Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
Not long after chef Jon Matsubara debuted a lobster roll at Feast in Mānoa, the ensuing social media frenzy created lunchtime lines that snaked around the corner. Businessmen, police officers, office workers and retirees came from as far as Wai‘anae and Mililani.
“The ‘ōpala guys in our neighborhood, they jumped out of the garbage truck and said, ‘Oh, we ordered online,’” says Matsubara, who trained at Alan Wong’s and New York’s Jean-Georges and Tabla. “We said you guys are 15 minutes early. They’re like, ‘No worry, we’re gonna go around the block, pick up rubbish.’ So that’s what they did, then they came back.”
Get this lobster roll at the new Hawaiian Style Seafood in Waikīkī on Kalākaua Avenue. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
That was in 2020, when pandemic restrictions had cut business by 70%. Long story short: The lobster roll didn’t just save Feast, it became its signature item—and the catalyst for the 6-year-old restaurant’s first expansion. Seeing tourists’ unabated appetites for the lobster rolls he billed as “Hawaiian-style” at the KCC Farmers Market, Matsubara in mid-September opened Hawaiian Style Seafood Co. in Waikīkī.
It doesn’t faze him that Wicked Maine Lobster and Royal Lobster, the island’s two dedicated lobster roll specialists, are less than a block away. Both sell traditional lobster rolls with melted butter, and Wicked Maine, a micro chain from California, also sells another with bacon and avocado.
Matsubara’s lemony, butter-drenched Maine lobster meat mixed with bonito-and-soy umami mayo and fresh dill on King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls hammers home the Hawaiian part of his theme. He also has on the menu a seafood omakase of Kaua‘i shrimp, Kualoa oysters, Kona abalone, kampachi and aku; and Kaua‘i garlic shrimp cocktail with chicharrones.
“It’s a healthy competition. There’s always room for another good version of seafood, especially if it’s showcasing local farmers and fishermen,” Matsubara says. “Lobster might disappear—no problem. We’re still surrounded by fish, ogo, Kaua‘i shrimp. There’s so much abundance of pristine local ingredients, and we have an opportunity to cook it up local style.”
Hawaiian Style Seafood Co., Waikīkī Shopping Plaza, 2250 Kalākaua Ave., Waikīkī, @hawaiianstyleseafood
Mari Taketa is the dining editor of HONOLULU Magazine and editor of Frolic Hawai‘i.
