Mana Bu's

Mana Bu's (Honolulu, Hawaii) is a small food establishment on South King Street known for their various musubi (onigiri) options. On the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," Aida Mollenkamp mentioned Mana Bu's musubi as her "regional favorite."

Mana Bu's posts their business hours and when they stock their various musubis

My father and I arrived at about 12:15 p.m. on a Saturday. Mana Bu's opens from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, so we were basically getting the last of the musubis that day. However, to my delight, Mana Bu's still had their three most popular musubis on the shelf.

The "Baked Salmon" is the most popular, followed by their "Teri Spam Lite" musubi (this one was featured on the Food Network) and their "Tuna & Mayo" musubi.

Just a few of the musubis Mana Bu's offers

I thought all three musubis were pretty good. The rice was perfectly cooked on all of them, and I think that is huge in determining a musubi's quality.

I first tried the Baked Salmon, the #1 best seller. I wish there was just a bit more salmon for me to feast on. The salmon itself was nothing special and I wanted just a tad more seasoning on that. I will say it is a healthy option (although it would be more nutritious to have brown rice instead of white rice).

I liked the Teri Spam musubi the best. A nice piece of teriyaki spam in the middle gave the musubi nice flavor.

The tuna mayo musubi was much like the baked salmon: really nothing special and left me wanting more of the tuna. So basically, two of the top three bestsellers were merely average for my tastes.

Mana Bu's serves some good musubi, but they do run for about $1.40 to $1.60 each. I'd personally just make my own musubi to save some money, but if you're not in the mood to make your own, get to Mana Bu's early so you can see what they have to offer. They may run out over the course of the day.

Mana Bu's gets points for their quality and their variety of musubi, as well as the fine service they gave me. I can see why Aida was so high up on this place. Mana Bu's definitely knows what they are doing here. It's just that, for me, I'd prefer to just make my own. 6.5/10