Oahu: Chinatown Is Popping
Honolulu's Chinatown is having a proper little resurgence — grab a table, or better yet, a seat at the bar at Senia.
Grab a table, or better yet, a seat at the bar at Senia.
Honolulu's Chinatown is having a proper little resurgence. The old-school Chinese restaurants and shops are still there, but they've been joined by a whole new crop of cool, slightly edgy, very good-looking restaurants and bars. It feels alive, which I can't say for a lot of Chinatowns across America.
One of the places we ended up was Senia, which has been getting quite a lot of attention for years. Is it worth the hype?
It's pretty darn good.
It's the sort of restaurant where you find yourself torn between booking a table or sitting at the bar watching the chefs do their thing. We chose the table. Next time, I'm choosing the bar.
Is it expensive? Yes. But food everywhere in Hawaii is, even food-truck dinners can add up. So it's worth spending a little more for a meal made with real attention to detail.
The food is clever, and there is indeed a sense of theatre. Our smoked ahi "cigars" arrived hidden in a little smoking pot. The lid came off and out came this gorgeous cloud of smoke, like someone had just handed us a tiny culinary present.
We had the hamachi tataki, kampachi crudo and roasted bone marrow, which comes with oxtail marmalade, housemade piccalilli, three different salts and warm Hawaiian sweet rolls. All good, and visually very pretty.
But the bigger takeaway for me was Chinatown itself.
There is something really exciting about seeing an old neighbourhood get its mojo back without completely losing what made it interesting in the first place. And if the restaurants and bars popping up around Senia are any indication, Honolulu's Chinatown is definitely worth wandering into.
And next time, we're doing the tasting menu.
A little Chinatown history
Honolulu's Chinatown goes way back. The neighbourhood grew around the harbour in the 1800s as Chinese immigrants arrived in Hawaii, eventually becoming a thriving commercial district.
It has also had a rough history. A devastating fire destroyed much of the neighbourhood in 1886, and in 1900, during a bubonic plague outbreak, a controlled burn got out of control and destroyed much of Chinatown again. Over the years, the neighbourhood became increasingly multicultural, with Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese and other communities shaping its character.
After a long period of decline, Chinatown began another revival. Today, the old markets, shops and Chinese restaurants sit alongside galleries, bars and a new generation of restaurants like Senia.
I love seeing that kind of evolution and a place get its mojo back without losing its essence completely.
A little Senia history
Senia opened in December 2016, the creation of Honolulu-born chef Chris Kajioka and British chef Anthony Rush, who met while working at Thomas Keller's legendary three-Michelin-starred Per Se in New York.
They brought that serious fine-dining pedigree home to Honolulu, but deliberately created a neighbourhood restaurant in Chinatown, rather than a stuffy fine-dining temple (still slightly stuffy tbh). Senia occupies a historic building dating back to 1886, with an open kitchen that puts the chefs right in the middle of the action.
The restaurant has picked up plenty of recognition along the way, including Hale ʻAina Gold for Best Tasting Menu and Silver for Oʻahu's Best Restaurant, and the chefs have been recognised as James Beard semifinalists.
No Michelin star, though. Hawaii isn't currently covered by Michelin, so when Senia talks about their "three Michelin star training," that's referring to Rush's experience at Per Se, not a Michelin rating for Senia itself.
Make sure to reserve ahead of time
📍 75 N. King Street, Honolulu
@restaurantsenia
Honolulu Chinatown
📍 Downtown Honolulu
@chinatownhawaii