Panya Bistro & Bakery

We weren't planning to dine at Panya Bistro for dinner, but the place that we wanted to go to was closed for the day (we weren't aware until we got to the door and saw the "closed for cleaning" sign!), and so we decided to walk a block to Panya, which turned out to be the best meal I had all week!

Here's what we ordered:

Garlic Toast Crostini with Panya crab salad

Sauteed Cubed Steak w/Onion

Fried Chicken

Garlic Shrimp Spaghetti

Garlic Butter Pasta

Plain Ramen

 You could probably tell the garlic butter pasta and plain ramen were for the kids. These were on the "side order" menu and priced at $10 and $9 respectively. I like that they offer plain versions of these noodle dishes for a lower price, because my kids (like most kids) prefer noodles to be plain and simple. 

Everything else was delicious and I would recommend them all! I wish we had ordered dessert .. Panya is known for their desserts! But, the kids wanted something more simple, so we skipped the dessert.  

They have a great outdoor seating area, and customer parking in the Hokua building. Take-out is available!

Closed on Mondays.

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PANYA BISTRO & BAKERY
1288 Ala Moana Blvd.
808-946-6388

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New Menu at Waikiki Leia

 

I lucked out this weekend and was able to dine with friends at a media invite at Waikiki Leia showcasing their new "Nostalgic Cafe Lunch" menu.  I had heard how pretty the grounds were and had been wanting to dine there for awhile now.  The chapel and guesthouse are located on Monsarrat at the bottom of Diamond Head.  

The new menu is much more robust and offers new dishes of omelet rice, seafood rice gratin, beef stew, and pork katsu sandwich in addition to their popular souffle pancakes.  They are also offering new parfaits to their dessert menu.  The dishes were delicious, but my favorites were the pork katsu sandwich and souffle pancakes.

Beef Stew

Pork Katsu Sandwich

Mixed Fried Plate

Mixed Sandwiches: Bacon, egg, and cheese and Ham, lettuce, and tomato 

Seafood Rice Gratin

Omelet Rice

Add soup or salad or both to your meal

Souffle pancakes with three house made sauces

New Chocolate Parfait 

Japanese Sweets Trio: Matcha ice cream, Warabi mochi, and Sweet azuki bean

Front of Guesthouse

View from dining area

Both indoor and outdoor dining tables are available

We were seated outside under an umbrella that provided enough shade.  It was a cool and breezy day and made for a perfect lunch setting.  The ambience is very relaxed and the service was great.  This would be a great place for a ladies lunch or group gathering.

The restaurant is only open Saturdays and Sundays for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Reservations are recommended.

Waikiki Leia 

3050 Monsarrat Ave.

Honolulu, HI 

(808)735-5500

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Merriman's Honolulu

It's been a couple of years since I last dined at Merriman's Honolulu. The menu has changed, but the ambiance and quality of food is still classy and fun. My friends treated me to lunch here one Sunday morning for my birthday. We splurged! It's hard not to when you don't get out to these fancy places very often. We dined in their outdoor seating area, which is located on the Kamakee Street side of the restaurant, and is nicely shaded in the mornings. 

We started our meal with the Bag 'O Biscuits appetizer, and Day Boat Monchong, Clams and Pacific Shrimp Bouillabaisse. The bouillabaisse was heavenly and I'm so glad we decided to share this dish. It was loaded with seafood and the broth was packed with flavor! It was large enough for the three of us to share as a starter. For the main course, my friends ordered the Hirabara Farms Kale Salad, Organic Mac Nut Crusted Fish (today's fish was salmon), and I ordered the Wagyu Umami Burger. We could not resist ordering a side of Parmesan Truffle Fries to share (what's a burger without fries??). I can't speak for the salad because I didn't try it, it looked really fresh and colorful. The mac nut fish came with a generous portion of salmon - my friend took half of it home. The burger was heavenly, thanks to the wagyu beef and truffle aioli (yum!). For dessert, my friends insisted that we order something since we were celebrating my birthday.  We selected the lilikoi posset. Fortunately for me, my friends just wanted a taste of it, so I was "forced" to eat most of it, which I happily did, just short of licking the dish. 

Visit Merriman's Honolulu website to view their menus or to book a reservation (via OpenTable).

Bag 'O Biscuits

Big Island churned butter

Day Boat Monchong, Clams and Pacific Shrimp
Bouillabaisse (daily special)

Wagyu Umami Burger

Organic Mac Nut Crusted Fish (salmon)

Hirabara Farms Kale Salad

Parmesan Truffle Fries

Lilikoi Posset (mac nut cookie, strawberries and cream)

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MERRIMAN'S HONOLULU
1108 AUAHI STREET
(808) 215-0022

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Brunch at Piggy Smalls

When a friend from SoCal told me she and her family were coming to Hawaii to visit and wanted to meet up for a good meal with a few of our mutual friends, the first place that came to mind was Piggy Smalls, not just because it's one of our favorite restaurants, but because of their outdoor seating area and COVID 19 safety protocols.  Tables are spaced apart, temperatures are taken at the door, and menus are contactless (scan the QR code at the table to see the menu). 

Our family shared the LFC (Le Fried Chicken) Wings (A-MUST!), Butter Pancakes, Churro French Toast, and the Ox Tail Bo Kho. We also ordered kids' pho for the twins. The Butter Pancakes was my favorite dish of the day - I could really taste the butter and lemon zest. The Churro French Toast had a nice crunch to it and the Tres Leches Custard was a nice touch and eliminated the need for syrup. The LFC wings and Ox Tail Soup were mainly for the hubby and he was overwhelmed by the size of the soup!  It had a lot of pieces of Ox Tail in there.

The brunch menu is only available on Saturdays and Sundays. Reservations are highly recommended. Take-out is available through online ordering or by telephone, and delivery is available through Doordash or BiteSquad. 

For more information, visit the website. 

Le Fried Chicken Wings

Churro French Toast

Butter Pancakes

Ox Tail Bo Kho

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PIGGY SMALLS

1200 Ala Moana Blvd (Ward Village, corner of Auahi and Kamakee streets)

(808) 777-3588

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12th Ave Grill & DeliCafe

As I have been a big fan of restaurants with outdoor dining, when my friend asked where we should meet for a quick workday lunch, I suggested 12th  Ave Grill & DeliCafe in Kaimuki.

I called weeks in advance to make a reservation for an outside table, but as you can see, there were a lot of tables available for outdoor dining. Indoor dining was also an option, but we preferred to eat outdoors, even though it was a bit windy.

After placing our orders inside at the counter, we selected our table and waited for our food to be delivered to us. My friend's side salad came out first.  It looked fresh and just the right size to compliment his sandwich.

My house fries came out next - they were delicious! I just love hand-cut shoestring fries, and the ketchup is definitely not from a bottle. It was hard to stop myself from eating the entire plate before my sandwich arrived.

Luckily my 12th Ave B.L.T arrived and I was excited to take my first bite. This sandwich is made with butter poached Kona raised Maine Lobster, avocado-roasted tomato-basil-garlic relish on house-made bacon bread. Doesn't it sound wonderful? It tasted even better than it sounds!

There was no shortage of lobster in this sandwich, and the creamy avocado relish complimented the lobster well.  I wasn't a huge fan of the bread, but I would still order this sandwich again because of the lobster and avocado relish. 

My friend enjoyed his Garlic-Lime & Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich. I was impressed with the size of the fried chicken it came with.

There are many other items on the menu that I want to try (Pastrami French Toast, Maui Cattle Co. Burger, Meat Loaf Melt, Tamarind Braised Short Ribs, and the house-made Tiramisu), therefore I'll definitely be back!!

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12th Ave Grill & DeliCafe

1120 12th Ave

(808) 732-9469

 

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Momosan Waikiki

 

Back in 2018, Masaharu Morimoto (better known as The Iron Chef), opened two new restaurants in the ‘Alohilani Resort, on the Diamond Head end of Waikiki - Morimoto Asia Waikiki and Momosan Waikiki. While Morimoto Asia continues to remain closed during the pandemic, Momosan Waikiki is up and running, offering both dine-in and take-out.

 

A couple of friends and I met up at Momosan for a quick, weekday lunch. While we normally don't venture into Waikiki for weekday lunches, we agreed on Momosan because of it's location, free validated parking in the hotel, outdoor seating, and menu.

One friend ordered two appetizers as her meal, the rest of us ordered momosan sets (ramen + appetizer). The momosan set is the way to go if you're hungry!

seaweed salad

kakuni bao

soft shell crab bao

spicy dan-dan

tonkotsu ramen

tokyo chicken ramen

We all enjoyed the food and really liked the ambiance and the service. They have a lot of COVID-19 safety protocols in place, such as contactless menus, hand sanitizers throughout the restaurant, temperature readings at the entrance, and contact tracing.

If they ever bring some of the items from their previous menu (tsukemen, kushiyaki), I would definitely consider returning!

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Momosan Waikiki

2490 Kalakaua Avenue

Honolulu, Hawaii 96815

(808) 922-0011

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