Wow Wow Hawaiian Lemonade, a chain specializing in fresh-squeezed juices and healthy bites like acai bowls and avocado toast, has opened a new location in Berkeley.
The restaurant opened in April at 2332 Telegraph Ave., the former home of Japanese convenience store J-Town Express. Wow Wow specializes in takeout and is well positioned to attract the UC Berkeley student masses.
Wow Wow Hawaiian Lemonade started on Oahu as a small business serving locally inspired tropical drinks to farmers and night markets. It spread to Maui as a lemonade trailer, then to a brick-and-mortar store in Kihei, and now has other branches across the United States as far as Florida. This is the third Wow Wow in the Bay Area, with others in Vacaville and Livermore.
The restaurant is particularly known for its colorful lemonades, made with freshly squeezed lemons and an assortment of tropical fruits like coconut, pineapple and lilikoi (passion fruit). There are options for topping your drink with mango or strawberry floats, adding blue spirulina – which, despite its Wikipedia definition of a “cyanobacteria biomass” is generally considered healthy – and mixing in ginger infusions or lavender.
Acai bowls include a Cacao Energy with maca root (aka Peruvian ginseng); gluten-free granola, banana and cocoa pieces and custard; and a Cold Brew Crave with coffee, coconut, macadamia nuts and strawberry. Other bowls omit the acai, like the Superfruit Pitaya with dragonfruit and blueberry and the Blue Hawaii with almond milk, dates and coconut butter.
The restaurant’s small plates range from avocado toast with microgreens or hard-boiled eggs, lilikoi butter toast with strawberries, a berry almond flatbread sandwich, and a berry flatbread. black lava with hummus, vegetables and lava salt. There are also superfood smoothies with ingredients like acai, coconut water, almond milk, and fresh berries.
The spot is run by franchise owner Stephen Choi, who recently told the Daily Californian: “I think it could really benefit the area because it can provide a vacation-like getaway when you have a refreshing drink.” »
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