A celebration of culture

The 19th annual Korean Festival returns from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Aug. 19 at Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds.

Guests can expect mouthwatering Korean food, performances by two special entertainers from Korea and Hawaii’s very own Crossing Rain, various kids and family activities, vendors with both locally made and Korea-imported products, eating and talent contests, and more.

More than 25,000 Hawaii residents and visitors are expected to attend this year’s Korean Festival, the purpose of which is to share, promote and raise awareness of Korean culture in the community. Proceeds from the event will help improve the Korean and Hawaiian community through trade and tourism missions, student scholarships, free educational seminars, and other community outreach and service projects.

This year’s event is extra special, as attendees will experience the “Flavors of Korea” — this year’s theme — with double the food offerings from previous years.

Take a look at some of the delectable cuisines you’ll find at the event.

Visit koreanfesthawaii.com.

Khan Skewer Restaurant

Khan Skewer Restaurant serves a unique twist on Mongolian-style barbecue skewers with juicy grilled beef, lamb, chicken, seafood and vegetables that can be enjoyed with two types of dips that offer different takes. Along with its usual skewers, it’ll also be serving a pork belly and pork belly wrapped with kimchi skewers.

Visit the business’s Instagram (@khan_skewer).

Hawaii Christian Church

Hawaii Christian Church offers numerous Korean goodies at this year’s festival, including its kimbap — a crowd favorite. It’ll also have kimchi pancake, ho dduk, dduk bboki gi and a bulgogi bento.

Bite Size 808 LLC

This biz aspires to serve the community by preparing sweet treats of exceptional quality that bring a special joy to life. It will have lots of goodies to offer guests, including poi mochi (be sure to add on haupia ice cream), banana lumpia, butter mochi (flavors include classic, ube, chocolate, pumpkin, and cookies and cream), brownies, cupcakes (flavors include cookies and cream, red velvet and Fruity Pebbles), cookies and cheesecake. The latter has ube, Oreo and cookie butter options.

Visit bitesize808.com.

Corn Onoz Hawaii

Corn Onoz Hawaii sells both corn on the cob and corn in a cup with various flavored toppings. These elotes with an island twist feature flavors such as garlic, bacon, Cheetos, ube, Takis, furikake and more. It also sells desserts such as the maja blanca and ube maja blanca, along with its refreshing beverages, like watermelon strawberry fresca and calamansi fresca.

Visit the business’s Instagram (@corn_onoz_hawaii).

Island Sausage

Island Sausage chef and owner Terrance Enomoto, a graduate of Leeward Community College’s culinary program, knows what it takes to create mouthwatering entrées and has invented two Korean-inspired dishes for the festival. The spicy

Korean sausage boasts pickled daikon, house kimchi, garlic soy sauce and gochujang. Meanwhile, the kalbi sausage features chojang cabbage. Both are served with a housemade bun — made by Enomoto’s wife, Kayla, who is the restaurant’s resident baker — and a side of cucumber kimchi.

Visit islandsausage.com or follow it on Instagram (@island.sausage).

Island Fiyah Grill

Island Fiyah Grill is a family-owned and -operated business that uses fresh locally sourced ingredients to create mouthwatering dishes. Experience the ultimate taste of paradise with its signature hulihuli chicken. It’s marinated in a secret blend of Hawaiian spices before being slow-cooked over an open flame to perfection.

Its other popular plates include kalbi, chicken, and a mix of chicken and kalbi, all served with rice and pickled onions.

Follow @islandfiyah on Instagram.

O’Kim’s Korean Kitchen

It doesn’t get any more authentic than O’Kim’s Korean Kitchen.

The mom-and-pop joint creates traditional Korean cuisine while using modern cooking techniques and fresh local ingredients. The biz will be offering sodduk and yuzu lemonade at this year’s festival. Sodduk is everything you want in a snack, as the rice cake and sausage skewers are spicy, chewy, savory and slightly creamy.

Visit okimshawaii.com or follow the biz on Instagram (@okims_honolulu).

Luna Events & Catering

Luna Events & Catering doesn’t just offer rentals for events; it also serves delicious treats. At last year’s Korean Festival, the biz whipped up pork belly and tofu bao buns, “K-pop” popcorn, and bulgogi tacos with green onion salad and kimchi slaw. This year, it returns with bulgogi tacos with kimchi slaw, and a new signature item — bulgogi nachos.

Follow @lunaeventshi on Instagram.

Jackie’s Diner

Jackie’s Diner’s top priority is serving delicious Puerto Rican and Hawaiian food with passion and a smile. The eatery is serving up a plethora of items for this year’s festival, including cup bap, poke bowls (ahi or spicy tuna), beef stew, kimchi pastele with Spanish rice and macaroni salad, and chicken teriyaki. For dessert, be sure to pick up Jackie’s Diner’s haupia or ube haupia.

Follow @jackiesdinerhi on Instagram.

Steak Farm

Steak Farm’s food truck can usually be found from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Aloha Stadium’s Swap Meet. But on Aug. 19, customers can find it at the Korean Festival, ready to serve up some delicious plates. Guests can choose from its 10-ounce or 12-ounce steak plate, 8-ounce barbecue chicken plate, or its eight-piece fried shrimp plate. All dishes include rice and green salad.

Visit @steakfarm808 on Instagram.

Hawaiian Honey Cones

Treat yourself to a sweet treat at the festival and pick up a J-shaped Hawaiian Honey Cone from this biz.

Its locally produced cones are made of 100% organic corn cane and are the healthiest alternative to traditional sugar-based cones. It’s also gluten free and contains no high-fructose corn syrup.

The cones are filled with the business’s special Hokkaido-style vanilla ice cream.

Follow the business on Instagram (@hawaiianhoneycones).

Voyage by Chef Amin

Voyage by Chef Amin, which is known for its monthly rotation of dishes from different countries, has created two special treats for this year’s festival. Attendees can pick up the business’s Korean-inspired carnitas taco or its fritter duster with cinnamon sugar or sujo caramel. Stay hydrated with its plantation iced tea, which is a pineapple mango iced tea infused with coconut extract and rose water.

Follow along on its Instagram (@voyagechefamin).