Long before Alan Wong became one of the names that defined modern Hawaii Regional Cuisine, he opened the kitchen at CanoeHouse at Mauna Lani on the Big Island in 1989. That same oceanfront restaurant is in the national spotlight again, because its current executive chef, Rhoda Magbitang, just won Bravo’s Top Chef.
The line from Wong to Magbitang is what makes this more than a television result. One Big Island kitchen has now produced a founder of Hawaii Regional Cuisine and a national Top Chef champion, a lineage few restaurants in the islands can claim.
The chef who just won Top Chef.
Rhoda Magbitang, executive chef of CanoeHouse at Mauna Lani, won Bravo’s Top Chef Season 23, filmed across North and South Carolina. The finale aired June 8, 2026, and Auberge announced the win the following day.
She beat finalists Sherry Cardoso and Laurence Louie and took the $250,000 grand prize. She is the first Top Chef winner from Hawaii and the first woman to win since Melissa King in Season 17.
Her season was not a simple rise from start to finish. She won the first two elimination challenges, a first for the show, then went out in episode 5 after a monkfish dish that did not land with the judges.
From there, she fought back through Last Chance Kitchen and returned to the main competition. That run made her only the fourth chef to win the title after coming back through Last Chance Kitchen, joining Kristen Kish, Brooke Williamson, and Joe Flamm.
From Alan Wong to Rhoda Magbitang’s Top Chef kitchen.
CanoeHouse is not a new name borrowing a new chef’s fame. The restaurant has long been tied to Hawaii Regional Cuisine, with Alan Wong’s early CanoeHouse years connected to the movement that changed how Hawaii food was seen far beyond the islands.
A restaurant carrying that much lineage cannot coast on a great beach setting, resort polish, or the glow from a television win, which is part of what makes Rhoda Magbitang’s arrival there interesting.
Her cooking at CanoeHouse is described as Japanese-inspired with modern Hawaiian flavors and a focus on local produce and seasonality. Recent menu coverage highlights dishes including Wagyu short rib in Massaman curry with lime and macadamia nuts, crispy sweet potatoes with seaweed and anchovy, and blistered sugar snap peas with wasabi vinaigrette and goat cheese.
What Magbitang’s win says about Filipino Hawaii.
The finale menu is where the win becomes more than just another Hawaii hospitality headline. Magbitang cooked a four-course progression rooted in her own Filipino family memory, with sweet potato and uni, lugaw, tortang talong, and kaldereta with short rib.
That in itself is a significant food story in Hawaii. Filipino families are deeply woven into island life, yet Filipino food and chefs have received far less national attention than other aspects of Hawaii’s dining identity.
She did not win by flattening that influence into something more generically Hawaii. She won with food tied to her identity, and the dishes that shaped her before she ever ran this luxury restaurant kitchen.
That is why she received Hawaii Senate floor recognition that was more than ceremonial. Senator Schatz celebrated Magbitang and Maui chef Lee Anne Wong for national competition wins set within Hawaii’s broader food culture.
The setting beyond the table.
Part of what makes CanoeHouse unusual is its surroundings. The restaurant sits oceanfront at Mauna Lani near the Kalahuipuaa fishponds, ancient Hawaiian aquaculture that predates the resort by centuries and still holds water today.
The same grounds hold the ponds where Mauna Lani has raised and released green sea turtles for decades, part of a long-running local tradition on July 4th called Turtle Independence Day. Guests can walk the historic shoreline trail past the fishponds and petroglyph areas, which gives an evening here a sense of place well beyond the plate.
That is one reason CanoeHouse has always been more than a dining room with a view. The restaurant sits in a landscape where food history, resort history, and Hawaii history overlap, sometimes comfortably and sometimes with the tension that comes whenever sacred and historic places become luxury destinations.
For visitors, the better approach is not to treat CanoeHouse as a quick drive-in dinner if the schedule allows more. Arriving early, walking the grounds, and understanding what surrounds the restaurant make the meal feel less detached from the place where it is held.
We’ve eaten at CanoeHouse multiple times.
We have eaten at CanoeHouse several times, most recently just months ago, which is unusual for us since we rarely return to the same restaurant. Going back gave us a different way into this story, because the real question for Hawaii travelers is not only who won on television, but what it is actually like to dine at the restaurant now carrying so much attention.
One disappointment on the last visit was that the separate vegetarian menu was no longer offered. That had always been a standout for us, especially paired with the seafood options. Almost everything else held up, including the oceanfront setting, the fish preparation, and dining outdoors under the stars, with indoor seating also available (pictured). The service was the one soft spot, attentive enough but only okay on the night, short of what a room and a kitchen at this level should deliver.
How you can dine with the Top Chef winner.
CanoeHouse is a good Big Island high-end dining option at Mauna Lani, open from 5:30 to 9:30 pm. Guests can reserve a table on OpenTable or via the restaurant; reservations are recommended, and valet parking is complementary.
A new event-driven option is Mauna Lani’s Top Chef dinner series. On September 11 and 12, 2026, Magbitang is scheduled to host From Carolina to Kohala with fellow Season 23 chef Duyen Ha, a two-night, six-course series tied to their Top Chef experience. That event does have a caveat. Mauna Lani’s own page currently describes the September dinner as exclusively for hotel guests, with details and reservations listed as coming soon.
On January 7, 2027, Mauna Lani lists An Evening of Kamayan with Chef Rhoda Magbitang, a communal Filipino family-style dinner centered on shared plates, seasonal Hawaiian ingredients, and open-fire cooking. Its current language invites hotel guests rather than clearly opening the dinner to everyone, and it also says reservations as coming soon.
Have you dined at CanoeHouse? We invite you to add your comments about the experience.
Lead Photo: © Beat of Hawaii at CanoeHouse.
By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.
Some of the most meaningful parts of Hawaii are the ones visitors walk right past without knowing they are there. We’ve spent two decades finding them firsthand for BOH as full-time Hawaii residents reporting on travel, culture, and island life, and telling you what they mean for your trip. Join us →
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