The last of the Hawaii Posts~Paina Cafe and Wah Kung

One day while Mike and I were running errands in Honolulu, we decided to check out the Paina Cafe in Ward Warehouse.  We stopped by at around 2:30pm-ish and the person at the counter told us that we came at a good time because there had been a non-stop line for the past couple of hours! 

The Paina has an ordering system in which you first choose the size of bowl you want, then the type of rice (white or brown), sauce (mild or hot) size of the bowl, then the type of fish you want (spicy tuna, shoyu poke, hot shoyu poke, and limu poke). The last step is picking out the additional topping you want.  The extra toppings cost a little bit more ($0.50/each) and include items such as yamaimo, natto, taegu, and seaweed salad. The price of the bowl is based on the combination of all of your choices.  The Paina Cafe also serves plate lunches, salads and sandwiches.  

Well the Paina Cafe did not disappoint.  Mike and I shared a medium bowl topped with spicy tuna and the shoyu poke.  We both really enjoyed the bowl and cleaned it up within minutes.  The fish was fresh and the flavors were spot-on.  Mike's only complaint (it's not even a real complaint it's more of a preference) was that he would have preferredthe rice to be colder, not steaming hot.   But the empty bowl at the end of our binge speaks for itself. We enjoyed the bowl.  I told my mom that Mike and I had gone to the Paina Cafe and then she told me that we should have ordered the taegu topping because it's delicious.

Mike and I have been trying to find a restaurant in Texas with a good black bean chow fun but haven't been very successful.  Chow fun noodles on the mainland are thinner and are not as chewy in texture.  Growing up, my favorite chow fun was the black bean beef and bell pepper chow fun from Wah Kung. We picked up a plate of the chow fun and it tasted just like I remembered.   Yum-my. 


Paina Cafe
1200 Ala Moana Blvd #24
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 356-2829

Wah Kung
1151 Mapunapuna Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
(808) 833-0880