I was very sad to pass by Habibi and see that they didn't make it; I was hoping to try it.

For fine dining, I was keen to try Rigo in Kapahulu in the old Genki Sushi location by Leonards. Three of us went. In general, we very much liked the tapas and cocktails; we were less impressed with the entrees; the paella we ordered was somwhat bland (where was the saffron?) and there wasn't any crunchy rice to scrape up. We also tried Tane Vegan Izukaya on Beretania near McCully and were somewhat underwhelmed. Part of the issue was the chef who prepares the nigiri sushi was not working that night so we were limited in our choices. +1 made a 4 pm reservation for Tonkatsu Tamafuji on a Monday night (taking advantage of jet lag); a few parties were able to walk in. That was very, very good. We also had an early dinner at Tiny Pyramid after picking up my mom from her flight into HNL. As always, the desserts are the stars there. Dinner at the Original Roy's in Hawaii Kai was stellar, as usual.

We had much better casual meals. We had lunch at Nico's, which was solid as always. We took a look at Name Kaze next door (having heard many good things about it) but didn't find time to dine there. Also worth a look is the Pier 38 fish market for those looking to cook their own meals. We ordered take out from the original Side Street Inn to share with friends and that was excellent as was the dim sum from Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery (once again, ordering ahead is key here). I ordered one of their special Strawberry Mochi (Daifuku) Moon Cakes and +1 and I agree the straight up daifuku from Fujiya in Moilili is superior. The roast duck at Asian Mix under the Safeway Beretania remains solid (you have to call in the morning to reserve one) along with their other take out options. We also enjoyed our okazu lunches from Fukuya and Teruya's Andagi. The best plate lunch I had was from Fresh Catch at their new Kaneohe location (furikake fried chicken) while +1 and our friend enjoyed their poke bowls. The best poke was from Ry's Poke Shack at the Sugar Mill in Kahuku. 747FC , we made it to Bella Banh Mi and agree that their sandwhiches are very, very good.



Limu poke on the left, Laotian-style poke on the right.

Roy’s signature miso butterfish

Strawberry Mochi Moon Cake for the Mid-Autumn Festival

And yes, Pipeline's malasadas > Leonards. Not even close.