Talk about ocean to table. Blue Seafood Company, located in Maunakea Marketplace in Honolulu’s Chinatown, soft opened in mid-February but is celebrating its grand opening during a two-day event on March 1 and 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
During the grand opening, the first 10 customers will get a free half pound of poke of their choice. Flavors include marlin poke, raw marinated crab, lomi ʻoio and more. Waba Snacks will also offer free taiyaki with every purchase.
The business’s market section offers a variety of fresh fish and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The seafood selection changes daily; when we went to check it out, it included fresh red snapper, Tai snapper, fresh flounder, local sweet crab, fresh akule, tilapia and more.
Customers can buy seafood at the market, then take it to be cooked at the business’s food court stall, which is also located in Maunakea Marketplace (across from Himalayan Kitchen), according to chef Kale Afong, who is the business’s consulting chef. The food court stall is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We’re eventually going to have live lobster, Dungeness crab, and frozen king crab, and incorporate all of that into more dishes,” Afong says. “We’re still working on the selection; we’ll have more options for everybody. We’re trying to do an extension of the market here at the stall.”
Afong says the inspiration for this new market came from seeing seafood markets in Asia.
“In Hawaiʻi, we don’t have a fresh fish market and restaurant — it’s a new concept,” he says. “They have it all over Korea, Japan and China, where you can pick up your fish, and they can take it and cook it up for you. If you want something special that’s in the seafood market, you can pick it up — it’s very affordable — and bring it to the kitchen, and we’ll chef it up.”
The food court’s stall will feature a kitchen menu that has a variety of seafood plates, like fried fish, seared poke plates ($15/pound) and a prawns and shrimp plate ($19). The latter includes three shrimp and three head butter prawns, according to Afong.
“If you like uni, you’ll love the head butter prawns,” Afong says. “If you open them up, they have butter in the head. You can open the shell and dip it in the butter.”
The business will have a larger menu with options like grilled fish and fried akule after its grand opening, according to Afong.
“Our goal is to have one of the best markets — to offer the freshest seafood and the best variety,” he says.
CONTACT
Blue Seafood Company
Maunakea Marketplace
1120 Maunakea St. No. 168, Honolulu
808-888-0078
Instagram: @blueseafoodcompany
Seafood market open daily, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (food stall open daily, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.)
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
