Eat well in Honolulu for under €15 a plate: the locals'-budget edition.
Eat well in Honolulu for under €15 a plate: the places locals on a budget actually use.
Rainbow Drive-In in Kapahulu Honolulu has slung budget plate lunches since 1961, with mix plates of loco moco, BBQ beef and boneless chicken averaging $11 with rice and mac salad.
Try: Plate lunch with two scoops rice
Tip: Lunch peak 11:30 to 13:00. The mix plate at $14 is the most expensive plate and feeds two.
Marukame Udon Waikiki in Honolulu pours kake udon for around $6 a bowl from a cafeteria-line counter, with tempura sides at a buck each making a full meal under $12.
Try: Kake udon
Tip: Daily 10:00 to 22:00. Average bowl plus tempura runs about $9 to $12. Cash and card.
Ono Seafood in Kapahulu Honolulu fills a two-scoop poke bowl with shoyu ahi and rice for around $12, the most affordable sashimi-grade poke in the city by the pound.
Try: Two-scoop poke bowl
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. Eat at Ala Wai Park; sells out by 16:00 weekends.
Leonard's Bakery in Kapahulu Honolulu sells the canonical Hawaii malasada for around $2 each at the counter, the lowest-cost taste of Portuguese-Hawaii sweet baking on the island.
Try: Original sugar malasada
Tip: Daily 05:30 to 19:00. Order half a dozen sugar plus a custard; box stays warm for 30 minutes.
Zippy's Kapahulu in Honolulu serves the local-chain chili over rice for around $9, plus saimin bowls at $9 to $11, with the 24-hour diner the cheapest late-night sit-down in the city.
Try: Zippy's chili and rice
Tip: Open 24 hours. Chili sold over rice, in bowls or in the Zip Pac bento. Drive through if dine-in is slammed.
Musubi Cafe Iyasume on Kuhio in Waikiki Honolulu sells handmade Koshihikari rice spam musubi for $3 to $5 a piece, the most efficient breakfast under five dollars in the neighbourhood.
Try: Spam musubi
Tip: Daily 06:30 to 21:00. Pair a teriyaki spam musubi with a bottled matcha for a $7 breakfast.
Palace Saimin in Kalihi Honolulu sells the shrimp-and-pork-dashi saimin bowl for $6, the cheapest sit-down hot-noodle bowl in the city and unchanged since the 1946 opening.
Try: Saimin bowl
Tip: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 20:00. Add a BBQ stick at the counter for $3.
Highway Inn Kakaako Honolulu serves a combination kalua pig plate with rice, mac salad and lomi salmon for around $15, the cheapest sit-down Hawaiian food in central Honolulu.
Try: Kalua pig combo plate
Tip: Daily 09:30 to 20:00. Mini plate at $13 feeds one; combo plate at $18 feeds two with leftovers.
Ted's Bakery on the North Shore an hour from Honolulu sells garlic shrimp plates and a slice of chocolate haupia pie for $14 total, the most essential cheap eat outside the city limits.
Try: Garlic shrimp plate or chocolate haupia pie slice
Tip: Daily 07:00 to 20:00. Plate lunches sell out by 16:00; pies hold all evening.
Maguro Brothers Hawaii in Chinatown Honolulu sells fish-auction-fresh poke bowls for around $12, the city's strongest sashimi-grade fish to dollar ratio at the Kekaulike Market counter.
Try: Poke bowl
Tip: Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 14:00. Sells out by 13:00; bring cash or card. Closed Sunday.