Mana Musubi

Found out about this place by one of my good friends but my boyfriend and I frequent this place whenever I'm in town visiting every month. It's a great place to grab a snack for the road or as a quick breakfast before a hike or beach day. They open really early and tend to sell out of items so try to go as early as possible. Cute little shop that has no seating and is basically a grab and go type joint. The gals that work there are really sweet and are always polite and apologetic when they ran out of items I'm want.Parking isn't the best. There is probably 4 parking spots for like 3-4 businesses so try to get in and get out so others can have their turn and grabbing some deliciousness.

Today, 11-8-24, we woke up earlier and got to Mana Musubi by 9:10am and they were open and had a good selection of musubis.We picked up our usual like Salmon, Salmon & Tobiko, Teri Spam.

Delicious hidden gem! My friend and I swung by to pick up some musubi before picking up our packets for the Honolulu marathon. It was such a great find! Walking distance from the convention center. We loved the variety! My friend has crohns and is unable to eat a lot of gluten products (soy too), but there were SO many options. You can tell each musubi was made with a lot of care. The shop owner was also there helping us check out. It just felt very personal. And best of all it tastes delicious! Highly recommend if you're in the area to swing by and load up on some of your musubi needs.

Thanks to the recent rundown in Frolic Hawaii about the best musubi shops in Honolulu, we decided to try this one for lunch. We have our favorites on our walking route, but also really enjoyed Mana Musubi and would definitely come back.It's located in the little shopping center near Inaba and Baskin Robbins. They have free dedicated parking outside. The shop is tiny, with the front shelves with musubi, and a larger kitchen at the back. On the morning I went, there were about a dozen to choose from; I got the feeling they had more earlier and were already selling out for the day. I got baked salmon, salmon, spicy tuna, vegetable curry, and another to try. All three of us enjoyed the quality, especially for the reasonable prices. Everything tasted fresh and I enjoyed the little placards with information about where the rice was grown and about the other ingredients.The cashier was very welcoming and happy to help, I brought my own bag and she filled it. There's a $10 minimum for credit card. They have a small selection of teas and other drinks, prices for these are reasonable too.If you love musubi and want better quality, this is worth checking out.

All musubis are not created equal. Isn't a musubi plain rice with a filling a wrapped with nori seaweed, you say? Yes, but not just any musubi. Just ask Manabu and Fumiyo Asaoka, owners of the only musubi shop in Honolulu, Mana Musubi, whose staff wear chefs' hats and coats. Musubi is a simple rice dish brought into the US in the late 19th century by Japanese immigrants who worked in the farms, with the musubis being able to be left out for long hours before being eaten and without getting spoiled. A typical musubi consists of a handful of cooked rice shaped into a triangle with some seasonings, fillings, and/or toppings. Note that the term "musubi" is used more by the older residents in Yamaguchi and Hiroshima prefectures of Japan, and these are the areas where most of Hawaii's Japanese immigrants came from. Whereas, the term "nigiri" is the more common name used by the rest of Japan.The Asaoka's opened a quality boutique musubi shop in 2008, which is still very popular today. Manabu's background was an insurance underwriter for 16 years in Tokyo and a master's degree in communication from HI Pacific University focusing on customer satisfaction in intercultural business environments. Wife Fumiyo as a licensed nutritionist that helps to create healthy eating habits, they felt that their musubi shop was the best medium to showcase authentic Japanese food culture to local American families. Their enthusiasm and dedication to quality and excellent customer service have them this shop a favorite in HI's local food scene that have had them featured nationally on Food Network and the Travel Channel television programs.Mana Musubi offers 5 different kinds of rice: basic white, Japanese white, brown, 10-grain, and pilaf. Various fillings include: ume; kombu; shiso-wakame; spam; salmon; salmon & tabiko; regular, spicy, and crunchy ume tuna mayo; mentaiko; ground beef sukiyaki; sekihan; veggie curry; shiitake chicken. All use high quality ingredients, e.g., the rice is lightly seasoned with Hawaiian sea salt, and the nori is of sushi quality. Each musubi is individually wrapped with a cellphane wrapper that easily disengages for easy eating.I've tried a number of the musubis, and they are perfectly cooked and made properly. Rice is fluffy with whole grains intact, and the respective taste of the rice and fillings are flavorful without being overpowering. The proportion of rice to filling is excellent. My favorites include tuna mayo and kombu; whereas the public's best sellers are baked salmon and tuna mayo.The little shop is clean and bright. With each variety of musubi, there is a card in English that defines its rice, slat, nori seaweed, and other ingredients to ensure its quality. The Asaoka's are out in front with smiles and are anxious to answer any questions that you may have. You can also use their cute colorful plastic baskets to hold your musubi before paying.Hours of operation are Tues to Sat 6:30a to 12:30p and Sun closed; however, for almost all days, they will easily sell out of their inventory before their scheduled time of closure. (There have been times when I've arrived at 9:15a, and they were already closed due to being sold out!) To avoid any disappointment, you can order on their Advance Order Form 24 hours prior to pick-up to have your order ready for the next day. Cash and credit cards can be used; however, there is a minimum charge for credit cards. Free parking is available in the small shopping complex fronting the musubi shop.Note that the Asaoka's have also authored The Musubi Book in 2018 that explains all you need to know about musubis and their passion of them. It is colorfully illustrated by their niece who lives in Japan.Musubis are so convenient as a lunch for work, school picnics, sporting events, field trips, and for just eating at any time. I love to visit this shop but need to remember that the early bird gets the worm. And once you start eating and enjoying the musubis here, you will have a growing appreciation for musubis just like I do! Support local!

First impressions - a sweet but small little shop. Neat and minimalist setup. No frills or gimmicks... just showcasing their amazing Musubis! The Noms - *Custard - their custard was very light but still rich and creamy. Loved the caramel sugar sauce at the bottom, not too sweet. If I had room I would have eaten another one, lol. *Baked salmon - delicious, I loved the hint of salt in the salmon, gave the rice just the right amount of saltiness *Curry tuna mayo - my favorite onigiri is the tuna mayo I get from the konbinis in Japan.. this one was extra delicious*Spam lite + egg cake - review coming soon *Sweet + spicy spam - review coming soon *Local sausage - review coming soon ***I bought two of each but can't eat them all at once... Will update review as I consume by the beach! In conclusion - 10/10 would highly recommend this place. You should go early because they sell out (hours are 6:30am-12:30pm or until they sell out). The first time I tried to visit, it was sold out at 10am! Waahhh! So this time I made sure to come in at 7am, plenty left!

Got a group of volunteers to make Genki Balls to support the Genki Ala Wai Project this past Saturday. If you don't know about the mission, it is to use bioremediation to clean and restore the Ala Wai canal to make it swimmable and fishable within 7 years.I wanted to get snacks for the team and thought musubis. Enter Mana Musubi. Go to their website and find an ordering form. Email it to them 24 hours in advance and specify your day and pick up time. It was truly just as easy as that. The morning of pick up. They had it all ready. All individually wrapped and labeled. I got 60 of them, assorted ones. They disappeared pretty quickly as my colleagues, their friends, keiki, kupuna, all enjoyed their musubi. I saw smiles and countless times people said how good or ono they were.To the staff at Mana Musubi, thank you for making ordering and pick up so easy and for a superior product that was loved by many.

Mana Musubi is so ono that if you eat them fresh, it's the best and, if you save it for two days later because eating more than three musubis at a time is unconventional, it's still just as delicious! If you do save the musubi, put it in the fridge then use a moist paper towel to drape it when in the microwave so it keeps the rice soft and warm.They have a minimum of $10 for credit card, which is about 5 musubis, so they're definitely worth it!Also the chef and front staff are always kind and accommodating. I called one time and told them I'd be 5 min past their closing time, and they were so kind to not only stay open for me, but they also packed me a few extra musubis to-go. You can't find a better place for musubis and great customer service!

Yummy musubi and a great start to the day! I think my favorite is the salmon and curry tuna mayo, but they were all good in their own way. I will definitely be back

At the end of the day they sell musubi/onigiri. The shop it small but offers many different types of onigiri. We tried a lot of them and they were all fine- a few had seasoning mishaps, such as being too talk and room sweet. Everything is fresh!