Duke’s Waikiki (Hawaii 2016) – Hula Pie

There is a reason why Duke’s is a staple in Waikiki. Much like their namesake, Duke Kahanamoku, Duke’s Waikiki seems to epitomize the tourist’s idealized image of living in Waikiki, right down to the performers serenading you at your table. That’s not a bad thing either.

Situated in the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, Duke’s has a commanding location. You can literally walk off the beach into their Barefoot Bar and enjoy a fabulous meal.

Sure it’s a bit kitschy with all of the Duke Kahanamoku decorations, but that doesn’t stop the diners from coming here. There’s often a long wait just to get in.

After waiting almost an hour, we were finally seated. This restaurant is actually very large and there always seems to be lots of wait staff running around. I started with a Virgin “Dig-Me” Daiquiri made with passionfruit and strawberry juice.

One of the draws to Duke’s is probably their AYCE salad bar (just $4 with your meal). The salad bar is located in the same area as their breakfast buffet and has things like curried couscous, tabbouleh, fruits and starches.

Here I am making the most of the salad bar. Still can’t get over how sweet and juicy the pineapple are in Hawaii. However, knowing that we planned to order a Hula Pie for dessert, I didn’t want to load up too much.

With all of the great seafood options, I picked something off of the fresh sheet – Opah sautéed macadamia nut and herb crusted. They use panko and parmesan crust to give it excellent texture to offset the rich and buttery flakes and serve it over basmati wheatberry rice with lemon caper butter. The sea asparagus and capers gave this dish a distinct salty point but paired well with the opah (also known as moonfish).

This is the Mahi Mahi baked “Duke’s Style” with a lemon-garlic-basil glaze and served over black forbidden rice. The black rice was glutinous which gave it a “sticky” bite.

Here’s the Hula Pie. Hula Pie is made with Kimo’s favorite macadamia nut ice cream piled high on a chocolate cookie crust (similar to an Oreo crust) and topped with chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and more macadamia nuts. It’s very reminiscent of the Billy Miner Pie at The Keg.

Duke’s also has specialty Hula Pies such as the mint chocolate chip but we decided to stick to the original version.

The Hula Pie was quite worthwhile as I’ve been meaning to try it out during our last 2 visits but was always too stuffed. Make sure you save room for some Hula Pie!

2335 Kalakaua Avenue
Honolulu, HI

www.dukeswaikiki.com

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