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Strolling around downtown Honolulu, you will find a treasure trove of food courts & arcades well worth exploring. If you work downtown do yourself a favor in 2009/4077 (the lunar calendar year) and break away from your routine, tell the boss you are taking an extra fifteen minutes for lunch, exit your building, then walk in the opposite direction from where you might ordinarily go to eat. Go an extra block or two, head Ewa instead of Diamond Head, Makai instead Mauka, and explore. There are more than two dozen downtown eateries where you can snag breakfast, lunch, or dinner for five to fifteen dollars including beverage.

This will be the first article surveying the aforementioned arcades & food courts. This is not intended as a review or recommendation for any particular place, though certain eateries deserve more than a mere mention and a few will be cited for various reasons. That said, this is a survey, not a review.

Nestled on the corner of Queen and Alakea Street, the Tardus Financial Center is the newest name for an building old when the 20th century was young. It has been refurbished and is an excellent example of the sort of courtyard/arcade that many people truly enjoy. There is an entrance on one street and a zigzag path ground floor exiting onto another street. This is a terrific place to sit down, people watch, read a newspaper, and eat. I entered from Queen Street.

Two names familiar to Honolulu residents frame the entrance into the food court. Ba-Le French Sandwich & Bakery is a long established chain on O’ahu, the one in the Tardus Financial Center is # 3 and it serves the usual enticing array of sandwiches & salads Islanders expect, plus Pho, Plate Lunches, and a customer favorite, Chicken Long Rice Soup. Ba-Le is open from 9AM to 4PM Monday through Friday.

The other is an eatery whose name is menu & price; ‘Blazing Steaks’ Plate & Drink, $6, though their menu has expended slightly. Good simple fare with dining inside as well as outside in the passage of the food court.

Golden Bowl is strictly a counter set-up with reasonably priced plate lunches. $5.50 for one choice, $6.50 for two and for such a tiny place the menu is extensive, your plate can include. sticky white rice or fried rice, chow mein or Singapore noodles or cake noodles, or Pancit, and among the choices are Salt & Pepper Shrimp, Tofu & Eggplant, Garlic Choysum, or my favorite, Pork Adobo.

At the heart of the Tardus Financial Center is the heart of the food court. Lee & Li Fast Food have been serving up a delightful mix of Chinese & local favorites for 16 years under the guidance of Lee, a man who takes pride in knowing what his customers want. Lee more than aware that most of them want their meal quick The menu is extensive inexpensive, ranging from $4.50 to $6.50. Lee says one of the most popular items on the menu is ‘Hong Kong Style Won Ton Mien w/ Vegetables, for $.5.00.’ Though most grab their meal and go, there are a few cozy tables inside Lee & Li Fast Food. Hours are 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday thru Friday.

Across from Lee & Li is a traditional Japanese Noodle Shop, the Nippon Café, opening onto the roomiest portion of the courtyard. This is an airy space well lit by skylights — a wonderful place to sit a while. Inexplicably, there is a large vacant space at the back of the courtyard. My hope is that a bookshop will lodge within.

Aloha Store is a fast in & out place featuring beverages & snack with an incorrigible mix of items in a space slightly larger than an old fashion phone booth. Framing the Alakea Street entrance are two of the more buzz worthy downtown eateries. Diem Café has quietly challenged the convention that all Vietnamese places serve is Pho. Though it is on the menu, you have many other options — all of which are quite reasonable. More phenomenal is the servers’ attention to detail, alerting one to the way dishes are prepared. An excellent example is that their menu stresses that those intrigued by the vegetarian items should ask how they are prepared, to ensure that true vegetarians eat only what they expect, something too few eateries do. They are open from 10AM to 3 PM.

Across the aisle from Diem Cafe is Kafe Europa serving Armenian-Russian food including pastries, plus bottled Armenian Juices. Their new hours are 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. Kafe Europa is definitely worth a lengthier visit.

Opening directly on to Alakea street are several fine restaurants, all maintaining the same lunch time only hours. Ahi & Vegetable (perhaps their Fort Street Mall Location is better known) Kim’s Sister Deli, and a Quiznos Sandwich Shop.

A final word about dining at Tardus Financial Center and throughout downtown Honolulu. Slipping into Pidgin, “Eh, it’s Hawai’I , get out an’ walk, no fuss with parking, no hasslin’ with traffic, leave the car in the garage at the office, and walk, you will be glad you did.”

Spicy Ahi Vegetable from Ahi and Vegetable II in Downtown Honolulu, Hawaii

#2 Spicy Ahi Vegetable – $7.50

This popular lunch spot in the Tardus Financial Plaza is a favorite of many Downtown workers who are looking for a quick and refreshing meal that is guaranteed not to weigh you down in the afternoon.

There was a story in this week’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser which has reported that Ahi & Vegetable II along with the other eateries and business located in the Tardus Financial Plaza, will be forced to closed their doors on August 31, 2011. The Tardus Financial Plaza was purchased by the Hawaii Buddhist Cultural Society earlier this year and they’ve planned to replace these popular eateries and businesses with a “peaceful environment” and “sanctuary”.

Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 26, 2011

Ahi & Vegetable II
Tardus Financial Plaza, Suite 201
801 Alakea Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
(808) 548-7777

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