Guest Tiki Bar Review – The Honu By Tom Hemmen (Dunedin FL)

The day before we flew out from Florida we decided to squeeze in one last Tiki bar, and drove from Bradenton to the charming little walking town of Dunedin on the Gulf of Mexico…

There we sought out The Honu, a Tiki-themed restaurant and bar that had apparently started out as a food truck, but recently celebrated its fifth anniversary at its permanent Dunedin location in a converted bungalow-style house.

Much of what is typically called a “Tiki bar” in Florida would disappoint most Tiki enthusiasts, but there were no worries about that the instant we entered The Honu. The interior was beautifully decorated in bamboo and thatch, with comfortable rattan lounge furniture in the lobby area, cases of Tiki memorabilia and ceramic mugs, and gently tinted lamps illuminating the small dining area.

At the time of day we arrived, most of the action was outside, so we proceeded to The Honu’s spacious backyard, with its long burled bar and thatch awning, small stage area (unoccupied during our visit), and tables scattered around with thatched umbrellas to fend off the Florida sunshine. Tiki masks, poles, and freestanding sculptures peered out from the walls and shrubbery; like the indoors space a lot of attention had been given to decorating the outdoors as well.

Our table came, at least for a while, with a literal lounge lizard – a Floridian Anole – and we settled down to check out the menu while tunes by the likes of the Aqua Velvets and Les Baxter wafted out from the bar proper.

The only TV screens in The Honu also displayed the menu, and there were lots of choices to make, as the food menu was extensive, and the drink menu featured both classics and house specialties, as well as the option of straight rum pours.

I started with their Zombie, since given its complexity it’s a useful gauge for how on point a Tiki bar is (Case in point: Years ago I ordered a Zombie at Donn the Beachcomber’s in Kona, Hawaii – and the waiter didn’t know what it was, and the bartender didn’t know about it either and had to look it up … Horrors!).  My drink arrived in a lavishly garnished Fu Manchu-style mug. I’m not sure which three rums they used, but I would guess that the mix used was of less heavy rums than in the original Donn the Beachcomber recipe – otherwise, though, it seemed to follow the Donn’s formula pretty closely, and was certainly enjoyable.

Jeanie tried their signature Honu Punch; it came to the table in a large, decorated snifter glass. It featured a well-rounded flavor that played out like a classic Planter’s Punch, but emphasizing fresh Florida juice – a play of rum, sweet, sour, and spice, with a perfect note of fresh orange juice on the end of a sip. It was fantastic.

The beef Menehune Meatballs were attractive as Tiki bar food tends toward pork, and Jeanie is allergic to it, so these were a must-try. They were clearly standard meatballs from the frozen section of the grocery, but the portion size was nice, and the house steak sauce they were tossed with smelled and tasted great.

Sticking to classics, my next drink choice was a Fogcutter. From the notes on the menu and the flavor, I think it likely The Honu is using the Smuggler’s Cove recipe for this drink, or something very much like it. That aside, while partial to Zombies, the Fogcutter I was served was so good I enjoyed it even more than my first libation, which I had not expected.

At this point, more food was clearly in order to help keep the booze from taking over the conversation, so we ordered what is called “The Stack”, a somewhat customizable menu option that includes whatever the house coleslaw is for the day. We ordered ours with the Ahi Poke, and were glad we did. What arrived at the table had a shaped round of rice beneath, piled high with blue cheese-dressed coleslaw, the raw ahi, and topped with fresh sprouts. The blue cheese dressing on the coleslaw complemented the ahi poke surprisingly well; it was delicious.

The next order of emergency backup food was Honu’s pupu platter. It arrived with four items arranged around its central miniature hibachi: Freshly made veggie spring rolls, pork spring rolls, Korean BBQ Bulgogi beef, and a small portion of baby back pork ribs. Given Jeanie’s pork allergy, the division of labor here was clear. I found the thick meat on the baby back ribs to be fall-off-the-bone tender, maybe just a tiny bit dry, but with a really good BBQ sauce that more than made up for that. The pork spring rolls were nicely spiced and not the slightest bit greasy.

Jeanie, meanwhile, was pleased with the tender Bulgogi beef with its sprinkling of black goma seeds, and like me, found her veggie spring rolls to be perfectly crisp. A menu item that sometimes tends to be heavy on shredded cabbage, these were filled with a nice assortment of finely diced vegetables, including corn kernels, and were a cut above the usual. The pupu platter came with two dipping sauces – one spicy, the other a sort of citrus aioli, with a hint of mustard.

We kept the food coming. The “Dos Tacos” menu item we had delivered with Huli Chicken as our choice of protein. Apart from the chicken, the two generously-filled tacos also had a creamy cilantro-spiked sauce, and what we determined to be a fresh-made pineapple-chile-ginger-tomatillo salsa. The tacos were spicy – just about right for me, but too much for Jeanie, so I ended up throwing myself on them and cheerfully performing the necessary deed.

Jeanie instead ordered herself a scoop of macadamia ice cream. I only got a tiny taste of that, but it was really, really delicious – clearly, many real macadamia nuts had been harmed in its making.

I could not possibly eat any more at his point, so for my dessert I ventured off of the Tiki drink classics list and ordered a Puako Sunset. Served up in a cocktail coupe, it was like a classic fizz drink gone tropical, with its flavors – which included pineapple, lemon, pomegranate, and orgeat — so well balanced that it was difficult to distinguish where one flavor ended and the next began. Overall, a nifty balancing act, particularly with the orgeat and the pineapple, which was distinguishable more in the nose than as a standout flavor.

At this point we discovered there were more tropical drink choices on the back of the menu that we had missed, but it was too late – we were done, in more ways than one.

In sum: The Honu was a class act. Of the four bars billed as Tiki that we visited while in Florida – all of which were enjoyable, some of them very much so – The Honu, it is safe to say, was our best all-around Tiki experience. The ambience, the food, the drink were all on point, encouraging us to hang out for hours and soak it all in. Our favorite pick off of the food menu was The Stack, and of all of the great drinks we tried, the Honu Punch impressed us the most … if you find yourself at The Honu, by all means order their signature drink!

Here is The Honu Website

And Facebook Page