it may not have been 50 years of bliss, maybe a year or two or three of headache and toil but in
any case, fifty years of continuous marriage to the same person is a rarity in today’s society. I
had to add the “same person” part because Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor both may have
had close to 50 years of marriage but that’s the cumulative of 7 or 8 spouses or so. Or in
Elizabeth Taylor’s case, a repeat of one of the spouses.
Party Favors
We started with customized cookies from Larry’s Wholesale Bakery in Honolulu. They offer 3
and 4 inch shortbread cookies that are customized with a photo and message of your choice.
The only drawback to the anniversary cookies was that a gold border wasn’t available for the
golden anniversary so we chose the next closest alternative, brilliant yellow. I originally intended
on using Mom & Dad’s wedding photo but Iris at Larry’s Wholesale Bakery also made a sample
cookie with another photo of my parents caught in a “spontaneous” moment instead of that
staged photograph you usually have for the wedding photographer. And Mom usually never
smiles for photographs, she often has a confused or worse, angry look (and this was before
raising any children so you can’t blame the offspring).
Once again, we also went to Lynn Lum of Little Craft Shack and Chibikko for centerpieces and
seating arrangement cards. Lynn previously provided the favors for Dad’s 80th birthday party a
year earlier. Once again, she did a superlative job with miniature figurines of the guests as place
settings and lacquered origami cranes in a clear vase for centerpieces.
Wedding Cake
We ordered a two tier chocolate and strawberry (Mom’s favorite flavor is chocolate, Dad’s is
strawberry) wedding cake from Raymond Siu of Pah Ke’s Chinese Restaurant. Raymond now has
a bakery in the 99 Ranch Market and also provides desserts for several airlines. The Mrs originally
wanted gold dust or chocolate fondant to cover the cake but Raymond recommended chocolate
ganache since it would provide the most flavor (fondant makes beautiful cakes but doesn’t have
much flavor since it’s simply sugar, water and food coloring).
What About the Food?
We decided to have a lunch buffet at 3660 on the Rise for several reasons. 3660 on the Rise is
located in downtown Kaimuki which means that guests don’t have to venture into the heart of
Waikiki. It’s enough navigating into Waikiki with its myriad of one way streets, thousands of
tourists (many of them crossing against the light or jaywalking) then once you reach your
destination, having to find the entrance to the parking which may be on the side or back of the
hotel. Since several relatives flew in from the neighbor islands and driving into Waikiki would
essentially be the same as driving on Market Street, avoiding Waikiki at all costs would be the
first priority. Many of said relatives were also getting on in years and preferred to drive during
the day if possible.
Therefore a luncheon party at 3660 on the Rise would fulfill most of our requirements. If you’re
wondering how we fit everyone into a restaurant, 3660 has four banquet areas behind the main
restaurant that can be used individually or combined to a large room. For lunch, they offer 8
different three course meals for a 20 head count minimum ranging from $16 for soup, sandwich
and ice cream up to $29 for a Caesar salad, beef tenderloin and strawberry shortcake. Since we
had a little over 60 guests, we opted for the luncheon buffet. The buffet is offered as a mix and
match starting at $24 for 2 entrees up to $36 for the 3 entrée selection along with a Prime rib
carving station. The minimum head count for the buffet is 40 guests. Chef/owner Russell Siu
specializes in Euro Asian cuisine and frequently participates in food and wine fundraiser events
along with the 12 founding chefs of Hawaii Regional Cuisine.
All buffets include the mesclun Nalo green salad with lemon miso vinaigrette, Asian cellophane
noodle salad, tri-color pasta with pesto aioli, edamame salad, fresh fruit, Asian slaw and taro
rolls along with rice, mashed potatoes or roasted baby potatoes and wok fried vegetables.
We selected the Nori Wrapped Atlantic Salmon with Yuzu Butter Sauce – perfectly cooked 2
ounce portions of salmon with an Asian beurre blanc. I was surprised at the consistency of the
salmon. Usually buffet cooked fish tends to be overcooked either by the warming Sterno cans
under the tray or because mass preparation errs on the side of overdone versus underdone. We
also choose the Shichimi Seared Breast of Chicken, Soy Citrus Sauce – tender slices of chicken
breast in a thickened ponzu sauce. Once again, the chicken breasts were tender and juicy, not
dry and overcooked like you may experience at other buffets. The 3rd entrée was the Asian Style
Braised Shoulder of Beef, Scented with Star Anise, Shiitake Mushroom & Tomatoes – melt-in-
your-mouth (falling off the bone if it were cooked on the bone) slices of braised beef with
hints of Asian spice. I would order this dish as a stand alone entrée if it were available in the
restaurant!
The salad items also stood out on their own merits. The Asian cellophane noodle was a little like
the Korean side dish, chap chae except that wider, linguini type Asian noodles were used and the
seasoning had only had a hint of sesame oil. I’m also still trying to recreate the edamame salad.
It was a little like the ubiquitous mayonnaise based green pea salad but used edamame instead of
green peas.
They also included about 4 different desserts though we did try to plan the wedding cake
cutting to precede desserts since we did order the wedding cake especially for the party and 3660
desserts will always be available.
Since its been several years since we actually dined in the restaurant section of 3660 on the Rise,
we’ll probably be making an overdue visit soon.
Would We Do It Again?
Planning a 50th anniversary does take quite a bit of work. Then again, 50th anniversaries aren’t
very common and they’re usually only celebrated once in a lifetime. We were very pleased with
the work that Iris at Larry’s Wholesale Bakery, Lynn Lum of the Little Craft Shack, Raymond Siu
and Pah Ke’s Bakery and the staff at 3660 on the Rise did. Our orders were executed as promised
and the facilities at 3660 were more than adequate. If you do plan to celebrate a special
occasion in Hawaii, I would highly recommend any of the vendors mentioned.
3660 on the Rise Larry’s Wholesale Bakery Little Craft Shack
3660 Waialae Avenue 4369 Lawehana Street Bay #3 727 Kinau Street
Honolulu, HI 96816 Honolulu, HI 96818 Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 737-1177 (808) 422-0059 (808) 537-9472