Photo credit: Cafe Kaila’s Avocado Toast

HONOLULU, HI– Chances are if you see clusters of people somewhere within the Market City Shopping Center, they’re clamoring to dine in at Cafe Kaila. A Market City mainstay for the past 14 years, it serves classic and beloved breakfast, brunch, and lunch fare. Options range from crispy chicken and waffles to an extensive selection of baked goods, and other things in between. Leading the way to serve all of these things with aloha is none other than Chrissie Kaila Castillo. 

Although pursuing a career in the food and beverage industry wasn’t her first choice, Chrissie fell in love with cooking and creating her own recipes. Her personal mission was to create the best version of each dish she set her mind to, and her first was to create the best pancakes ever. These pancakes, which are served at Cafe Kaila to this day, were bred to be so good, that they don’t even require syrup. She put this same kind of drive into the other dishes that would eventually appear on Cafe Kaila’s menu. And this drive has paid off– Cafe Kaila has won HONOLULU Magazine’s Hale ‘Aina’s gold awards for best brunch and best breakfast for 12 years in a row. By restaurant standards, being in operations for that many years is something rare to come by and is commendable.

Photo credit: Cafe Kaila’s French Toast

A lot of the menu items are classic breakfast dishes, elevated by Chrissie’s personal spin on them. As much as possible, Cafe Kaila incorporates local ingredients in their dishes and creates dish components from scratch. Above all, each dish is served with love and aloha, presented and cooked with the highest quality possible. One item that exemplifies these things is the avocado toast, which is house-made focaccia bread topped with local salad greens, sliced avocado, cherry tomatoes, pickled onions, and finished off with a house vinaigrette.

Not only is Cafe Kaila a Localicious member, but the restaurant also donated 40 lunches and dinners weekly to frontline medical workers across O’ahu during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association this past June for its Longest Day campaign by selling special waffles; $4 from each waffle special is donated to the Association. This goes to show that the spirit of love and aloha that is inherent in the restaurant is carried into the community. 

Cafe Kaila is everything a brunch spot should be. Midway between Kaimuki and Waikiki, it’s the perfect gathering place for both locals and visitors alike and is more than worth a visit (or ten).