The Cave philosophy

The Vintage Cave aims to bring privacy and pleasure back to the dining experience

By Nadine Kam

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 05, 2012

~~<p>Shirokiya is delivering a wonderful Christmas gift to all of Hawaii with the soon-to-open Vintage Cave Honolulu, one enterprise in what I am calling the new phenomenon of the un-restaurant.</p>
<p>It’s not a restaurant in the sense of being a commercial endeavor. Even with a prix fixe dinner menu set at $295 per person and wine pairings at about $100 per person — bringing dinner for two to about $1,000 with tax and generous tip — this endeavor would not be profitable with its mere 32 or so tables spread over 15,000 square feet of luxury. Put it this way: When general manager Charly Yoshida (formerly with Alan Wong’s and Stage restaurants) was ordering up linens, the vendor thought he was mistaken in describing the size, saying, “Oh, you mean 1,500 square feet!”</p>
~~

Shirokiya is delivering a wonderful Christmas gift to all of Hawaii with the soon-to-open Vintage Cave Honolulu, one enterprise in what I am calling the new phenomenon of the un-restaurant.

It’s not a restaurant in the sense of being a commercial endeavor. Even with a prix fixe dinner menu set at $295 per person and wine pairings at about $100 per person — bringing dinner for two to about $1,000 with tax and generous tip — this endeavor would not be profitable with its mere 32 or so tables spread over 15,000 square feet of luxury. Put it this way: When general manager Charly Yoshida (formerly with Alan Wong’s and Stage restaurants) was ordering up linens, the vendor thought he was mistaken in describing the size, saying, “Oh, you mean 1,500 square feet!” Login for more...