Certain food cravings and memories that endure over time cannot be sated, for whatever reason — a restaurant closure, for example, or the passing of a generation of cooks who held the family’s secret recipes. How wonderful it would be if the food of our dreams were to magically be set before us.

The closest we come in Honolulu to having a food genie at our service would be Halekulani’s Table One, where executive chef Vikram Garg is prepared to deliver a personal and memorable dining experience for you and up to seven of your besties.

The process begins with a phone call from the chef and an interview, as he aims to discover one’s food preferences and limitations to create a customized meal that transcends the one-size-fits-all aspect of a standard menu, which he believes tends to "restrict spontaneous culinary creativity."

Table One is as much for him as those being fed. "It is my guests who truly inspire me to cook," he said.

Table One is considered a restaurant within a restaurant, set at an elegant custom-made circular table in the atrium of Orchids restaurant, where guests can take in ocean and Diamond Head views, and chef Garg has ready access to both kitchen and guests, and can haul out burners and other equipment for any tableside prep.

Table One’s base cost is $125 per person for a five-course tasting menu, or $175 for a seven-course option, but the sky’s the limit for the meal of your dreams. Wine pairings and extra courses can be added at an additional cost. Garg says he’s accommodated many willing to pay $1,000 per person, and with the holiday season coming, you can bet many diners will be shopping for a one-of-a-kind experience to treat loved ones or friends. 

The meals require a minimum 48-hour advanced booking, and he will take on only one such meal a week because of the planning involved and the labor-intensive nature of the experience.

AS For myself, I have traveled a lot and eaten many things, but one of my most enduring memories is of a fabulous oyster po’boy I once enjoyed at an Irish bar in Portland, Ore. The oysters were delicate, with a panko-crisp exterior, and the sandwich was piled with at least eight different vegetables, including grilled red bell peppers and eggplant. I never had anything like it in New Orleans or Hawaii.

So I told Garg about it, and even over the phone, I could sense his enthusiasm and his mind spinning with possibilities.

Next was a preserved lemon chicken that was among the many specialties cooked up by the late Algerian chef Toufik Hacid, of Ghita’s, in the early 1990s. The restaurant was on Keawe Street, where the most recent tenants have been the Whole Ox Deli and Cocina.

I loved that chicken, but my last memory of it is bittersweet. After Hacid opened his own Mediterranean Cafe in downtown Honolulu, he stuck to a streamlined menu of Middle Eastern falafels and pita sandwiches. He didn’t make the chicken anymore, but when I told him how much I loved it, he cooked up a batch for me that my husband was to pick up on his way home from work.

Next thing you know, my husband had stopped at a bar between the cafe and home, and I was driving from Kailua to Honolulu to bail him out of jail at 2 a.m. The chicken had been sitting in his car for at least four hours by the time we got home at 3 a.m., and we were both so tired that as he handed it to me, it splattered on the floor. I salvaged what little I could, and it was still delicious, but the experience was marred by the events of the evening. The chef died a few months later.

It was a lot to ask of Garg to attempt to recreate such a dish, but he was game.

The last thing I requested was something authentic from his home country of India, and the rest of the menu was in his hands. I thought it would take a genius to find coherence in such disparate global elements. 

And though I expected it would be difficult for him to get his hands on preserved lemon, it turns out to be something he makes and keeps on hand at all times for fish dishes, aiolis and various sauces.

Garg never likes to repeat a dish, so the menu is unlikely to be duplicated, but it started with my miniature po’boy, crisp oysters and all, with spicy remoulade served in a miniature tube. My friends and I were delighted.

Next up was a tin filled with heavenly Hamakua mushroom panna cotta topped with caviar, followed by a soup course of cornflakes and milk. Well, the "milk" was a creamy corn chowder, and the "flakes" were thin and crispy Maui potato chips, which made for a playful comfort dish.

I wondered how he would finesse a dessert like Cherries Jubilee into the middle of the menu. It turned out to be a combination that popped into his head while dining in Japan, and he paired the tableside flambe with foie gras, the sweet, salty and fatty flavors melding into a delicious, decadent whole.

Other dishes presented that night were poached lobster in a fenugreek-infused sauce, Kagoshima wagyu topped with crisp fried burdock root, and fiery Goa vindaloo with feni, a country liquor made with coconut that the chef calls Goa "moonshine."

And my Moroccan lemon chicken was upgraded to cornish game hen, the flavor brighter and leaner than the rustic, homespun version of my memory. But of course Garg would not have known this, never having tasted Hacid’s cooking.

Sometimes you can’t go home again, but what you can do is continue to create new memories of fabulous food and friendship, and that is the real beauty of Table One.

Reach Nadine Kam at nkam@staradvertiser.com.