Black Orchid Lounge, open in the former space of Obake on Smith Street, celebrated its grand opening last month. The lounge's interior looks completely different, according to Black Orchid Lounge founder and bar lead Tuda Sarian.
“The bar was concrete and it was painted in a graffiti style,” she says. “There were big murals on this wall. I’ve been working on this concept (for Black Orchid Lounge) for a long time."
Sarian, who was the former director of mixology at Halekūlani, left the resort about a year ago. She says she went back to bartending to have time to work on opening her own concept.
“I had the idea to open an upscale lounge pretty much since I was at Halekūlani,” she says. “I spoke to Noa (Laporga, the co-owner of Obake and Skull & Crown Trading Co.), and Obake had been closed, so this space was perfect.”
Obake closed earlier this spring; Black Orchid Lounge soft opened at the end of August and celebrated its grand opening in September. Similar to its predecessor, the lounge features an indoor bar and patio space with more seating. According to Sarian, the bar can seat around 21 and the outdoor space holds about 40 individuals.
“I wanted a place that I would want to hang out at,” she says. “Having comfortable chairs and A/C was important; having the right lighting is very important. We could probably fit more people in here with different chairs, but I like the comfort.”
Sarian — who says she has been bartending since she was 18 years old — says that, when creating the bar menu for Black Orchid Lounge, she wanted something that was “very well rounded and elevated.”
“My style with cocktails tends to be very culinary, so there’s a lot of prep on the back end,” she explains. “There are a lot of custom ingredients and processes; it’s all very technical. I like to do tropicals with a twist — so things that have tropical elements, but aren’t necessarily ‘tropical drinks.’”
With her background in fine dining, Sarian says she hopes to bring an upscale, yet accessible, experience through Black Orchid to the community.
“A lot of times, things that are upscales can feel limiting or kind of inaccessible for the community,” she says. “I wanted to have a very approachable kind of place.
“The name (Black Orchid) just kind of came to me,” she adds. “I wanted to do something dark and edgy, that also has some of those touches of luxury.”
So far, popular cocktails include banana banshee ($21) — Mezcal, banana, coconut, lime, falernum, Hawaiian chili pepper water and absinthe — Orchid Club ($23), which features Plymouth Gin, alpine herbal liqueur, cassis, charred pineapple, raspberry, lemon and roasted pineapple bitters; and Ocean Eyes ($23). The latter features coconut-washed house-infused vanilla vodka, pineapple and hibiscus, with a coconut and lilikoʻi-champagne foam.
“The lilikoʻi in the foam adds the tartness that balances the drink,” Sarian explains. “The Orchid Club is a signature drink for here; it’s kind of a spin on the Clover Club (cocktail).”
She says that Bad Sneakers ($35) — featuring The Macallan Scotch, Hawaiian vinegar salted pineapple shrub, lavender honey, coconut and lemon — is one of her favorite cocktails to make.
“It (Bad Sneakers) came from my time at Halekūlani,” Sarian says. “We did a bar takeover with Death & Company and partnered with Macallan. I did a riff on one of the cocktails called Bad Sneakers; that’s one of my favorites on the menu.”
The lounge also offers zero-proof beverages, along with beers and wines by the glass.
Black Orchid Lounge recently started a new happy hour, available from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays. Customers can choose from oysters ($3), oyster shooters ($8), a variety of mini martinis ($12); and caviar frites ($18). The latter, which feature shoestring fries topped with truffle pecorino snow and served with caviar and sour cream and onion aioli on the side, have been a customer favorite.
Oysters come with your choice of tabasco and lemon; Sriracha, fresh lime and sharp onion granita; or jackfruit mignonette with lemongrass-coconut air. Meanwhile, oyster shooters include Kusshi oysters with three different presentations (dirty martini, Bloody Mary or green dragon, which is complete with housemade chili verde, gin and yuzu kosho marinated ikura).
Other bar snacks — not featured on the happy hour menu, but always available — include venison tartare ($16) and dogs go bao ($9). The bao buns are filled with smoked Berkshire sausage with classic ketchup, whole grain Dijon, cucumber jalapeno and onion relish with dill.
And — to fit the whole luxury theme — customers can enhance any bite or beverage with a 3-gram caviar bump ($10).
Black Orchid Lounge is currently open from 5 p.m. to midnight Tuesdays to Thursdays, and from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Eventually, the lounge will start doing events, parties and buyouts in the outdoor patio area, according to Sarian.
“Bars are very important, culturally,” she says. “I think cocktails reflect cultural movements and things like that as well. It’s nice to have that creative space to do what I want to do, freely.”
CONTACT
Black Orchid Lounge
1112 Smith St., Honolulu
Instagram: @blackorchidlounge
Open from 5 p.m. to midnight Tuesdays to Thursdays, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
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