Where to brunch in Honolulu: morning rooms worth the queue.
Where to brunch in Honolulu. the morning rooms worth the queue, and the kitchens still doing it right at noon.
Sweet E's Cafe in Kapahulu Honolulu is the casual breakfast room named for Ethel Mathews, serving stuffed French toast, crab cake Benedict and an all-day brunch menu on Kapahulu Avenue.
Order: Stuffed blueberry cream cheese French toast.
Tip: Daily 07:00 to 14:00. The stuffed blueberry cream cheese French toast is the canonical order.
Cinnamon's Restaurant in Kailua across the Pali from Honolulu is the 1985 breakfast spot where red velvet pancakes and guava chiffon pancakes anchor a 30-deep weekend queue.
Order: Red velvet pancakes with cream cheese frosting.
Tip: Walk-in only; queue from 07:30 weekends. Guava chiffon if the menu has it.
Boots and Kimo's Homestyle Kitchen in Kailua across the Pali from Honolulu is the original home of the banana macadamia nut pancake stack drowned in their signature macadamia nut sauce.
Order: Banana macadamia nut pancakes with macadamia nut sauce.
Tip: Full stack with macadamia nut sauce is the move. Enchanted Lake shopping center; closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Koko Head Cafe in Kaimuki Honolulu is chef Lee Anne Wong's brunch room where the cornflake French toast and breakfast bibimbap have anchored 12th Avenue since 2014.
Order: Cornflake-crusted French toast.
Tip: Dinner Friday to Monday from 17:00. Walk-in queue steady at 09:00 weekends; some reservations open on Resy.
Cafe Kaila in the Market City Shopping Center in Honolulu's Kapahulu has won Hale Aina best breakfast four consecutive years with cornbread waffles, buttermilk pancakes and made-from-scratch French toast.
Order: Cornbread waffle with strawberry butter and honey.
Tip: Walk-in queue from 08:30 weekends. Cornbread waffle with strawberry butter is the signature.
Mud Hen Water in Kaimuki Honolulu serves a Sunday brunch built around Ed Kenney's aina-based cooking, with shakshuka, kalua pork hash and rotating Hawaiian-vegetable plates.
Order: The shakshuka and the chef's selection of small plates.
Tip: Sunday only. Book a week ahead on OpenTable; the brunch list changes weekly with farms.
Podmore in Downtown Honolulu pours brunch and cocktails inside the 1902 lava-rock Podmore Building, with Anthony Rush's kitchen serving the city's most architecturally distinct weekend menu.
Order: The brunch board with house-cured salmon and biscuit.
Tip: Saturday 10:00 to 15:00 (full menu), Sunday 09:00 to 14:00 (brunch only). The library room books out first.
Arvo in SALT Kakaako Honolulu is the Australian cafe brunch spot the Rose family opened, with loaded avocado toast, Nutella toast and smoked salmon toast as the canonical menu staples.
Order: Loaded avocado toast.
Tip: Order at the counter, take a number and sit; first hour parking free with validation.