Iconic Honolulu Food Tour Around Waikiki Beach

Aloha! Come with me on an iconic Honolulu food tour near Waikiki beach! We are here in one of my favorite places in the world – Honolulu, Hawaii. Today, we’re exploring some of the most iconic restaurants around Waikiki Beach, from Hawaiian shaved ice to the spam musubi. If you’re planning your next Hawaii vacation, check out some of the delicious tropical treats and the beautiful Waikiki beach.

Honolulu: Foodie Heaven of Hawaii

This week we are visiting Honolulu, the the capital of Hawaii, on the island of O‘ahu. With landmarks like the Hawaiian Palace, Pearl Harbor, and Diamond Head Crater, Honolulu is the place to experience both the nature and the history of Hawaii in one location.

Honolulu is one of my favorite places in the world because everywhere you go, it’s a foodie heaven. One of our favorite things to do is just wandering around finding random local shops and grabbing way too much food. We take them back to our balcony to enjoy family style, while watching the sunset over the ocean.

Helena’s Hawaiian Food (10/10)

If there’s one place that you absolutely need to eat in Honolulu, it is Helena’s Hawaiian Food. This family-run gem has been serving generations of old Hawaiian family recipes made with love since 1946. Eating at Helena honestly feels like you’re stepping into someone’s mom’s kitchen. I came here years ago on my honeymoon, and I’ve been dreaming about it nonstop since. Naturally, it was our very first stop to kick off the trip, and we had to go out of the way to visit.

Helena’s offers a variety of traditional Hawaiian dishes both in sets and a la carte, perfect for getting a bit of everything to share. We ordered Set Menu D ($42.15), which included all these Hawaiian classics:

• Kalua Pig: Super moist, slow-cooked, melt-in-your-mouth shredded smoky pork
• Lomi Salmon: Tangy and refreshing chopped salted salmon, tomatoes, and onion mixed together and enjoyed as a side dish
• Pipikaula Shortribs: Hawaiian-style cured, dried beef, similar to jerky, grilled and smoked to fall apart perfection. Absolute must-try!
• Luau Squid: Buttery, golden squid cooked until tender in coconut milk and luau leaves that had me piling on bowl after bowl of rice! My personal obsession.
• Choice of white rice or poi, a thick fermented taro paste

Here at Helena, their most iconic item is their legendary Pipikaula Short Ribs ($17). Translated to “beef rope” in Hawaiian, Pipikaula is Hawaiian-style cured, dried beef, similar to jerky, grilled to smoke, fall apart perfection. We had to get an extra order!

We also ordered a few extra things to try, like the long rice chicken ($7.40), a side dish of glass noodles cooked in chicken broth. Dom’s favorite was the super flavorful, super juicy taro-wrapped steamed pork called laulau ($7.70). Finally, we ended the meal with Haupia, a bouncy and creamy Hawaiian coconut pudding.  

Helena’s Hawaiian Food‘s traditional Hawaiian home-style dining is a must-try 10 out of 10 location for anyone visiting Honolulu. Be sure to come early, because it’s always super busy! But even if you have to wait, its honestly totally worth it.

Leonard’s Bakery (9/10)

On our next stop, we had to get something sweet at another must-visit classic Honolulu spot – Leonard’s Bakery. Operating since 1952, Leonard’s serves their famous Portuguese-style malasadas. These golden, pillowy deep fried bites of heaven are served fresh and hot straight out of the fryer.

We had to get a box, so we ordered 3 classic sugar-coated and 3 cinnamon sugar for $1.85 each. The classic is so simple – a nice amount of crispy on the outside, and super pillowy warm on the inside. The cinnamon sugar flavor was just as soft and deliciously sweet.

Leonard’s also offers them with a filling for $2.25, as well as other tasty baked treats. If you’re ordering extra “for later”, trust me and grab more than you need. These might be gone by the time you get back to your hotel. Since they’re made fresh, there’s a bit of a wait, but from the way we devoured these, it’s definitely worth it.

Ululani’s Gourmet Hawaiian Shave Ice (8/10) 

Ululani’s Gourmet Hawaiian Shave Ice is, in my opinion, the best Hawaiian shave ice. Growing up, I’ve never been a fan of shaved ice with syrup. Once I had my first bite of Hawaiian shave ice at Ululani’s, everything changed. This shave ice chain has locations in 4 different states, but enjoying it in Hawaii is obviously the best. There’s 2 sizes, the Keiki ($6.75), or kid size, and the Ulu ($7.99). Trust me, you’ll want the bigger one.

Ululani’s serves ice so fluffy and ultra-fine it feels just like eating fresh snow that melts right away in your mouth. This fluffy snow can be combined with a variety of syrups made in house with real fruit, pure cane sugar, and absolutely no artificial flavors – SO SO good. Every bite feels like it’s bursting with tropical flavors! Since they’re made with quality ingredients, all of their flavors and toppings are amazing. For first time visitors, I definitely recommend trying their 3 featured Hawaiian flavor combinations:

• No Ka Oi: mango, coconut, and passionfruit
• Sunset Beach: Passion orange, mango, guava
• Haleakala: Leche, Coconut, with snow cap

If you love mochi, I definitely recommend adding their fresh mochi as a topping. It’s sweet and perfectly bouncy on top of your cold shave ice.

Ululani’s has multiple locations around the island, so definitely grab some shave ice every time you see them around. Their employees are fairly efficient, so there’s never a super long wait. Don’t miss out of this yummy fruity treat!

Ono Seafood (8/10)

On our way back to the hotel, we had to stop by Ono Seafood because let’s be real, there’s always room for poke. This small local favorite is known for their super fresh, melt in your mouth ahi poke. The moment you take a bite, you will understand why. They have a small deli-style store with some outdoor seating, where you can enjoy your poke after ordering.

To go with our other sunset picnic snacks, we grabbed a half pound each of their Shoyu Ahi and Hawaiian Style Ahi poke, which uses sea salt instead. Both are mixed with green onion, chili pepper, a type of Hawaiian seaweed called limu, sesame oil, and kukui, or candlenut. The tuna is so fresh, it absolutely melts in your mouth. The seasonings are well balanced, and doesn’t take over the flavor of the tuna itself. If you love spicy, they also have a Spicy Ahi and a Wasabi Ahi to satisfy your need for an extra kick.

Ono Seafood is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so don’t show up on the wrong day and be disappointed. Itis approximately a 5 minute walk from Waikiki Beach, so you can grab your poke like us, and enjoy it on the beach.

Waikiki Beach 

After picking up our poke, it’s off to the beach! When you think of the perfect beach, with beautiful yellow sand, and clear turquoise water full of fish, you’re thinking of Waikiki Beach. Hawaii’s most popular beach might be the most beautiful beach view I’ve ever been to. With the weather being so nice, we couldn’t resist a swim.

In the water, there’s plenty of people swimming, snorkeling, surfing, and paddleboarding. We set up our snorkeling googles, and jumped in! I love watching the fish swim by around us in the clear, super gentle waters. It’s a popular beach, so it’s quite safe. There’s public restrooms and showers available nearby as well.

Musubi Cafe IYASUME (8/10)

After the beach, we headed off to Musubi Cafe IYASUME for some after swimming snack. This tiny store is all about the spam musubi, Hawaii’s favorite snack of spam on top of rice wrapped with seaweed. The store is covered in musubi posters and lined with cute musubi merch you can purchase. We came to this cafe to get some musubi almost every day of this trip!

Spam Musubi is Hawaii’s favorite snack. It’s made of a slice of spam on top of a rice ball, all wrapped with seaweed. It’s the perfect snack or quick breakfast on the go or at the hotel. In one bite, you get salty, fatty savory flavor from spam, paired perfectly with the white rice and a hint of seaweed umami. Musubi Cafe IYASUME offers a range of fun musubi flavors, ranging from $2-4 each.

Our total haul for today was 4 Spam musubi, 2 Salmon Roe and Salmon Onigiri, and 2 Salmon and Spicy Cod Roe Onigiri. At a total of $23.92, it was quite an affordable and delicious beach snack. We always plan ahead to grab some before our flight to eat on the plane as well!

Maguro Spot (7.5/10)

To finish up the rest of our snack haul, we stopped by Maguro Spot for another bowl of poke. Here, you can build your own poke bowl with 4 different sizes starting at $7 a bowl. You can choose from tuna, salmon, marlin, and shrimp, or mix them all together.

With so many options, its honestly so hard to choose what to build. We ended up with a Rainbow salmon bowl, which is a mix of the teriyaki and the spicy mayo sauce. This combo actually melds so well with the salmon’s fattiness! We enjoyed this bowl with our favorite Maui Onion Chips while watching the sun set from our hotel balcony.

Maguro Spot is open daily from 10:00 AM to 8:30 PM. It is an easy 5 minute walk away from Waikiki Beach, so it’s another great beach picnic option any time of the day!

Henry’s Place ice cream (9/10)

While waiting for our dinner reservation, we headed to my favorite ice cream shop of all time – Henry’s Place. I come here every single time I’m in Honolulu. This small, family owned shop sells fresh fruit as well as ice cream ($9.55) and fruit sorbet ($8.60) made in house.

Packed into Styrofoam drink cups labelled with handwritten flavors, these ice creams and sorbets are made with fresh ingredients in unique flavors, from the classic Hawaiian Passion Orange Guava (POG) to blueberry. We grabbed a mango and strawberry sorbet and sat in their outside seating to enjoy the warm night. The homemade sorbet has an icier texture, but it was still smooth and deliciously refreshing.

Henry’s always has a small crowd in front, but it move quickly. Their ice creams are stored in self-serve fridges so you can easily pick and choose at a glance. You never know what flavors are going to be in the fridge, and it’s a great way to try new flavors. Be sure to bring cash, because they don’t take credit cards!

Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu (7/10)

If you’re craving crispy, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth katsu, the Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu is an absolute must visit. This is actually the first restaurant that we stumbled across when we came with my family back in 2020. Ever since then, it’s been a non-negotiable stop every time we visit Waikiki Beach.

The tonkatsu, or fried pork cutlets here are seriously next level: perfectly golden and crispy on the outside, yet so juicy and tender on the inside. Every bite is just seriously so satisfying, especially paired with house-made katsu sauce. They even give you dishes of sesame seeds to grind yourself! But, let’s be real, the real MVP is always the unlimited miso soup and shredded cabbage that comes with each set.

We also ordered the curry katsu set, which comes with an extra curry sauce to drizzle on top. It’s such an experience smelling and watching the curry flow over the juicy pork. In one bite, you get crispy pork, fragrant curry, and steamy white rice. That’s a comforting bite.

Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu is super yummy, but the portion sizes has decreased a bit since the last few times we visited. If you love tonkatsu, it’s worth a try. They are located right near the Waikiki Beach front area. Make a reservation ahead of time, and take in the Waikiki Beach view with your loved ones before dinner.

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