Bali By the Sea   

2005 Kalia Rd
Honolulu, HI 96815
808-941-2254
www.hiltonhawaiinvillage.com

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To us, Bali-by-the-Sea is Honolulu's most underrated restaurant. Perhaps because it's inside the Hilton, it is dismissed as just another hotel dining room, but it has many good things going for it. It's beautiful, with an ocean view that's subtly lit up at night. Ask for a table along the open oceanside edge. The service here is attentive and even anticipatory without being obsequious or intrusive. The Bali's chef, Jean-Luc Voegele, has kept his standards high and his prices reasonable -- no small achievement. Although the Bali offers a full menu, we suggest the prix-fixe dinner. It begins with an amuse-bouche-often, a small portion of classic Island ahi poke. Then on to soups, salads and appetizers -- we favor the local baby-lettuce salad or the bouillabaisse chock full of fresh Island seafood and served with saffron aoli croutons. Finally to the entres. When we can resist the Cajun-spiced tiger prawns, we like the fresh local fish with a vegetable tart or steak with five-peppercorn sauce. The complete dinner includes espresso, cappuccino or Kona coffee and dessert. Not just some little dessert fobbed off on the budget customers, but masterpieces from the hotel's pastry kitchen like a subtly flavored strawberry-rhubarb tart with rhubarb sorbet, or a chocolate bombe filled with bananas Foster. Finally, you receive chocolate truffles in a chocolate replica of Diamond Head- the original of which you can see from the beachfront dining room. The wine list goes on for pages. It's hard to think what you'd want that the Hilton's two wine cellars don't have. It's expensive, but their sommelier also has some well-priced selections by the glass.