Guieb Cafe’s new downtown Honolulu location in Davies Pacific Center isn’t open to the public yet. However, there’s another downtown Honolulu space where customers can find the cafe’s popular ube mascarpone pancakes and pork adobo omelets.
Pīkake Cafe — operated by the Guieb Cafe team — opened this month in the cafeteria space of the Prince Kūhiō Federal Building in downtown Honolulu.
“We were presented with an opportunity to take over a federal building cafeteria — which was not something we are used to or even knew anything about,” general manager Precious Guieb remembers. “We checked it out and we were stunned by how big the space is.”
The cafeteria space — which is open to the public — had been vacant for a while, according to Guieb. She says she had returned from visiting the cafe’s Las Vegas location during the summer, and checked out the current Pīkake Cafe space in August.
“We got this up and running the whole month of September with inspections and such; our first day open was Oct. 1," Guieb says.
“Since we already do catering already, we thought, ‘Maybe it’ll work out,’ so we gave it a shot,” she adds. “We serve similar items to Guieb Cafe and similar dishes from our catering (menu), so it’s kind of a blend of both, while catering to the whole cafeteria vibe.”
Guieb says her dad is the chef and owner, and the cafe’s name was inspired by his favorite scent.
“My dad really likes the pīkake flower,” she says. “He felt like this was a good name for it; he was mentioning how he wanted to bring life here (in this space).”
Even though Pīkake Cafe is in a federal building, the cafeteria is open to the public, according to Guieb. Individuals need to pass through a security checkpoint, then catch the elevator to the fifth floor, where the cafeteria is located.
The cafe serves breakfast from 6 to 10 a.m.; options range from breakfast burritos ($12.48) and croissantwiches ($12.48) to ube mascarpone pancakes ($14.56) and ube waffles ($10.40).
“Everything is made to order,” Guieb says. “We brought our ube mascarpone pancakes (from Guieb Cafe) here; it’s a smaller portion. That, the ube waffles and pork adobo omelet have been a hit in the mornings.”
Breakfast burritos feature spinach wraps stuffed with sausage, eggs, cheese and potatoes, and they’re served with a potato medley. The cafe’s croissantwiches (croissant sandwiches) include sausage, eggs and cheese.
During lunch — served from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. — customers can opt for an all-you-can-load salad bar ($14.56) or go for one- or two-choice plate lunch-style entrees. The salad bar includes Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, artichokes, boiled eggs, bacon bits, fresh-cut seasonal fruits, creamy basil pesto rigatoni and more, according to Guieb.
“You can fill up (your plate) as much or as little as you want,” she says. “We’re getting great feedback on that.”
Entrees change daily for the plate lunches. For instance, Mondays feature shoyu chicken and chicken long rice, with roast pork and mushroom gravy ($15.60) as a special; on Fridays, customers can choose from Korean short ribs kalbi, hamburger steak, chicken adobo and kalua pig and cabbage. Plates usually come with potato mac salad or steamed veggies and rice.
Many specials feature popular options from Guieb Cafe or the business’s catering menu, according to Guieb.
“Our Korean short ribs is very popular on our catering menu,” she says. “We have hamburger steak and garlic shrimp (as entrees), which are popular from the Guieb Cafe menu.
“Yesterday, we had oxtail soup on special; next week, we’ll have chicken papaya soup and clam pasta,” she adds. “Things that we don’t normally get to do at Guieb Cafe, we’ll try to incorporate here.”
Guieb notes that, while parking can be limited at the federal building, it’s a short walk from Waterfront Plaza, where there’s ample parking.
“We get a lot of HPU students coming here for breakfast and lunch,” she says. “People are always like, ‘I’ve been wanting to visit (Guieb Cafe),’ so in a way, they get to try our flavors. We’re not sure what to expect, but we’re excited. We’re trying to give them (the state and federal workers) something to look forward to.”
CONTACT
Pīkake Cafe
300 Ala Moana Blvd. fifth floor, Honolulu
pikakecafe.com
Instagram: @pikakecafe
Open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, closed all federal holidays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
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