Peace Cafe (Oahu)

A delicious and casual vegan restaurant in Honolulu! Loved by local and visitors, Peace Cafe is vegan, with a mix of local Hawaii and Japanese sensibilities. We love the curry katsu and sampler plate, housemade mochi and all the drinks!

Vegan restaurants might be trendy now but Peace Cafe has been around for over a decade. They serve food that vegans and non-vegans alike are big fans of.

My dad is the ultimate local plate lunch guy and even he is wow'd by their katsu curry. Come solo, or come with friends and family. It's friendly, low key, and welcoming spot. Order at the counter and they'll bring the food to your table.

They also do a busy takeout service, there's always seems to be a steady stream of people stopping in for takeout whenever I eat here ^_^

Location

Peace Cafe is centrally located on King Street in the McCully / Moiliili neighborhood of Honolulu. Locals will know this as the vegan restaurant next to Old Stadium Park.

This area has a lot of good food nearby. There's poke and musubi and great plates at Alii Fish Market, vegan soft serve at Niu Soft-Serve, crazy good bentos and desserts at Sachi Sweets, and so much more.

There's a free parking lot in the back and metered parking spots out front. Though there's not much you can walk to directly from this restaurant, there's a ton of stuff that you can quickly drive to.

It's less than 10 minutes from Waikiki (with no traffic), and a short drive to the tasty neighborhoods of Manoa and Kaimuki.

What To Get

Here's the tasty part! So the menu here has a lot of Japanese and local influences. Which is pretty cool because most of the time when you think vegan restaurant, you think it's all the same, that kind of vegan food. But this is so different. And so delicious

Katsu Plate...With Curry!
The Katsu Plate is probably the most popular dish on the menu! Select between tofu or tempeh katsu. Or you can ask for half-tofu and half-tempeh, which is what I like to do. It's a neat way to be able to enjoy both side by side.

The plate comes with brown and black rice (kind of like hapa rice except with brown and black instead of brown and white), and a salad of lettuces, clover sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and their house dressing.

You can have the katsu plate as is. Or...add curry! Definitely add curry.

Sampler Platter
I order Curry Katsu on days I want a big meal. On lighter days, I order the Sampler Platter. There's a scoop of brown and black rice in the middle. And around it, a colorful selection of vegetables and salads. Clockwise from the top:

• Mixed salad with cucumbers and tomatoes
• Hijiki
• Mung beans
• Cucumbers
• Yuzu carrots (reminds me of a raw version of this recipe)
• Sesame kale
• Clover sprouts
• Tofu poke with nori
• Tofu scramble
• Avocado

Mochi Cake
It's like cake, but with a mochi-ness to it! It's more cake-like than regular butter mochi, but not quite a cake or a bar. Think halfway between regular cake and regular butter mochi. However you want to describe this, it's tasty.

They make a bunch of different flavors, often rotating. Pictured above is the pumpkin sesame mochi cake. The chocolate and matcha mochi cake is also good. They use maple syrup, monk fruit (aka luo han guo), or dates to sweeten any desserts or drinks.

Drinks: Black Sesame-Kinako Latte, Yuzu Lemonade
Love, love the Black Sesame-Kinako Latte! If I come earlier in the day, I often add a shot of espresso...soooo delicious. It's like an iced latte but more rounded, gentle, and nutty from the combo of black sesame and kinako.

My dad orders the Yuzu Lemonade (pictured above), it's a nice twist from the usual cup of lemonade! The yuzu makes it taste elegant. Note: If you like lemonade with espresso make sure to try the "sucker punch" drink from Morning Glass Coffee in Manoa.

When To Go

Peace Cafe is open Monday to Saturday, from 10am-8pm. Closed on Sundays.

If you're going for a weekday lunch, try going on the earlier side. I like to get there around 11am for lunch at the latest, because it starts to fill up soon after.

Have your heart set on the katsu? Definitely make sure to go early because they sell out.

And if you plan on going at peak lunch hours, call ahead or or order online to avoid a long wait.

Insider Tips

Parking
There's a free parking lot in the back with a decent number of stalls. As long as you're not going during peak lunch hours, you should be able to get a spot easily. If the back lot is full, there is metered street parking in front of the restaurant.

Online Orders
They have an online ordering option. If you're in a rush or going at a busy time, order online before you head over.

Catering
This is the only vegan restaurant I know of that offers formal catering. If you need them to cater a party, event, etc, you can call or stop by to get more info.

Half-Half Katsu
When you order the katsu, they'll ask if you want tofu katsu or tempeh katsu. Can't decide between the two? No worries! You can ask for half tofu and half tempeh...best of both worlds ^_^

Peace Cafe: Info

• Website: peacecafehawaii.com
• Instagram: @peacecafehawaii
• Address: 2239 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96826
• Phone: (808) 951-7555
• Prices (approximate): entree plates are about $15-19, salads and sandwiches $9-15, desserts and drinks are $4-6.