Hermes is known worldwide for its high quality and luxurious clothing and leather goods, and it can also throw a super party. It did that March 28 by taking over the Royal Hawaiian Hotel’s Monarch Room and the room’s grounds fronting beautiful Waikiki Beach to present its Silk Ball. The place was packed. The dress code on the invite, which had a cutout of a mask, read: "Beauty or Beast masks headdresses silk scarves and more … or choose to metamorphose through the night!" Page 2 of the invite read: "It’s time to metamorphose," then went on with, "Extravagance and elegance magic and make-believe finery sequins and flashes of folly." Guests took photos of each other and friends in front of a bright panel on the yard after they entered and passed through a gauntlet of masked men. Servers offered guests wine and Champagne before they strolled to a table where they were offered lei, with silk headband entwined, and paper masks if they did not bring their own. Brightly colored silk scarfs were worn by people in the Monarch Room. It was wildly colorful. A fortuneteller awaited in the Monarch Room. The lines were long at the food tables offering lobster, fillet of beef, oysters, sushi and more. A horse’s head on a person’s shoulders and a bird cage with "birds" over a woman’s head were the most elaborate masks. Servers offered canapes and professional dancers whirled about on stage. It was all quite dazzling …
RETIRED chef-restaurateur Martin Wyss put the Kahala Hilton’s Maile Restaurant on the map back in the 1960s. Eighteen years later he opened the Swiss Inn in Niu Valley, which he operated for 18 years. He will be a guest when the hotel, now called the Kahala Hotel & Resort, presents "Remembering the Maile" Friday and Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m., in Hoku’s. Exec chef Wayne Hirabayashi and his Kahala team, including Hoku’s chef Jeremy Shigekane and pastry chef Jeremy Choo, will prepare dishes. Chef Katsuya Yamamoto of Hotel Okura Tokyo’s La Bell Epoque Restaurant will take part. Tickets are $196.40 and include wines paired with each course. Call 739-8760 or go to restaurants@kahalaresort.com …
I HAVE BEEN friends with Swiss native Wyss since the ’60s. My late German wife and I occasionally dined at the Maile and later at his Swiss Inn every Sunday evening. Three years ago he was cooking at a big Kahala 47th birthday celebration and my friends and I bought a table for 10. But Wyss did not prepare wiener schnitzel, one of my favorites. Where is my wiener schnitzel? I asked him. "I will prepare wiener schnitzel for you," he replied firmly. We finally got together for that dinner this March 27 at the large apartment of Maria "Baby" Handl, who was at our Kahala table three years ago. Baby’s late Swiss husband, Richard Handl, was GM of the Kahala from 1970 to 1973. Baby’s son, Dominic Handl, who worked for Andreas Knapp at Chef’s Table, assisted Wyss in preparing a delicious wiener schnitzel meal for me and some of the others who were seated with me at the Kahala party three years ago. Baby and Martin’s wife, Jeanie, also assisted … Jennie Wyss, the Wysses’ daughter, closed her Cafe Hibiscus restaurant in Portland, Ore., for her annual two-week spring break and arrived in Honolulu on Monday. Martin sometimes goes to Portland to help Jennie in the Hibiscus …
I misspelled Carole Kai Onouye‘s last name in my previous column. My apologies go out to my good friend …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
