Ashley Moran and Brandon Slowey started making honey slushies with local fruit, like liliko‘i and pineapple, as a complement to Slowey’s beekeeping. Along the way, they also picked up a passion for sourdough, and now their cheerful North Shore cafe, tucked away in Waialua, also serves sourdough pita sandwiches, pizza, and fantastic liege waffles that often sell out by noon.

Ethel’s Grill has been serving truck drivers, politicians, chefs, and tourists near the docks for decades. Ryoko Ishii bought the restaurant in 1978 and never bothered to change the name. Today, her daughter and son-in-law serve comfort food that reflects their mixed heritage of Japanese, Okinawan, Mexican, and local culture. The seared ahi sashimi topped with soy-marinated garlic chips is a longtime classic, while the Okinawa-inspired taco rice — composed of layers of rice, ground beef, lettuce, and shredded cheese topped with a fried taco shell — is a more recent addition to the menu. Given its tiny dining room, Ethel’s continues to only offer takeout, which you can take to picnic at the nearby Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park.

One of Honolulu’s most exciting new restaurants, Nami Kaze serves freewheeling brunch during the day and izakaya-style small plates at night. Daytime dishes include teishoku (Japanese set breakfast), honey walnut shrimp waffles, and omelets that are really silky chawanmushi with toppings like mentaiko cream or maitake mushrooms in mornay sauce. After a decade helping other chefs open restaurants, chef/owner Jason Peel is really letting loose. At dinner that means Kona baby abalone done oysters Rockefeller style and ulu (breadfruit) tots with barbecue sauce. Mix and match; it’s all good fun.

If you’re only going to one spot for traditional Hawaiian food, make it Helena’s. Locals have been lining up since the day Helena’s opened in 1946, though a James Beard America’s Classics award in 2000 has brought in even more diners. First-timers should order set menu D, which comes with kalua pig, lomi salmon, pipikaula (air-dried, juicy short ribs, quick-fried for crunch), and squid lū’au (a savory dish of octopus and taro leaves in coconut milk), along with poi or rice.

The Pig and the Lady is a must-visit spot for its modern Vietnamese flavors. Its famous pho French dip is offered at lunch, while even more playful dishes are on the frequently updated dinner menu, which recently included clams braised with rau ram sausage and sea scallops baked with a curry sauce in their shell. You can also find the Pig and the Lady’s more traditional noodle soups, rice bowls, and sandwiches at its farmers market stalls.

On a hip corner of Chinatown, restaurateurs Danny Kaaialii and Jonny Vasquez set up the Daley, Encore Saloon, and Pizza Mamo, serving hyper-focused, platonic ideals of smash burgers, tacos, and pizza, respectively. Pizza Mamo is the newest of the trifecta, where Kaaialii and Vasquez teamed up with pizzaiolo Matthew Resich to create thin-crust Brooklyn-style pies and thick, crispy cheese-crowned Detroit pizzas that are some of the best you’ll find on or off the island.

Chef Robynne Maii was recently awarded a James Beard award — Hawai‘i’s first in almost 20 years — for her restaurant that features great cocktails and a menu that combines French, Italian, Korean, and Hawai‘i influences. Open from lunch through dinner, Fête turns out hits like carbonara with Portuguese sausage and rose veal schnitzel sauced with liliko‘i. Definitely order off the specials menu, which usually showcases Hawai‘i’s seafood and the best produce in season, and don’t miss the house-made rocky road ice cream for dessert. There are a few outdoor tables, and takeout is also available.

Bar Māze is the second venture of Justin Park and Tom Park (no relation). Their first, Bar Leather Apron, is still a must-visit for some of the best cocktails in Honolulu, but the food there can be an afterthought. Not so at Bar Māze, where the Parks partnered with chef Ki Chung to create a stunning cocktail-paired tasting menu (you can also request a nonalcoholic pairing, but even the booze version is surprisingly light). Chung brings Korean and Japanese influences to dishes like donabe with wagyu, served ssam-style. The compact space is divided into two sections: downstairs — where Chung and Justin Park serve a tasting menu, no substitutions — and the mezzanine, which offers an a la carte menu of small bites. Reservations are required for either.

One of Honolulu’s most popular breweries, in Kaka‘ako’s brewery corridor, Hana Koa offers an ever-changing tap list, from the staple Rooftop pale ale to the recent Snoop POGG, an imperial kettle sour ale riffing on Hawai‘i’s beloved drink of passionfruit, orange, and guava juices. The ground floor has a lively and open atmosphere, while the second floor hides a more intimate cocktail bar.

This is one of the few Hawaiian restaurants (see here for a definition of what Hawaiian food actually is) owned by native Hawaiians. Charlene and Calvin Hoe bought an actual poi factory in 1971, using it primarily as an art gallery, then began serving food in 2009. Today, it’s also one of the few places that serves fresh pa‘i‘ai, cooked taro pounded with a lava rock pestle on a long wooden board to a mochi-like consistency. You’ll have to call in advance to reserve some, and if you’re lucky, you might catch the Hoes’ son, Liko, pounding it near the outdoor tables. Try the kanaka nui plate, a combination of pretty much everything on the menu, add a side of ho‘io (fiddlehead fern) salad, and finish with the Sweet Lady of Waiahole, warm kulolo (a taro and coconut dessert) topped with a scoop of haupia (coconut) ice cream.

This new food court at Honolulu’s open-air mall houses outposts of some of the city’s favorite small eateries, including Musubi Cafe Iyasume, which offers 20-some varieties of freshly made Spam musubi — with ume, avocado, or even unagi. There’s also Ahi & Vegetable, known for its spicy ahi and poke bowls, as well as inexpensive nigiri. The Hokkaido-based chain Brug Bakery offers pillowy soft breads and sweet and savory treats, from curry pan (a doughnut filled with Japanese beef curry) to an pan (a baked bun filled with sweetened azuki paste). You’ll find tables outside, and if you need extra dessert, head around the corner to Palme D’Or Patisserie for exquisite Japanese cakes by the slice.

California import Chengdu Taste helped bring Sichuan cuisine to Honolulu. Between the boiled fish with green peppers and the toothpick cumin lamb, it’s all about Sichuan classics executed with finesse. It’s best to bring a group; the menu is long and portions are heaping. Meanwhile, its sister restaurant downstairs, Mian, specializes in noodles and meaty wontons in pork bone broth or hot chile oil. Both restaurants offer takeout.

MW Restaurant represents Hawai‘i regional cuisine at its best. Wife-and-husband team Michelle Karr-Ueoka and Wade Ueoka (both formerly of Alan Wong’s) convey warmth and attention to detail in the dining room and even their takeout menu. Weekly menus feature different themes, such as riffs on favorite dishes from Honolulu’s mom-and-pop businesses. Karr-Ueoka’s desserts, including a liliko‘i broken-glass Jell-O chiffon cake and strawberry matcha cake, are stars in Honolulu’s dessert landscape.

Homemade soba is the draw at this Japanese gem. Come for the lunch specials, which include soba topped with Hokkaido uni and ikura, and the battera set: pressed mackerel sushi with soba on the side. Then return for a dinner of hot soba with seared duck and mushrooms.

This mochi shop has been around since 1953, but recently changed ownership, resulting in new flavors like a purple sweet potato daifuku and yuzu marmalade manju. The classics, such as red bean daifuku and milk-flavored chi chi dango, are still available too. Few other mochi shops anywhere are able to meld the old and new as beautifully and deliciously as Fujiya.

Honolulu has plenty of excellent izakayas, but Bozu stands apart for its creativity within the izakaya framework of grilled, fried, and raw small plates. You’ll find classic and new preparations side by side on the menu: impeccable sashimi and a raw surf and turf roll of uni, beef, shiso, and yam; a braised pork belly kakuni alongside an American-style beef stew made with tongue and topped with melted cheese. Always order off the specials menu, which might include firefly squid, barely bigger than a thumb, with mustardy miso, or fish and chips Japanese-style: fried flounder and its crispy bones.

Torae Torae applies playful creativity to staple izakaya dishes. Take the donburi menu, which offers a standard chirashi as well as a kaisen don, upgraded with amaebi (including their fried heads) and buttery coins of ankimo, monkfish liver known as the foie of the sea. The Gluttony Bowl includes otoro and uni, topped with yamaimo (yam) and a slow-cooked egg. Natto lovers will revel in the stamina don, which combines the gooey fermented beans with equally slippery yamaimo, as well as okra and a raw quail egg.

For a good time, make it Suntory time at Restaurant Suntory in Waikīkī. The restaurant specializes in beautifully prepared teppanyaki, sushi, and washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine). Think: kamameshi that steams in its iron pot tableside and single-serving shabu shabu. Because this is a restaurant by Suntory, there are plenty of whisky highballs made with Hibiki, Yamazaki, or Hakushu (also available served neat, of course).

There are newer and brighter shave ice spots offering fresh-made syrups or organic options. Waiola doesn’t have any of that, but everyone still lines up at the original location on Waiola Street for the no-frills nostalgia. The shop offers the best bang for your buck when it comes to shave ice: $3 scores you a large cone or cup with up to three flavors. Plus, Waiola has an enormous selection of flavors. Don’t leave town without trying the li hing mui (salty dried plum), liliko‘i cream, and pickled mango.

Maguro Brothers’ two locations are hard to find: One is hidden deep inside Chinatown’s Maunakea Market, the other in Waikīkī’s back streets. At either spot, though, it’s all about sashimi platters, donburi (get the king salmon sashimi with uni over rice), and poke by the bowl or pound. The fish quality is excellent, but it’s the outstanding knife work that makes Maguro Brothers stand out. That donburi and poke might be served in a styrofoam box, but you won’t find such beautifully cut fish casually sold to go anywhere else.

You have to overcome a lot of skepticism to get locals to pay $20 for katsu when they can get it in a plate lunch for less than $10. But given how difficult it is to score a reservation at Tonkatsu Tamafuji, it appears a lot of people have bashed through that psychological hurdle. Attention to detail shows in the quality of the pork itself, the house-made panko crumbs that fry up into an ethereally crisp crust, and the accompaniments: a bowl of sesame seeds to grind at the table and then spoon into a plummy tonkatsu sauce. If you can’t get a reservation, the tonkatsu holds up surprisingly well for takeout.

Located on the side of a residential apartment building, the poke spot from mother-and-daughter team Judy Sakuma and Kim Brug is the place to go for classics. The ‘ahi poke comes with sweet, ginger-spiked shoyu sauce or a mixture of crunchy limu (seaweed), coarse sea salt, and nutty, oily ‘inamona (kukui nuts). Everything is packed to-go, but the fatty chunks of ahi served over hot rice are best eaten immediately at the tables just outside the shop, alongside sashimi, taegu (candied codfish), and boiled peanuts.

Owner Chris Sy, who was singled out in the Alinea cookbook for his dedication and perfectionism when he worked with Grant Achatz at Trio, applies that same focus to breads and pastries at Breadshop. In addition to a classic lineup of country breads and croissants, he also subtly folds Hawai‘i flavors into some of his burnished carbs, in items like furikake focaccia, or a croissant with spinach and taegu (candied codfish). Pastries are available in boxed assortments, but all orders must be placed in advance online.

What started out as a coffee truck parked at the University of Hawaiʻi is now (after a change in owners) one of Honolulu’s most beloved cafes. You’ll find a noteworthy coffee program, as well as specials like a pandan matcha latte. Pair your drink with bites like kinako sugar toast, made with brioche from Breadshop next door, or miso buckwheat cookies. The Curb also doubles as a natural wine bar on weekend evenings and carries an eclectic selection of international and local chocolate bars, including Singapore’s Fossa Chocolate and homegrown bean-to-bar Mānoa Chocolate.

Mud Hen Water offers Hawaiʻi-born chef Ed Kenney’s modern interpretation of Hawai‘i food. Known for his work at Town Restaurant and Mahina & Sun’s, Kenney manages to appeal to dining trends while fully respecting Hawaiian ingredients. Standouts include the porchetta rolled with lūʻau and loaded baked bananas with curry butter. Brunch includes a biscuit with mapo gravy and pork sisig, the sizzling Filipino dish, but made with pig’s head. Find cheerful outdoor seating beneath string lights in the courtyard.

One of the hardest reservations to get in town is at this omakase yakitori restaurant, hidden in the corner of a parking lot behind a bank and jiu-jitsu school in the Kaimukī neighborhood. Takashi Ando helmed the grill at Honolulu’s yakitori restaurants for more than two decades before he opened his own place and did away with menus. Here, he presides over a charcoal grill, attending to skewers of chicken cartilage and hearts, bacon-wrapped mochi, and Kaua‘i shrimp. Dinner ends with motsunabe, beef intestines simmered in a clear dashi broth. It’s omakase only and BYOB. Prices average around $60 a person.

As the lines outside Pipeline can attest, people have been hitting the comfort carbs hard during the pandemic. Like the best spots, Pipeline fries its malasadas to order, and you should definitely enjoy one while hot. But Pipeline breaks away from the crowded field with superior shelf life. The malasadas actually remain delicious a day after you pick them up. They’re not too greasy, strike the perfect balance between airy and heft, and come dusted in sugar, coffee, cocoa, or puckeringly sour-sweet li hing powder.

Have you heard the commercials? “Next stop, Zippy’s!” Hawaiʻi’s iconic family diner chain has many locations throughout the state serving many purposes. Kids grow up with Zippy’s chili (now sold frozen so parents can ship it to homesick college kids) and Apple Napples (flaky apple turnovers). It’s also a great place for late-night munchies, like the fried chicken with a side of chili-cheese fries. Proper dinner options, like the Zip Min (a deluxe bowl of saimin noodle soup) or the Zip Pac (mahi mahi, fried chicken, Spam, and teriyaki beef over furikake rice), never fail to please.