First taste: Off the Wall

First taste: Off the Wall

February 3, 2009

By Mari Taketa
Special to Metromix

So we’re whizzing down Kam Highway, fresh off H1 from town, squinting through the night as umpteen dozen signs flash by in umpteen strip malls. We’re looking for what? A local-style, Okinawan fusion izakaya and plate lunch place? Across Sumida Watercress Farm in a place called Pearl Kai?

Sounds like a challenge for Metromix. Ever intrepid, we were all over it after a classmate from McKinley clued us in. And we were kind of surprised that even though Off the Wall’s been open since last spring, we’d never heard of it.

It’s a good thing we were squinting, because Off the Wall is in a part of Pearl Kai Shopping Center that angles away from the street. But it's totally worth the drive. It taught us townie snobs a lesson: exciting eats do happen west of town. Innovative. Fusion-style. Off the wall, even.

Off the Wall
Pearl Kai Shopping Center
98-199 Kamehameha Highway
808-486-9255
Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m. nightly except Tuesday