Tucked beneath the Spanish-Moorish arches of the Pink Palace's beachfront wing, Azure is The Royal Hawaiian's flagship fine-dining restaurant — an intimate, candlelit room that opens onto the sand with the Pacific lapping just yards from your table. Chef de Cuisine Jon Matsubara builds a chef-driven, four- or five-course tasting menu around the morning's pick from the Honolulu Fish Auction: opah, kanpachi, day-boat 'ahi, kona kampachi, and Hawaiian moi all rotate through, paired with island produce and a Japanese-French technique. The wine pairings are thoughtful and the service is quietly polished. Dinner is served Wednesday through Sunday; reservations are required, and most diners come dressed for a special-occasion celebration, anniversary, or proposal under the torchlight.
"The setting under the arches steps from the beach is unmatched in Waikiki, and the tasting menu was a genuine highlight of our trip. Every course showed off the local fish in a different way, and the service felt warm rather than stiff."