The Rainbow Dining Room at the Maui Beach Hotel has been named the island's best buffet, a win for Filipino cooking in Hawaii's dining scene.

• Chef Tante Urban, a longtime Filipino chef who trained in Hawaii after moving from the Philippines in 1969, runs the kitchen.
• The breakfast buffet leans local, with bangus (milk fish), three kinds of pancakes including coconut and ube, plus the usual eggs, sausage, fruit, and yogurt.
• Weekend buffets go bigger: lechon pork belly, prime rib, crab legs, poke, shrimp cocktail, and a dessert station.
• The chef also runs Tante's Island Cuisine, a Filipino restaurant next door at the Maui Seaside Hotel.
• Walk-ins are fine, but reservations are taken by phone, and there are kamaaina deals plus a free birthday dinner for parties of six.

Outlook: Expect more attention on Filipino food as a rising force in Hawaii restaurants.