A night in Kaka'ako is always a fun place to explore, and just be entertained!…read more The Honolulu Night Market at Our Kaka'ako is indeed a fabulous adventure into the biggest street/block party filled to the brim with all things local...food, retail and culture. I've been to so many and each and every one is very unique where you can find either fashion runway stage, live street art, or even a dance night in the barn. I just love the vibe SALT and surrounding Our Kaka'ako brings with the vibrant art we're so blessed to have and this particular night (November 19th) there was actually much more shopping just perfect for the holidays and the party went further down to Ya-ya's. Tonight I was fortunate to have gone after work so I kept it short but found some awesome treats. Some straw toppers to add to my holiday gift giving and some cheesecake cups (OG, Strawberry and Cookie Butter) of course I got one of each to share...ate the Strawberry which of course omg was yummy!! Not too sweet as the Strawberries was just perfect as I tried to get an even scoop of it all in every bite. Walked further down and honestly wasn't in the mood to wait too long for anything found something that would just exactly work for me. Ya-Ya's Chophouse & Seafood and tonight they had two items - Steak Kebabs - Fat Fried Rice with TAB (aka Thick Ass Bacon lol!) I seriously wanted the fried rice but thought that the Steak Kebabs was more sensible for me personally and it came with two kebabs each fully loaded with steak, mushrooms, peppers and onions with a huge scoop of rice! So many options I really was considering including Henna from Henna Happens, Birria Tacos from Dolce Vita, Corn from Corn Onoz Hawaii but though there's always a next time yes!?! I remember pre-pandemic Yelp had a booth here and hoping as things return to normalcy that we'll see it back again one day (hint hint!) Absolutely love this Honolulu Night Market as it offers so many cultural coolness that you can't find anywhere else! Thank you!

There were only about 4-5 food trucks when I visited, and it felt small. Around 6 PM, the area had…read morevery few people. There was some live music, but it seemed more like a quick stop for tourists rather than a real night market. I didn't try any food because the atmosphere wasn't appealing, so I left quickly.

Today at a food truck event at City Hall I ordered 2 Shaggy Jrs. I gotta say it's the pictures of…read moreyour menu board that sold me - they all looked so 'ono. After ordering - 15 seconds later my name was called. Yes, I thought wow that was super quick! I grabbed the 2 containers and headed back to the office. This was going to be our snack on the way home. When I got back to the office this is what I found. The burgers were $15.00 each and both were extremely papaʻa. We took a bite from the first burger (it tasted how it looked) then opened the second box and it looked worse. How shameful to serve this kind of food that should have been thrown out and not sold. You need to do better, aūe! One star was generous because zero stars was not an option.

First time trying their amazing burgers and I will try to return as much as I can! So tasty and…read morefries weee just the way I like them--skinny cut and super crispy! Well done! I'll bring by my fawn Great Dane!

This was an interesting little maze of stalls selling wooden tikis, this, jewelry, aloha shirts and…read moredresses, and whatever other Hawaiian souvenirs and tchatkis you might want. It's a bit of a cross between a flea market and a Chinatown. The prices will get lower and some vendors will wheel and deal if you walk away. I bought a carved coconut tiki mug that started out at $25--my hesitation brought the price down to $15. Dog bandanas went from $15 each this $10 each. You get the picture. If it's fun to look around and bargain, but be aware that we saw similar items at the ABC convenience stores (on every corner--like a circle k but much nicer) for, in some cases, a lower price. Still, is kind of fun to go

Stumbled upon this market as it is down a side alley. This isn't really worth the trip off the…read moremain streets. Most of the vendors I noticed were selling the exact same merchandise so I'm really not sure the whole market is owned by the same person or they are separate. Alot of the merchandise was cheap and tacky

1. Food - I grew up in the Philippines up until I moved here when I was 13-14 years old. Naturally,…read moreI would crave Filipino foods and meals from home. The food is, dare I say, authentic. The options they have, the ingredients they use, the cooking, and the flavor... it's made exactly like how I remember in the Philippines. It kind of does bring me back to my days growing up in the Philippines. We've been ordering platters from 2NO 2NO (pronounced "tono tono" like "pono") for a few years now. I've yet to receive anything that I didn't like. Their platters of food, like pancit and lumpiang shanghai, and their BBQ sticks and Filipino street food offerings are really good. I can eat a whole pan of kwek-kwek all by myself. Not in one sitting though, but spread throughout a few meals and late night "snacks". We've also ordered there big "budol fight" (pronounce "boo-dol" as in "boo" and "toll") meals. It's a traditional Filipino/southeast asian way of sharing a meal with families or large party. I grew up using the term "kamayan". Anyway, it's a feast of your choice of meat, fish, seafood, starch, etc. So far, the two or three times we've done it, it's been real good. 2. Service - Not much. They're not a restaurant. They are essentially a "catering" company. You send your order through text or instagram or some other social media thing, with the date and time of pick up, and pay cash or Venmo or some payment application after you get your order on the day of. I don't know, my wife usually does the ordering. I usually do the pick up. When I do go and pick up our order, most of the time, it's ready or almost ready. They haven't messed up any of my orders yet, which is important because most of the time when we order, it's for events. 3. Ambience - Non. You go to their place and pick your order up. If you want to talk ambience, it's in Kalihi, in one of those tiny streets off of Kalihi St. I do like going there though. The smell of the kitchen reminds me again of home in the Philippines. On a good day, when the sun is out, the skies are blue, and there's no vog covering the island, picking up orders is a pleasant errand. In my book, 2NO 2NO one of the best Filipino food caterers in the island.

The BBQ sticks were so good. Almost melts in your mouth. My favorite was the Lumpia Shanghai. The…read morebest i have every tasted.

Since our initial blind "meeting", Val Y. has been begging me to meet him for another dining…read moreexperience. (After our last disastrous outing, I can't believe he would want to do this again!) In order to avoid another potentially embarassing situation for him, and to make him look PLAYA COOL, instead of just YELPER COOL, I thought it would be best if I brought along a small posse with me (Traci H., and Theresa S.) to check out the boneless kalbi plate from Grandma G's at the Merchant Street Market. Val must have been nervous because he was sweating when he met the three of us there. So, go read Val Y.'s review of this same experience, and click "COOL" and send him lots of "HOT STUFF" compliments because TODAY is VAL Y's BIRTHDAY (10/26/11!). WHEN/WHERE: 2nd and 4th TUESDAYS 11am-2pm at the corner of Bishop and Merchant Street, in the Davies Pacific courtyard: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/q9KQKUGDr0hyBYNKQQezQA?select=rDAjazQFrThepxLC3hNIng COME EARLY! I got there at 11:10 exactly, and there were no lines. By 11:12 there were 8 people in line at Grandma G's and 6 at Stacey's Lau Lau. (where did they all come from in 2 minutes? We don't know.) DIVIDE AND CONQUER: Similar to Eat the Street, the more the merrier. Traci stood in line at Grandma G's, Theresa stood in line at Stacy's and I walked over to Chef Sean at Soul to get my fried chicken. We were 3 women on a mission. But where did Val go? He bailed on us and was checking out the healthier alternatives at Honolulu Gourmet Foods. Just a tip for you GUYS....when your women are ordering things with names like Kalbi, buttermilk fried chicken, Dynamite chicken and guava chicken, DO NOT ORDER A SALAD! It will make us feel like complete gluttons. BRING $$: Looks like everyone's price point is around $9-$10 so it's not exactly cheap plate lunches, but you get a ton of food! There are more vendors than this, but we ordered: Grandma G's Boneless Kalbi plate $9 (HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! This is absolutely fantastic! And the honey mustard dressing is delicious). You know when you see Justin U. standing in line for this, it's gotta be good: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bk0DlrMggqPZgWQ_sVD2aA?select=BflSgv5hXnaKyzyz9nW_Rw Stacy's Lau Lau Co: Dynamite Chicken/Guava Chicken $9 http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/_jZl9uu6eialCkZ5UBd72w?select=PDYeg_cOeFkKT8ZA5YOWdg Soul: buttermilk fried chicken $3 each (of course, this one ranks up there on my favorite fried chicken list....He even offers a "smothered chicken" but I showed some restraint, and just got it plain, which is anything but): http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/zznyv4BsJ_GKQuNXJznm3A?select=5YQqpKvcQPmGqom9zykTbw Honolulu Gourmet Foods: Grilled steak SALAD w/mini spicy dynamite ahi bowl combo $10.50: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/q9KQKUGDr0hyBYNKQQezQA?select=Qt7H1QQ1k-Lw1LzN7hYVbQ SEATING: Secret rooftop open patio seating at the Davies Pacific Center. Thanks Traci for the tip! Looks like everyone in downtown already knows about this bi-monthly event, but if you are like me and haven't been to it yet, this is a great one-stop place to try a bunch of different local plate lunches.

Sad to say that they discontinued this event that occured every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, so there's now…read moreless eating places in the downtown business area. :( Hopefully they'll bring it back sometime in the near future.

The torta was absolutely bomb and delicious!! Every bite…read morewas filled with meat and super tasty, definitely reminds me of home and I glad I get to have a taste of that here on this beautiful island !!!! Thank You Straight Outta Husk

I was fortunate to try the huge Birria Burrito. It was delicious. Very filling, I had to save the…read moreother half for later. Their UBE Horchata was very delicious too. An hour passed by and I'm still full. Their service was great. They were attentive to my needs. Ambiance was great. The restaurant is inside the Palama Market. You place your order from the outside of the restaurant and then you go in and sit at one of the tables inside the restaurant. It is very busy. As soon as you get up from the table, someone is ready to take over your table.

The Saturday farmer's market at the Pearl Ridge Shopping Center is FANTASTIC…read more Sun Farms has a big stand with every fruit and veg you can imagine. When the tangerines come in I buy all they have. The lettuce, citrus, onions, daikon, beets and carrots are delish. They also have fresh ginger, shallots and red onions big as softballs. Get there early because Sun Farms has a large following and they sell out around 10:00AM.

Stumbled across the Pearlridge Farmers Market only because I had to kill some time because my car…read morewas being serviced across the street @ Firestone. 1st time here and poor thing very small Farmers market with probably less than 30vendors . A mix array of vegetables, produce and food booths. In the middle there's a small tent for dinning along with live entertainment. I walked around less than 10mins nothing really cached my eye . It's hard nowadays because on a Saturday other big farmers market is going on ! The KCC and Kakaako farmers Market is also on a Saturday. Support local

As I browsed to see which trucks I haven't tried at Taco'ako Tuesday, I came across Kai's Pastele…read moreShop which I haven't seen before. I guess I'm the first to review this truck because I couldn't find any other posting on Yelp: Pastele stew - 4 stars - For $7.50 plus 20 cents tax (yes, this truck is one of the few that the tax is not included in their price) it pretty much tasted like the stew I make, but they had more ingredients in it. I like how they blended in cabbage, olives,. chunks of tomatoes and some other spices other than your basic carrot, potato, onion and celery in it. They gave a pretty big serving with two scoops of rice and watercress salad. Pastele - 3 stars - For $4 you can order the pastele ala carte. It's something I haven't eaten before, so I can't say if it's better or worse than other places, but it was something different to try - if you like spicy, it has a spicy after-bite to it. Goes well with the stew. My friend ordered the taco, and he said it was ok. However, I can't rate it since I didn't try it. Service - 5 stars - the man and woman were very friendly and answered my questions on what a pastele is, but more so because I didn't know what a pastele was or tasted like, he gave me a free sample to try, which is something not many lunch trucks would do. They also sell tacos and burritos, but I have to go back to try those too before being a fan of the truck.

I'm gonna be honest and say that this is the best Pastele place I've been to on the island…read more I can't say that i can compare it to an actual sit down puerto rican restaurant, since I'm not familiar with many around the island, but in comparison to all the Pastele trucks and stops Ive been to around the island, this one takes the cake! I've been to stops along the windward side, while heading down toward Koolau. There used to be (not sure if its still there) Pastele stops along the road. One of the guys that used to serve Pastele along with poke had decent Pastele, but his business was way sketchy. The dude would always "accidentally" miscount the money. He also inaccurately counted up the total of your order in his head. Not to mention his erasable white board was unreadable which made the prices even harder to determine. So don't go to that guy! Instead go to Kai's. Great prices (you don't have to worry about getting ripped off) and their Pastele ingredients are unique in texture. I'm really not even sure if they were made out of the traditional banana base. But i don't really care because they were just so awesome! They offer a a few different types Pastele with different types of meat all at different spice levels. Also several other peurto rican dishes which i still have yet to try are available. Next time I'm getting the seafood Pastele. I'm so bummed because they sold out the last time. I'm a huge fan of seafood and Pastele so when i saw it on the menu i just thought it was the coolest mix. (if you've never had poke with your Pastele you should def. give it a try)

Been coming to this farmers market for a few years and have noticed it is getting smaller and…read moresmaller every time. BUT the vendors that show up are excellent! I always get a coconut -- this time of year, there were two options to choose -- small versus large. The large one is from Hawaii and is limited time of year, roughly one month of the year. Delicious! Also, they cut the coconut in half and provide spoons to enjoy the inside meat. Also love the fresh fruit stand with prickly pear fruits, star fruit, mango, and also some homemade items like coconut tapioca pudding, mango with sticky rice, papaya salad. Crafts vendors have beautiful handmade pens, signs, bracelets. I still highly recommend checking out the farmers market -- many unique items and offerings not found in traditional stores around the area!

I don't know why I love a farmers market the way I do, but I really really love a farmers market…read more That said, I did not love this one. It wasn't very well organized, there was no sense of community, and pray little number of vendors. And there was a good number of vendors who had their boxed up products there but their booths weren't manned or even set up at start time. Believing that they were just running on island time, I waited a good 20-30 minutes, but I ended up losing interest. I took a few laps really intent on making some purchases. I ended up getting some fruit to throw into my fridge at the hotel which always comes in clutch, but there wasn't much else that was exciting. Only drop by if you're staying at or near the Hyatt Regency, and lower any expectations that you may have of a farmers market.