I frequented the food operations at Ohana Hale Marketplace the whole time it was open. Even so, it wasn’t until recently that I realized that the idiom, “You never know what you have till it’s gone,” applied to the market’s closure in April.
In the short three-and-a-half years that the marketplace was open, it’s served as an incubator for retailers and restaurants, and its impact on the food scene has been tremendous. Each month I see more and more of those startups opening standalone restaurants, thanks to their initial success under a shared roof that brought in those eager to explore the trendiness and diversity of cuisines offered.
The marketplace is said to be returning to Kakaako at some point, but while we wait, among the latest to make her foray into a full-service restaurant is Bao “Bo” Lei of Bo’s Kitchen, now at home on Beretania Street across from the police station in the space that formerly housed Tai Sei Ramen.
Her initial focus was on rice and noodle dishes to go, and her original menu doubled when she operated briefly at Pearlridge Center. It’s doubled again to offer full Cantonese-style meals for those who enjoy dine-in experiences, though soups and fried noodles still dominate the menu.
Opening the restaurant fulfills a dream she’s had since she was a 10-year-old in Guangdong, eager and happy to cook for her family and classmates, following in the footsteps of her restaurateur parents. Once she moved to Hawaii, she took on retail jobs before the opportunity arose at Ohana Hale Marketplace, which offered affordable rent and the promise of foot traffic.
How hard-working and motivated is she? After leaving a job at Duty Free to go on maternity leave in 2018, she was back on her feet and running her business one month after giving birth.
Many of Lei’s initial patrons have found their way to her new space, where the most popular dish continues to be beef brisket wonton noodle soup ($13.95). She takes a fresh, light approach to Chinese cuisine in terms of ingredients and seasoning so dishes are clean-tasting, from the non-salty broth to fresh braised beef and seemingly weightless pork-and-shrimp filling in her wontons, served over thin, Hong Kong-style noodles.
Starters include a crunchy cucumber and jellyfish salad ($8.25), or for carb lovers, fried buns that are delightfully crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside, served with thickened condensed milk ($6.50). This was actually the first time I’ve seen this served as an appetizer. They’re more typically served as a sweet dessert elsewhere in town.
Crispy gau gee (fried dumplings, $7.95 for five pieces) are also made lighter with a filling of chicken instead of the usual pork. It’s served with sweet chili sauce instead of more typical local soy-mustard sauce.
And for those who believe they can taste the love that goes into cooking, there’s something more satisfyingly personal about her handmade pork hash ($5, three pieces), half moons ($5, three pieces) and pork dumplings ($10.95, eight pieces) than those that are churned out en masse at dim sum houses.
Thin-sliced, soft and rubbery-textured pig ears ($8.25) aren’t for everyone, but Lei said she’s been surprised that it’s the most frequently ordered appetizer among her Uber Eats clientele. Half the attraction is the delicious chile-sesame sauce.
Another appetizer of garlic chicken wings ($9.25, five pieces) had the perfect combo of crisp skin and tender meat, but the sprinkling of crunchy garlic granules didn’t stick well, and this garlic lover would appreciate a more potent sauce coating.
Appetizers are followed by an essentially carb-centric meal with options ranging from simple chow fun ($13.50), accented here with large slices of steak, to rice and noodle plates and bowls.
Rice plates include juicy Hainanese chicken rice ($13.95), which traveled from China to Singapore.
I’d never had a hot-and-sour soup served with noodles, like Lei’s hot-andsour chicken vermicelli soup ($13.95) loaded with slices of fresh, crispy skinned chicken, peanuts and choi sum.
I also enjoyed the zhajiangmian ($12.95) topped with a yellow bean sauce that’s much lighter than the Northern Chinese style of other restaurants here that serve a more Korean-style black bean variation.
Finally, perfect for the warm summer months, fruit ice teas and milk teas ($4.50) hit the spot. My favorite was the Thai milk tea made with jasmine tea. But then, I also love the strawberry lemonade, as well as the Thai green tea, which strangely, just with the addition of simple syrup, is reminiscent of Skittles. Candy lovers would be happy with this dessert tea.
Bo’s Kitchen
800 S. Beretania St., Honolulu (limited parking in front or in the garage on Kinau Street)
Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambiance: ***
Value: ****
Call: 808-367-7283
Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Daily
Prices: About $45-$50 for two
Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).
