Hale: Modern Macrobiotic Cuisine | Honolulu, Hawaii

This special Valentine's edition of date night was comprised of dinner and a movie. With most restaurants offering a set menu for the night, I knew it would be tricky finding a veggie-friendly option. The solution? a little place called Hale, which serves up (mostly vegetarian) "modern macrobiotic cuisine." And the movie? What sappy, romantic, lovey-dovey chick flick did we see? AVATAR baby! in 3-D! Sorry, I digress...

The food was great. We went with the Prix Fixe menu and weren't disappointed. Chef Moco Kubota does an exquisite job with flavors and presentation. The service was good, but our waiter seemed a bit apprehensive (to the point where I wondered if he had just started on the job).

There was one negative aspect to our dining experience that I must bring up. Halfway through our meal, a couple was seated next to us. The lady sat next to my wife in the booth that runs along the left wall. She had a dog in her lap the entire time. Yes, a DOG, in the restaurant, next to my wife trying to enjoy her Valentine's Day dinner. Granted, the dog was very well behaved, but we were just a slightly perturbed that the staff did nothing about it (and annoyed at the lady who obviously had no concept of appropriateness at the dinner table).

Hale Macro
1427 Makaloa Street
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 944-1555
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If you didn't know it was there, you might miss this place. It's tucked into a little space on Makaloa and you won't find any signs on the road, just this one in the window.


The interior of the restaurant is shaped like a triangle, which limits the amount of seating. Ordinarily, this would be a non-issue, but being stuck so close to Fido can be rather unsettling.


The layout isn't all bad, though. One of the cool features is that the chef works behind the bar, so you can watch her prepare your meal.


As an appetizer, we ordered the fries (mainly because we saw someone else order them and they looked so good). In retrospect, we should not have ordered them. They were just average and made us full.


Now comes the good stuff...
Course #1: Maui onion and beet soup served in the same bowl with cauliflower and oatmeal soup. The beet soup was warm and contrasted well with the cooler cauliflower oatmeal soup.


Course #2: An appetizer sampler composed of stuffed baked tomatoes, ratatouille with homemade crouton, and organic tempeh escabeche.


Here's a closeup of the stuffed baked tomatoes. This was wifey's favorite.


Course #3: Wifey ordered the tofu, served on an Okinawan potato pancake with sweet and spicy papaya sauce and accompanied by Mesclun greens and steamed veggies.


My dish was identical to hers, except that I opted for Opah instead of tofu.


Course #4: Chocolate and strawberry cake with soy ice cream. It wasn't overly decadent as most chocolate cakes tend to be and offered just the right amount of sweetness to round out the meal.