Liholiho Yatch Club

In May 2018, 5 years ago, I visited Louie's Gen-Gen Room, the cocktail bar downstairs from Liholiho Yatch Club, and had a glorious meal.  I vowed to finally make it to Liholiho for a full dinner.  It somehow took me 5 years to do so (to be fair, they were closed throughout the pandemic, and stayed closed until later 2022), but still, such a shame I didn't make it sooner.  

Reservations are still essential, and hard to come by - I had Resy alerts set up and finally snagged a Friday evening booking, although the only slot I could get was right at 5pm when they opened.  I visited with a party of 3, one who had been there before (pre-pandemic), and one visitor from out of town.

Inside Line Up.

We arrived a little before 5pm, like many others, and lined up on the sidewalk outside.  At 5pm on the dot, and not a moment earlier, the staff unlocked the front door.  Party by party, we trickled in to the host stand, where a lineup of servers was waiting to whisk us each away to our tables one by one.  This communal service continued throughout the meal, with the staff telling us they were all there for us, although we did have one primary server.

The service throughout the night was flawless.  This took many forms, such as somehow always anticipating our needs - paying attention, but at a distance, never in an over bearing way, ready to clear our table for the next course, offer up new drinks as our classes approached empty, etc, but never interrupting when our mouths were full, asking how something was before we had taken a bite, or that kind of thing.  Dishes were presented and described well, not in a drawn out way, just enough to remind you all the key components, rather than just being dumped on the table wordlessly.  Share plates and serving utensils were always provided.  Table cleaned between courses.  When our sparkling water ran out, we were asked if we'd like to purchase another, or switch to tap water.  Pacing of the meal was perfect.  When I mentioned an allergy, the staff member had intensive menu knowledge to know all the ways that ingredient was used, but also went to check with the kitchen for any additional usages, and returned to reassure me on those points.  The staff were all friendly, yet authentic.  

In short, we basically just felt really well cared for, in a casual yet top notch way, if that makes any sense.  I have literally no adjustments I would make to the service. 

Excellent Meal.

The cuisine was just as spectacular as the service.  Equally thoughtful, precise yet understated.  Each and every dish was a fascinating array of textures and flavors.  The cuisine hailed from all over the world, much of it quite fusion-esque, in a way that shouldn't have worked together in harmony, yet somehow did.  I could hear Gordon Ramsey reading the menu and saying "Fusion?  No, this is CON-FUSION", and yet, it wasn't.  It was all over the place, but it was also so well executed, that it pushed limits successfully. 

I enjoyed every dish I tried, and was more than happy to take leftovers home to relive the experience a bit more.  I'll gladly return again.  Frankly, I'd return again tomorrow if I could.  Highly recommend, with no hesitations, unless you have a group that really would shy away from the unfamiliar.

Drinks

Once seated, we were offered still or sparkling water, and went for sparkling.  No house sparkling water, but a large jug for $8 was provided.  When it ran out, as I mentioned, the staff were careful to ask if we wanted to order another, or move to the complimentary house filtered still water.

We started with a round of cocktails, as we settled in.

Drink Menu.

The cocktail program at Liholiho Yatch Club is worth a mention.  The house cocktails are broken into 3 categories: "Highball Haven", "Rock & Tumble", and "Up & At'em".  Most of the drinks are whisky or rum based, although pear brandy, shochu, mezcal, yuzu liqueur, and others make an appearance too.  Tropical fruits (passionfruit, grapefruit, pineapple), spices (turmeric, cardamom), and surprises like pandan, coconut, and pistachio made an appearance.  It was hard narrowing my choices down from this list.

The wine by the glass menu is not particularly large, with 3 sparkling, 2 white, 3 red, plus 2 orange and a rose, but is very well curated.  A handful of beers, including a sour ale and cider round out the alcoholic options.  Several zero proof mocktails are on offer, along with an assortment of teas.  One of my companions highly recommended one of the teas.

O'ren Ishii. $16.

"Iwai 45 whisky, sweet bermutto, bitter ourney amaro."

I had a hard time picking my drink, but finally settled on the O'ren Ishii, once I had decided I did want a whiskey drink, and the server described the other whiskey option, the Sunbather, as being lighter and more refreshing.  I wanted something with a bit more gusto.  It was served straight up, in a simple glass.

The cocktail was very well balanced.  It didn't taste particularly boozy, which surprised me.  It was very smooth and drinkable, but not very exciting, if that makes sense.  Somehow it was almost too balanced, that the complexity was lost.  It looked more hardcore than it really was.

I wouldn't get this again, but if you are looking for a mellow, balanced, approachable whiskey drink, this is a reasonable option. ***.

Food

The food is of course the main attraction.  Describing the cuisine is near impossible.  "Heritage driven" I believe is their phrasing for it.  Definitely fusion, with influences from all over, and a reasonably strong Hawaiian focus.

One unique experience you can book is the Ohana Table, a shared family feast, of all their greatest hits, for parties of 7, at the biggest table in the center of the restaurant.  $75 per person, and it always books up fast.  Since we were a party of 3, we dined a la carte, but the entire menu is designed for sharing, and dishes are brought out as soon as they are ready.

Dinner Menu.

The dinner menu at Liholiho is broken down into small bites, small plates (both hot and cold), and then larger "cherry cuts".  I also appreciated that the dessert menu was on the same menu, so we could plan accordingly.

For small bites, these are essentially 1 person pieces, although you could split if you really wanted to.  All 4 choices sounded pretty good, and ranged from $5-11.  Here we had items that sounded fairly classic, like duck liver mousse, tuna poke, and a fried oyster, but all had unique spins on them.  Our group of 3 ended up getting one each, but two of us picked the same thing, so we only got to see half this section.  Note for vegetarians that none of these are vegetarian.

Next up, the smaller plates, which ranged from two chilled salads and a cold cured halibut prep, to warm options of fried fritters, fried rice, shrimp, and the token veggie, snap peas (with very interesting toppings of course!).  We went for one cold and one hot from here, and had a hard time narrowing it down to this amount.  These range from $15 to $22.  Vegetarians could pick from three items here, although there is really nothing for vegans.

Finally, the larger, "cherry cut",  dishes, where you find the big pork shoulder chop or ribeye if you want red meat, fried game hen for poultry, sole and swordfish for seafood, and a vegetarian curry (or lamb based).  While these are all familiar proteins, the preparations were not standard, and hailed from all different regions.  Indonesian rendang curry, very Mediteranean accompaniments of pistachio, preserved lemon, dates, and turmeric with the pork, classic Indian coconut curry with the sole, and a Japanese katsu prep of the swordfish ... albeit with a French butter caper sauce.  It sounds like an incoherent menu, but, it works.  These dishes are $38-62, and only the vegetarian version of the lamb rendang curry is vegetarian (and not vegan).

And to complete it all, of course desserts, with four choices, and honestly, we wanted them all.  It is recommended that two people share a single dessert, so for a group of three such as us, 1-2 was recommended, and were tempted to get all four.  Really.  We settled on three, ruling out only the chocolate based one, since I avoid caffeine at night, and one other diner doesn't like coffee, and it had an espresso crumble.

After we ordered our assortment of 1 small bite each, 1 cold smaller plate, 1 hot smaller plate, and two "cherry cuts", our server suggested a coursing of the small bites and cold plate to start, and the rest to follow.  This was a helpful suggestion, and we went with it.

The first round was delivered very quickly after we ordered.  Shockingly quickly, really.  We had taken our time deciding what to order, so we had settled in fine, and had been sipping cocktails for a while already, so it wasn't a problem, and was actually just rather impressive, as they were still fired to order.  They all hit the table at different times, but within 2 minutes of each other.

Once it was clear we were done with the first round, our dishes were cleared, the table wiped down, and new share plates and cutlery presented, in advance of the next round arriving.  It came soon after, again dishes arriving at slightly different times, but within five minutes of each other.  

When we finished the main dishes, we were asked if we'd like to see the dessert menu, and our table was cleared and wiped down again.  Once we ordered desserts, new share plates and cutlery were again placed out.  Flawless service really.

Poppyseed Steam Bun. $10.

"Beef tongue, tare glaze, LYC kimchi, miso aioli."

We all opted to start our meals with one of the small bites.  One of my guests went for the poppyseed steam bun, a play on a Chinese bao, but, with a bun crusted in poppyseeds, and beef tongue inside, along with kimchi.  Korean-Chinese fusion-ish?

He seemed to quite enjoy it, and mentioned how tender the beef tongue was.  The $10 price seemed a touch high, but then again, I don't know the going rates for beef tongue.

Duck Liver Mousse. $5/each.

"Banana bread, pineapple, pink peppercorn, celery."

While all the small bites did sound good, I had my eyes on one as a clear top choice.  Duck liver mousse.  Yes.  Others felt the pairing sounded odd, and the server even acknowledged it is, but it seemed entirely sensible to me.  After all, I adore pate/liver mousse on top of glazed donuts/fritters with a touch of jam or fruit, so, the sweet breakfast carb + liver + fruit topping made complete sense to me.  So now we have ... Hawaiian-French breakfast fusion?  Who knows.

One other diner followed my lead, and selected this one too.  He loved it.  I liked it, but, less than he did.

The mousse was great - very smooth, creamy, decent liver flavor.  No qualms there.  The pineapple salsa worked extremely well - I've had plenty of different kinds of fruit, fresh, strewed, compote, etc paired with liver products, but never pineapple.  But why not?  It was fruity, vibrant, and the small dice made it well distributed in every bite.  Celery added a bit of crunch.  So, all the toppings?  Unexpected, sure, but they worked very well.  **** toppings.

The banana bread is where it fell down a bit for me.  Granted, I don't really like banana bread.  And this was, well, banana bread. Slightly sweet, and full of banana flavor.  I didn't want banana bread.  I wanted brioche, or glazed donut, or many other things, but, not banana bread.  The sweet pairing did work, and the bread base for pate worked, but, for me, the banana bread took away from it.  My companion really enjoyed it though. 

*** overall for me, and actually my second to least favorite dish.  $5 price was very reasonable.

Adorable Packaging!

I saved half my piece to take home to have for breakfast, when I might be more in the mood for banana bread, and applaud the way they packaged it. A larger size condiment container, which fit it perfectly.  It would have been ridiculous in a larger box.  +1 point for the packaging!

Shaved Pig's Head. $18.

"Peanuts, crispy shallot, frisee, shiko pear, fish sauce dressing."

For our final appetizer dish, we went for a cold dish from the smaller plates menu, the Shaved Pig's Head.  Yes, shaved pig's head.  The selection was based on a few things - I really did want a vegetable and something lighter, and I knew this came with a salad component, and I couldn't have the other salad on the menu, as it had avocado both in the salad, and in the dressing.  I also was drawn in by the crispy shallots and peanuts, and fish sauce.  And, it was by far the most adventurous dish on the menu, a new dish from the re-opening, and I'd seen good reviews for it.

Sadly, I wasn't into this dish.  The frisee and radicchio were fresh and vibrant, clearly dressed to order, but the fish sauce dressing didn't deliver much.  It really just seemed like a basic light vinaigrette. I wanted to taste more funk and umami.  The crispy shallots and peanuts were barely noticeable - yes, a few strewn throughout, but, very lost in the dish.  I wanted far more.  The thin strips of asian pear were juicy and refreshing.

So, for the salad part, a fine base, but not enough crunchy toppings, and not very flavorful. ***.

Shaved Pig's Head: Close up.

But of course, this dish was about the pig's head.  You can see that there was some in the middle of the plate, but actually, the whole plate was covered in pig's head, and the salad was placed on top.  So much pig's head.

I didn't really care for it.  It was slimy.  I couldn't quite get past the slimy nature.  One of my fellow diners wasn't into how fatty it was.  We all thought it would be considerably better if it was fried up, or more dried out and prosciutto-like.  It was novel, but, not something any of us wanted more than a few bites of.  One person took the rest home to try frying up to see how that worked out.  I did like the spicy sauce that was covering it though, and wanted more of that on the salad greens.

So, ** as I didn't really enjoy it, but, it was very unique, and certainly an acquired thing.  My least favorite dish, and I wouldn't get it again.

Fried Rice. $16.

"LYC kimchi, housemade spam, mushrooms, cured egg yolk."

To kick off our second round of dishes, we had a hot item from the smaller plates menu, a LYC classic, fried rice.  Fairly universally loved.  So although I don't generally eat much rice (besides in desserts), and even though I'm kinda meh on kimchi, I encouraged the group to get this to round out our meal.  I figured the carbs would help satisfy folks, plus, I really wanted the spam.  I love spam in general, and I have fond memories of the spam pigs in a blanket from my previous visit.

This is a very fusion dish, Asian style fried rice, but with Korean kimchi, Japanese shimeji mushrooms, and of course, Hawaiian spam.  It works beautifully.  Korean-Japanese-Hawaiian.  Go with it.

The rice was very well prepared.  Moist, fragrant, none clumped together.  I liked it as much as I'd ever like savory rice.  As expected I didn't really care for the kimchi, but it added good juicy bursts.  I loved the shimeji mushrooms throughout, and as one diner doesn't like mushrooms (besides morels, go figure), I got plenty of them.  The cured egg yolk on top added a touch of richness and saltiness, but the real star, for me, was the housemade spam. SO. GOOD.  Decent size strips of it, decent amount of it.  I appreciated that it wasn't cut up smaller, more like the pork bits you find in regular fried rice.  I wanted to experience the spam in big juicy strips like this.  I loved that spam.  Honestly, I wanted to just order more spam.  

Overall a success for me in that I just got lots of mushrooms and spam, and overall well regarded.  We didn't finish it, and one diner was excited to take the rice home and top with a fried egg for leftovers, and I was overjoyed to take a few strips of spam to have with my banana bread pate breakfast.  ****+ for the spam and mushrooms, ***+ overall.  Middle of the road, third pick for me.  Price was quite reasonable for the portion and generous amount of spam.  I'd get this again, but really, would love to just get the spam.  

Rendang Curry. $40.

"Lamb or sweet potato, daikon, celery root, turmeric butter naan."

And ... more novel spins on what sounds like a classic dish, rendang curry.  Available as a vegetarian dish with sweet potato, or with lamb, rather than more traditional beef.  But that isn't really the novel part.  The novel element is the fact that it comes looking like a giant pot pie, which I knew to expect, with the naan draped over it.  Definitely a show stopper, and actually quite fun to break into (I got to do the honors).

If you know me, you know I don't eat lamb.  The others wanted a second big dish, something substantial, and I knew I was happy with the rest of the dishes and encouraged them to get whatever they wanted.  They picked the lamb curry.  I didn't think I'd even try a bite.  I'm so very lamb averse.  Honestly, I didn't even think I'd try the naan, knowing it was likely infused with lamb aromas.  I didn't even really want it on the table, with all its lamb smells and all.

But I couldn't help trying the naan, after all, I did the hard work of breaking into it.  The naan was fantastic, although very unlike traditional naan, which makes sense, as it was baked on top of the pot of curry, rather than in a tandoor, and wasn't slathered in butter noticeably.  But it was soft, fluffy, and the turmeric dust on it really gave it a nice unique flavor.  **** naan. 

Rendang Curry: Inside.

As the others ate the curry, I couldn't help but notice that it sure didn't look like a rendang curry.  Yes, obviously it had naan-pot-pie vibes, and yes, it had lamb not beef, but those were not the thing that stood it.  It looked more like a thinner Thai green curry than a thicker redder Indonesian curry.  Eventually, I decided to just try a taste of the broth ... against my better judgement, as I knew there was no way it wouldn't taste like lamb.  

It did taste mildly of lamb, but yeah, it did not taste like a traditional rendang at all.  It was a lovely curry though, incredibly aromatic, full of complex flavors, balanced by the coconut milk.  Excellent curry, really.  I was fairly stuffed, and knew I wanted a lot of desserts, but I couldn't stop myself from having "just one more bite" of the fluffy warm naan dunked in that curry, and "just one more spoonful" of the flavorful sauce.  On repeat. It was very, very good, and I was even able to look past the lamb part.  I'd consider getting this in the vegetarian form in the future, even just as an extra dish to take home and enjoy later.  Absolutely fantastic, but, far from traditional.  My second favorite dish.  ****.  At $40, this seemed a touch high, but, if you consider the naan is included, not unreasonable.

Swordfish Katsu. $39.

"Russian dressing, gherkins, radish, caper butter."

And finally, the dish I was most excited for, another cherry cut, the swordfish katsu.  Yup, you read that right.  I really do like swordfish, I like crunchy katsu (but not normally pork or chicken all that much), and I certainly love Russian dressing, gherkins, and caper butter.  All together in one dish though?  Particularly the creamy Russian dressing and caper butter seemed like they might really clash.  They *should* have clashed, really.  But they didn't.

This dish was extraordinary.  Japanese katsu meets French butter sauce with Russian toppings?  Again, just go with it.

The swordfish was cooked perfectly, flaky and moist on the inside, while the crust was crispy and golden brown.  So very crisp.  It cut with such a satisfying crunch.  The technique here was top notch, as it would be easy for this to be dried out.

On top, the pickled onions and radishes added a nice touch of acidity and freshness, and they helped to balance out the richness of the sauces.  They also made it look quite complex.  The Russian dressing added a touch of creaminess, and combined nicely with the toppings, and with the flavorful coating.  The dish would have been successful with just more of that to dunk into.  

But the dish kept on giving, served on top of a warm caper butter sauce.  It was quite rich and flavorful, and a natural pairing for the swordfish. The capers added a salty factor too.  I still don't understand how the butter sauce and the Russian dressing worked together, but, they did.  I dragged my pieces of fish through both with no qualms.

This was nearly a perfect *****, but I'll place it at ****+ as I want to reserve that rating for dishes I'll truly never forget.  Hands down my favorite dish of the night, and I'd get it again in a heartbeat.  Recommend with no caveats.

Baked Hawaii. $13.

"Orange chiffon cake, coconut POG sorbet."

And then it was time for dessert.

The signature dessert, the one hitting nearly every table, is the baked Hawaii, their play on a classic baked Alaska.  A show stopper, yes, and not something most of us know how to make at home, so, restaurant worthy indeed.  Even though I'm not one for citrus desserts, and POG sorbet is pretty low on my list of flavor choices, I still wanted to try it, because it gets such incredible accolades, and, how could we NOT get the signature dessert?  Plus, I love meringue.

It arrived looking absolutely perfect.  A cloud of meringue, expertly torched.  The meringue was as lovely to taste as it looked, sweet, smooth, gooey, lightly toasted.  Meringue doesn't get better than this.

But what was even better than the meringue?  The shards of coconut candy scattered on the plate.  They were candied and crisp, so sweet, and totally addicting.  They added a great crunch to the dessert.  The citrus segments and sauce on the plate were intensely fruity, fresh, and brought everything together.

Ok, I might have had my doubts, but, this was a very well crafted and executed dessert.  ****+ meringue and garnish.

Baked Hawaii: Inside.

Of course we had to break into the dish to see the insides.  The POG sorbet was good - fruity, sweet, creamy, well balanced.  Never a flavor I'll pick, but it was fine sorbet.  Served at the appropriate temperature, it took a few minutes for it to soften a bit, which was most welcome as we dug into our trio of desserts.

The cake base was also fine, a bit more dense than I expected from a chiffon cake, but, a fine cake, light citrus flavor.  I probably would have preferred some other kind of base, but it was fine.

So, insides, ***, and I would have wanted other flavors for both components, but that is just personal preference, and these flavors were definitely more in theme with the restaurant and quite unique.  My second favorite of the desserts, due to the excellent meringue and garnishes, and the top pick for the others.

Banana Cream Tart. $13.

"Banana pastry cream, tamari caramel, rum diplomat, sesame tuile."

The banana cream tart was a fairly classic preparation, with an elevated presentation.  The tart shell was a shortcrust, a bit hard to cut into without breaking it apart, and otherwise unremarkable.  It was filled with a thick set pastry cream and fresh banana, decent enough, but again, not remarkable.   I didn't taste the promised rum in the diplomat cream dollops on top, nor did I taste the tamari in the drizzle of caramel.  I expected both the rum and tamari to boost this dish, and alas, they did not.  Basically, it was a perfectly fine freshly made banana cream tart, but nothing more.

That is, except the sesame tuile.  Now *that* was magic.  Sweet, crispy, and totally addicting.  I'd purchase that by the bag full if I could.  I adored it.  Even better than the coconut candy shards from the baked Hawaii.  I'd like them to open a candy store next, with all housemade brittles and confections.  ZOMG.

Overall, the tart, ***+, but not something I'd recommend unless you were really craving banana cream, but the tuile was a solid ****+.  My favorite of the desserts overall.

Mom's Butter Mochi. $12.

"Coconut custard."

The butter mochi is an item from the original menu. It doesn't get particularly great reviews, but, since it has been on the menu since the start, I felt it was worth a try.  I knew from Instagram that it was going to be served right in the glass baking pan, which made me expect it to be served warm.  I love warm, slightly bouncy, slightly gooey, mochi, particularly with ice cream on top.  I knew it wouldn't have ice cream, but I planned to use some from the baked Hawaii with it.

I was surprised that it was room temperature.  It was just ... a big pan of mochi.  It was fine mochi, stretchy and bouncy and enjoyable, but, fairly simple and plain.  I didn't really taste much coconut.  I wanted it warm, I wanted a fruity component or ice cream, just, something more.    My least favorite of the desserts, which I think was true for everyone.

Since we had plenty of dessert, we didn't finish this one, and I did take it home, warm it up, and pair it with black sesame ice cream, whipped cream, and berries the next night, and enjoyed it considerably more that way.  *** as served, **** with my changes.