Honolulu – Ali’i Fish Market (Moiilili) and Island Brew Coffeehouse (Ala Moana)

Well, since I did Ireh, I thought I’d go ahead and finish my Honolulu posts. I’ll do my Australia posts later on.

Anyway, upon waking at the Ala Moana Hotel, I did a search on coffee places nearby….I had already been to the Ala Moana location of Honolulu Coffee Company, which didn’t open until 9 and I wanted a cup ASAP. I did find that there’s a location of Island Brew Coffeehouse located on the third level of the shopping center. They open at 730, so after chilling out for a bit, I went and walked on over.

I don’t recall walking thru “Ala’s” at 730 in the morning. Man, the place is so chill.

And I got me morning cold brew.

Smooth and on the milder-weaker side, but it did the job…..

Island Brew Coffeehouse (Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 3066
Honolulu, HI 96814

Coffee’s in hand, we walked over and did Ala Moana Park and went back to the room to relax. We decided to get an early lunch and the Missus wanted some poke. I had a sort of newish (at least to us) place in mind in the Moiilili area named Ali’i Fish Market. So we decided to walk on over. It was about a 25 minute walk or so….which we enjoyed. You see, I grew up in Kaimuki and spent my first 21 years in there. After rent got too high, I moved my Mom and I to Kalakaua, but den dey was goin buss down the apartment…it’s now a parking lot (?!?!?). Then it was over to Kalihi….I had two good friends in the area, but that apartment was a mess. So finally, I got an apartment, whose owners at the time was neighbors of a friend of mine in McCully where I lived until my mom passed on and I eventually moved to the mainland. As we walked up Kapiolani, I took one of the side streets and got to show the Missus where I used to live. They’ve done a really nice job painting the place as it looks better then when I lived there!

Though there’s still quite a few chickens running around. Yes, chickens in McCully….you don’t mess with them…even the cats in the ‘hood know betta den to do dat!

It was an interesting walk up King Street…bringing back memories of places now gone like Ebisu’s, Suehiro, McCully Chop Suey. Where the original location of Anyplace was.

And then we had arrived, to Ali’i Fish Market.

A very non-descript location off South King. Actually, right across the way at 2334 is where the original location of Choi’s used to be. It was a favorite of my mom’s!

And so you walk in.

The place does all kind of stuffs, from musubis to bowls, but we were here for one thing….

Poke of course. And within that, I’m looking for simple stuff, not covered in mayo or “spicy sauce”….fish is first. The young lady working is so nice……..and I got some simple stuffs.

Ahi Limu and Spicy Hawaiian…not drenched in sauce.

You can tell right? The limu ahi was much better than the “spicy” as there was a good amount of oceany, crunchy ogo. The fish was also of better quality.

Though it was still seemed kinda thrown together and not evenly seasoned.

The “Spicy” was not good, not even spicy.

Lots of pieces with “sugi”, chwey connective tissue. Not evenly seasoned, really overly chewy….like it was just thrown together and not mixed well.

Kind of a bummer since I think I’d get better at Foodland, or even Ruger Market, and definitely at our favorite Ono Seafood. Still it was good to try this place and perhaps I didn’t get the right thing?

Ali’i Fish Market
2320 South King St. Suite H
Honolulu, HI 96826