Bon Appétit magazine recently honored an eatery in Chinatown as one of the 20 best new restaurants in the country this year.
Giovedì is a little gem located on Hotel Street that also just won a HONOLULU Magazine Hale ʻAina Award for Best New Restaurant. It’s in good company at that location, sandwiched between fellow Hale ʻAina winners from years past: Fête and Pizza Mamo.
HPR contributor Sarah Burchard caught up with the owners of Giovedì — Jen Akiyoshi and chef Bao Tran — to talk about their big win and the path they took to get there.
“When we started this project, getting these awards and accolades was never part of the vision. Our plan since the beginning was: We need to serve what we're most proud of and the things that we love the most in this world, and offer the same kind of hospitality that we would expect from the best places that we've dined in or worked in — and that was always the main goal,” Tran said.
Akiyoshi and Tran met in New York City while working in the restaurant industry and found that they both shared a love for food and hospitality.
After working for a separate restaurant group, the pair quit their jobs in 2022 to pursue their dream of opening up their own space where they could have full creative control.
Giovedì made its mark as a pop-up in February 2023, and by June 2024, their Chinatown restaurant that infuses Italian and Asian cuisine opened its doors.
“I think kind of moving to Hawaiʻi, where Jennifer was born and raised, really gave us the opportunity to take a step back and explore what it means to provide hospitality, not just in a restaurant sense, but more as a community,” Tran said.
“So we moved to Chinatown about a year after we first moved back to Hawaiʻi, and fell in love with the neighborhood, just the old school charm, the great restaurant scene here that existed, and just the sense of community was greater than anything I have experienced in New York.”
Giovedì means "Thursday" in Italian, which Akiyoshi said plays into their vision for how it feels to be in the restaurant.
“We wanted to have a place where people felt like they were in our home, where they were comfortable being themselves, where they felt like they could relax, kick back, be loud, have a date, celebrate something, maybe have a bad day, and come to the restaurant and feel like they were at home," Akiyoshi said.
“Our dream, and our goal for the future, is to be around for a long time, and I think that both of us kind of touched upon this, but treating your guests is great, and we always want to treat our guests well, but treat your team even better than that.”
Contributor Sarah Burchard has a history with Akiyoshi and Tran, working with them when they ran Mad Bene in Kapolei. And a fun fact, Burchard helps out as a part-time server at Giovedì.
This story aired on The Conversation on Nov. 24, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. This story has been adapted for the web.
