolulu services will be available or suspended in observance of Independence Day on July 3, 2026. July 4th is a Saturday this year and is celebrated on Friday July 3rd. SEE ALSO: Your guide to 4th of July fireworks shows and entertainment on O’ahu SERVICES AVAILABLE There will be emergency ambulance service, fire brigade, first aid, medical examiner and police. TheBus will operate on a Sunday schedule. visit thebus.org for routes and other information. Skyline will operate on a normal schedule from 4 am to 10:30 pm Visit honolulu.gov/skyline for rider information.…
Photo: Courtesy of Tahiti Fête Tahitian party Friday 3 July, from 9.30am to 6pm Saturday 4 July, from 9.30am to 7.15pm Sunday 5 July, from 9.30 to 19.30 h This first Tahitian dance and music competition will be held for the first time in Honolulu, with groups from all over the world. Think: the Merrie Monarch Festival, but Tahitian style. Watch solo performances and full group productions, admire elaborate costumes, shop from visiting Polynesian craft vendors and join the Saturday dance workshop to learn the techniques yourself. Family-friendly, $46 single-day pass, $104 three-day pass, $110 dance workshop, Neal S. Blaisdell…
(This story is the second in a series that HONOLULU Magazine is publishing about the impactful work of Hawaii contractors and how they are building for a better Hawai’i. The series is a partnership with the Pacific Resource Partnership (PRP).) MIchael Young always knew he wanted to go into the construction industry. After studying engineering at MIT and Stanford University, he joined Albert C. Kobayashi Inc., one of Hawaii’s largest locally owned general contractors, as a project engineer, then rose to pre-construction manager, project executive and vice president. He was appointed president in 2020 after his father, Russell, retired from…
Photo: Courtesy of Mō’ili’ili Summer Fest TThe 13th annual Mō’ili’ili Summer Fest returns home to its old location at the Waiānuenue ma Kapa’akea parking lot (the old Varsity Building parking lot) and Coyne Street on July 4 from 5 to 10 p.m. To kick off the celebration, there will be an Andagi Night on Friday, July 3, from 4 to 8 p.m., with exclusive food vendors, festivals and dishes for sale. beloved Okinawan fried treats. Coinciding with the 4th of July long weekend, this year’s party is expected to draw thousands of attendees with its exciting lineup of food and…
TThe granola had me at Café Mocha. Tatsuyoshi Omura, creator of ReBran, talks about the granola he’s been cooking in a Makiki commercial kitchen since last year. Cocoa Banana Bread, Hawaiian Coffee, Island Honey and Sea Salt – All flavors are made with leftover bran from locally milled rice. Café Mocha is Omura’s favorite, so I make a mental note before asking the obvious: why rice bran granola? “I was thinking of starting a musubi business, so I visited the Kubota [Rice Industry Hawai‘i] facility in Kalihi and we saw the huge rice milling process. I was very impressed,” says…
Photo: Gregg Hoshida Aanthropologically speaking, my food awakenings have always been milestones by which I measure my life. It’s the summer of 1975, and I’m with my mother visiting her friend in McCully. Out comes a large porcelain plate with a pyramid of vienna sausages in shoyu sugar that glisten in the afternoon light. For a 6-year-old armed with a chopstick, it’s the height of culinary elegance. Spring 1986: I’m in Japan for the first time, in Yamagata prefecture with my high school band. The bowl of hot, perfectly cooked rice that appears in front of me forever raises the…
Bwhere dances are a treasure of Hawaiian summers. It’s not just about dancing to live drums and folk music under warm night skies, but also, if we’re being honest, the food. The irony is that as popular as good dancing has become, many of the islands take place in Buddhist temples that are struggling to stay open. Those that have closed on O’ahu include Kahuku Hongwanji in 2013 and, late last year, Wai’anae Hongwanji. Membership is dwindling, especially in rural temples, and those who remain to host good dances and prepare and sell our favorite dishes are often well into…
Photo: Thomas Obungen TKilohana Square’s fine dining days are over: Ahead of the site’s pending redevelopment, Threadfin Bistro and Slice by HB Baking closed in recent days. Threadfin moves; Slice will be taking a break and moving on to catering and pop-ups for now. Below are more details on each. As for Kilohana Square itself, it sees better and busier days. Built in 1971, it had tree roots tearing through its parking lot and a narrow, slide-like exit that made the tight turn onto busy Kapahulu Avenue a challenge. But the two buildings in the small mall were doing well,…
Mad Pie, Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery, Onda Pasta, Purvé Donut Stop – these are some of the local businesses offering discount mystery food boxes on Save a Bite, a new local app that launched on June 4. It’s basically a win-win: Save Big: Small boxes are $6.99 and contain $21 worth of food, medium boxes are $9.99 for $30, large boxes are $12.99 for $45. Support a local business The business reduces waste and makes money Save a Bite donates a portion of its profits to local non-profit organizations “Our mission is to keep good food on the table, help…