Reader Top 5 Meaty Fried Rice: The Sequel

Kyle Tatsumoto has now tried 100 meaty fried rices around O‘ahu—and has updated his Reader Top 5 ranking.

July 17, 2024

Mari Taketa,

Kyle Tatsumoto’s Reader Top 5: Best Meaty Fried Rices on O‘ahu last month drew immediate responses—including 58 on our Instagram post, mostly from readers shouting out their own favorite meaty fried rices. Choices covered nearly the entire island, from Mililani Restaurant to Elena’s Restaurant in Waipahu to Bogart’s Café and Café Morey’s on Monsarrat and were pretty much all one-offs.

Except for one: Times Coffee Shop in Kailua. Amazingly, six readers shouted out the meaty fried rice at this 65-year-old institution on Hāmākua Drive:

Fried Rice and fried eggs load up a plate

Times Coffee Shop fried rice. Photo: Kyle Tatsumoto

@k00kykat8o8 U guys missing DA BEST breakfast fried rice @timescoffeeshopkailua ❤️❤️❤️ #handsdowndabest

@wutangcomedy yup. Any best fried rice list without Times even ranking is suspect!

@scottshiira Times Coffee Shop in Kailua is ono too

@hopenapokipala Mitsuba and Times Coffee Shop need to be in the conversation

@mclovinit73 Times coffee shop in Kailua is the best!

@jaahdan Times coffee shop

Naturally, we reached out to Kyle to ask if he’d tried Times’ famous fried rice. By this point, he was up to 93 meaty fried rice breakfasts around O‘ahu. He told us that while he’d had Times’ version, that was many years ago, and he would happily head over the Pali to try it again.

Last week, Kyle texted us:

Photo (and sign): Darrell Lee

“Today, we traveled to Kailua, to Times Coffee Shop, for my 100th fried rice. The fried rice was OK with lots of Portuguese sausage and bacon, but it didn’t have much seasoning. The Times Coffee Shop fried rice may have had too many round onions in it, causing the somewhat sweet taste. But the couple sitting across the aisle from us, tourists from California, paid for our breakfasts.”

So there you have it. To each his own—much of Hawai‘i does love a salty-sweet combo, but not Kyle. Then he added this bombshell:

“Café Kalawe ranks #5, knocking Jack’s [Restaurant] out of the Top 5.”

Whoa.

plateful of Fried Rice topped with a fried egg

Café Kalawe. Photo: Kyle Tatsumoto

“Café Kalawe’s lup cheong fried rice has a lot of big chunks of lup cheong in addition to the Portuguese sausage and bacon,” he explained. “It had a lot of seasoning, maybe from the bacon grease.”

At this point, we had nothing but questions for Mr. 100 Meaty Fried Rices. Here’s a quick Q&A:

Frolic: What is it about meaty fried rice? What makes you seek it out above other dishes?

KT: I started ordering different things for breakfast. It’s impossible to eat pancakes or rice/eggs/sausage every week, but it is possible to eat fried rice. I think meat just balances the fried rice by adding flavor. It also adds chewy texture.

Frolic: Did you grow up eating and craving meaty fried rice?

KT: I grew up eating fried rice, but my mom usually made it healthier with a lot of vegetables. And it constantly changed, depending on what was leftover.

Frolic: What do your friends and family think about your quest?

KT: My mom and wife think my fried rice quest is crazy. Everyone else thinks it’s cool.

Frolic: Now that you’ve tried 100, what’s next for Kyle the eater?

KT: I originally thought I would quit at 100, but now people are suggesting new places to try, so will probably go to 105 or 110. Might try cake noodle or saimin after.

Congratulations, Kyle, and many mahalos! What will you discover on your cake noodle and saimin quests? Keep us posted!