When we were younger, my parents would wake up my brother and I early on the weekends because my mom wanted to torture us and have a “Let’s Play Tourist Day” or to bribe us into doing our chores by taking us out for breakfast somewhere. My brother and I hated “Let’s Play Tourist Day”. It meant that we’d be driving around the island to visit tourist traps – um, I mean tourist sites – that we’ve already seen a gazillion times. On some of these outings, Mom would even bring the camera and make us take pictures. I mean, really, how many times do you need a picture of your kids with the view of Diamond Head in the background? What was worse, she’d never get the pictures developed. Anyway… I digress…

So, on this one particular Saturday, our parents woke us up and told us to pack an overnight bag because they were taking us out for breakfast. Still too sleepy to question anything, we packed our bag and an made our way to breakfast.

Driving down our street, past our favorite breakfast stop, The Original Pancake House in Kalihi, we eventually reached what seemed to be our breakfast destination – the airport. My brother and I looked at each other, dumbfounded, and one of us (most likely me) finally asked “I thought we were going to breakfast?” My parents just looked at us and said, “We are. In Hilo.”

We hopped on a plane and 45 minutes later, we landed on the island of Hawaii and headed to our real breakfast destination, Ken’s House of Pancakes. Breakfast was then followed … by a day of “Let’s Play Tourist”. We didn’t complain this time, as Hilo was new tourist territory for us. I remember how cool it was to check out Volcanoes National Park and a hotel that my grandfather helped build. This is definitely one of my fondest childhood memories.

I was able to re-visit Ken’s recently. I spent the last 2 weeks of March in Hawaii for my brother and new sister-in-law’s wedding celebrations. The ceremony and first reception was held in Hilo, on the Big Island, and the second reception was held a week later in Honolulu.

Upon arriving in Hilo, we picked up the rental and headed to Ken’s House of Pancakes, a mere 5 minutes from the airport. (Actually, you can pretty much get to anywhere in Hilo town in 5 minutes.)

Consistently good food, with a menu that rivals Cheesecake Factory’s food “catalog”, every time I left there I was satisfied (more like way too full), and so were the rest of my dining companions. We were in Hilo for 4 days and had a hearty breakfast at Ken’s 3 out of the 4 days.

Hawaiian style hospitality, massive proportions, consistency and reasonably priced food make Ken’s the perfect place to eat for tourists and locals alike. They’re open 24 hours a day and all items on the menu are available any time of the day. So if you feel like eating breakfast for dinner, you can. Don’t forget to get the pancakes and ask for the coconut syrup. SO GOOD!

For those of you with saimin dreams, the saimin here is onolicious. The broth is flavored well, if not a bit on the salty side for me, but what put their saimin in a different league from other saimin offerings elsewhere, were the noodles that they use – chewy, tasty, perfectly cooked noodles. If you’re really hungry, try the Sumo Saimin if you dare – it’s MASSIVE. Enough noodles and broth for a family of six, or as the name implies, enough to feed a Sumo wrestler. They’ve got this ritual where if you order the Sumo Saimin (or any of their other Sumo size specialties), a bell is rung or a gong is banged and the staff as well as the many regulars scream “SUMO!” as the food is delivered over to your table. I wanted to order the Sumo Saimin just to hear them do this. Quirky, but the gimmick works! You can even buy a shirt that says something like “I survived the Sumo Saimin” or something close. Corny, I know, but in a sleepy town like Hilo, you can’t expect much.

Here’s a sample of what I ate at Ken’s on my trip to Hilo.

Sweet Bread French Toast

I’m a sucker for French Toast, especially if someone else is making it.This was nothing really noteworthy. Just your basic French Toast recipe using Hawaiian Sweet Bread instead of regular bread. Lots and lots of butter to smear all over the already moist and delicately sweetened French Toast, that syrup was not necessary.

Lana’s Special

A de-constructed loco moco, if you will (as it’s not all piled up in a bowl). Or a Hamburger Steak plate lunch with 3 eggs. Talk about artery clogging and kanak attack producing, but oh so good! Way too much rice for my taste, even for a someone who grew up in Hawaii. The hamburger patty is grilled to your liking and then covered with your basic brown gravy and grilled onions. The eggs are also done to order.

If you get a chance to go to Ken’s, make sure you try the different syrups that they offer.

This is a picture of their coconut syrup and their guava syrup. They also have a blueberry syrup, that’s not fully shown in this picture. Your usual maple syrup is also available, if you’re not adventurous enough to try the tropical flavored ones.

Here’s their buttermilk pancakes, that I drizzled with their different syrups.

Maple syrup was drizzled over the left side and coconut syrup over the right side. Which side was better? For me, I enjoyed the coconut syrup better than the maple. It wasn’t as sweet as the maple. It added a different taste altogether to the pancakes and made my pancakes and my tummy very happy. It’s a pretty rich and heavy syrup, so I’d suggest you pour it sparingly over your pancakes. Drizzle a little of the blueberry syrup over the coconut syrup and it’s like blueberry cheesecake-ish – yeah, it was good. I wasn’t too much of a fan of the guava syrup, though. It was too tart and runny in consistency, like guava juice.

So when you’re in Hilo, stop by Ken’s and enjoy their local style food and hospitality. Don’t forget to take a look at the photos on the walls of “famous” people that have visited Ken’s (mostly local entertainers and a bunch of Polynesian wrestlers from back in the day) . This is one picture that I found hilarious -

Remember him???

*****

Ken’s House of Pancakes

1730 Kamehameha Avenue

Hilo, Hawaii 96720

(808) 538-1877

Open 24 Hours