Luckily we were able to find a great deal on a hotel at the end of Waikiki at the Lotus Honolulu Hotel. We had a good view from the hotel.
We met back up with our friend for dinner at Monkeypod Kitchen, which was on the opposite end of Waikiki from where we were staying.
For our last full day we were just going to just check out some local spots. To start the day we went to check out The Sunrise Shack. We each had a different acai bowl and they were very good. We talked about trying these more when we returned to the mainland.
We drove over to the Ala Moana Center, a very large shopping center and checked out the Uniqlo there where they had some local special items. While there I got some coffee from Island Vintage Coffee and grabbed at snack at Musubi Cafe IYASUME. It was just all right.
Lunch was at Rainbow Drive-In. This classic plate lunch spot was founded in 1961, so obviously they had been doing something right. We went with the mixed plate that had a combination of chicken, steak, and fish. Very very delicious!! And just next door is Bailey’s Antiques Aloha Shirts. I had seen this on Anthony Bourdain’s show when he visited and I think purchased a vintage Hawaiian shirt for hundreds/thousands. I wasn’t looking to drop that kind of coin but it was fun looking through the thousands upon thousands of shirts they had – and did eventually settle on two shirts to purchase.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Leonard’s Malasadas. We then went to hang out at the private beach access from our hotel and I got in the water for a little bit. We also enjoyed the malasadas on the beach.
And then we ended the evening at Tikis Grill & Bar, which had a lovely sunset view overlooking Waikiki. I may have gone a bit overboard on ordering but we had the Ahi Poke Wonton sliders, Kiawe smoked marlin dip, Moloka’i Venison Bolognese and D had the fish.
Our final breakfast was at Bogart’s Cafe. I had one more loco moco (not as good as the other one) and D had one more acai bowl.
On the way to the airport, we stopped at Chun Wah Kam Noodle Factory to get some Chinese steamed buns for the flight home.
-StewsCat
