Honolulu, HI

My boyfriend and I had a wonderful 4th of July spent in Waikiki. We were both tired from having walked from one end to the other of Waikiki with the sun upon us. We drove back to his place in Kaimuki, took a shower and a refreshing nap. When we woke up we were both very hungry.

I suggested walking to Green Door Café by Kahala Mall, a Thai restaurant a friend suggested. We decided to walk to it. It’s approximately 2 – 3 miles away. He doesn’t mind walking and I don’t mind walking. Any opportunity to get some kind of exercise is good for us.

We set off around 7:00 from his place on 7th Street. We walked all the way down Pahoa Avenue to the mall. We both were not thinking. Unfortunately since it was the 4th of July they were closed. I had Thai food on my mind and he had it on his mind too. We were thinking about vegetable and tofu curries, green papaya salad and some shrimp/tofu summer rolls– sounds so good. We both had our minds set. We were determined and hungry!

We decided that we can walk past Kahala Mall onto Waialae Avenue and go to Champa Thai. Honolulu has lots of Thai restaurants to offer. We walked over only to find out that they were closed too. Now we were both tired, having walked all day in the hot sun and then having walked possibly 4 miles to get to Champa Thai. We decided to walk further up Waialae Avenue because I knew that Siam Palace was up the road. Big surprise, they were also closed.

We ended up turning around and going back up the Waialae Avenue hill to the only restaurant that was open on 4th of July and open late - Big City Diner. It’s a good thing that they were still open because it was around 9:45 p.m. when we got in the door. We were hungry and tired. We ordered beer, a big plate of onion rings and shared a really good portabello mushroom burger.

Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki has lots of good places to eat and a good variety to choose from, too. You can find Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Greek, sports bars, local plate lunch style, cookie shops, fruit smoothies, coffee shops, a couple of really good restaurants / bakeries / pastry stores, a couple of good gourmet restaurants that offer a great wine menu and tapas, a bakery specializing in scones, an egg store, pizza, sushi, a really good liquor superstore and even a McDonalds! For a complete listing of all 132 restaurants and eateries, check out the link below the pictures:

Parking in Kaimuki is relatively easy. The street parking is metered. They have two City and County municipal parking lots accessible from 11th, 12th and Kokohead avenues. They cost 1 hour for .75 cents. If you want to work up an appetite, you can park down at Kahala Mall, do some window shopping and walk up the Waialae avenue hill.