Lemongrass Cafe

Love the variety you get from each daily special. I’ve had the Tuesday «Indian», Thursday «Thai», and Friday «Noodle Day» specials. I plan on going today for the Monday «Lao» special. Give this place a try. Not sure if she’s the owner, but Laurien behind the counter is super friendly. Highly recommended.

Each day of the week there’s a different Asian cuisine featured (see my photos for menu). Low-​stress ordering! And very tasty food. I’ve had their Thursday and Friday meals, both of which were very good. I couldn’t finish the noodle soup, it was so big. I tried both soups, and they’re equally tasty. The eggplant dish on Thursday was a bit too smoky-​flavored for my taste. Their tamarind juice and gingerade are both amazing– try them! They’re a bargain too for only $ 2. I’d like to return for their Monday-​Wednesday menu options. :)

I have been wanting to try this place for a long time, but I work on the Windward side and it is only open during the week until 5pm. I found myself with a free Tuesday and came in to grab some lunch take-​out. Parking is always an issue in Chinatown, but the municipal lot was just across the street and only ended up being $ 1.50. It was fairly empty, but the décor was quite nice and would make a great spot for a private party /​event. I was immediately greeted by the warm, wonderful chef, «Emerald» who happily chatted with me about Lemongrass and the set lunch menu for the day. I spent a lot of time in Thailand and was truly enchanted to hear about Emerald’s home in Burma and the differences in the cuisine and what she has prepared. The food was everything I would expect of absolutely wonderful, home cooked Southeast Asian food, a bouquet of flavors and spices… but NOT spicy for the heat lovers out there. It has definitely been dialed down for local palates. Fabulous service, fabulous food, and I love what their business model does for providing economic development & social services to immigrants & refugees.

How do I rate Burmese food when I have no idea what it’s supposed to taste like?
Like most people here, I came here for one of the Burmese pop up dinners which happen once every couple of weeks. You pay upfront before your dinner ($ 30) which I wasn’t used to. Since it’s a set menu, everyone is served at the same time. It makes it easier for the servers, but it was sort of strange since there were times where we just kind of sat around waiting for our next course.
Our first course was a pickled salad was was okay, but it was a little too much for me. The taste was too strong, and the other girl on the table agreed with me. The guy, however, really enjoyed it. The next course was a tea leaf salad. Another salad, whaaat? We all liked this one. It had more subtle flavors and garlic chips! Garlic chips are so delicious. :) We didn’t detect any tea leaves but it was still very tasty.
We had chicken curry ramen next. Honestly, it tasted like coconut curry with shredded chicken and instant ramen. It was really good and filling, but really really rich. The dessert, some kind of tapioca with sweet potato, was also really rich. The sweet potato didn’t add much to the tapioca… The tapioca was pretty sweet and had a nice burnt flavor to it. Perfect ending to the meal.
I think what makes this meal four star worthy is the uniqueness of the restaurant. I mean, how many other Burmese restaurants are there in Hawaii? Lemongrass Café also helps support a nonprofit organization that helps immigrants start businesses and teach them skills needed to adapt to living here.
Yay for good food and a good cause! The chef has mentioned to us that she wants to open up her own permanent place one day… so we’ll be looking forward to trying that when it happens!

Came here to have a couple of out of the norm cocktails with my buddy. We thought the atmosphere was relaxing and the music was not what we were used to but I thought it was alright. We headed out after a couple of hours. I’m not sure if it was my kind of chill spot, but Im sure there’s a crowd that would definitely love this kind of place that houses exotica rhythms and spiced cocktails.

We ate their recently and had a delicious and authentic homestyle Burmese meal in a beautiful setting. You can’t beat this café for value, the lunches are only $ 8 and the setting is very chic.

They also have pastries/​bakery for sale — eating there. Cheap– discount– +++ great deal.
On the day I went– the main menu plate lunch looked way to exotic for my taste that day– so I stuck to the pastires. They are more than friendly/​grateful and always helpful to help you no matter what.

Interesting place! There’s a non-​profit immigrant org operating inside. So this is not a restaurant per se. The lunch «option» is usually a choice of two entrees plus rice and salad. I had some nice pork chunks in some indistinguishable «asian» sauce. I liked it! The price was reasonable, $ 8, for a huge plate.

Lemongrass Café is a small little restaurant offering tasty plates of Burmese, Singaporean, Lao, and Indonesian food. The place is owned and operated by a non-​profit organization, Pacific Gateway Center. On their website it says that their clients are immigrants and refugees so I’m guessing the food is pretty legit. :p
I found this place on one of the sites mentioned in the ever popular coupon/​discount/​sale thread. It hand a link to this menu:
Mondays feature Burmese food, Tuesdays feature Singaporean food, Wednesdays feature Lao food, Thursdays feature Indonesian food, and Fridays seem to be random. Since it’s a small operation, you don’t get to choose which dishes you want. On the flip side, you get to have ALL the foods featured. :D And on top of that, each plate is just $ 6 flat. (Tax is included or not charged because they’re a non-​profit? not sure.) They do have a tip basket, though, and you know tips are way appreciated. especially by a non-​profit. :p
The place also has gelato, but I keep forgetting to try it. Pity for me because the flavors sound interesting and tasty! Dragon fruit, lemongrass, kalamansi, green tea, and sour sop.
The two cons are:
1) The limited hours! 11am-​2pm.
2) Parking. — but they told me about free parking somewhere nearby… just don’t remember, but if you call them up, they can tell you! :)
Anyway, I think this little known place is a GEM. Hawaii has tons of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants, but Lemon Grass Café offers a taste of the lesser known Asian cuisines. So, go! You know that you’re on Unilocal because you love tasting new things. :D