A quick guide to my favorite breakfast spots in Honolulu, including where to get the best malasadas, musubis, and pastries. Each one is worth a visit on a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Malasadas

If I had to recommend one breakfast item to get in Honolulu, or Hawaii for that matter, it would be malasadas. These beautifully fried pastries are the elevated cousins of donuts, known for their sugar-coated exteriors and custard filling. Every time I got a malasada in Hawaii, I always looked for a specialty flavor or flavor-of-the-month because those were usually Hawaiian-inspired flavors like ube, passion fruit, and guava – hands down my favorites.

1. Leonard’s Bakery

Beli rating: 8.3

This is the Instagram-famous malasada shop with the pink awning and big neon sign. I thought I would just pop by this place on the way to the airport, but when my Uber driver pulled up, there was a line around the block. I guess you can thank Instagram for that. Instead of doing the sensible thing and just going straight to my flight, I got out and waited. But it was definitely worth the wait.

Leonard’s also serves pastries and baked goods, but I stuck to malasadas. I got one regular custard and the flavor of the month, which was guava. The guava one was the definite showstopper, but both were delicious.

2. Pipeline Bakeshop & Creamery

Beli rating: 8.4

Pipeline feels like Leonard’s laid-back cousin–and it was rated one of the 11 best donuts in America. They also do malasadas a bit differently with a wider variety of options, including different sugar coatings, like coffee and Lihing sugar. They also offer other baked goods and ice creams.

I really enjoyed the plain malasadas (no filling) with the different sugars as a lighter alternative to Leonard’s custards.

On-the-Go Breakfast

For days when you’re heading out early to explore the island, these were my favorite quick bites:

1. Musubi Cafe Iyasume

Beli rating: 7.5

There are a bunch of these all over Honolulu, and they are a great on-the-go breakfast or snack. Some of my friends would wake up every morning, walk down the block, and grab a few for breakfast. Musubi Cafe, as its name may hint, has a wide variety of musubis and onigiris, from spam and egg to salmon roe.

I would recommend sticking to the classic musubis over the onigiris, as I found that I had better onigiris elsewhere. I am not a huge fan of spam, so my personal palate might not have been the target demographic, but again, my friends ate here every morning. Take that information as you will.

2. Breadshop

Beli rating: 9.3

OMG these pastries are so incredibly good. I literally still dream about the mango sticky rice Danish. It was difficult to decide on a pastry or two because the entire list looked so good.

One thing to note: you have to order online ahead of time and then pick up the pastries in-store. Each week, the menu gets released on Tuesdays at 9 am, so if there is a specific item you want, then plan ahead.

I wanted to keep this list short and sweet so you can hit all of these spots on a quick trip to Honolulu. I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. I rate food spots on Beli—a social food app that helps you track, share, and discover the world’s best restaurants. If you want to see more of my food recs (or just follow along on my adventures), check out my profile: @sallygaither on Beli