At the end of the road in Hawi, Hawaii, sits a restaurant tucked inside a building that’s been standing since before Hawaii was even a state. 🌴
Bamboo Restaurant opened in November 1993 inside a former dry goods store that had sat mostly untouched for decades.
What started as a leap of faith in a nearly deserted plantation town has grown into one of the Big Island’s most beloved hidden gems.
This is the story of how one woman’s restaurant helped bring an entire North Kohala town back to life. 🍍
How Bamboo Restaurant won Hawi’s hearts
The building that now houses Bamboo has quite a story of its own, originally constructed as a hotel by the Harada family sometime between 1911 and 1915, back when sugar cane workers arriving by ship would spend the night here before heading out to the plantation camps.
After the Haradas went bankrupt, the Takata family purchased the building in 1926 and rebuilt it from the ground up after the roof had collapsed, running a dry goods and grocery store there for the next 65 years under the motto “Everyone should leave the building smiling.”
By the time the Takatas moved their store just up the road in 1991, Hawi had become what owner Joan Channon has described as a genuinely “tumble down town,” with little more than an appliance store left across the street.
That’s exactly when Channon decided to take a chance on the old building, spending 16 months restoring it before opening Bamboo’s doors in November 1993.
Many of the original interior colors survived the renovation, along with the building’s original exterior green paint, and the restaurant even displays authentic 1950s Matson menus from old Hawaii cruise ships on its walls.
Joan Channon has owned and run this Hawi restaurant for over three decades, building a menu she describes as Pacific Rim cuisine that blends Hawaiian, Thai, and island flavors into dishes made with local farmers’ produce and fishermen’s daily catch.
That commitment to local sourcing turned out to be exactly what the region needed, since Bamboo’s opening helped kickstart a broader revival across Hawaii, with other historic buildings slowly restored and reopened in the years that followed.
Word of the restaurant’s food, gallery, and gift shop combination spread well beyond North Kohala, and today visitors regularly make the drive up from the Kohala Coast resorts specifically to eat here, browse the local artwork on display, and shop for Pacific Rim-inspired gifts.
Nearly 33 years after opening, Bamboo remains one of the most talked-about Big Island restaurants for anyone chasing a genuine slice of old Hawaii, proof that one restored building and a lot of aloha can transform an entire town.
Food Highlights
- Kalua Pork and Cabbage: A genuine local favorite, this dish simmers smoky, tender pork with fresh cabbage and serves it alongside steamed rice.
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Chicken Sate Pot Stickers: Thai-seasoned chicken, herbs, and peanuts hand-wrapped in wonton pi by “Aunty Mary,” steamed and served with a spicy-sweet chili mint sauce. 🥟
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Thai Coconut Prawns: Grilled prawns nestled in a homemade Thai coconut sauce made with garlic, ginger, coconut milk, sambal, and herbs, finished with fresh papaya salsa.
- Grilled Fresh Fish Sandwich: The day’s freshest catch grilled to order and served on focaccia bread with a choice of tropical fruit salsa or house tartar sauce.
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Hawaiian Barbecued Pork Sandwich: Luau-style pork straight from the imu, tossed in homemade barbecue sauce and served on a sesame bun.
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The Hawaiian Stir Fry: Fresh island-grown vegetables and soba noodles tossed in a choice of traditional teriyaki or Thai coconut sauce, topped with peanuts. 🥢
- Macadamia Nut Crusted Chicken: Organic chicken breasts crusted in macadamia nuts and wrapped around smoky kalua pork and Swiss cheese, oven-baked and finished with a lilikoi mustard glaze.
Atmosphere
Bamboo keeps its historic bones on full display, from the original hardwood floors laid down by the Takata family in 1926 to the vintage 1950s cruise menus hanging on the walls. 🖼️
An art gallery and gift shop share the same building, giving guests a reason to wander before or after a meal.
The space feels relaxed and unmistakably local, the kind of restaurant where regulars greet the owner by name and visitors linger over a Lilikoi margarita.
It’s colorful, a little bit quirky, and entirely unpretentious, exactly the way a hundred-year-old plantation building should feel. 🌺
Bottom Line
Visit for genuine Pacific Rim cuisine built on local produce and fresh-caught fish, a hundred-year-old building with real history, a signature pot sticker recipe that’s barely changed since 1993, an art gallery and gift shop under one roof, and a true hidden gem feel worth the drive to the end of the road. 🌴
Address:
55-3415 Akoni Pule Highway, Hawi, HI 96719
📞 (808) 889-5555
🕔 Open Tue-Sun, 11:30 AM–2 PM, Thu-Fri Dinner 6 PM–8 PM (closed Monday)