King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant
May 14 '01
The Bottom Line If you thought Hawaiian food was all about gloppy purple poi, think again. Yum!
Hawaii. It's a tropical paradise best known for swaying grass skirts, coconut bras, drinks with umbrellas, and an excess of vowels. I never gave much thought to Hawaiian food, though. Any cuisine that's best known for poi isn't exactly a high watermark in the culinary pantheon of regional cooking. Or is it?
I discovered King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant a couple of years ago when my best friend and her husband were planning a huge backyard Luau party for their tenth wedding anniversary. I considered buying them a crystal vase that they'd probably hate, or some sort of single-use appliance that they'd never use, but when I learned they were planning to serve hot dogs and potato salad at their Luau, I decided that the best possible gift would be to have their party catered. I ordered pounds and pounds of Teriyaki Beef and Huli Huli Chicken, rice, and Hawaiian bread, and the guests ate it faster than we could serve it to them. It was good. We finished the party off with both a fresh fruit torte and a massive "Paradise Cake"-- layers of guava, lime, and passion fruit cakes, with icing in the same flavors, and plenty of fresh whipped cream. I liked the cake so much that as my next birthday approached, I started dropping very subtle hints about what sort of cake I wanted. I want a King's Hawaiian Guava Cake for my birthday. Don't buy me any other cake. Write it down. KING'S HAWAIIAN GUAVA CAKE. (My husband doesn't usually pay much attention to my ramblings, so that was fairly subtle.)
King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant doesn't look like a slice of Hawaii. It looks more like a bland, mainland coffee shop. Imagine Coco's, but get rid of the hideous pink and pastel green color scheme. There are a handful of exotic touches to let you know you're not in Kansas. Just off to the side of the hostess's station, a giant pineapple awash in white christmas lights provides the first clue.
And then there's the fish tank. We're not talking about a 10 gallon bowl of guppies. King's has a large counter wrapped around a huge, cylindrical tank full of exotic saltwater sea creatures. If you eat your meal in front of the tank, you'll see Yellow Tangs, Clownfish, lots of cute little blue fellas, and a few ridiculous-looking Triggerfish (what can you say about a critter with a "face" that extends halfway across its body?) If you watch closely, you may even see a fairly large, evil looking eel slither out of the rocks momentarily.
The Most Important Meal of the Day, Hawaiian Style
Our first real meal at King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant was breakfast. My husband and I took our kids to King's early on a Saturday morning. The crowd was unbelievable. At barely 9:00 AM, we had to wait 30 minutes for a table. We might have gotten a table a little sooner, but our daughter was pretty insistent about sitting near the fish tank.
The breakfast menu is fairly large, and includes both traditional American breakfast fare and more exotic Island specialties. I chose the Orange Macadamia Pancakes ($5) which were topped with sliced bananas. They were fairly ordinary, and not something I'd go back for. My older daughter ordered King's Hawaiian French Toast ($5). I took one bite, and kicked myself for not ordering the same thing. The Hawaiian French Toast is made with thick slices of sweet Hawaiian egg bread, and dipped in a tasty, delicately spiced batter. At its worst, french toast tastes like soggy bread coated in scrambled egg. At its best, french toast is soft on the inside, crisp on the outside, and does not taste overly eggy. King's makes the best french toast I've ever tasted, and serves it with either warm maple or warm coconut syrup.
For my younger daughter, the kids' menu listed several choices, and they're only $2.50 each. The little creature of habit balked at dad's suggestion to try eggs with Huli Huli chicken, and asked for pancakes and fruit.
He finished off two-thirds of my Orange Macadamia Pancakes, but my husband still managed to pack away his King's Scramble ($6)- three eggs scrambled with diced Portuguese sausage, green onions, mushrooms, and chilies. The egg dishes are served with toast or a muffin, and your choice of hash browns, Hawaiian potatoes, steamed rice, or fried rice. The Hawaiian potatoes are absolutely delicious, but if you're a vegetarian, stay away from them. They get their spicy, smoky flavor from a combination of paprika and some sort of chopped ham.
If you prefer your meat on the side and not scrambled into your eggs, there are several options. For the less adventurous, King's offers plain old bacon, ham, or link sausage. If you want to try something more exotic. King's has marinated Huli Huli chicken, Portuguese sausage, or Spam. Yes, Spam. Spam has been around for nearly 70 years, and although the mention of this meat-floating-in gelatinous-muck is enough to cause most of us in the other 49 states to dry heave, Hawaiians love the stuff.
We completed our breakfasts with glasses of passion-orange-guava juice ($1.85) and Kona blend coffee ($1.55, unlimited refills.) The coffee is rich and strong, and my teenager had to dump four little containers of cream into her mug to achieve the desired wussy, light color she prefers.
Volume II - And Then We Had Dinner
No, no, not on the same day. We liked our breakfast so much that we returned to King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant for many more breakfasts. Just last week, we made it there for dinner for the first time. In typical prfstars-obsessive-fashion, we've been back two more times in the past seven days.
When you pull into the sprawling parking lot at King's and find a spot immediately, you'll be lulled into a false sense of security about table availability. Despite the large diningroom, there is always a wait at King's. The place is popular. We went at 5:00 PM on a Wednesday night, a time that by all rights should be dead at every restaurant that is not an all-you-can-eat buffet in Florida. We waited for 20 minutes, and were then escorted to our table by a delightful hostess who kept apologizing for the wait.
We were very hungry by the time we sat down, and asked our waiter to recommend appetizers. He warned us that all "Pupus" are large, and serve two or more. To get a good sampling of the various offerings, he suggested the Royal Platter ($10), a huge tray of deep fried Hawaiian won tons, chicken macadamia egg rolls, teriyaki beef and chicken, and a variety of dipping sauces. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to take more than half of it home with us-- if we'd finished, we'd have had no room left for dinner. We even managed to stop chomping on the Hawaiian sweet bread to save our appetites for the main course.
Our waiter observed how much my husband enjoyed the variety in our appetizer, and suggested the Luau Platter ($9.45) for his main course. He feasted on Taro Leaf Lau Lau, Huli Huli Chicken, Kalua Pork, and Lomi Salmon until he was ready to belch and pass out. Fortunately, he didn't do either until we got home.
editorial observation: Mahi Mahi, Huli Huli Chicken, Taro Leaf Lau Lau. Redundancy is a big part of the Hawaiian culinary experience. When I requested the Spicy Beef Bowl Bowl, the waiter chuckled but my husband hid under the table.
My Spicy Beef Bowl Bowl ($8) was a mound of white rice, topped with sauteed vegetables and beef. The beef and vegetables were marinated in the most delicious sauce-- both spicy and fruity, and reminiscent of Chinese garlic sauce.
Dessert
King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant is very well known here in Southern California for their breads and pastries. Any bakery smells good but with an emphasis on exotic fruits, the colorful display at King's Bakery is too much to bear. I've been known to buy a petit four ($1) on the way in. In addition to the aforementioned fruit tortes, paradise cake, and guava cake, there are a variety of cheesecakes and pastries available in the restaurant. We decided to share a slice of Coconut Haupia cake. Yum!
Service
It's good. Very good. The waiters and waitresses are incredibly attentive, and not only to their own tables. If any of the servers noticed that our drinks were empty, they asked if we wanted refills. The staff is polite, knowledgable, fast, and very professional.
Taking The Sprogs
King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant is not a kiddie restaurant like The Rainforest Cafe, but it's very kid-friendly. Kiddie portions are large, and run about $2.50 for breakfast, and $4.00 for dinner. There are teriyaki beef and chicken dishes for the kids, but if they're reluctant to try anything new, there are hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hot dogs too. My daughter loves their peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which is served on rainbow colored bread.
Dinner at King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant is an amazing value. Two adults can stuff themselves silly for under $30, and the food is outstanding. I think I'll try the Hawaiian Orange Chicken tonight.
___________________________________
King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant
2808 W. Sepulveda Boulevard
Torrance, CA 90505
Telephone: 310-530-0050
Open seven days a week from 7:00 AM on weekdays, and 6:00 AM on weekends. They close at 10:00 PM (11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday)
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
prfstars
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Location: The Burbs
Reviews written: 304
Trusted by: 238 members
About Me:
Hi.
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.