During our recent stay at Halekulani, we visited a few of their restaurants on-property such as House Without a Key for lunch and Orchids for dinner. As guests at Halekulani, you can choose to dine at the restaurants or in-room dining. We went with dining at the restaurant for the full experience!

Orchids is a casual yet elegant, oceanfront dining. We were lucky enough to sit right in front of the view where you can see the Pacific ocean and Diamond Head (even better during sunset). If you’d like front row seats, definitely make your reservation as it gets full! Being that we’re at a 5-star restaurant, there’s a dress attire to follow:

Breakfast, Lunch, and Brunch: Resort Casual – tank tops, beachwear, exercise attire or flip-flops are not permitted.
Dinner: Casual Elegant Attire – casual t-shirts, tank tops, beachwear, exercise attire or flip-flops are not permitted.

Tip for dining: Parking is validated and valet included while dining at any of Halekulani’s restaurants!

These are prime seats for the view and the sound of the ocean! As soon as we were seated, the waiter placed the napkin on our lap and filled our cup with water.

COCKTAILS

Once our water was filled, we were given the beverage menu and ordered a few cocktails to start. Being that our dinner experience was sponsored by Halekulani during our stay, the waiter brought a few other cocktails once he saw our drinks getting empty. He definitely didn’t leave us dry. All of the cocktails were so delicious and fruity! Our favorite would be their signature Mai Tai and delicious Lava Flow!

Halekulani Mai Tai is made with their signature blend of premium rums and lime juice with a hint of orange.

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APPETIZERS

At Orchids, most of the appetizers on the menu are seafood. For seafood lovers like us, we couldn’t decide which starters to go with! We planned on listing our favorites but all of the appetizers we had were magnificent – full of flavor and tastes so fresh!

Alaskan King Crab with daikon, fresh cucumber, osetra caviar, beet purée, avocado purée, and roasted garlic aioli. I feel that anything with caviar is good, especially on top of these Alaskan king crab! This dish is very delicate, enjoyed every little bit of it!

Chilled Harris Ranch Prime Beef Filet with thinly sliced, arugula salad, parmesan, mushroom, truffle aioli, and shaved fresh truffle. This dish came with a few slices of bread, perfect pair with the prime beef filet! When we come back to Orchids, this dish will most likely be on our table again!

Carpaccio of Local Fresh Onaga with ho farms tomato, jalapeño, chive, red Hawaiian salt, and lemon-olive oil dressing. We’re not familiar with Fresh Onaga so this was something very new to us. It tastes amazing with red Hawaiian salt!

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Kona Maine Lobster Bisque with crème fraîche, and lemongrass. It was served by the waiter pouring the soup at the table. This lobster bisque was creamier than we thought. It also comes with the cheese stick which Mary loved!

MAIN ENTRÉES

When it comes to food, Orchids caters to everyone! They have pasta, seafood, and meat dishes to choose from on the menu. We ordered one from each to get a taste of different varieties.

Lasagnette with fresh chef pasta, Kahuku prawns, scallops, avocado, all lightly spiced. The freshly made pasta taste incredible! Especially, with the warm avocado which gives it a different twist!

Risotto ai Funghi Porcini with porcini mushroom, Hudson Valley foie gras, basil, mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and white truffle oil. Mary really liked the taste of this dish, she’s a mushroom and risotto lover, making it a perfect dish for her.

Tagliatelle with Kona lobster, fresh tomato, and a hint of curry. Curry and lobster? Yes, that was a perfect mix! We’re starting to feel that anything with curry taste good. Even though this dish wasn’t devoured at one sitting (because we were saving room for dessert), we took it upstairs to enjoy for a late night meal.

Veal Chop which includes 14 oz. sous vide veal chop, broccolini, and baby carrot sauté. This taste as good as it looks! 

Truffle Parmesan Fries – You can never go wrong with fries, especially with truffle and parmesan! Orchids is one of the only few restaurants in Waikiki that serves truffle parmesan fries on the menu.

DESSERTS

Before you continue reading, you might think, wow where do they put it all! When it came to desserts, we had one bite of each dessert and had it all boxed to take back to our room. We were so full! Again, our waiter was outstanding and brought us five different desserts to try out!

Ginger Yogurt Brûlée with organic honeycomb and Ceylon black tea mochi gelato. Probably one of the most picturesque desserts we’ve seen! We love how delicate and well put together it looks, very lovely to look at. Definitely a dessert worth trying!

Halekulani’s Signature Coconut Cake with vanilla crème anglaise, raspberry coulis. Of course, we can’t have desserts without having the famous coconut cake from Halekulani! It’s so soft and smooth, it’s so perfect! We’d be lying if we didn’t have more than one during our stay.

Kona Espresso Tiramisu with pistachio anglaise and candied Lemon. I love coffee but not a fan of tiramisu. However, Mary is all about tiramisu cake! She absolutely loved the pistachio and tiramisu together.

Milk Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Bar with salted caramel gelato and surinam cherry. The macadamia nut bar was outstanding! We took this back to the room and was devoured the same night!

The Tropics with white chocolate mousse with kalamansi lychee gelée and pineapple sponge cake. This was the least of our favorite desserts since we’re both not a fan of citrus dessert. However, Mary’s brother loved it! For those that love fruity desserts, this is perfect!

Orchids definitely earn the 5-star quality in our book. The ambiance, service, food, and views were fantastic! Our experience was wonderful and can’t wait to be back. Word on the street is, Orchids offers one of the best breakfast buffets on the island! Can’t wait to check it out next time.

Hours of Operation:
Breakfast: Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Lunch: Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m.to 2:00 p.m.
Sunday Brunch: Available from 9:00 a.m.to 2:30 p.m.
Afternoon Tea: Orchids Afternoon Tea available from Monday through Saturday from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays.
Dinner: Available nightly from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.