“Koreans are having a golden moment,” says Helen Lee.
It’s the morning of KoLab’s first brunch pop-up within Okome Ten-don & Poke in Kaka‘ako, and we’ve asked about the menu’s inspiration.
“My ethnicity being Korean and the trend with K-Pop — the food, Korean dramas, Gochujang and everybody incorporating it now — we love the whole culture of that,” says Lee, who runs KoLab and Okome with business partners Jake Co and Justin Youn. “Our dishes emulate Hawaiʻi’s melting pot of cultures.”
KoLab’s brunch pop-up is every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The menu currently features popular dishes from the team’s menu at Morning Feed, a breakfast pop-up previously located at 808 Center.
The name “KoLab” is a blend of “Korean,” “laboratory” and “collaboration,” according to Lee.
The Good Moanin burrito ($19.95) was a bestseller at Morning Feed, so Co and Lee expect it to do well in Kakaʻako. A toasted flour tortilla is stuffed with grilled rib-eye steak, kimchi hash browns, a soft egg, Oaxaca cheese and KoLab sauce.
The K Street toast ($10.95) is inspired by the popular street food in South Korea, according to Lee. This twist on a breakfast sandwich is filled with grilled ham, American cheese, shredded cabbage, a fluffy omelet and strawberry jam.
“Korean street toast is famous in Korea, with the ajummas (aunties) with the little carts,” she explains. “You can buy it on the streets for breakfast; that’s (the toast) what daily office workers would get for grab and go. We incorporated Farm to Jar Hawaii’s strawberry jam into it as well.
“The street toast has a cult following,” she adds. “People do different renditions of it; this is just our version of it.”
The waffle bap ($13.95) is a savory dish that’s inspired by bibimbap. It features kimchi fried rice that’s pressed into a crispy waffle shape, resulting in a crunchy texture. Customers can take their breakfast to the next level by adding poke or an over-easy egg.
“The waffle bap has nori and kimchi, and with the melding of cultures (Korean and local), it also has scrambled eggs and Spam,” Lee says. “The waffle bap is inspired by the stone pot bibimbap — when you try to smush it (the rice) down at the end (into the bowl) to get all that crunchy texture. I wanted it to be like that in every bite; that’s why it’s pressed in.”
YOBO toast ($13.95) is the eatery’s twist on French toast. It features billowy golden brioche topped with a silky Korean pear compote, finished with a butter glaze. Lee says pears are considered to be a high-value, upscale item in Korea, especially during Chuseok, a holiday in which individuals honor their ancestors by putting out fruits and specialty foods.
“For sweetness, instead of brown sugar, we’re adding the pear,” Lee says. “The special thing about this is the Korean pear compote that was made by Farm to Jar as well. They incorporate the Korean pears and makes it more of a buttery style for us.”
Customers can also still order Oʻahu Coffee — including lattes ($5), Americano ($4) and bonbon cream coffee ($5) during brunch. The latter features espresso topped with lightly sweetened cream.
“When we were selling Justin’s coffee (Oʻahu Coffee) at Morning Feed, he came up with the idea to partner together,” says business partner Jake Co. “We looked at his ingredients, we spent time seeing his operations (at Okome) in Kapolei, and seeing how we could incorporate those ingredients here. We’ll fuse those two (concepts) together for breakfast and possibly throughout the day. We’re excited.”
In the future, customers can look forward to additional menu items and potential dish-and-coffee pairings, according to Lee.
“You know you have pairings with dinner and wine? We wanted to do pairings with the coffee,” she says. “We’re going to be adding to the menu; these are going to be our core staples. We want to do a kimchi-style pancake, but not the jun. It’s a fluffy pancake, like a souffle. Everything is inspired by something else.”
CONTACT
KoLab (within Okome Ten-don & Poke)
SALT At Our Kakaʻako
685 Auahi St., Honolulu
Instagram: @xkolab
Open from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
