pulseeric

^

Great dim-sum!

pulseeric

Not in chinatown, but try Fook Yuen in McCully Plaza.
Live whole lobster cooked for around 10 dollars and amazing sizzling black pepper beef.

pulseeric

Another high-end option is Chef Mavro. Damn good food but you'll pay for it.

pulseeric

For you pub lovers, check out JJ Dolans in chinatown. A great irish-style pub with the most authentic NY style pizza in town (and trust me, NY style pizza is hard to find in HNL!).

JohnnyColombia

Has anyone done the Hawaii Hole in the Wall Food Tour in Honolulu?

I have a weekend in HNL in four weeks and want to check out the ethnic food. I am going solo so hole in the wall type places are ideal.

It costs $99 for the tour which lasts 4 hours. Good experience or would I be better just following my own nose? If the latter can anyone suggest where my nose ought to be pointing?

slick828

What do you expect to gain from this? Honolulu has many wonderful eateries, some big time others secrets. I personally think you should bypass this tour and wander around. If you want any recs, send me a message or just respond. What type of food? Japanese, Korean, Thai, Hawaiian, Viet, Hawaiian, Italian, Seafood, etc ?

JohnnyColombia

Hi Slick and thanks for the response. Here's what, I understand that HNL has a huge variety of top drawer authentic ethnic food. I am going only a completely gratuitous and unnecessary trip. Meanwhile our company is a food distributor and foreign food photos, details of provenance and blog entries are extremely popular with our 1900 or so facebook followers.

So doing the tour or checking out the local food, as a foodie myself is an enjoyable way to add a bit of value to my trip and share that back to our Colombians.

You have to bear in mind that our Colombian people think that Hawaiian food is a pizza with pineapple and ham on top, so if I can give them a glimpse of real Hawaii cuisine I don't doubt that it will be well received.

Yes all of that is what I am looking out for. I am there for three nights, if rather than do the tour I could spread my eating out over 3 days with some recommendations from those in the know then I'd be awfully grateful.

slick828

I see your dilemma. Three days is relatively limited time. Do you know where you will be staying (I'll assume Waikiki), are you driving? Honolulu, and Oahu as a whole is somewhat spread out and you may have to drive a little. I'll list some places and the genre of food and if you are interested you can google and look into it and see if this is something you would like.

Indian- Cafe Maharani
Vietnamese- Green Papaya, Pho Mai, Super Pho
Thai- Phuket Thai, Spices, Champa Thai
Hawaiian- Youngs Fish Market, Ono Hawaiian Foods
Japanese (Ramen and Sushi)- Goma Tei, Yanagi Sushi
Italian- Cafe Sistina, Bella Mia

If you want more suggestions just let me know. These may not be the most whole in the wall type of places, but these represent what i consider to be the best in each genre.

JohnnyColombia

Hi again, they are some great suggestions thanks a million, I googled some of them and they don't have website (which is a good thing I am guessing)

I also googled some pics of them, some of them look particularly "homely" I feel like a Colombian Anthony Bourdain already. As a rule of thumb the smaller, more basic, authentic, holier in the wallier the better. Especially cafeteria type places where I can run in, have something small and move onto the next place is ideal. Like I said I am travelling solo so don't want to be sat in a smart restaurant alone with a veritable banquet all to myself.

I am staying on Niu St. Is that near Waikiki? I don't have a car, I could rent one for a few days I suppose but I think navigating a new city in the USA might be more stressful than walking or taking public transport. I am presuming Hawaii has public transport.

Thanks so much for your help

Edit to add, I did have another question. Is HNL like other cities where similar types of cuisine are mostly found in certain areas? If so maybe you could direct me to those sort of areas

Mary2e

Niu Street, IIRC, is right in the middle of Waikiki, behind the Hyatt. I didn't even know there was a hotel there. Where ARE you staying?

Also, for Hawaiian Food, the Side Street Inn is outstanding. They just opened a second location closer to Waikiki, but I'm still partial to the original.

JohnnyColombia

I am staying a hotel called the Hawaiian Monarch

I have to admit I did no research whatsoever and chose it over the phone. Looks fairly huge, concrete and unmissable though.

KenfromDE

Check out the map below for Waikiki hotels. The Hawaiian Monarch on Niu Street is #9, far from the Hyatt Regency #64. It is not at a particularly convenient location. Have never stayed there but a lot of its reviews are negative.

http://www.discounthotelshawaii.com/waikikimap.html

JohnnyColombia

Hmmmmm, for a start I am not particularly worried, I have stayed in some unbelievably crappy places. I had had my eye on another place but had to call rather than book online so ended up with this one.

I wonder if it is worth calling AA Vacations back and asking for an alternative

Trip advisor reviews are completely mixed to the extremes, 30 mins walk to the beach is nothing though

Mary2e

I had responded earlier and for some reason, it didn't post.

Anyway, after looking at your link, I realized that you should probably be more centrally located in Waikiki. There's nothing much near that hotel except for the convention center. I didn't realize Niu ran that far toward Honolulu. My mistake.

I would find another hotel.

KenfromDE

While Waikiki is a pretty safe place, violent crime is not totally unknown. I have not seen any specific publicity for this location, but only read the local paper 2 months per year. I would not personally walk in this area late at night. A few of the reviews made somewhat similar references with one saying they would not walk alone in this area at night.