Honolulu Weekly

Cafe & Deli

Abbe Brewster Caffe

451 Pi’ikoi St. (596-8866). Mon-Sat 11am-9am. Cup of house coffee: $1.75. Entrees: $6.50-$10.95. AmEx, MC, V.

You can get a perfectly pulled espresso and chicken karaage. Build your own salad with ingredients like spicy albacore (actually–more sweet), chickpeas and feta cheese. Bring your laptop and sit a while–there’s free Internet access and cool indie pop.

Bert’s Cafe

939 McCully St. (941-2810). Mon-Sat 7:20am-1pm. $1.25-$5. Cash only.

This McCully cafe is a monetary bargain that serves up an endangered old-time neighborhood charm that money can’t buy. A complete breakfast is cheap, and the saimin and hamburgers aren’t fancy but are just what they should be: deliciously satisfying and familiar.

Coffeeline Campus

1820 University Ave. (next to the Atherton YMCA) 778-7909, Mon-Fri 7am-3:30pm; Sat, Sun & holidays 9am-noon, $2-$7. Cash only.

Serving up strong, tasty coffee to wash down his made-with-care soups, salads, waffles, omelets, sandwiches and bagels. Coffeeline, with its open roof and art displays, is a peaceful retreat with plenny good reading material: The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Interview, The Utne Reader.

Daily Bread

1909 South King St. (951-6634). Mon-Sat, 7am-7pm. Cash only.

With a dollop of European-style butter, something as simple as a slice of bread can be as exquisite and heartwarming as a fine chocolate truffle. Daily Bread makes a rare attempt to be a true boulangerie. Aside from baguettes, there are batards, boules, rectangular loaves of soft, sandwich bread, croissants, danishes.

Days of Aloha

1137 11th Ave. between Wai’alae and Harding Aves, second floor (735-5166). Tues-Sat 11am-9pm, Sun 11am-6pm, Sandwiches: $5-$7.25. AmEx, MC, V.

A retro Hawai’i boutique and cafe where you can recline on vintage rattan bark-cloth couches or sit on the breezy balcony. The simple menu includes carefully made sandwiches, salads of impeccable Pupukea greens, green-tea lattes and a jolting espresso jelly.

Panya Bistro

Ala Moana Center, mauka side next to the Gap (946-6388). Mon-Sat 8am–10pm; Sun 8am-10pm. Appetizers $4.50-$9.99. Entrees: $7.50-$26. AmEx, Disc, MC, V.

The Ala Moana off-shoot of the ‘Euro-Japanese’ bakery mini-chain is a postmodern tea room (or coffee house) with sleek neo-Bauhaus design elements and blue-grey walls. Nibble on Japanese cheesecake or dig into full-fledged meals such as laksa (curry noodle soup) and rack of lamb.

This Is It Bakery & Deli

443 Cooke St. between Pohukaina and Auahi Sts. (597-1017), Mon-Fri 6am-4pm, Sat 7am-3pm; This Is It Too, 1001 Bishop St. and Alakea (526-2280), Mon-Fri 5:30am-2:30pm. Plain bagels: 85 cents each, $9 a dozen. AmEx, Disc, MC, V.

Bagels, sandwiches, salads and desserts are also on the menu. When it comes to bagels, well, this is it.

Chinese

Fook Lam Seafood Restaurant

Chinatown Cultural Plaza, 100 N. Beretania St. (523-9168). Daily 8am-3pm and 5-10pm. Dim sum from $1.90. MC, V.

The dim sum cart comes around more often than at the bigger dim sum palaces, and cheap prices mean your stomach can be as big as your eyes. Superior taro gok and shrimp gau, when hot out of the kitchen, are highlights. Augment your plate with a handful of filled look fun rolls and house specialty braised e-mein.

Happy Day Restaurant

3553 Wai’alae Ave. at 11th Ave (738-8666). Daily 8:30am-10:30pm. Dim sum: $2.30 per plate. AmEx, Disc, MC, V.

Servers greet customers like old friends. The place is great for big family dinners (Peking duck is tops), but it also has good dim sum. The turnip cake can’t be beat. The cooks turn coarse, bland daikon into delicately crusted creamy, savory-sweet squares.

Kirin at Ala Moana Center

Ala Moana Center, street level, makai side (946-1888). Daily 10:30am-10pm (dim sum served 10:30am-5pm). Dim sum: $2.75-$3.95. Entrees: $8.95-$15. AmEx, Disc, JCB, MC, V.

This Kirin is the chic younger sister to the 20-year-old Kirin on Beretania. Here you order from a menu, not carts, and chef Shen King Kan (previously at Legend) updates dim sum. Try the broth-filled Shanghai juicy pork buns. For a bigger meal, there are also entrees like Peking duck and Tai Shan crab.

Legend Seafood

Chinatown Cultural Plaza, 100 N. Beretania St at River St (532-1868). Daily 10:30am-2pm, 5:30-10pm. Dim sum: $2.85-$3.75 per plate.

Legend is Honolulu’s gold standard for dim sum. Nearly every dish is textbook perfect in preparation and freshness. Look fun stuffed with scallops melt in the mouth and minifootballs of fried mochi stuffed with dried shrimp and pork are irresistibly crisp and sticky-soft.

P.F. Chang’s

1288 Ala Moana Blvd. (596-4710). Sun-Thu 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-midnight. Entrees $10.95-$20.95. AmEx, Disc, DC, JCB, MC, V

The chicken lettuce cups are good, and the Mongolian beef tastes like tender teriyaki. Try the lemon pepper shrimp, which cleanly showcases its namesake flavors. Among the sweet, fruity cocktails the Asian pear mojito is a highlight. With consistently good service, this is a group-friendly place.

European

Cafe Miro

3446 Wai’alae Ave. (734-2737). Tue-Sun 5:30-9pm. Chef’s tasting menus: $32–$43. AmEx, Disc, MC, V.

Serving classic French food while still keeping things on the traditional side. The menu reintroduces the classics like a bright, delicious vegetable terrine. And the crme brulee is quite possibly the best on the island.

Chef’s Table

Hawai’i Kai Towne Center, 366 Keahola St (394-2433). Tue-Sun 11:30am-2pm, 5:30-9pm. Appetizers: $6-$9. Entrees: $16.50-$22. MC,V.

Mitteleuropaische flavors are to be had in the form of the obligatory spatzle, red cabbage, wiener schnitzel and paprika-red goulash, along with a Swiss cheese fondu. The delicate superflaky apple strudel will knock your lederhosen off.

Du Vin

1115 Bethel St. (545-1115). Daily 11am-closing. Food: $4-$16. AmEx, DC, Disc, JCB, MC, V.

Sample vin, vino or wine from the expansive wine list to go with a cloudlike, supple brie baked in puff pastry, oysters Rockefeller or the chalkboard’s daily specials.