I ate my first Indian meal in college, back when I was landlocked by cornfields in Ohio. On Friday nights my friends and I would pile into a beat-up sedan and hit up Bombay Garden & Greek Eats. Their mashup menu came with nine spice levels and nine more secret levels for masochists. One night, I tried the chicken masala in an urgent shade of red, and an outpouring of flavors and heat went off like a bomb on my tongue.

I’m pretty sure that bite rewrote my neural pathways. Why skydive when I can just eat Indian food? Its potent blend of spices arouses my sense of smell and fires up my curiosity. The curries are a musical alchemy, their heat levels ranging from gentle grace notes to daredevil crescendoes. It’s always exciting.

SEE ALSO: 5 New Indian Restaurants Have Opened in Honolulu This Year

After I moved home to Honolulu, I tried the city’s handful of old and new Indian restaurants. One hit just right. I need you to understand how much I love Kamana Kitchen. I celebrated my birthday there. My next birthday is a tossup between Kamana Kitchen on Bishop Street and the new one in Kapahulu. If you’re looking for an unbiased writeup, I suggest you find an almanac.

Kamana Kitchen opened its doors in Kona in 2013, expanded to Hilo, jumped to Kīhei, Maui, and finally set up shop in Downtown Honolulu in 2018 as New Kamana Kitchen (which I will refer to as KK1). If you don’t work or live Downtown, KK1 can be a tough location. Parking is limited to the curb, which is a gamble on Bishop Street, or municipal garages a couple blocks away. Plus, KK1’s setup of small tables and metal chairs works for the in-and-out lunch crowd, but it’s a bit cramped for groups.

Photo: Alexander Pang

This is a main reason why Kamana Kitchen 2 exists, according to its gentlemanly manager, Bipin Jung Khadka. KK1 customers frequently asked for a more accessible dine-in spot, so the owners spent the last couple of years looking. Set in the old Haili’s Hawaiian Restaurant space on the corner of Winam and Palani avenues, KK2 is nearly twice the size of KK1, with booth-style seating for larger groups. Directly behind on Palani are 10 parking spots in front of a two-floor apartment building.

Photo: Alexander Pang

That’s good news, but I was already parking by ʻIolani Palace and walking through rain, hail and sleet to get to KK1. What I really care about at Kamana Kitchen 2 is whether the food is as good as KK1. So let’s cut to the chase: Everything I ate tastes almost exactly as it does at KK1. That may be because the head chef commutes between both spots, Khadka tells me.

Though nearly identical, KK2’s menu lacks lunch specials. That’s a shame. If you find yourself Downtown, I recommend the lunch special for its healthy serving of an entrée, such as tikka masala or vindaloo, as well as rice, naan and sides. You will need a desk to crawl under for the kanak attack that will follow.

SEE ALSO: What to Order at Tadka: Eat Like a Chef

Both Kamana Kitchens offer a fairly standard menu, with a variety of chicken, lamb, vegetarian, vegan, seafood and rice options. You’ll find chicken tandoori, samosas, daal soup and chana masala, as well as biryani and naans. Many curries and other entrées offer a choice of proteins. For example, vindalu is a garlic-based curry with a punchy vinegar tang that pairs with chicken or lamb; smooth, yogurt-based korma curry pairs with chicken, lamb, shrimp or vegetables; and creamy, tomato-based masala can be ordered with chicken, lamb, shrimp or paneer.

You can choose a spice level: mild, mild plus, medium, medium plus, hot and hot plus. The higher levels are certainly hot, but not painful. I would schedule a nice long walk afterward to let your guts settle. KK2 is also BYOB with a $10 corkage fee.

Photo: Alexander Pang

Our exploratory dinner here consists of lamb saag ($19.95), coconut fish curry ($20.95) and chicken tikka masala ($19.45), each accompanied by basmati rice; and a basket of peshwari naan ($5.95). Kamana Kitchen makes a mean mango lassi ($6.45), which we sip alongside the salt lassi ($5.25).

Lamb saag can be described as a kind of spinach curry. Soft chunks of lamb complement and infuse the darkly delicious spinach. Each spoonful is like a walk through a spinach-canopied forest. You can trade out meat for palak paneer, a lightly milky house-made cottage cheese blended with spinach and spices.

Coconut fish curry. Photo: Alexander Pang

The dancing, creamy coconut fish curry may be my favorite dish of the night. In other cuisines, the fish, tender and juicy, might be the star; here, it’s a vessel for uplifting flavor.

Chicken tikka masala is a creamy, tomato-based curry. Buttery and sweet with a slight tang and vibrant spices, it’s an addictive crowd-pleaser. The cubes of chicken, slightly overcooked and chewy, provide more texture than headline. After the spinach forest and sunny coconut fish curry, the tikka masala is a bustling marketplace. I’ll stop with the metaphors.

Naan is great and garlic naan even better, but for something different, I highly recommend the peshwari naan, which is stuffed with almonds and raisins. At KK2, it’s crisp with a chewy heft that makes it excellent for dollops of curry. I associate raisins with the Sun-Maid boxes that you get from disappointing houses on Halloween. Here, their softness and jam-like flavor, combined with the crunch of almonds, make the peshwari naan a good pairing with our entrées.

Photo: Alexander Pang

KK2 serves lassi in goblets that can easily be shared between two people. The salt lassi is interesting—salty and yogurty, as you’d expect, with a slightly bitter undercurrent of mint, cumin and black pepper, which dots the bottom of the glass. If the ocean were made of yogurt, maybe it would taste kind of like this. The mango lassi is an outright winner. Creamy and not too sweet, it’s a palate-cleansing comma between flavor-packed bites.

We are stuffed to the gills, with leftovers in tow. I’m always deceived by the portions at KK1, and Kamana Kitchen 2 is no different.

Food is sometimes described as an experience, which I think is apt here. In my little corner of the world, I eat delicious curry and think about how much experience is out there and how many incredible flavors and permutations I have yet to try. Just like my first mind-blowing masala in Ohio.

So anyway, I really like Kamana Kitchen 2. Maybe I’ll see you there for my birthday?

Open daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., 760 Palani Ave., (808) 734-3160, @newkamanakitchen

Indian food in Honolulu? Hardly new. Eateries like Café Maharani and Himalayan Kitchen are longtime favorites, but the scene remained sparse and little changed—until recently. Spice Up House of Cuisine opened on South King Street in 2021, followed by Curry Guru’s Sri Lankan and South Indian specialties at farmers markets, then Tadka Indian Cuisine last year. And then the floodgates opened.

Five Indian spots have opened across the city this year. Most are expansions, one is new and the last is exclusively at farmers markets. The fact that some offer Nepalese momo dumplings reflects the owners’ heritage and broadens choices beyond masalas and vindaloos. Here’s a look at the newcomers.

New Kamana Kitchen Kapahulu

Photo: Mari Taketa

The Kapahulu spot that was home to Haili’s Hawaiian Foods reopened in late September under a familiar name. New Kamana Kitchen, which has been slinging up naan breads, tandoor skewers and butter chicken, Goan shrimp and other curries from a vast menu on Bishop Street since 2017, transported the same menu across town, minus the lunch specials. Spice levels are customizable—choose level 2 if you like your heat to be noticeable but not building to an unbearable crescendo. The dining area is triple the size of Kamana’s Downtown restaurant, and there’s a small lot with free parking in the back.

760 Palani Ave., (808) 734-3160, newkamanakitchen.com, @newkamanakitchen

SEE ALSO: Why I’m Obsessed With Kamana Kitchen 2, Honolulu’s Newest Indian Restaurant

Namaste Indian & Nepali Cuisine

In the space of the former Bombay Palace, Namaste opened in late summer in Discovery Bay across from the Ilikai Hotel. Among the vindaloos, biryanis and assorted styles of curry, Nepali chicken or vegetable momo dumplings come three ways here: steamed, fried with chile sauce or in sesame-tomato jhol broth. Menu sections list seven vegan and seven vegetarian dishes. Desserts include house-made pista kulfi pistachio ice cream, and there’s masala chai of Darjeeling tea and warm spices. The restaurant validates parking behind the building—enter from Kaio‘o Drive.

1778 Ala Moana Blvd. #213, (808) 941-5111, namasterestauranthi.com, @namastehnl

Café Tadka (temporarily closed for renovation)

An offshoot of McCully Shopping Center’s Tadka, itself an offshoot of Spice Up (Tadka’s chef, Ganesh Shrestha, is former chef and partner at Spice Up), Café Tadka opened at 808 Center in May with a small, wide-ranging menu. Momos are here, along with South Indian dosas, classic desserts and a smattering of dishes that lean into the Indo-Chinese side of the cuisine, including Hakka noodles and Sichuan fried rice. Food comes on disposable plates or packaged for takeout, though there are some dine-in tables.

808 Sheridan St., (808) 888-0216, @cafetadka808

SEE ALSO: Tadka: Where Indian Food Comes Alive

Lasoon Nepali & Indian Cuisine

Photo: Mari Taketa

Lasoon, a fast casual Indian counter at UH Mānoa since 2018, expanded to its own space at Pearlridge Center’s Wai Makai this past spring. Look for the same menu of curries and sides as at UH, except that prices are a tad higher in the mall. And unlike UH, where all side dishes including chana masala and fiery hot eggplant are vegan, the new location’s palak paneer and butter mix vegetables aren’t. Chicken momos, a nod to the owners’ Nepali heritage, are on offer daily; small containers of chutney and piquant, earthy pickles are for sale near the drinks, and the space has a few tables for dine-in. Word is Lasoon hopes to expand to Kapolei next.

98-1005 Moanalua Road, 2nd floor, (808) 744-0400, @lasoonpearlridgecenter

Simply Indulge

A farmers market specialist, Simply Indulge debuted in January with a plant-based menu of Indian favorites and specials. There’s pani puri, crispy shells filled with curry, fresh tomatoes and cilantro and an herby sauce; plus dosas, salads, curries, lassi and house-made masala chai. Many dishes are vegetarian; some are vegan. Find this one at the Kaiser High School PTSA farmers market on Tuesdays and the Farm Lovers Saturday morning market in Kaka‘ako and Sunday morning market in Kailua next to Adventist Castle Health Hospital.

Multiple locations, @simplyindulge808

Editor’s Note: We published these reader poll results in June 2023 in the heat of summer after our own ranking of shave ice was decidedly different from our readers’ picks. Well, it might be after the autumn equinox, but it still feels like summer heat has a grip on us. Now’s a good time to remind you to find solace in as many icy treats possible. 

When it comes to shave ice, it’s a difficult task for anyone to name one shop the best over another. With so many factors to consider, from the texture of the snow to the intensity of the syrups and the quality of the toppings, one list isn’t going to truly show the depth and breadth of our love for this icy treat. So we put the question to our readers, asking them to vote for their favorites.

We learned that although many of Honolulu’s new-age shave ice shops have passionate followings, the classics we grew up with have staying power. Thanks to this list, it looks like we have a lot more ground to cover and we’re not mad about it: Our reader poll last Friday listed 26 shave ice shops across O‘ahu; readers wrote in more than two dozen others. The No. 1 shave ice purveyor isn’t even a shop, but it commanded nearly a third of the total vote. The rest of the race was much closer, with some shops separated by a mere few votes.

Get your spoons ready—these are your picks for the top 5 shave ice on O‘ahu.

Photo: Melissa Chang

No. 5: Shimazu Store

Pass by this iconic shop on School Street on a hot day, and you’ll see a crowd outside enjoying enormous ice cones. A second location inside Hawai‘i’s Favorite Kitchens in Kapahulu is also a must-stop for locals and visitors. With 6.3% of the total vote in our reader poll, Shimazu Store proves that when you stick to the classics, folks from all generations will gladly return for a taste of small-kid time in the form of huge shave ice cones.

Multiple locations, @shimazustoreliliha, @shimazu_shave_ice

SEE ALSO: Shades of Shave Ice: Kapahulu Is Home to Two Old-School Shave Ice Institutions

Photo: Courtesy of Kaulana Shave Ice Creations

No. 4: Kaulana Shave Ice Creations

Another standout on this list, Kaulana Shave Ice Creations isn’t even searchable on Google Maps. But with 6.4% of the vote, passionate fans put it on the map. To get your hands on these icy bowls, you either have to be invited to a party that’s serving them up or attend one of the street festivals where Kaulana pops up.

@kaulana.shaveicecreations

Photo: Courtesy of 6Sixty Apparel

No. 3: Jax Snax (Fomerly 6Sixty Apparel)

Is it strange that a clothing store in Wahiawā would wind up among the Top 5 shave ice on O‘ahu? Not when you realize that they can pump out serious bowls topped with everything from gummy bears to Fruity Pebbles and li hing mui powder. With just five more votes than Kaulana Shave Ice Creations, 6Sixty Apparel lands in the Top 3 shave ice shops on O‘ahu.

670 California Ave., (808) 200-2418, @jaxsnaxhawaii 

SEE ALSO: Best Shave Ice on O‘ahu

Photo: Thomas Obungen

No. 2: Waiola Shave Ice

One of our team’s favorites is also one of your favorites. Despite the somewhat strict ordering criteria and some difficult parking at peak times, Waiola is always worth a visit on a hot summer day. Whether you like to hike it over to the Kapahulu location or chill on a side street in McCully, this is a destination for shave ice connoisseurs. Waiola comes in at second place on our list with 7.7% of the vote.

Multiple locations, (808) 949-2269, @waiolashaveice

Photo: Courtesy of Magic Mountain Shave Ice

No. 1: Mountain Magic Shave Ice

With a whopping 29% of the entire vote, this food trailer in a shopping center parking lot is your pick for the best shave ice on O‘ahu. Either we’re missing out or shopping for deals in Waikele makes everyone crave a sugarloaf mountain of ice dressed with syrups, mochi, ube caps and li hing powder. Once a cart near Lowe’s, Mountain Magic Shave Ice has since migrated to the fence near Dick’s Lechon and Leonard Jr’s Hot Malasadas. Given how warm it gets in West O‘ahu, shave ice is the perfect thirst-quenching treat.

Multiple locations, (808) 681-9582, @mountainmagicshaveice

With such close results, failing to mention the remaining shops in the Top 10 would be like forgetting to mention our best friends from hanabata time. They are:

No. 6: Ululani’s Shave Ice – 6.2% of the vote

No. 7: MM Island Shave Ice – 5.7%

No. 8: Chillest Shave Ice – 4.5%

No. 9: Matsumoto Shave Ice – 4.4%

No. 10: Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha – 3.1%

Among write-in votes, the top four were Fine Time Shave Ice and Puchie’s Shave Ice, which both do events and catering, and ‘Ewa Seed Co. of ‘Ewa Beach and Aunty Kalei’s Shave Ice in Pacific Palisades.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

You’re wrapping up dinner, and you still have room for a nightcap. You might even have a separate dessert stomach. If you’re not in the mood for a neighborhood bar or boba shop and a chill scene is more your speed, Cha to Gelato Zen is where you’ll end up.

Zen brings cha or Japanese tea, house-made gelato and light snacks together in a ceremonious way that elevates the ritual of unwinding after a long day. In a space imbued with a casual sense of calm, you feel relaxed enough to continue a dinner conversation. Subdued lighting enhances the mood.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

For the full experience, dive right into a tea-and-gelato pairing. It starts with your tea selection. Take a whiff from the tiny glass bottles of sencha, hojicha and gyokuro tea leaves. The last, known for a full-bodied flavor and inherent umami, is the most intense. Then select two flavors of gelato—choices include Uji matcha, black sesame, azuki, kinako, miso and a dairy-free yuzu ginger sorbet. Different flavors pair better with different teas. The two gelato choices are $20; the cost for the tea is extra. This is not just tea and gelato, it’s something of a journey and an experience.

SEE ALSO: When the Emergency Order Shut Down Honolulu Dining Rooms, These New Restaurants Decided to Open Anyway

Then take a seat at the counter as Takeki So begins the tea ceremony. For the pairing, he’ll brew the tea in three separate steeps in a kyusu pot, using hot water from a larger iron kettle called a chagama. So says that water heated in a chagama is better for brewing tea.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

He’ll invite you to smell the dry tea leaves and even taste them first. Then So ladles one hishaku of water at a time into a teacup, sensing its warmth through the porcelain before pouring it over the tea leaves. Watching him do this over and over will put you in a state of zen.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Your scoops of gelato, set in crisp monaka shells, arrive with the first and second pour. Take your time to taste the nuances of the tea, with and without bites of gelato. What is bitter at first mellows into woodsy or grassy notes, followed by a subtle sweetness. Late in the evening, I pair low-caffeine hojicha with scoops of azuki and kinako gelato. The kinako gelato includes small dishes of kinako powder and kuromitsu syrup. I love the roasted flavor of hojicha; it complements the nutty notes of roasted soybean powder and the caramelized sugar in the kuromitsu.

The miso gelato incorporates white and saikyo miso, the latter from Kyoto. It’s served with raisins that, eaten with the gelato, taste as though they were soaked with rum. You might expect this one to be savory, but it is one of the sweeter options and my favorite of the bunch.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Matcha, sourced from Japan’s major tea prefectures of Shizuoka and Kyoto, is becoming the draw at Zen. Whisked by hand in a chawan, matcha is enjoyed hot, without flavorings, or as a latté over ice with or without flavored syrups. Alternative milks include almond and soy. On my initial visit, I try the highest grade of matcha Samidori from Uji, Japan, prepared hot ($11). This should be reserved for connoisseurs who appreciate the sharp bitterness of straight matcha.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

If a matcha latté is more your cup of tea, I challenge you to find one prepared with more grace and attention to detail. On a daytime visit, I order mine with whole milk and vanilla syrup over ice ($7.50, add $1 for syrup), and it is essentially drinkable matcha ice cream. So, the proprietor, sprinkles the matcha with a bit of water in a bowl. As he whisks, he adds more water and pours the bubbling green foam over ice and milk before dusting the cup with a final hit of matcha powder.

SEE ALSO: Here’s the Scoop on Kaimukī’s New Matcha and Coffee Spot

In later visits, the matcha latté recipe may have changed—it tastes more milk-forward. You might be able to ask for less milk, but I haven’t tried. Although it’s unlikely you haven’t tried matcha yet, the latté might be a better way to ease into it. For the price, I come to appreciate the details that go into its creation, down to the Mount Fuji-shaped glassware.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

There’s food here too. The anko butter sandwich, inspired by Nagoya’s famous ogura toast, is the most Japanese thing I’ve eaten in a long time. A lightly toasted sourdough bun, made by Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery with sake kasu or lees, gets a helping of sweet red bean paste and a generous knob of Kerrygold butter. The sweet-salty-sour combo is blissful and has the balance you seek from Japanese cuisine.

Other snacks on the menu include mentaiko bread, mentaiko cream pasta and a flight of tsukemono pickles (yes, really).

Photo: Thomas Obungen

It was always the dream of So, a half-Korean, half-Japanese native of Fukuoka, to open a tea café. Having cooked in and managed restaurants in Hawai‘i for the Japanese group Sasaya Holdings, he saw an opportunity when Waikīkī Chocolates vacated the space next to Aburiya Ibushi.

Today, Cha to Gelato Zen is an oasis from busy Kapahulu and from life itself. I find it best to come alone or with no more than two people. The six counter seats are the only place to enjoy the tea-and-gelato pairing course. Soon, So says, he may need to take reservations to manage the waves of those seeking midnight matcha and gelato.

It is supposed to be zen after all.

Open 2 to 5 p.m., 6 to 11 p.m., Monday to Friday and 2 to 5 p.m., 6 to 11:30 p.m., Saturday to Sunday, closed Wednesdays, 744 Kapahulu Avenue, @cha_to_gelato_zen

Photo: Katrina Valcourt

Just because it’s fall doesn’t mean the temperature has dropped enough for us to give up ice cream—especially when it’s layered between cake or atop crumbly pie crust in some of the most beautiful slices in Honolulu’s dessert landscape.

Heather Lukela started Slice by HB Baking in 2019. A talented pastry chef who worked at Nobu Waikīkī and The Kāhala Hotel & Resort, she leaned into her passion full-time after being furloughed during COVID-19 and opened Slice’s first location in 2021. That stall at the Chinese Cultural Plaza won a nod for Best Ice Cream Pie, the dessert combo of our dreams, in our 2021 Best of HONOLULU feature. And by this summer, Lukela’s creations outgrew the small space, and she closed up shop.

SEE ALSO: Ice Cream Pies by the Slice Are a New Thing in Chinatown

But not for long. Slice by HB Baking reopened in September in the old Runners Route in Kilohana Square between Salon Source and a Japanese antique shop. One of the biggest perks is its easy, free parking, but the shop comes with an expanded menu, too.

Photo: Katrina Valcourt

Now, in addition to those gorgeous ice cream pies and cakes, Slice by HB Baking offers ice cream cupcakes, shave ice, sundaes and scoops of ice cream made fresh daily using as many local ingredients as possible.

When I stop by recently, there’s a yuzu meringue cupcake of yuzu sherbet in white cake topped with torched meringue as well as a bananas foster cupcake of banana ice cream in rum cake with cinnamon whipped cream and peanuts on top, which I devour at the small dine-in counter. Lukela says she’ll have new flavors by the weekend, so I come back to find white chocolate ice cream in red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse and green tea ice cream and toffee in white cake with matcha whipped cream.

A bananas foster ice cream cupcake. Photo: Katrina Valcourt

She offers cupcakes as mini versions of the popular ice cream cake slices because those can be overwhelming for one person to eat. It takes a few minutes for the ice cream to thaw enough to make digging in easier, but I love the handheld serving (I’ve already eaten a slice of pie and just want a lil something extra). Cupcakes are $6.50 and, like the pies, aren’t overly sweet, so it’s perfectly normal to order multiple things. No one’s judging you.

New for this shop, in an area that already has some of the island’s most popular shave ice spots, is the chef’s special shave ice. Lukela says that her husband, David, bought the shave ice machine so he could have the dessert 24/7. “Nobu had the best shave ice,” she says, so they created their own rendition for nostalgia’s sake.

On a particularly crowded Sunday afternoon, I take my bowl of mango, coconut and lilikoi‘i ice with dulce de leche ice cream, strawberry syrup, condensed milk, chunks of pineapple, strawberry slices and chewy mochi to go, the swirls of dulce de leche coating my tongue. At $17, it’s pricey but luxe, with the ice made from real fruit juice, not syrups. “One day I’m gonna spend a day off at the beach, and then head to the shop to help myself to a shave ice,” Lukela says. “Living the dream.”

Photo: Katrina Valcourt

Individual ice cream scoops range from classics like coffee and strawberry to seasonal starfruit sorbet (perfectly tart and foraged by the Lukelas) and dairy-free options ($5, or $7 for two scoops). Non-frozen snacks include bibingka brownies ($4) and chocolate chip cookie crisps ($6), inspired by a cookie brittle recipe from a Food52 cookbook. I share some with my family, who all go wide-eyed at that first bite.

You can’t have an ice cream shop without sundaes. On a recent day, Slice’s include Tahitian vanilla ice cream, cookie crisps, hot fudge, peanuts and whipped cream ($12). Next up, Lukela’s thinking of warm apple crisp and caramel for fall. The price for the sundae varies.

While the pie menu changes about twice a year, favorite flavors remain, including Strawberry Shortcake with strawberry and birthday cake ice cream with a sugar cookie crust and Fruity Pebbles on top; Snuggy Bear, coffee almond fudge and English toffee ice cream atop an Oreo crust with a salted milk crumble; and Caramel Banana Butterfinger, which marries Butterfinger and banana dulce de leche ice cream with a graham cracker crust and salted peanut crumble. New, there’s the dairy-, gluten- and nut-free Caribbean Queen featuring a coconut shortbread crust, coconut sorbet, pineapple sorbet and passion orange crumble.

A slice of Snuggy Bear pie. Photo: Katrina Valcourt

Lukela changes cake flavors more frequently to keep from getting bored, so look out on social media for these.

As before, you order by the slice ($8.50 for pie, $13 for the cake slice of the day). You can sometimes get whole pies ($69 to $78) on the same day, depending on availability. Ice cream cakes are $65 for a 6-inch grab-and-go; custom cakes need to be ordered a few days in advance and start at $75.

Open Wednesday and Thursday noon to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 9 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m., 1016 Kapahulu Ave., Unit 150, (808) 202-8601, hbbaking.com, @slicebyhbbaking

Many people have been buzzing about the new Yi Xin Café in Market City Shopping Center, but it took a while before I was ready to write about it. When it opened two months ago in the old Anytime Café space with no publicity, lines of first-generation, Chinese-speaking people were waiting to try its ambitious four-page menu.

Word spread quickly that the food was solid, and by my second visit, the menu looked like a classified FBI document with many items blacked out. I couldn’t blame them for scaling back, as Yi Xin (pronounced yee zin) was still crowded with diners barking commands and scolding the waitress in Chinese (my friends included). Plus it’s BYOB.

SEE ALSO: Chinatown’s New HK Café Has Retro Vibes and Legit Noodles

You can now find about 24 items on the regular menu, and the restaurant has started adding back a dozen more specials, including tangsuyuk sweet and sour pork and Singaporean chile or black pepper crab, which require advance orders.

So why is it so popular? Yi Xin—which means “one heart” in Mandarin to reflect the love of many cultures in one place—offers dishes with Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai and Chinese inspirations that you won’t find in other Hawai‘i restaurants. Not everything is spicy, but you’ll find that most of the flavors are very bold.

Photo: Melissa Chang

Start with the salted egg yolk chicken wings ($14.95), which are like the shrimp paste chicken wings, but way better. You still get the pungent umami of the harm ha marinade, but the salted duck egg yolk powder is sautéed in butter to add another layer of salty richness. The batter is light and crispy, making it a perfect alarm clock that lets your palate know it’s time for dinner.

Photo: Melissa Chang

One of my favorites is the Thai style pork cheek ($14.95). The meat gets a light, sweet-salty marinade and is grilled on that layer of cheek fat to give it smokiness and a slight char. It comes with a sweet and spicy Thai dipping sauce, but it’s great even without dipping. I kind of wish they had more lettuce to go with it, as the freshness is a nice contrast.

Photo: Melissa Chang

The sizzling beef with black bean sauce ($19.95) is also as tasty as it is Instagrammable. It comes to the table on a smoky, sizzling platter tossed with black bean gravy and sautéed vegetables. The beef is so tender that you’ll eat half the platter before you realize you forgot to put it on rice. OK, maybe only I did that.

Photo: Melissa Chang

I was also surprised that another favorite is the fried green beans with minced meat and sambal shrimp paste ($14.95). It’s very simple but super tasty—maybe I like it because it reminds me of my mom’s cooking.

Photo: Melissa Chang

The Hong Kong-style garlic stir-fried prawns ($22.95) are a signature, with crispy jumbo shrimp fried to perfection with jalapeños, red chiles and a mountain of garlic. You can just shake off the garlic if you’re shy about its breath effects, but let me tell you: It’s worth it.

Photo: Melissa Chang

Bitter melon fans will enjoy the beef with bitter melon on rice ($15.95), but I highly recommend you ask to sub the rice with chow funn noodles. I don’t know what it is, but the chow funn makes it exponentially better.

Photo: Melissa Chang

My Chinese friends always order the baked rice or spaghetti with pork chops, meat sauce, chicken or tonkatsu ($16.95 to $18.95). The beef, tonkatsu or teriyaki chicken omelet on rice ($16.95) is also very homey and comforting.

Photo: Melissa Chang

If you’re able to plan ahead and feeling a little spendy, I highly recommend the curry crab with naan ($72.95). On the Hawai‘i News Now segment, we had it with giant prawns ($55), which was just as good. Like the name Yi Xin, the curry sauce is an exclusive blend of different Southeast Asian styles made from scratch (it takes about six hours). It’s creamy and beautifully aromatic, with a mild spiciness that will appeal to most audiences. Now that I’ve had it, I wonder if it will also be served with other kinds of seafood. It’s that good.

Photo: Melissa Chang

There’s no dessert yet, but do be sure to order the Hong Kong-style iced milk tea or lemon tea with the frozen bear ($6.95). The highly Instagrammable bear is made of sweetened tea and just adds cuteness to the whole experience. You can order the drinks without the bear (for $1.45 less), but why would you?

Open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Market City Shopping Center, 2919 Kapi‘olani Blvd., (808) 738-0818, @yi_xin_cafe_808

Photo: Melissa Chang

Locals on every island have very strong opinions about their favorite shave ice spot, and Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice is undisputedly the top choice on Maui. Tomorrow, Jan. 20, they’re opening on O‘ahu, which will heat up the competition in the ice games.

Ululani’s is popular for many reasons. Their ice is super fine (not everyone’s is, you know) and their syrups are homemade—some with fruit in them have up to 33% real fruit purée. They also have an extensive menu of flavors, ranging from the basic strawberry and vanilla to wedding cake and green tea, all the way to the super local pickled mango, tamarind, wet lemon peel and li hing mui.

SEE ALSO: Best Shave Ice on O‘ahu

The ice cream is on another level, as well: Since they are from the Valley Isle, they don’t just use Maui-based Roselani Ice Cream, they use Roselani’s top-tier “gourmet” line, which is extra creamy and tasty.

When you order, I would highly recommend you expand your horizons and try something new. I’m a purist, so until I started blogging, I’d normally order strawberry shave ice with vanilla ice cream at most shave ice places to measure the gold standard. Then I began leaning toward exciting combinations and new flavors, which make for nice photos.

Photo: Melissa Chang

So it never occurred to me to order Ululani’s Haleakalā, a monochromatic mound of macadamia ice cream covered in haupia and leche shave ice and toasted coconut. It’s right there at the top of the menu. That should give you a hint. This thing isn’t just shave ice, it’s an actual dessert. The different levels of creaminess and cold are delicious on their own, but the homemade coconut flakes—which are crunchy, sugary and toasty—make it crazy addicting.

I have been eating shave ice all my life, so I know better. But the Haleakalā was so good, I was gripped by brain freeze in a matter of seconds. You will be, too.

SEE ALSO: Celebrate the Plant-Based Life at These 11 Vegan-Friendly Dessert Spots

After several years of enjoying (and writing about) Ululani’s, I only just got to meet owners Ulu and David Yamashiro in person yesterday. They are from O‘ahu, and after getting married, they moved to the Pacific Northwest and were surprised to see long lines for snow cones, which are more like flavored gravel. So in 2003, Ulu opened her own Hawai‘i-style shave ice company there, called No Ka ‘Oi Shave Ice. She had to separate from her mainland business partners when she moved back to Hawai‘i in 2008 to be closer to her mom, so she opened on Maui under her name to make it clear she was on her own.

Ululani owners David and Ulu Yamashiro, back row center, and Kapahulu franchisee Jamie Wong, front row left, with employees at the new shop. Photo: Melissa Chang

Fast forward to 2023: The Yamashiros have been franchising for several years, and Ululani’s Shave Ice now has six locations on Maui, one in Kailua-Kona, one in Hollywood, and as of Jan. 20, one in Honolulu. This franchise owner is Jamie Wong, who hopes to open more Ululanis in Waikīkī and Kaka‘ako. The Yamashiros say their next franchisee is opening in Waimānalo.

But there’s more! More Ululani locations are opening in Stockton, Santa Barbara and Livermore in California; Austin, Texas and the Gulf Coast of Florida. It won’t be long before the world knows about shave ice the way they know about poke bowls.

Open daily starting Friday, Jan. 20 from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., 909 Kapahulu Ave., ululanishawaiianshaveice.com, @ululanishawaiianshaveice

One of the questions I get most often is where to get good sushi in Honolulu. I always wonder, why don’t people just return to their old favorites? There are so many great sushi places within a five-mile radius, why do you need to ask me?

Now, I’m not talking about the snobs—whoops, I mean purists—who only eat traditional sushi by a master who has trained in Japan and has a known pedigree. Hawai‘i people know their sushi, but I think many foodies are looking for something new and different to expand their horizons.

Nothing too different or crazy.

Dishes that still resemble the sushi they know and love.

Maybe something that is more of an experience, too.

Oh, and can you find something that won’t break the bank?

SEE ALSO: Islander Sake’s Omakase Sushi Restaurant Opens This Week in Chinatown

Omakase by Aung, located on Kapahulu Avenue, has only been open for a few weeks, but is already very popular because it checks all of those boxes. The omakase consists of 15 courses for about $130 per person, which is on par with or cheaper than other non-Japanese sushi counters in town and considered reasonable for the style and quality of the ingredients. Even better, it’s BYOB (for now).

Photo: Melissa Chang

The place is named for chef-owner Aung Lawalt, who’s Burmese but born and raised in Thailand. He worked in sushi restaurants in San Francisco and more recently, nine years in New York at Sushi by M. Lawalt finally escaped the craziness of the Big Apple and moved here to be closer to his family, and brought his experiences with him.

He gets many of his ingredients locally and from Japan, but uses other flavors and techniques to create a more fusion experience with bells and whistles. For example, he slices (not shaves) truffles over Ora King salmon nigiri for the umami and texture, and adds flecks of fresh lime zest or flaky salt to his scallop nigiri, depending on what species it is. Caviar tops a decadent bite of fatty tuna to give it a luxurious twist. Many times I was as sad to know my course was gone, as I was happy to have it.

Chef and owner Aung Lawalt. Photo: Melissa Chang

At least once during the meal, he will use a smoking gun not just to impart a quick smokiness to the fish, but to provide a dramatic visual when he lifts the glass. (Yes, it’s great for the ‘gram.)

SEE ALSO: We Tried Margotto, Kaka‘ako’s New Truffle-Centric Restaurant

Lawalt made his own vanilla ice cream for dessert and sliced truffles over it—he admits he’s not a pastry chef, so his ice cream is a little rustic, but the truffle makes it all turn into butter in your mouth, so who cares?

Photo: Melissa Chang

The menu changes constantly, so what you see here and what I’ve described may not be served when you go. I liked it enough that I went twice, and quite a few items had changed within the span of a week. Here’s a sampling of what I had.

Abalone. Photo: Melissa Chang

Botan ebi with ikura and lime zest. Photo: Melissa Chang

Hamachi with tosazu sweet soy and grated daikon. Photo: Melissa Chang

Ora King salmon with truffle. Photo: Melissa Chang

Toro with caviar. Photo: Melissa Chang

Lawalt himself is fun and chatty, and that adds to the communal atmosphere of the sushi bar, which can seat up to 12 people. I see from the Instagram posts that many people have made new friends there and ended up sharing wine and sake through the evening.

Omakase by Aung is currently open daily, but Lawalt said that may change as he figures out the best days to take a break. Seatings are at 5:30 and 7:45 p.m.; if you can take a long lunch break, the same menu (same price) is available at 1 p.m. Reservations are essential—make them through Open Table at omakasebyaung.com/reservations or text (don’t call) (808) 589-8994.

Parking is available on the street or behind the shop in the Guava Smoked lot. You can also park in the paid lot across the street adjacent to Side Street Inn.

567 Kapahulu Ave., (808) 589-8994, @omakasebyaung

Ouf, it’s hot. Give me a spoon and a halo halo, one of the best ways to stir me out of a lazy haze. Here are my favorite places for the maximalist Filipino dessert.

Via Gelato

Photo: Martha Cheng

Via Gelato’s special of the month, a halo halo sundae, is a showstopper: a Hawai‘i version unlike any halo halo you’ve ever had. Get the large, which adds a scoop of mango sorbet to two scoops of halo halo gelato, made with locally grown Okinawan sweet potato, fresh corn and swirled with pirie mango sauce. The gelato itself is a marvel, the corn providing pops of crunchy sweetness, but the sundae, in the spirit of halo halo, takes it over the top. Azuki beans and osmanthus jellies studded with water chestnut pave the bottom, more mango sauce fills in the gaps, and the whole thing is crowned with mashed sweet potato and a wedge of flan, then finished with sweetened milk and brown rice puffs. 

$15 for a large, 1142 12th Ave., viagelatohawaii.com, @viagelatohawaii

SEE ALSO: Try These New DIY Gelato Cakes from Kaimukī’s Via Gelato

Shimazu Store

Photo: Martha Cheng

Until recently, I didn’t know Shimazu sold halo halo, even though it’s literally listed on its sign, right after shave ice. Now, it’s one of my favorites. It’s the most restrained on this list, but Shimazu makes each component count, including coconut strips that taste of fresh coconut meat, slippery sweet coconut gel, and even an entire jackfruit pod, a treasure found at the bottom. Azuki beans, ube ice cream, a coarse shave ice, and evaporated milk tops it all off.

$8, locations in Liliha and Kapahulu, but call the Kapahulu location before going to make sure it’s not sold out

Magnolia Ice Cream & Treats

Photo: Martha Cheng

Nine ingredients, contributing to a riot of textures and colors, make their way into the signature halo halo at Magnolia, aka the Halo Halo Place. Coarse ice is piled on top of sweet beans and fruit, including jackfruit, saba bananas, macapuno (coconut strings), red bean, and kaong (date palm jelly). Good luck not getting the lightly sweetened milk to overflow as you try to mix in the ube ice cream and puffed crispy rice.

$7.74, multiple locations, magnoliatreats.com

SEE ALSO: My 8 Favorite Filipino Foods on O‘ahu Right Now

Photo: Martha Cheng

Max’s of Manila

I’ve had bowls of cereal less sweet than Max’s halo halo, which helps me justify it as a summer meal. There are even white beans in there—it’s practically a salad! An assortment of colored jellies lend texture while the flan, ube ice cream and ube paste add sweetness to the otherwise unsweetened milk and ice, somewhere between coarse and fine. 

$7.95, multiple locations, maxsrestaurantna.com/hawaii 

Kawaii Kravings is a sugar-rush journey into Oahu’s world of delicious, Instagrammable sweets.

SEE ALSO:

• Kawaii Kravings: 3 Must-Get Drinks at Cowcow’s Tea in Kaimukī
• Kawaii Kravings: 6 Cupcakes to Get at Sugarlina Bakeshop