Patê Vietnamese Cuisine (Oahu) - Onolicious Hawaiʻi

A super tasty Vietnamese restaurant located in Honolulu, just across the street from Ala Moana Shopping Center. Patê Vietnamese Cuisine is popular for serving hu tieu mi, a very special Vietnamese dish that's pretty rare in Hawaii ^_^

Patê Vietnamese Cuisine hu tieu dry-style.

A rare and happy sighting of hu tieu noodles (aka hu tieu mi) in Honolulu! This photos is from a solo weekday lunch at Patê Vietnamese Cuisine.

Our family LOVES hu tieu mi…I remember my parents always seeking it out whenever we visited family on the mainland. The best was always in LA, though we found great spots in SF and NYC! I'm pretty sure dad would be happy eating a bowl of hu tieu for breakfast every morning.

Location

Patê Vietnamese Cuisine in located in Samsung Plaza, just across the street from Ala Moana Shopping Center. Samsung Plaza is home to other popular food spots like Sushi ii, Sik Do Rak (all-you-can-eat kbbq), and Malu (kimbap and desserts).

It's a super convenient location, and everyone is pretty excited to get quality Vietnamese food (well, mainly hu tieu mi!) in such a central location.

What To Order

The menu is large, but there is one dish you must order. Hu Tieu Mi!

But it's not just as simple as ordering just any menu item.

There are a few decisions you need to make:

Step 1: What type of noodle?
There are four types of noodles and you can pick up to two:

Thin Rice Noodles
Glass Noodles
Egg Noodles
Wontons (not technically noodles but counts as one of the noodle options!)

Step 2: What toppings?
So many options! Pick the one you are craving. I usually get pork combo or the combination which has a lot of things ^_^

Pork Combo: pork liver, heart, ground pork, pork collar meat, and cha lua (also known as Vietnamese steamed pork roll).
Char Siu
Roast Pork
Beef Balls
Seafood: shrimp, fish balls, and squid.
Combination: includes the pork combo, beef balls, and the seafood option.

Step 3: What style?
Hu tieu mi is offered in two different styles: dry or broth. Both are good, but you can only pick one. I recommend ordering dry-style for your first visit. Then come back to try it broth-style!

Dry-Style: the noodles are dressed with a sauce and a small bowl of broth is served on the side.
Broth-Style: served like a big bowl of noodle soup.

In the photo above I ordered the glass noodles and egg noodles. I picked the pork combo option. And selected the dry-style. Looks so good, yeah? ^_^

I like how they finish it with green onion, cilantro, and black pepper.

The noodles come dressed in a light sauce (mostly savory, a tiny bit sweet). It keeps the noodles silky, flavorful. Also makes it easy to mix.

There is also a hot bowl of broth on the side. After every few bites, I have a sip of soup. It's a nice balance.

The noodles (for both dry and broth-style) come with lots of fresh veggies on the side. There's sliced lettuce, bean sprouts, and garlic chives. Plus lemon and sliced jalapeño peppers.

Don't overlook the condiments on the table! For hu tieu mi, I like the the housemade seafood-chili sauce (pictured above) and the pickled garlic.

Both make a tasty dish even more tasty.

Patê Vietnamese Cuisine hu tieu with soup.

Pictured above is the same dish I ordered (rice noodles and egg noodles, with the pork combo topping). The only different? This is with the broth-style option instead of dry-style. Completely different!

It really just depends what you're in the mood for but I'm usually dry-style since we make a lot of noodle soups at home.

On another visit I got egg noodles and wontons (sad to not have that pretty tangle of two different noodles but I was excited to have wontons in the mix!) You can see some of the wontons hidden under the noodles.

I added the lettuce and some beansprouts on top but some of the pickled garlic. This hu tieu mi with with the pork combo, served dry-style.

Pate on bread appetizer from Patê Vietnamese Cuisine.

When I go for a solo meal, I just get an order of hu tieu mi and that's a very satisfying and complete lunch/dinner.

When I visit with friends and family, we share one or two appetizers (either spring rolls or the housemade pâté on baguette slices pictured above).

I've heard their banh mi is tasty but I haven't tried it yet. I also want to try the Vietnamese udon (see menu below)...perhaps next time! It's just so hard to not order the hu tieu mi each time heheh.

Insider Tips

Parking
There is a small parking lot with validated parking. I like to come at odd hours (at opening or near closing so that I have a better chance of getting parking).

If you can't find parking, there is some metered street parking. Many people also like to park across the street in the Sam's Club / Walmart parking lot (though there's a risk you can get ticketed so I always try to buy something from the stores). And then just walk across Ke'eaumoku Street to get to the restaurant.

Best Time To Visit
Come early or come late. There's only five tables inside so there is typically a wait if you're there at prime lunch or dinner hours.

Order Ahead
For takeout you can order ahead online here. I like to do this for weeknight dinners. I order right before I drive over and the food is ready by the time I arrive.