Breakfast with a view in Waikiki

Why is breakfast the most important meal of the day? A nutritionist, or your doctor, might tell you that it’s important to eat something like cereal or fruit when you wake up to give you energy for your day.

OK, sounds logical and definitely makes sense. But I’d say a majority of us really know why breakfast is so important - it’s because we get to eat bacon (which, by the way, adds awesome flavor to a variety of foods), eggs, pancakes, fruit and other early morning delights that really “hit the spot.”

If you’re not going to fix a hearty breakfast at home, then you’ve got to go out and treat yourself and your family to a good meal at a nice, local spot - ideally one that offers a breakfast buffet with an ocean view.

One particular place is right in the heart of Waikiki. From 6 to 11:30 a.m. every day the scents of bacon, sausage, maple syrup and scrambled eggs waft through the air, stirring up a frenzy in the rumbling stomachs of customers at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa’s Terrace Grille.

Head to the third floor of the hotel in the Diamond Head Tower, or as you go up the escalator, just follow your nose! The buffet line starts at the omelet station, where a Terrace Grille chef makes them to order. Across the way are the juices (including carrot, guava, and of course, OJ), coffee and the cold cereal station, complete with toppings.

Straight ahead and to the right a little, in a smaller room, is where the hearty breakfast foods sit, hot and ready to eat. While scrambled eggs, bacon and link sausage are buffet mainstays, the rest of the items rotate. For example, one cycle’s offerings include beef curry, apple crepes with creme Anglaise, hash browns, chocolate croissants and pumpkin bread.Another lineup features pancakes, fingerling potatoes, cornbread and coconut-glazed croissants. A third rotation serves up saba (mackerel), French toast, au gratin potatoes, almond-glazed croissants and biscuits. Penne pasta with bolognese sauce, peach crepes, hash browns, fingerling potatoes, chocolate-laced croissants and pumpkin bread are featured on the fourth rotating cycle, and the fifth is baked corned beef hash with tri-colored peppers, cheese blintz with blueberry sauce, Lyonnaise potatoes and fingerling potatoes, coconut-glazed croissants and cornbread.

A signature item of the buffet, says Terrace Grille manager Conroy Low,is the eggs Benedict.It’s offered daily,but a different variety is served up each morning.For example,one day you might enjoy the traditional eggs Benedict (with hollandaise sauce, slice of ham/turkey on an English muffin), but perhaps the next morning customers will grind on the artichoke Benedict. Other Benedict varieties include eggs Benedict with prosciutto ham and pesto hollandaise sauce, pork patties Benedict and eggs Florentine with smoked salmon hollandaise.

Low says different Japanese speciality items also are offered daily, as well as Bloody Marys and mimosas, in addition to the regular beverage menu.

Even on a Monday morning, tables are filled with couples, friends or moms and dads with the little ones all conversing at once, creating that typical “dining room chatter.” By the hostess podium more hungry patrons are flocking in to chow down on the tasty buffet. According to Low, the breakfast draws a mix of people.

“(It’s) a lot of locals, primarily all families. About 80 percent locals and 20 percent hotel guests,” he says.

The buffet costs $24 per person. Guests take their pick of booths (there’s six) or tables indoors, or outdoor seating if they’d like to take advantage of the ocean view.

By the way, the grill also serves lunch and recently revamped its menu to focus more on American-style food. Assistant manager Michele Payton says they’ve changed the bread on the club sandwich (grilled chicken breast, herb spread, tomatoes, bibb lettuce, smoked bacon) to a rustic club roll, and they’ve added the Mandarin Chicken Salad, which is iceberg lettuce,peanut-crusted chicken breast, almonds, crispy won ton, orange segments, bean sprouts, green cilantro and crispy cellophane noodle with sesame dressing. The newly added open-faced tuna melt is “doing well,” Payton says. The sandwich is served on marble rye with gruyere cheese, vine-ripened tomatoes and white albacore tuna salad (comes with fries).

New to the dessert menu is a macadamia nut bread pudding consisting of warm Portuguese sweet bread with chopped mac nuts, served with vanilla ice cream.

Payton adds that they still offer local favorites on the lunch menu, including loco moco (grilled beef patty on Spam fried rice, with two eggs sunny side up and natural gravy), taco poke, lomi lomi salmon, lau lau, Portuguese bean soup and saimin (Japanese style noodles with fishcake,char siu roast pork, eggs and green onions). Lunch items range from $7-$16.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa’s Terrace Grill

2424 Kalakaua Ave.

923-1234

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