Halekulani Opens a New Bakery That’s Just as Fab as the Hotel

Get French-inspired pastries, artisan breads and more at Oahu's newest bakery, slated to open in late October.

For over a year, the Waikiki Parc Hotel has been closed for a $60 million renovation. When it reopens on Oct. 25, it will have a new name—Halepuna Waikiki by Halekulani—and something else we’re exctied about: a new bakery and restaurant.

Simply called the Halekulani Bakery & Restaurant, it will occupy the space vacated by Nobu Waikiki on the ground floor of the new hotel. For the past month, pastry chefs Mark Freischmidt of Halekulani and Tatsuhiro Kaneshiro of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo have been unveiling their tasty creations at pop-ups every Sunday at the Halekulani. (The last one is Oct. 13 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Go early; pastries and breads have sold out in less than two hours.)

These events offer a sample of what the bakery and restaurant will have to offer.

We tried the assortment of artisan breads, which range in price from $7 for a French baguette to $9 for a cheese bread topped with three kinds of melted cheese. A popular item so far has been the edamame bread ($8.50), a chewy loaf studded with young soybeans.

The bakery is also serving a variety of viennoiserie pastries, including plain croissants ($3.50), pain au chocolat ($4) and lilikoi (passion fruit) brioche ($3.50). A favorite was the banana-coconut kouign amann ($4.50), which combined two flavors that I didn’t think would work at first—but did. The pastry shell was perfectly buttery and crunchy, too.

The brownie bread ($5.50) was another standout, chewy and rich with cocoa flavor. I loved the bits of gooey chocolate in this loaf, which gave it enough sweetness without overpowering it.

The bakery will also sell grab-and-go items, too, including jasmine sable cookies ($16), classic macadamia nut pearls ($19) and tropical fruit nougat ($18), beautifully packaged and perfect for gifts.

Halekulani Bakery & Restaurant will be the new hotel’s full-service, all-day dining room. The casual restaurant will focus on using local ingredients and flavors; the bakery will feature a variety of breads, pastries and cakes. It’s scheduled to open on Oct. 25, along with the opening of the 284-room Halepuna Waikiki by Halekulani. For now, you can sample bakery items at its last pop-up, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Halekulani.

Check for updates here.