Pacific Beach Hotel Waikiki (Waikiki, Hawaii)
When we had our conference this year in Hawaii most of our staff stayed here at Pacific Beach Hotel and during that time the place was under renovation so the facilities was quite limited since some of them were closed, luckily the ballroom area was available so most of our conference including the dining was just held in this floor.
I am not sure who catered for this event but most probably it will one of Hotels restaurant where they served great food specially for those travelling to Hawaii for the first time. Some of our staff have been here but majority of them haven’t so a Hawaiian themed lunch would be a great starter to know the islands cuisine.
When food was served I remembered the first time I tried one the luau’s as the food was served buffet style.
There were good selection of food and what I grabbed were the usual ones, the Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi, Kalua Pig, Purple Potatoes, Buttered Vegetables, some salad greens and Hawaiian style macaroni salad. The Kalua pig was one of the best I tried so far, it was smoky and juicy, I am not sure though if it was prepared the traditional was on an imu since it was served on a buffet platter already.
I also tried the soup since it looks like the Filipino sotanghon soup, indeed it tasted like one and again it was delicious. Ice tea too was refreshing, a good change after having many years of the real ice tea back in New Zealand and Hong Kong, this American version is the sweet one.
And to top it all up I also tried three of the desserts, the Coconut Macadamia Cake, Haupia and Coconut Macaroon. At first, I thought the Coconut Macaroon was a cookie but when I had my first bite, it was indeed a coconut macaroon like the ones we have in the Philippines, just bigger. The Coconut Macadamia Cake was amazing as well, it was soft and fluffy.
Overall apart from the building being renovated, the experience was great, food was amazing we even have someone performing while we ate at the ballroom. I will definitely be back for the Kalua pig but I am not sure which restaurant offered it.
Pacific Beach Hotel
Address: 2490 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu, HI 96815, USA
Phone: +1 808-922-1233
Website: https://www.alohilaniresort.com/
