After more than six years, Sheraton Waikīkī Beach Resort’s breakfast buffet is back.
The resort recently opened Hinahina on the Beach, its new all-day oceanfront restaurant. The eatery — which overlooks Gray’s Beach — features a menu of coastally inspired cuisine.
Hinahina replaces the resort’s Kai Market and The Edge of Waikīkī Bar, combining the two oceanfront spaces as a singular dining experience.
“Hinahina opens an exciting new culinary chapter for Sheraton Waikīkī Beach Resort and the story of this much-loved stretch of Waikīkī’s shoreline,” states Tetsuji “Tets” Yamazaki, the resort’s general manager. “Since imagining this exciting new concept, we’ve been anxious to begin welcoming residents and visitors to this gathering and dining space shaped by the history, surfing, waterman and beachboy life, and the coastal culture of Gray’s Beach.”
The eatery’s name means “gray” in Hawaiian; it pays homage to Waikīkī’s Gray’s Beach area and Gray’s by the Sea, which was an early 1900s boarding house. “Hinahina” connects Hawaiʻi’s natural beauty with the shoreline’s history, according to Yamazaki.
The new restaurant’s interior features large tables and a private dining room, called the Shapers Room, which can seat up to 40 individuals.
The breakfast buffet ($48 per adult, $25 per child) is open daily from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. The return of the resort’s breakfast buffet has been highly anticipated, according to Yamazaki.
“Bringing back our beloved resort tradition of offering a daily breakfast buffet is also special to us, as guests have told us, time and time again, how much they’ve missed it during their stays,” Yamazaki states.
The restaurant’s culinary program is led by executive chef Darren Demaya. Born and raised on Hawaiʻi Island, Demaya started his culinary career as a dishwasher in Hilo before he joined the kitchen team at Alan Wong’s Restaurant in Honolulu. He has held leadership roles at the Sheraton Waikīkī Beach Resort’s restaurants and daily dining operations for more than 18 years.
Demaya notes that some of the breakfast buffet’s offerings rotate daily.
“We have a rotating fried rice of the day; the eggs Benedict (selection) is different, too,” he says. “I like the smoked salmon eggs Benedict with smoked trout roe and yuzu kosho hollandaise. For the fried rice, we do a variety, including kalua pig, lap cheong and shrimp. I like Sundays because we do a longanisa fried rice; that’s my favorite.”
Other eggs Benedicts include classic ham and poached eggs, kalua hash with chili water hollandaise, loco moco (hamburger patty and poached egg over rice with brown gravy), reuben and Florentine. Fried rice varieties range from ginger scallion and kimchi to local boy fried rice (kalua pork, eggs and onions) and a vegetarian-friendly option.
The buffet also offers a rotating selection of composed salads; the selection includes cold somen salad, basil pesto farro salad, pasta salad, quinoa salad and more.
Savory options include a variety of breakfast meats (crispy applewood smoked bacon, maple-glazed chicken sausage and grilled Portuguese Maui sausage) and a made-to-order omelet station.
The Hawaiian-style pineapple upside-down pancake with coconut syrup is another buffet highlight, according to Demaya.
“We put the pancake batter over the pineapple rings to get this caramelized pineapple look,” he says. “At Hinahina, we’re taking ingredients that make Hawaiʻi special — like kalua pig — and featuring different cultures in our menu.”
Demaya encourages customers to save room for dessert — the eatery’s malasadas are served with three choices of sugar, including cinnamon, li hing mui and matcha.
“The malasadas have been very popular,” he says. “I like the matcha sugar.”
Hinahina on the Beach is currently open for the breakfast buffet and offers an a la carte menu during lunch. The lunch menu features options like build-your-own poke bowls with local-caught ‘ahi or wild-caught Atlantic salmon ($28), Hinahina burger with wagyu beef ($32), the loco moco ($30) and Gray’s Beach fish tacos ($30).
The eatery will soon launch its a la carte dinner service, and its seafood buffet on Fridays and Saturdays is expected to open next month, according to Demaya. He says that diners can look forward to flavorful dishes like miso butterfish and giant tiger shrimp with red Thai lobster curry sauce. Meanwhile, desserts will include nostalgic dishes like Auntie Karen’s strawberry jello cheesecake pie.
“I’m most excited for dinner,” he says. “We’re bringing back the seafood buffet on Fridays and Saturdays in November; that will give us some time to get comfortable (serving dinner).
“People always ask, ‘Are you still doing a buffet?’” he adds. “Not yet, but it’s coming soon.”
The eatery’s dinner service will be from 5 to 8 p.m. The restaurant offers complimentary parking for four hours (with validation).
For more information and to make reservations, visit hinahinawaikiki.com.
CONTACT
Hinahina on the Beach
Sheraton Waikīkī Beach Resort
2255 Kalākaua Ave., Honolulu
808-931-8636
https://www.hinahinawaikiki.com/
Instagram: @hinahinawaikiki
Open daily, 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. breakfast; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. lunch; dinner service coming soon
Four hours of complimentary parking with restaurant validation
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
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