After hearing so much rave about a small upscale restaurant in Kaimuki, I finally decided to dine at Town. Located on the corner of 9th and Waialae, many people may overlook this being a restaurant. Town features seating indoors and outdoors with doors and windows wide open allowing the breeze to flow in. The outside of the restaurant features a small herb garden full of different herbs that they use for their cooking. The inside features a very urban look to the restaurant with odd shaped pieces and mirrors on the walls. It also features a full bar.
The concept of the restaurant is all based around sustainability. They pride themselves on using local, fresh ingredients and organic whenever possible. Something notable is that they even try to go "green" too by recycling their old menus into coasters for beverages. I have a huge amount of respect for chef/owner Ed Kenney to focus around sustainability. Not is it extremely hard to think of new menu items everyday, it takes a great amount of dedication.
The menu for lunch showcased salads, sandwiches and light entrees. The first thing that caught my eye was that the prices are incredibly reasonable. Sandwiches and salads were between seven to ten dollars and entrees around thirteen. My dining partner acknowledged that the menu was a bit hard to read. They list the major ingredients in each dish so it's a bit confusing to some. Even though it was only me and my diner, we ordered up a storm like usual.
To start off our meal we decided on a bowl of the soup of the day, Tomato. I also decided to order their TOWN Lemonade.
Notice the bright green color to them Lemonade, it made me feel like i was drinking a Limeade or even Green River. Notice the use of their previous menus as coasters. The Lemonade was extremely refreshing and tangy which I loved.
The Tomato Soup was extremely rich and tasted like eating a fresh Tomato. It was served with a dollop of Basil Pesto which made the soup more flavorful with each bite. The only problem i had with the Soup was that I wish it was served a bit hotter. The Soup was served a bit lukewarm.
Before our next course came out, the chef gave us a little gift since I was a culinary student. We were given two pieces of homemade Kulolo. Kulolo is basically taro, coconut milk and sugar. This was my first time eating it and it was delectable. It felt like i was eating a slightly sweet Sponge Cake.
Our next course came out shortly after we finished our little delectable bites. It was a Chicken Liver Bahn Mi (Vietnamese Sandwich) with French Fries. Recently I've been a huge fan of Bahn Mis, frequently eating them at Bale. The mix of Meat with Pickled Vegetables and Cilantro is bliss for me. This particular Bahn Mi is made with house made Chicken Liver Pate, Pickled Carrots and Daikon and Ciccioli. The only question i had about it was; What is Ciccioli? After doing some research (google), it's basically a process where they dry and age fatty pieces of pork. This added a fatty and salty component to the Sandwich that made the Pate more flavorful.
The French Fries that were served with this Sandwich deserves it's own paragraph because these are the BEST fries i have ever eaten. Every piece was crispy yet soft on the inside and the flavor of the Fries was out of this world. They were fried with pieces of Parsley, Rosemary and Thyme and it gave it such a great depth of flavor that made me speechless as I indulged. I don't even know what to write about them anymore, just go eat them now. Why are you still reading? GO EAT.
For the next course we had a Pan Seared Opah with Local Vegetables and a Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette. I'm not a very big fish person but this was nice. It was a prime showcase on the direction that Chef Ed Kenney wanted. He used fresh local ingredients and created a wonderful dish out of it. My only criticism was that the Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette; Where was it? I didn't really taste anything of it so that was disappointing.
Our last entree was a House Made Pasta with Pancetta, Hakurei Turnips, Poblano Peppers and Tomatoes. It was a very nice choice of ingredients tossed with Tomato Sauce and perfectly cooked Pasta. My first couple of bites were a little bland but when i ate the small thick pieces of Pancetta, it brought the salty element that was needed. Eating the Pasta as a whole felt like it was a nice mix of Italian and Mexican flavors.
To make our dining experience perfect we ordered a trio of desserts. Buttermilk Pannacotta, Liliko'i - Citrus Tart and Grapefruit - Campari Sorbet, doesn't that trio just sound great! The Buttermilk Pannacotta was served with a Honey drizzle and fresh grapes. Tart, creamy and sweet with the honey made this extremely delicious. Pannacottas and Custards are usually a little heavy for me but this was actually light and refreshing.
The Liliko'i - Citrus Tart was another refreshing dessert we ordered. The filling it self was light and fluffy and had this amazing tart taste to it. I really enjoyed eating this dessert because I'm a huge fan of eating tart desserts.
Lastly we have the Grapefruit - Campari Sorbet. Again another ingredient that i'm not to knowledgeable of, Campari. It's actually an alcohol that's made from infusing different bitter herbs and aromatics. Just reading that gave me an understanding of why this Sorbet had such a bright Grapefruit flavor. This was my favorite dessert out of the three because it was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal.
Overall i was extremely happy with the meal i had at Town. From the mixed reviews I heard from many colleagues I was more satisfied then I could be. Definitely recommend this to anyone. Reasonable prices, fresh delicious food and a great atmosphere.
3435 Waialae Avenue #103
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
(808)735-5900
Taste: 4.5
Appearance: 4.5
Location: 4
Value: 4
Overall: 4.25
*Based on a 5 point scoring system with 1 being Not So Good and 5 being Great*]
-Chef B
