I Found the Best Scones in Honolulu
And it’s in a new couple-run café on Kapahulu Avenue.
There’s a lot of debate about what, exactly, makes a good scone.
And living in Hawaiʻi, where we don’t have many places that serve scones in general, it’s even harder to define.
Andrea Geary, a test cook at Cook’s Illustrated who lived in Scotland (the birthplace of scones) for eight years, was tasked to develop a recipe for British-style scones for the magazine. Apparently, there’s a difference between British- and American-style scones. (I had no idea!)
British scones are very different from the American scones you’ll find in coffee shops. We’ve done a bunch of scone recipes before, but they’ve all started with this minimal mixing of the fat, which is very much an American biscuit technique. American scones also have a higher ratio of fat-to-flour than British scones do.
British scones, she continued, aren’t as buttery as the American version. In England, scones are slathered with butter and jam, she explains, so the scone itself doesn’t have a lot of butter or sugar in it.
My first introduction to scones was the moist, cake-y ones from Diamond Head Market & Grill, known for its soft and huge blueberry scones with chunks of cream cheese.
According to Geary, definitely not British.
When I did finally sample the more traditional style of scones, I immediately noticed the difference. Tender and fluffy with a crispy exterior. Sometimes glossed in a glaze, other times studded with fruits of nuts.
I was hooked.
So imagine my excitement when a new café opened a few miles from my home that served traditional scones — and açaí bowls. (That’s another story.)
Husband-and-wife Micah and Sun Young, who had met working at a college coffee bar, opened Pai Café on Kapahulu Avenue in October 2023. It’s a small, 600-square-foot shop, with a few tables and distinctive Tiffany-blue walls.
The menu is small — but enough. Espresso drinks, brewed coffee, smoothies, and açaí and pitaya bowls.
And there, on the counter, were the scones. Five different flavors. I couldn’t stop staring at them.
Turns out, Sun, who has no formal culinary training, taught herself how to bake during the pandemic, when they both lost their jobs at another coffee shop in Waikīkī. She spent about a year perfecting her scone recipe — and I would say that was time well spent.
Her scones are everything.
The cafés signature flavor is the Earl Grey scone topped with a lemon glaze. But I loved the cheddar and Portuguese sausage scones. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Not too sweet, perfect amount of salt. I wound up buying more to take home.
Micah says he has three requirements for scones:
Doesn’t break apart.
Needs type of flavor because of its simplicity
Use quality butter. No shortenings, oil or margarine.
I’d say these are my requirements now, too.
The drinks are worth noting, too. You don’t often see a sweetened version of a matcha latte at coffee shops, and Pai’s has a honey rose matcha that already has a following. It’s made with floral rose water and a touch of honey, which enhances the earthy matcha. Its velvet cream cold brew is another popular item.
Though pricey at $13.50, the açaí ranks as one of my favorites at the moment. Well-blended açaí topped with slices of bananas and strawberries, blueberries and probably the best housemade granola I’ve had. (Sun needs to package and sell this.)
In addition, there’s lots of parking and a restroom.
“We like this little mantra ‘beans and bakes,’” Micah says. “A scone is a great companion that compliments coffee and vice versa.”
Pai Café, 755 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu, @paicafehonolulu
