Niu Soft Serve’s Hot Kūlolo Sundae Is Its Top Seller
The vegan ice cream shop is known for its dairy-free, coconut-based soft serve, yet kūlolo has become a major draw.
Textured like smooth lava, thick and caramelly, the star of Niu Soft Serve’s hot kūlolo sundae pools around a creamy swirl like a warm, luxuriant lagoon. It’s a boon and a bane. ‘Aiku‘e and Kekahu Napoleon-Ahn, brothers who co-founded the tiny vegan dessert shop in Mō‘ili‘ili, wanted a signature item that would speak to their Hawaiian heritage and draw locals to their coconut-based swirls. They debuted their kūlolo creation in 2021, never dreaming that the several dozen pounds of kalo they went through in a month would turn into several hundred pounds. Warm and cold, chewy and crunchy (from toasted macadamia nuts), hot kūlolo sundaes are by far Niu’s top seller.
Photo: James Nakamura
Why a bane? The glistening sauce of kalo, coconut milk, brown sugar and salt takes 24 hours to cook. Both brothers and their parents take turns nursing fresh batches four to six days a week.
“I have customers tell me, ‘I’ve been coming here for two years and I’ve been thinking of trying something else, but every time I have to get a kūlolo sundae,’” says ‘Aiku‘e Napoleon-Ahn. “We are an ice cream shop, first and foremost, but I swear we spend more time making kūlolo than anything else.”
2320 S. King St., niusoftserve.com, @niusoftserve
