Honolulu Skewer House (Oahu) - Onolicious Hawaiʻi

Honolulu Skewer House is Chinese-style barbecue skewer restaurant on Kapahulu Avenue. It's centrally located and super delicious! Grill the skewers right at your table. Reservations recommended. Here's what we like to order.

Have you had Chinese-style bbq skewers before?

This was not something we had growing up in Hawaii. But starting about 6 years ago, one Chinese skewer restaurant opened up. And then another. Skewers started appearing on the menu of existing restaurants. It's a win-win-win.

At Honolulu Skewer House, every table is equipped with a tabletop grill so that you can grill every dish yourself. It's fun and interactive. Great for groups. Think Korean bqq or Japanese yakiniku, but Chinese-style.

Location

Honolulu Skewer House is on Kapahulu Avenue, just minutes from Waikiki and Diamond Head. You're walking distance from all the fun and tasty stuff on Monsarrat Avenue, Side Street Inn, Tonkatsu Tamafuji (super good katsu!), Rigo, Leonard's Bakery, Waiola Shave Ice, and much more.

They have a free parking lot in the back - it's pretty small but if you go at opening you can likely get a spot. There's also a paid lot across the street. And there metered street parking (which I believe is free after 6pm).

What To Get

Skewers.
The menu of skewers is large and everyone has their favorites. My go-to skewers are the lamb skewers (get double orders of this), scallops, Taiwanese style sausage, and lots of beef parts like beef tendon, throat, and back-strap. Plus chicken parts! Think hearts and gizzards, cartilage and wings.

It's also a good idea to add vegetables like shishito peppers, king oyster and enoki mushrooms. Plus sliced potatoes and bean curd with cilantro. They also have local Kahuku corn.

You have two seasoning options. One is the house special seasoning - a dry mixture of spices and nuts that you shake on top of the skewers. Super cumin-y! It also has fennel, peanuts, sesame seeds, and a little chili powder. The other is a saucy sweet soy sauce-based seasoning. I'm a fan of the dry spice mix.

Skewers come in sets of 3 or 5 pieces so plan accordingly. I usually eat about 10 skewers (they are not that big) plus all the sides and appetizers below.

Oysters.
I LOVE the fresh oysters. Big, plump, and supremely juicy. They spoon a spicy garlic oil / sauce on top. Plus some green onions. Then you place the oysters on the grill and it gets even MORE juicy. And then it's hot at the same time! I can eat two orders of this on my own. Love it with a bowl of rice.

Honolulu Skewer House pork and cucumber.

Pork Belly and Cucumber.
Oh man this is one of my favorite Chinese dishes in general. Thin slices of cucumber and pork belly with a spicy garlic sauce with sesame seeds.

It's sounds simple but it's much more than that. The pork belly is poached and cooled, then thinly sliced. There has to be an equal amount of cucumber. The garlic sauce is everything. You have to get all three components in the same bite.

FYI: If you like this dish, make sure to also try SXY Szechuan (the restaurant is located near Longs Drugs in Ala Moana Center). They do a great version of this dish - it's a completely different presentation but equally delicious.

Honolulu Skewer House tofu and century egg.

Tofu and Century Egg.
Yeah, yeah, yeah!! You can see why I like this place so much, no? They have many dishes I crave.

Each restaurant that serves this dish prepares it differently. Some place slices of century eggs on top of the tofu. Others cut the century egg into neat wedges and arrange it around the tofu block. This place dices the century egg and tofu, then tosses them together with the sauce (same way we do at home).

Note: Century Egg and Tofu is not hard to make, we have an easy recipe here. The century egg is the only uncommon ingredient. I also like ordering this dish at restaurants because it's nice when someone else cooks for you ^_^

Eggplant.
The eggplant is also a must order dish! One whole eggplant is split and grilled and slathered in another good and spicy sauce. There's garlic, there's lots of pepper and chili oil and green onions. There must be more stuff, but I'm not sure what. I only know that it's DELICIOUS.

When To Go

Honolulu Skewer House is open daily from 5pm-11pm. I wish they were also open for lunch, but Chinese bbq skewers definitely have dinner vibe / energy!

The restaurant can get pretty busy and it's not that big, so I recommend making reservations no matter how late or early you go. Sometimes I drive past on Kapahulu Avenue and see groups of people waiting in line.

Insider Tips

Free parking in the back.
Reservations are definitely recommended.
If you really can't decide on dishes, they have set menus for groups of 2 and 4.
If it's your first time using the table top grill, the servers are very nice at explaining and showing you how.
Dessert? They give everyone free tanghulu at the end of the meal! Ours was strawberry ^_^