Ono Hawaiian Foods

Ono Hawaiian Foods

726 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816

(808) 737-2275

Vitals:
M-F: 11 am - 8 pm
Cash only
small but can be kid-friendly

Talk about a salt overload. I guess I'm not used to that much salt. As long as you don't have high blood pressure and aren't necessarily worried about your cholesterol, this place was pretty good. There wasn't enough space inside and parking was a pain, so we opted to take food out and eat it at the condo. My only other complaint is the lack of veggies, but with that, on to the food.

What did we order? We ordered a combination with lau lau and kalua pig and the Salt Meat Watercress a la carte. The portions are quite generous. My favorite? The Salt Meat Watercress by far. It was basically a soup with a lot of soft and fatty meat with chopped watercress. The broth was amazing - it was salty and it had a certain richness that was nicely complemented by the slight bitterness of the watercress. I'm sure they used a lot of herbs in the broth, but I couldn't quite figure it out, probably a mixture of ginger and some other herbs. In any case, the meat and watercress mixed in with a bit of rice was so fulfilling. It seemed strange to have soup in such a hot place like Hawaii, but it was so good.

The combination plate was also pretty tasty. Even though the meat was rather salty, I just made sure to eat a lot of rice with the meat. There was a small sampling of some other things (like a lomi salmon (not a fan) and haupia (coconut dessert - nice but too small)).

Again, this place was cash only and with the combo plate at around $14.95 and the salt meat watercress at around $10, we were looking at a $30 lunch. Not bad considering we were eating more authentic Hawaiian food that actually tasted good, but still, it was a bit on the pricey side.