TAKING ON THE CITY WITH KNIFE AND FORK.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

HONOLULU - Alan Wong calls it ``Hawaiian regional cuisine.'' Roy Yamaguchi prefers ``Hawaiian fusion.'' Glen Chu goes for ``Eurasian cuisine.''

Whichever description the chefs choose, a renaissance in Hawaiian dining is in full cry as upscale restaurants - notably in Honolulu - have made daring departures from the tried-and-true staples of unadorned broiled fish filets and anything teriyaki.

The cutting edge today employs fresh island produce (and at this latitude, it is abundant), fresh local fish (ditto - and it's diverse, too), European cooking styles (notably in the sauces) and zesty Asian spices. As such, the cuisine of Hawaii mirrors the cultural melange for which the islands have long been noted.

Take a few chances at any of these restaurants and you're likely to log one of your more pleasant vacation memories:

Alan Wong's: Don't be fooled by appearances. When you arrive at this restaurant downtown, you might wonder if you were given the wrong address. It is housed in a plain-looking office building, but after you ride the elevator to the restaurant, you spill out into a stylish dining room that feeds off the energy of the open kitchen.

Some of the dishes present startling ethnic marriages. The appetizer menu includes a Chinese-style barbecued pork quesadilla. The Caesar salad includes kalua pig (found on every luau menu). A ribeye steak on the main-course menu is grilled over Hawaiian kiawe wood (which is called mesquite in Texas) and served with an Italian side dish, linguine tossed in bagna cauda.

This is the South Seas, however, and it seems foolhardy to miss out on their bounty. Opakapaka, Hawaiian pink snapper, is a light deep-water fish, and it's pan-steamed here to preserve its succulence. Another local fish, onaga, is crusted in ginger.

1857 S. King St., [phone]; www.alanwongs.com.

Indigo: At the edge of Chinatown, this restaurant provides a profoundly romantic dining experience. Great paper globes cover the lights on a bare-brick patio, and the fountain in the neighboring plaza gurgles the street noise away.

Chu says he was inspired to be a chef from the family feasts orchestrated by his Chinese grandmother, and the dining experience here reflects it. We could have made an entire meal of the dim sum appetizers, notably the shrimp and scallop dumplings with lemon grass chili sauce and the plump lobster pot stickers with chili soy sauce.

A highlight of the entree menu was moi fish roasted in banana leaves.

1121 Nuuanu Ave., [phone], www.indigo-hawaii.com.

Roy's: Since he opened a restaurant in Hawaii Kai (just east of Honolulu) in 1988, Roy Yamaguchi has been one busy restaurateur - his establishments now span the continental United States, including Southern California outlets in Newport Beach, Rancho Mirage and La Jolla.

In Hawaii, the settings tend to be nondescript - boxy dining rooms in shopping centers, far from the prime settings along the shoreline. But the exceptional quality of the food quickly trumps ambience.

Try the roasted macadamia nut mahi mahi served in lobster cognac butter sauce. Better yet, peruse the entire page of nightly specials and simply ask the server what's good. We've followed this method at Roy's restaurants on Kauai, Maui and in Honolulu and have never been steered wrong.

Chardonnay goes great with all that island fish, and Yamaguchi has contracted with the peerless Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat winery in the Santa Maria Valley to make a superb one for the Roy's label. It's priced at $40.

6600 Kalanaianaole Highway (it's hard to find; call the restaurant in advance for directions), [phone], www.roysrestaurant.com.

John Dominis: This restaurant on the waterfront, established in 1979, doesn't have the cutting-edge cachet of the restaurants listed above, but it has a long-standing reputation for excellence.

The opakapaka we had here was the best we tasted over a week in Honolulu. The menu features a lot of fresh local fish, along with lobster, tiger prawns and crab, and the setting is divine: overlooking the waterfront and the twinkling lights of the city.

43 Ahui St., [phone], www.johndominishawaii.com.

Chef Mavro: This downtown restaurant, which trumpets its ``dazzling fusion of Hawaiian-French cuisine,'' has created considerable buzz - all the more so since the master of its cuisine, George Mavrothalassitis, recently won the James Beard Best Chef Award for Hawaii/Pacific Northwest.

The prices spooked us away here. Chef Mavro is noted for its ability to match courses to suitable wines, and although many of the by-the-glass prices are reasonable, the main-course prices (high $30s) and appetizers (high teens) can push a couple's bill above $200 without much effort.

1969 S. King St., [phone], www.chefmavro.com.

La Mer: Another delectable melding of Hawaiian items and French cooking styles, La Mer combines its upscale menu with something Chef Mavro and the other celebrity chefs can't offer: oceanfront dining in the Halekulani hotel, which sits on Waikiki Beach. (Mavrothalassitis was the chef here before opening his own place.)

This is a worthy splurge. The South-of-France stylings of chef Yves Garnier are combined with excellent service in a setting caressed by ocean breezes. Be sure to save room for one of the unimaginably elaborate desserts.

2199 Kalia Road, [phone], www.halekulani.com.