RUMFIRE

Sheraton Waikiki hotel, 952-3473 (952-FIRE)

At this hotel restaurant/lounge/ bar, instead of kitsch, there's class: dark wood interiors accented by brilliant shades of amber and setting-sun orange. Instead of walls, the beachfront restaurant is brilliantly equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows that open up to an incredible view of the ocean and Diamond Head. There's a long cocktail menu designed by a world-class mixologist. And the sophisticated menu, with its local ingredients and tributes to Island-style grinds, is entertaining and appealing. Highly recommended: Chef Colin Hazama's inside-out musubi ($17), four rectangles of formed rice, two topped with smoked 'ahi and rolled in shards of seaweed, and two topped with togarashi beef and rolled in tiny, sphere-shaped rice crackers to give them a welcome crunch.

— Kawehi Haug, Advertiser Staff Writer

PHUKET THAI

401 Kamake'e St., Suite 102; 591-8421

For a special night, you want not only good food, but atmosphere. At the new Phuket Thai, you get both. The large room is decorated in warm tones of cinnamon and chocolate and cream, there's a full bar, and the gracious servers wear French-style calf-length aprons. To impress your date, start with the cold long rice salad with shrimp, a cool melange of thin rice vermicelli, crisp vegetables and herbs. Move on to the Thai basil (with chicken, beef, calamari, shrimp or a mixed seafood) — a spunky stir-fry of vegetables and herbs. And then have a curry with an order of sticky rice.

— Wanda A. Adams, Advertiser Food Editor

BEIJING CHINESE SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Royal Hawaiian Center; 971-8833

Want to show your date that there's more to Chinese food than lemon chicken? Beijing will rock his or her world. The restaurant is a beautiful space of wood, stone, starched linen and gracious appointments. Highly recommended: fried scallops in a minced sauce of green onion, red pepper and garlic, delicately coated with a light breading and flash-seared; fried rice with diced chicken and garlic ($8.95). Do not miss the steamed egg white and fresh cream ($3.75) — warm egg white and milk custard, subtly sweet and suffused with ginger juice.

— W.A.A.

DORAKU

Royal Hawaiian Center, 922-3323

Doraku serves chic specialty sushi and sake in an upscale atmosphere, and boasts rare sake selections. The surroundings are lovely, gorgeously designed in a sleek contemporary style but with lots of stone and wood. The menu is long, but the thing to order here is the specialty stuff, the fusion rolls. Our hands-down favorites: the Cuban beef roll (grilled steak and asparagus with chimichurri, Latin America's answer to chili pepper water) and the classic Doraku roll ($13.75); lobster and cream cheese). Also great: the hot appetizer of black mussels steamed in sake and served with a sweet yuzu miso sauce ($9.75), briny but not salty.

— W.A.A.