7 Omnivore Restaurants Where Vegetables Get Extra Love

More than Caesar salad and chickpea stew: At these places, veggies go indulgent.

November 1, 2024

Mari Taketa,

Where Plant-Based Goes Vogue | Where Vegetables Go Indulgent

Chilled smoked tomatoes at Nami Kaze. Photo: Martha Cheng

At some places, the only vegetable on the menu is the lettuce on your burger. Other places serve zero animal products, not even honey or bee pollen. Is there a happy medium where carnivores and herbivores can get equal love?

Increasingly, the answer is yes. These seven places showcase a simmering trend of conventional restaurants that are adding more choices for vegans, vegetarians and omnivores who like vegetables (raise your hands, people!). Far beyond salads and portobello sandwiches, these restaurants devote good portions of their menus to well-crafted, plant-forward dishes. None of them treat vegetables as afterthoughts.

Aburiya Ibushi

Two menu sections at this meat-focused izakaya highlight vegetables—one with grilled options, the other with crunchy salads and traditional preparations like chilled okra in ume sauce, and chunky cabbage massaged with salt and sesame oil to soften. On the grilled menu, get the fluffy Yukon gold rounds topped with mentaiko, cheese and butter.

740 Kapahulu Ave., (808) 738-1038, @aburiya_ibushi

Island Vintage Wine Bar and Island Vintage Coffee

Counting fresh cheese and eggs, roughly half the pūpū and other dishes at Island Vintage’s wine bars are plant-forward, and full menu sections at the coffee shops are plant-based, with vegan items clearly marked. Like what? Deep-fried nori chips and crispy eggplants at the wine bars, and kakiage vegetable tempura with spicy tofu poke at the coffee shops.

Multiple locations, islandvintagewinebar.com, @islandvintagewinebar, islandvintagecoffee.com, @islandvintagecoffee

Photo: Courtesy of Kapa Hale

Kapa Hale

“V Is for Vegetable” is one of three main sections on Keaka Lee’s menu, with an equal number of dishes as “Mauka & Makai,” which features local meats and seafood. Vegetable-forward choices change with the seasons, but the Haku Lei Po‘o is a constant—a glorious composition of delicate local greens, vegetables and fruits crowned with mint, Kona coffee crumble and a drizzle of cider vinaigrette.

4614 Kīlauea Ave., (808) 888-2060, kapahale.com, @4614kapahale

Corn beignets at Nami Kaze. Photo: Thomas Obungen

Nami Kaze

Few places indulge plant eaters like Jason Peel’s izakaya at Pier 38. While brunch is more whimsically conventional (as in mentaiko omelets and honey walnut shrimp waffles), the izakaya menu puts locally sourced vegetables first, in sections divided into hot and cold dishes. Cloud-like corn beignets, slow-roasted tomatoes with labneh in za’atar oil, and ‘ulu tots in barbecue marinara and a shower of shaved tomme are musts.

1135 N. Nimitz Highway, (808) 888-6264, namikaze.com, @namikazehawaii

Nature Waikīkī

Nature reflects the seasonally changing menus of Nae Ogawa’s native Japan. A conventional prix fixe of locally sourced meats and seafoods is matched by a vegan version, both swapped out with new creations every three months. This is kaiseki-level vegan eating, locally sourced, with dishes like corn fritters with bechamel and truffle pâté. Those who don’t want the full six courses can opt for a three-course dinner, or order à la carte at the bar.

413 Seaside Ave., (808) 212-9282, naturewaikiki.com, @naturewaikiki

Noods Ramen Bar

The meat-averse are spoiled for choice at Noods, whose robust menu includes roughly a dozen vegan bowls. These range from the usual suspects (tan tan, shio, miso) to black garlic miso, yuzu shio, spicy Thai curry and the coconutty creamy garlic shoyu ramen.

Multiple locations, noodsramenbar808.com, @noodsramenbar808

O’Kims Korean Kitchen

Of the 16 appetizers and entrées at Hyun Kim’s modern Korean eatery, about a third are plant-focused. The truffle mandoo, garbanzo curry and miso eggplant are vegan; Kim’s barley rice bibimbap, with plenty of seasoned mushrooms and veggies in an apple gojuchang, is vegetarian. A trio of new specials each month usually includes a vegan dish.

1028 Nu‘uanu Ave., (808) 537-3787, okimshawaii.com, @okims_honolulu

This article appears in the November 2024 issue of HONOLULU Magazine.