5 Stars plus!
If…read moreyou're not a fan of long reviews, please stop reading and just book Kuoha Culinary right away...there are so many wonderful things to say here.
We selected Kuoha Culinary for a small family Celebration of Life for our dad. Chef Ed is so kind and easy to work with. He's busy and he secured our date upon initial communication and assured me he'd provide a preliminary proposal within a few weeks.
Here's how I described our catering goals for Ed: Hoping for a fusion of local style comfort foods in an elevated style, fine restaurant quality but "not overly fancy" with several protein options and several veggie options. 2 vegetarian guests, not sure if we need dessert catered. Having never booked catering before, I based our budget on previous restaurant celebrations and gave Ed a very, very wide price per head range and told him I'd prefer if we didn't get too close to the higher end of our price range. As promised, Ed returned with a preliminary proposal and it was lower in price than I expected and included more dishes than I had thought we'd get.
Ed recommended drop off service as being the most cost effective and easy option for our event.
I requested changes to all three entrees and added a few vegetables and the price remained excellent due to my changes balancing each other out. In our phone consultation, Ed answered my questions clearly, concisely, and confidently. For each case where I asked Ed which of 2 or 3 dishes he recommended, he was able to understand my question and kindly offer his recommendation and he was spot on. Never once did he say the dreaded "it's a matter of personal preference". He just knew what would work best and humbly shared his knowledge and experience. I told Ed my mom doesn't really eat Lup Cheong and he said, trust me she won't notice it and it adds so much to the dish ("Local Boy" En Papillote). Sure enough, mama raved about the fish. I asked him a question about 2 different beef dishes and he explained why the dish he recommended was a better fit for drop off catering. I debated to myself about going with Ed's desserts or getting/making our own, I'm not a big dessert person. Ended up going with Ed and requested an assortment of 3 desserts rather than one, great decision because Ed's desserts were a hit.
I was so impressed with my initial interactions with Ed that I was referring people to Kuoha Culinary before I even tasted the food!
Fast forward to event date: Ed arrived 15 min ahead of his proposed arrival time. He texted my contact friend and me of his ETA. He politely declined our guests' offers of help and he got everything set up beautifully!
Received the most compliments ever on our food! We've had many get togethers with the same people and this food experience surpassed those at previous restaurants and event venues, even the fancy ones.
Guests were exclaiming raving about the quality and variety (not exaggerating) complimenting every single dish from appetizers to main dishes to veggies, to the rice to the desserts! Yes, even the humble corn and Hapa rice got rave reviews...seriously!
People were scanning chef's QR code and reading aloud about the business at the table (a first) and were so grateful and genuinely wowed.
The dishes that were most complimented were the Local Boy Fish En Papillote, Ahi Tataki and the mini tart desserts: Lilikoi Crème Brûlée, Ube Cream, Chef Ed's Chocolate with Haupia
The quality was better than the type of restaurant where they give you a deck of cards-sized protein on a plate, with quantity being better than places where you need 2 hands to carry your plate lunch. Best combination ever!
Our guests made generous plates to go. I even scraped the sauces into ziplocs to freeze for helping with my own cooking. Hours after the meal and into the next day, people were saying how much they enjoyed everything. The next day, my cousin expressed for the second time how impressed he was with Ed's ability to keep all food at the perfect temperature, texture and consistency.
Kuoha Culinary surpassed our goals going beyond merely "impressing" our guests and achieved something even more meaningful: Our guests felt honored, grateful, and joyful.
Thank you, Chef Ed, for helping make our celebration so special!