Brand new lunch shop on the corner of Kilauea and Lanikaula next to Subway. Very friendly family run place. Menu looks great with focus on fresh home style local cooking.

Pan seared ahi steaks with spicy sauce ($8.50). Really good and fresh fish and very generous portion. Great with their spicy sauce. Loved their potato mac salad with spaghetti noodles. Next time I would request the ahi cooked on the rarer side. It was cooked all the way through… a bit dry but still good.

Large bento ($7.50). This was one big bento. The highlight was the garlic chicken. So ono! Lots of good sushi too.

Mahi fish sandwich w/ fries and soup ($9.00). Yummy sandwich, just wish there was more fish!

Good beef stew ($7.95). Tender meat and seasoned well. Loved that they gave pickled onions as an option on their plates. Nothing too special about the stew though.

Oxtail soup ($10.95) on Fridays! They have different soups on Mondays and Wednesdays too. I loved this soup. Nicely balanced broth. Not too salty. Would order this again. Could use a little more oxtail.

Garlic chicken ($7.50). This plate was so amazing. It’s the same chicken in the bento but much better since it’s fresh! Four huge crispy pieces of chicken smothered on a sweet garlic sauce. On the side I got sweet potato salad and tossed greens. Could not finish this! Highly recommended.

Cousins Seafood & Bento
1-808-969-9900
Corner of Kilauea & Lanikaula St

New gourmet burger joint in the Parker Ranch Center food court.

“Hawaii Rancher” and “Hawaiian Red Veal” with fries.

“Hawaii Rancher” burger ($7.50) with local cuts of chuck and brisket. Excellent! The beef almost melts in your mouth… so tender and juicy. We saw them form our patties on the spot and they grind their own meat fresh. That extra effort really shows. I preferred this one over the veal (probably since it was more fatty!). The bun was soft and sweet… and veggies were fresh… tomatoes ripe and red.

These fries were yummy. Crisp, light and potatoes had a nice sweetness. ($3.50)

Close-up

Great place if you are looking for a mean local beef burger and don’t mind spending a little more.

Village Burger, Waimea
67-1185 Mamalahoa Highway, Kamuela, HI 96743-7304
(808) 885-7319‎

Paauilo vanilla Keahole lobster bisque (island raised)

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this bisque.  The first taste is an intense sweet and rich hit of lobster with a nice touch of sherry and hints of vanilla.  The beauty of this is that the lobster and even the vanilla is locally grown! In the middle is an extra soft medallion of something (sorta like an extra soft tofu texture or custard), matching the smoothness of the bisque… not really sure what it was.  When you break the it, it instantly soaks up all of the flavors of the bisque, just melting in your mouth. Very possibly the best liquid form of food EVER.

A fresh salad with heirloom tomatoes and two kinds of beets.  I don’t normally eat beets, and I think it has been mostly because of bad experiences from canned beets.  This salad totally changed my impression though.  I love beets now.  Croutons were so good and it was dressed perfectly.

Kiawe Grilled New York Strip

with mashed potatoes mixed with sweet corn, asparagus, and some of the most delicious mushrooms (I think these were local hamakua mushrooms)… the steak was wonderful, served with a rich demi-glaze.

Here are the huge mushrooms.

Also served, but not mine was fresh mahi-mahi.  I had a bite and it was very fresh and perfectly cooked.

I was stuffed already, but I could not turn down a chocolate mousse cake.  So rich .

I’m coming back here some time later for sure on a special occasion with just my wife and I so we can thoroughly enjoy a meal.  The service was very nice and our table was right on the beach, like literally on the sand.  It is a very romantic restaurant.

Brown’s Beach House
Fairmont Orchid
1 North Kaniku Drive 
Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii  96743
808/885-2000

Shichimi Seard Scallops with Kawari sprouts and lilikoi butter sauce ($9)

Perfectly cooked sweet seared scallops with a beautiful rich buttery lilikoi sauce. The shichimi provided a nice little kick. Super ono! I just wish the scallops were a little bigger.

Eggplant Crostini with truffle oil and pecorino cheese ($6)

These were good too and the salad was very fresh.

778 Kilauea Prime Rib Sandwich – Slow roasted prime rib with crispy onion rings, Swiss cheese, house made potato and taro chips ($11)

Tender prime rib, rich au jus, great homemade chips. This tasted really fresh and I loved the onion rings too. Yum.

Closeups….

Lunch Menu (click for big version):

Dinner Menu (tapas are same as lunch):

Our waitress recommended the lobster ravioli for dinner.

Great food here. Service was very nice and fast. Ambience was really nice and simple with some cool hip jazzy music in the background. I hope this place stays here in Hilo!

Currently BYOB, no corking fee. There is a nearby wine store (Grapes) just a few stores down.

Jays Island Fresh Cuisine
776 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-8880

Along with the chicken they had a lot of other local style plate lunches.  Outside on the grass, there are nice peaceful benches to sit on too.  Nice stop before heading out to Waimea or Kona.

What a deal: 3 pieces of chicken, 3 huge potato wedges, and a soft dinner roll all for only $4.99! (it was on special, regular price is $5.99).  Hoooo da tasty, crispy, perfectly seasoned and super juicy!  Bev liked it because it was “not too oily and fatty and crunchy all around…. and not the hard kine crunchy where you going break your teeth… just right crunchy”.

I got da plate lunch because I felt like rice.  It was winnaz too!  I think getting the box is a better deal though.

We are definitely going back here next time we pass this side.  Some of the best fried chicken on the island and super nice workers!

Minit Stop
36-2266 Mamaloha Hwy
Laupahoehoe
(808) 962-0422

So, I’ll start with one of Tom Douglas’ wonderful restaurants which is also attached to a bakery.

I started with a tomato soup.

This was simply the best tomato soup I’ve ever had by far. It was thick, fresh, bright and very rich. It went so good with the buttery croutons and bread served. I won’t look at tomato soup the same again.

Next, an order of Tom Douglas’ famous crab cakes.

Man, these crab cakes rock. The crab meat is so sweet with huge chunks of leg meat. While it’s mostly crab, it still has a nicely seasoned breading with green onions. Served with grilled romaine and crispy potatoes.

Desert time! Coconut cream pie.

So deliciously light and not too sweet. The crust was great texture.

Fresh Pear Tart

Outstanding! Seattle has the best pears I’ve had, and combining that with a fresh flaky tart pastry, this was just delicious.

I’m so spoiled now. Seattle I will return!

At a recent retirement party for a wonderfully sweet lady with an appetite for great food, her co-workers went out all over Hilo to get her favorite foods. It was all so ono, I had to learn where everything was from!

This kind of information is invaluable…

Hilo Lunch Shop: Veggie Tempura, Sweet Potato Tempura, Fishcake

Sputniks: Potato Salad, Teri Beef, Korean Chicken

Kalbi Express: Mundoo

Ryans: Maki Sushi

So, where are your favorite places for dis kind food?

It was only 12:30 when we got here, and already most of the food was gone! No more sushi, and a lot of the hot plates were missing/empty. Luckily, there were still some choices left. We made it just in time. Here is what we got to share…

2 scoops rice, 4 pcs nori chicken, 2 pcs breaded Ono (Wahoo fish), nishime, mac salad, and a spring roll. All this for $7.98. Not bad for 2 people… I’m lucky Bev is a light eater.

We both thought everything was really ono. Bev especially liked the nori chicken and mac salad. They are famous for their nori chicken… very flavorful and moist inside, while being crispy on the outside. It’s so good. The mac salad was actually a potato/mac salad with cucumbers, eggs, and carrots — really yummy. Everything else was good too. The breaded Ono was nice and moist inside, the nishime was fresh and tasty. The spring roll was big and crisp, but just average tasting.

Hilo Lunch Shop serves up some onolicious food. Just make sure to get here well before noon!

Hilo Lunch Shop
421 Kalanikoa Street, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 935-8273

Akmal is a small Pakistani & Indian restaurant located in a new food complex on the corner of Kilauea Ave & Lanikaula St which also has Spoonful (coffee/ice cream shop), H&K Lunch Shop (Korean), Soontaree’s Deli (vegetarian cuisine), and a Subway.

Akmal is supposedly the only restaurant of its kind on the Big Island. I was excited to see an Indian restaurant popping up in Hilo since I’ve only tried Indian food a couple of times on Oahu, and I’ve never tried Pakistani food.

Inside, there are only a few tables (~5-6). A counter with a variety of different dishes are kept hot to choose from during lunch time. During dinner, you order from a menu. When I entered at about 11:30am, I was the only person there, which seemed strange since the last time I came here, there were a lot more people.

They have this cool display of spices.

I ordered a plate of Garbanzo Bean Curry and some kind of Tempeh Curry to go, which also came with basmati rice and yogurt chutney ($7.00).

The basmati rice is a wonderful long, fluffy, and very light type of rice. It went really well with the curries since it can soak up a lot of liquid. Considering this was all vegetarian, I was amazed at the amount of flavor and richness there was in both curries.

The garbanzo beans had a nice firm chewable consistency and it still soaked up a lot of the flavors (lots of coriander and cumin). It was just slightly spicy. The tempeh curry was really good! Very rich and creamy with a nice spicey flavor. The tempeh went great with the curry sauce and it looked like it had potatoes, zucchinni, and onions inside of it. The yogurt chutney tasted great with everything, mellowing out the kick of the spices.

A co-worker ordered a Samosa Plate ($6.00).

Two samosas (deep fried pastry stuffed with spiced potatoes and green peas) topped with garbanzo bean curry, salad, and yogurt chutney. I’ve had this the last time I came here and it is perfect for a light lunch. The salad and garbanzo beans go really well with the light and crisp samosas.

I’m not sure if what I ate was Indian or Pakistani, but it all tasted yummy. Good times.

Akmal Pakistani & Indian Cuisine
259 Haili St, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 769-3944

Osaka’s has two rooms: a lounge and a restaurant. Both rooms serve the same food, but one room is darker and has a more chill feel… sometimes it’s nice to eat in there. It is usually crowded with a full parking lot, and tonight was no exception.

Within a couple minutes we were served some miso soup. The waitress was very nice and friendly.

Very yummy with fresh crunchy green onions.

Since I ended up ordering a Korean dish, I was also served these sides.

The kim chi was good. Spicier and more flavorful than the average kim chi from other places. The pickled daikon was nice and crisp. On the right are strips of well cooked potatoes seasoned with sesame oil, it seemed – nice flavor.

I was originally going to order the Spicy Chicken, which I was told was really good by the waitress, but she said that she prefers the Spicy Pork since it’s more tender. So I ordered the Spicy Pork ($8.95).

The generous portion of Spicy Pork was served over a bed of vegetables on a hot metal plate shaped cutely like a cow. It smelled wonderful, and I love how it looked with the nice dark charred grill marks. The meat was very tender and juicy. The flavor of the meat was not too spicy, but I could taste that the marinade permeated through all the meat… it tasted great! The vegetables were nice to eat with the pork as well.

Also ordred was the one of the specials, Sweet Sour Spareribs (~$7).

These spareribs were very tender and tasted great. The bones were soft enough to eat. There was not too much vinegar either. It tasted just right. The mac salad was one of the better mac salads I’ve tried… it had great consistency and flavor… it tasted like half potato and half macaroni.

We were also served some hot tea later.

The food was great on this visit, and they are pretty consistent with the food quality. Unfortunately, I have not yet tried their loco moco. Also, I don’t recommend the saimin from here. Everything else I’ve tried was great, though, and the service is very pleasant!