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Exceptionally well prepared Asian fusion food, music by some of the islands’ best-known entertainers, classy interior décor, and courtyard dining characterize this orchid-bedecked spot.

Sushi bar, fine dining restaurant, happening cocktail lounge, karaoke palace – Sansei is all these. The name means third generation and implies the East-West sophistication that the grandchildren of the immigrant generation have achieved.

Classic Japanese dishes are given a Continental flair here, in an interior splashed with bright colors. Their contemporary kaiseki (set menu) provides great value.

This award-winning French-with-an-island-touch restaurant expresses the character of owner George Mavrothassitis – precise, passionate and absolutely individual. Exceptional wines by the glass are matched to each dish, and the service is impeccable.

Hailed by many as Hawai’i’s best restaurant, Alan Wong’s marries local preferences with a formal setting. The food – unusual seafood preparations and amazing sauces – is delicious; the atmosphere relaxed and convivial. Great wine list.

Refined is the word for this hotel restaurant run by French brothers, one a baker, the other a chef. They designed the kitchen, and from it emerge food and drink expressive of their exquisite taste. The technique is French, the style is Hawai’i Regional.

The best and most authentically French restaurant in Hawai’i makes lavish use of both local seafood and imported delicacies to create “cuisine de soleil,” a cuisine of the sun with a distinctly Provençal bent. Formal dress.

With an understanding for what Hawaiians like, this compact, ever-busy neighborhood bistro has specialties such as Hawaiian clay salt steak. They offer small plates, vegetarian options, and tasting menus, too.

An airy wood-paneled room, a view of the ocean, and a multi-cultural menu that ranges from tandoori specialties to wok cooking – “rustic international cuisine,” as they describe it.

Roy Yamaguchi founded the first O’ahu restaurant of note more than a decade ago. And here he offers the same spicy mixture that is his signature – creative cuisine that roams from Japan to Mexico.