Amanda and Felix uncover the real Hawaii

Stuck at home with the breezy winds of Hawaii, Amanda spent her days stuck at home virtually looking around at food posts in a time of furlough and the pandemic. Eating was a passion and nothing better to fuel a passion project then delicious eats that were carved by some of the old school first wave Hawaii Vloggers such as Food Fiend, Sean Kaleponi "Hawaiian Traveler", and Authentically Charles that was practically all the foodie places on Hawaii You Tube. 

"During the pandemic when Amanda was furloughed, she wanted to try making YouTube videos because she felt like an artistic person without an outlet. With the decline of tourism and our economy affected we found ourselves supporting local businesses and wanting to encourage our friends and family to do the same.  In an attempt to combine our love for food, art and our home, we put ourselves out there and started filming videos for YouTube." -Felix

Amanda Yee is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Communications (now known as the School of Communication and Information). has become one of those creators on the YouTube Foodie Ohana with a second-generation of content makers capturing the everyday foods of Hawaii. She feels truly blessed and grateful for all the followers who have been there over the time to check out their foodie adventures. The grueling editing process of the videos, the filming, and the thumbnails of the videos are done with the artistic approach that Amanda brings to the table.

"While studying at UH Mānoa I didn’t know what I ultimately wanted to do with my life, but decided to major in Communications. I learned a lot about social media and mass marketing. After graduating, I found myself working in the travel and hotel industry, never using what I learned. Now I’m in the field that I actually majored in." -Amanda

Felix Le, is a graduate of Kapi‘olani Community College’s radiologic technology program and really has a big heart for food. He is one half of the popular Hawaii-based YouTube channel Amanda & Felix Eats who also grew up in Hawaii documenting his eats with his phone. Later that phone camera would be traded in for some much more expensive equipment, lenses and all as things started to pick up with web traffic. Felix has a limited schedule as a full-time radiologist and online influencer, so he has plenty of energy when it comes to the topic of ono kine grindz. Most of the research that goes behind the scenes and the planning is done by felix, but fans have gotten use to the direction of the videos of how its planned and can feel Felix's touch to the videos even if he's not editing them.

What started as a passion project for the two with maybe a hand full of followers of close-friends, casual updates, and family turned into something much bigger. There were goals like 1k by 2020, and by 2022 there was over 20,000 people who were checking them out, and now its over 60,000 subscribers. They would be making sure everyone was seen from those who were the mainstream, the known local eateries, the regional eats, and even down to the super hidden gems. 

“we kind of pride ourselves in having a closeness with our foodie ‘ohana.” She cites frequent commenters who leave positive feedback and who they’ve built a rapport with. In other words, she says, they focus on engagement “quality” over “quantity.” -Amanda

People even knew the third member of the group "The Von" who was known for her expertise in deducing every little bit and morsel till you could almost taste it through the screen. The format is what really brought people in with first the Von would be in many of the videos and then special guests would appear from time to time and then the international talents brought it to new heights. There would be like "Street Food", "Day Adventures in Hawaii", "The Best of Series", "Food Tours", "Eat Like a Local", "Hidden Gem", and the list would go on. One wave would hit and a new group of subscribers and then boom another one would hit and even more subscribers and they just kept on growing online family of foodies they would refer to as their "Foodie Ohana".

"Those guys! I just remember that when I was following them. And I mean it, they were like better than what was on TV. It felt more real and personal. It wasn't people who were unreachable, you know? They said hi when I saw them at the Farmers Market. I can tell you that they are the real deal you guys." -Mililani, Fan

Hawaii Business Magazine featured Amanda & Felix Eats on the cover of the June 2025 issue. Amanda says that getting on the front cover was not on the couples bingo card and it was like crazy and insane. The fans saw them when they were a couple (7-years.2025), then the husband-and-wife team , and the channel continued to grow. As they were able to connect themselves and others to local businesses they started to appreciate all the parts of a business in food by really getting to know the people behind the counter as well as the people in the kitchen. From the chef, to the supplier, to the waiter, to the host, and the manager, and the family that runs it only makes the food taste better with that local-touch. 

From the comments alone it shows that the couples documenting their dine-in and take-out dining experiences had encouraged more people in Hawaii to dine out as well as those visiting the islands. One of their long time friends stated that they just have this contagious energy about them that makes people want to eat local and then that supports local and everyone wins. While there are many places to eat the costs can get expensive where majority of the time the meals are paid for, but that also is good because it makes it so the videos can stay honest from being sponsored. Or if they are sponsored they don't have to change their approach as a place knows what sort of reviewers they are. If the goal was to support the interest of local food businesses during or after the pandemic the visits increases in wherever they go is the proof in the pudding.

They often hit multiple spots and eat all sorts of food in each video where they take the time to explore the different neighborhoods and types of cuisine. While the videos haven't gone viral-status yet they have been known to have a more intimate group of fans than other foodie influencers out there. They also share their travel experiences, travel advice, often with a food focus, both within and outside of Hawaii audiences. 

“we kind of pride ourselves in having a closeness with our foodie ‘ohana.” She cites frequent commenters who leave positive feedback and who they’ve built a rapport with. In other words, she says, they focus on engagement “quality” over “quantity.”