{"id":212195,"date":"2025-03-12T15:40:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T01:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=212195"},"modified":"2025-03-12T15:53:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T01:53:23","slug":"uh-alumni-tim-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/12\/uh-alumni-tim-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"From UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa to America\u2019s best restaurant: Tim Lee\u2019s journey"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

\"Tim<\/p>\n

In 2023, Yelp honored Broken Mouth<\/a> in Los Angeles as the No. 1 restaurant in the U.S., propelling its owner, University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa alumnus Tim Lee, into the national spotlight.<\/p>\n

Broken Mouth is a play on the Hawaiian pidgin phrase “broke da mout,” used to describe exceptionally delicious food. Lee’s menu features dishes such as Spam musubi with purple rice, garlic butter shrimp, and meat jun.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, I think what sets us apart is the Aloha and hospitality from the islands that we brought to show people out here what Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is all about,” Lee said. “It\u2019s a combination of both hospitality and service and great food.”<\/p>\n

Oʻahu<\/span> roots<\/h2>\n

Lee grew up on Oʻahu<\/span>, where his uncle owned a Korean restaurant. He initially pursued business administration, but soon switched to hospitality, a field that felt more connected to his upbringing. After graduating from UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s Travel Industry Management School in 2007, Lee moved to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

“I originally didn\u2019t know that I wanted to be in restaurants, but eventually I realized it was my calling,” Lee said. “In 2017, I decided to leave the corporate world and open up my own little shop.”<\/p>\n

That “little shop” became a nationwide sensation. Broken Mouth quickly earned a devoted following, culminating in its No. 1 ranking.<\/p>\n

Lessons from Mānoa<\/h2>\n

For Lee, the lessons and relationships built at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa continue to inspire his journey.<\/p>\n

“The greatest thing that I got out of the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> were the friendships, bonds, and memories that I created with friends that I am still close with today. There\u2019s just great all-around people from UH<\/abbr>.”<\/p>\n

His story is a testament to how UH<\/abbr> alumni carry the spirit of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> with them, making an impact wherever they go.<\/p>\n

Learn more about other outstanding UH<\/abbr> Alumni.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> Mānoa alum Tim Lee\u2019s Broken Mouth was named Yelp\u2019s No. 1 U.S. restaurant, blending Aloha spirit with Korean-Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> flavors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,271,319],"class_list":["post-212195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-uh-alumni-association","tag-uh-foundation","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212195"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212204,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212195\/revisions\/212204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}