Sunday brunch with style
Friday - January 18, 2008
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One of the questions I answer most on my website and through e-mails is about Sunday brunch. There are many brunch options in Honolulu, but I like to search out brunch with a difference.Whatever the reason - food, music or ambience - these restaurants deliver something different.
PGC Marketplace Sunday Brunch at E&O Trading Company.
Third Sunday of each month
Ward Centre
1200 Ala Moana Blvd.
591-9555
Once a quarter on the third Sunday of each month, the elegant, partially satin-clad E&O Trading Company is turned into an Asian street market and a Sunday brunch that offers a taste of Southeast Asia is presented via a partnership with E&O and the Pacific Gateway Center.
E&O partner Kenwei Chong, who has traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, said the idea came to him to create an outdoor food market and set it up within the restaurant.
“Inviting the Pacific Gateway Center members to come and cook their own ethnic dishes in our setting just seemed a prefect match,” says Chong of the menu, which includes Thai Bean Thread Salad, Indonesian Beef Stew on Coconut Rice, Shave Ice Braised Crisp Pork and Pickled Watermelon Salad.“When you travel to countries like Laos and Vietnam, eating from the outdoor vendors and at their street carts is such a big part of the experience. I wanted to re-create that atmosphere at E&O.”
Quality wooden carts have been specially made for the restaurant, and at Sunday brunch, guests take a culinary tour of foods from countries like the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma.
“We feature a lot of dishes that are influenced by traditional items from the Southeast,” says Chong, “and we also feature dishes that are cooked over hardwood grill broilers. The result is food that offers a change in pace from the usual Thai or Vietnamese fare.”
Sunday Brunch
Michel’s On The Beach at The Colony Surf
2895 Kalakaua Ave.
923-6552
“Look at the view,“says Michel’s general manager Philip Shaw, sweeping an arm out to the ocean. “We don’t think there’s a more beautiful location in Honolulu.” Michel’s offers an elegant and sophisticated Sunday morning with an a la carte brunch and not the usual beachside all-you-caneat buffet. Appetizers include Iced Black Tiger Shrimp Cocktail and a smoked salmon that’s done in-house by executive chef Eberhard “Hardy” Kintscher. Oysters and sashimi are featured appetizers, and there is a selection of soups and occasional specials. Traditional breakfast dishes like Eggs Benedict - poached eggs served over crisp, toasted English muffins with fresh artichokes and Dungeness crab meat and a rich, homemade hollandaise - are a joy and well worth saving up some calories during the week to enjoy! Try the beef tenderloin served with grilled portobello mushroom, sauted spinach and Lyonnaise potatoes for a taste of a great European chef at work. Grilled lamb chops with gratin potatoes and vegetables are light but full of intense flavor.
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Sam Choy’s Aloha Sunday Brunch
Sam Choy’s Diamond Head Restaurant
445 Kapahulu Ave.
732-8645
There are a couple of things that distinguish Sam’s brunch: One is a variety of fresh fish, the other is a genuine welcome for family gatherings - the larger the better! Despite its white tablecloths and fine dining status, Sam Choy’s is a remarkably casual and welcoming place. Live music provides pleasant background to dishes that are plentiful and well-prepared. From torched sashimi to creamy spiced poke and marinated butterfish, there’s a lot to satisfy local tastes.
Highlights include a poke boat with a wide variety of freshly made poke (spicy, creamy poke, wasabi ahi poke, togarashi tako and torched sashimi), an omelet station, a huge salad bar, and a variety of entrees that usually include prime rib and a carving station. Most weeks a chocolate fountain flows throughout brunch, bubbling with a steady stream of warm, luscious milk chocolate, enticing all but the most determined spirits to enjoy.
Seafood Sunday Brunch
Brasserie Du Vin
1115 Bethel St.
545-1115
For the ability to transport diners to another country for the afternoon, Brasserie Du Vin wins hands down with its Seafood Sunday Brunch. Sleepy downtown Honolulu is an unlikely place for this bustling, energized center of good food and wine, and there’s certainly not another bar/restaurant that has the European ambience Du Vin does.
Sunday brunch is a leisurely affair here. Bring the newspapers, a good book or your favorite friends to enjoy dishes from the kitchen of chef Scott Nelson that include the delightfully named Gumbo Ya Ya, fabulous Eggs Dauphine, Savory Shrimp Souffls and Escargot baked in Herb Garlic Butter. Tiger shrimp, grilled salmon, blackened ahi and daily specials all feature seafood dishes with Nelson’s signature N’awlins/Euro style.
From the sunny yellow painted courtyard walls to the cool of the cask room, Du Vin offers a perfect Sunday retreat.
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