Timing is everything and the opening of the Halekulani Bakery and Restaurant dovetails beautifully with the holiday season.
It brings the retail notion of one-stop shopping to the hospitality industry. Last month, I focused on the bakery aspect, with its array of indulgences for those who want to play office Santa.
Ah, but there’s more in the form of exquisite artisan bonbons, chocolate jewels in flavors of mai tai, golden assam tea, cassis, Hawaiian vanilla and coconut calamansi, to name a few. A six-piece box is $21.
Other Halekulani-branded chocolates and candies such as Kona coffee-chocolate malt balls ($22.50) and classic macadamia nut pearls ($22.50) are packaged for gift-giving and easy shipping abroad.
Of course the best gift is time, and the restaurant offers a pleasant place to while away a morning, afternoon or evening with those you love or haven’t seen in a while.
The renovation and rebranding of the Waikiki Parc Hotel into the Halepuna by Halekulani boutique hotel led to the transformation of what most remember as the former Nobu restaurant space, which hadn’t been updated since it opened in 2007.
The new dining room has a much more comfortable, brighter, open feel. The vibe is luxurious but unintimidating, a place where one can relax instead of feeling on display. Those on display are pastry chefs and chocolate makers working in a small glass-enclosed kitchen visible from the dining room.
A resort-style buffet breakfast awaits early risers, and the tightly edited opening lunch and dinner menus offer the same meal starters and enders. What’s different is a roster of sandwiches served by day, replaced by a mix of entrees plus some repeat sandwiches by night, all reflecting the restaurant’s focus on a casual, sophisticated approach to island-inspired fare.
This starts with a picturesque warabi and opae salad ($16), the Big Island fiddlehead ferns arranged with red onions and tomatoes to look like a haku lei on the plate. The salad is dressed with a soy vinaigrette and dotted with the fried Big Island-raised miniature shrimp.
The simplicity of scallops ($20) prepared crudo-style, simply finished with a light jalapeno dressing and sea asparagus, brought out the sweetness of Hokkaido day-boat scallops.
This is the perfect season for soup, and you may have trouble deciding between Maui French onion soup ($14) or salmon chowder ($12). Both are excellent, the chowder being weightier, with generous amounts of house-smoked salmon and diced potatoes. The savory, pungent layer of melted Emmental and Parmigiano- Reggiano topping the sweet onion soup is irresistible, contributing to the decadent nature of this French classic, one of the true joys of life.
At lunchtime, a series of sandwiches highlights the work of new head baker Tatsuhiro Kaneshiro, who brings the classic art of bread making with him, straight from the elegant Imperial Hotel Tokyo.
If you loved the cheese atop the onion soup, you may also be drawn to the artichoke tartine ($16), a rich combination of chopped artichoke hearts, spinach pesto, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Gruyere, plus creme fraiche, over grilled sourdough. It’s so rich, you might want to order another sandwich and split both with a friend.
Kona lobster shares equal billing with a French baguette via a Kona lobster hoagie ($25). It’s one of the cleanest tasting lobster rolls I’ve had on Oahu, but I couldn’t help thinking that the bread was dominant when the opposite should be the case.
The menu gets more earthy with a half-pound HB&R burger ($22) dressed up with pepper jack, bacon, red onions, lettuce, Kamuela tomatoes and chipotle garlic aioli on a toasted taro bun, as well as a Halekulani banh mi ($22) filled with soy-braised pork belly and papaya salad.
A couple of my favorite dishes are on the dinner menu, with its shortlist of four entrees, starting with sweet Kauai shrimp ($36), sauteed in a garlic white wine chili sauce and served on a bed of Napa cabbage slaw. If you need more to fill you up, both lunch and dinner plates have $6 side options of roasted baby vegetables, roasted garlic potato puree or fries. I would love to explore, but I am just hooked on those thick, crisp-skinned, meaty steak fries. So ono.
Mushroom-crusted monchong ($36) had the warm, earthy feel of being at a Japanese onsen in winter, with its smoky braised daikon in a light ginger nage. I loved the simple purity of this dish.
Cioppino ($28) comprised a fresh combination of clams, mussels, catch of the day and Kualoa shrimp, but the broth was overly salted on my visit. Hopefully that issue has been resolved so we can taste more of the saffron instead.
The menus finish with a selection of desserts straight from the bakery next door, making a meal here a pleasure from beginning to end.
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Halekulani Bakery and Restaurant
Halepuna by Halekulani 2233 Helumoa Road
>> Call: 921-7272
>> Daily hours: Breakfast buffet 6:30 to 10:30 a.m., lunch 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., dinner 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
>> Prices: Lunch $40 to $60 for two, dinner $80 to $100 for two; without alcohol
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Food: ***1/2
Service: ****
Ambiance: ****
Value: ****
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Ratings compare similar restaurants:
**** – excellent
*** – very good
** – average
* – below average
Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
