Yakiniku Million

Always wonder what goes on behind the scenes at your favorite restaurant? Well, much credit goes to the many chefs, owners and managers who work diligently day in and day out to make sure Hawaii’s diners have a top-notch dining experience.

This week, Dining Out got the inside scoops from Yakiniku Million manager Diana Paik, who gave us a little taste of Yakiniku Million and shared just what fuels the restaurant’s culinary drive.

Name: Diana Paik
Title: Manager
Years at Yakiniku Million: 25 years

Who or what inspires you as a chef/manager/owner?

We like to serve our customers good food. When they always come back, that makes us happy to keep the restaurant going!

What’s your most popular dish?

We have lots of dishes that are customer favorites. The Stone Pot Bi Bim Bap is always popular, and people like the Soft Tofu Soup and Spicy Kalbi Soup, too. Of course, the Meat Jun is popular for local people and they say ours is the best!

Is there a dish that you create that’s not on your menu, but available upon request?

We have specials that we come up with that are not on the menu. Customers can order Kalbi Seaweed Soup, our Pollock (dried fish) Soup, or Mung Bean Pancake, and they know about it because we talked about it in Dining Out, or they saw it posted in the restaurant.

What is the biggest compliment you’ve ever received as a chef/manager/owner?

Our customers say that Meat Jun is their favorite and is the best! Because it’s such a popular local dish, to say ours is the best is a great compliment! They also say our barbecue (yakiniku) is the best quality.

If you could serve food to a celebrity, who would it be and why? What dish would you serve?

We have actually served quite a few Korean actors and actresses from TV and movies! They come to our restaurant when they are in Hawaii, and that is a big honor. Some Korean professional golfers have come to eat here, too. They have tried our Potato Pork Neck Soup and say it’s better than Korea! A local celebrity we have served is Sam Choy, he likes our meat jun a lot, and the meat jun sauce recipe in his cookbook is from our restaurant!

Million Restaurant