Our Hawaiian Food Tour

We don't get Hawaiian food on the mainland, so we took full advantage, blew our diets, and indulged for just about every meal. I've seen a few things in the frozen section of Oriental food markets in bigger cities on the mainland - poi, lau-lau, manapua - but never fresh, and there are some things you can't get at all.


Our first stop was Boyd's Fish Market in Oahu. Some of the local places are like deli's, and they have food behind the counter. There was another customer in front of us at Boyd's, and he was very friendly and helpful about other places to try. He said that his favorite food is lau-lau mixed with macaroni salad (?) Pictured is lau-lau, poi and lomi salmon. The lau-lau was good, but we thought we could do better. Hence, our trip became a search for the best lau-lau on Oahu. Lau-lau is kahlua pork with a large portion of fat, and a small piece of butter fish wrapped in taro leaves. It's tied in ti leaves to retain moisture while cooking, but that part is thrown away before eating. Lomi salmon is tomatoes, onions and salmon (all raw) cubed very small and tossed with Hawaiian salt. It can be made on the mainland easily, although I wouldn't trust raw fish bought at most places. But it's good with cooked salmon, too - then it's called "phony lomi."



Lots of people we asked recommended The Highway Inn for the best local food in Oahu, and we liked their lau-lau better than anyone else's. One of the brands sold at Walmart was our second favorite. We tried "squid luau" here - one of the local girls at the resort said it was her favorite food. It reminded me of cream of spinach soup - but the cream is coconut milk, and the spinach is taro leaves. It has tiny pieces (corn-sized) of squid. It's the first time I've had squid and enjoyed it.



On Kaua'i, the best lau-lau we found was from Pono Market. This is lomi salmon and sushi. There was poki (raw ahi fish with a strong-tasting seaweed), poi and lau-lau, too - but they aren't pictured here. We never did get to try another place recommended in Kaua'i called Ohana Diner. We had to leave too soon.



This is a plate lunch from L and L Diner in Oahu. A plate lunch includes two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and some meat - this is eggs and Portuguese sausage, but it could just as easily be spam. The one on the right is a kahlua pork and cabbage plate lunch. Now I understand why the guy at Boyd's Fish Market said he liked macaroni salad with lau-lau - they probably come together on the same plate. However, none of us could ever bring ourselves to tamper with our lau-lau. We get it too seldom. We tried the L and L Diner on Kaua'i, too, but they don't have all the Hawaiian food; they're actually part Chinese fast food at that particular one. Maybe L and L's are independently owned?



Zippy's is an Oriental/Hawaiian fast food place. They have things like musubi (rice pressed into bricks and other shapes, sometimes topped with spam, or with things mixed in).



The triangular rice is musubi. The bowl has cubed ahi fish covered with a hot/spicy shrimp sauce.



Only in Hawaii . . . this is a taro pie from McDonald's. I opened it up to see what was inside. It tasted mild, like soft potato cubes, but sweetened. Sort of a cross between their apple pie and a potato pie.



Who knew such a thing existed?? Haupia is coconut pudding squares, so this is like coconut ice cream. If haupia ice cream was available on the mainland, I'd be in trouble.



Hawaiian food has influences from all the cultures who moved to Hawaii in the 1800's - besides their own fish, poi and coconut, they have sushi from Japan, dim sum from China, and malasadas and sausage from Portugal. Leonard's in Honolulu has the reputation for the best malasadas - but it has to be fresh and still warm. Otherwise, it might as well be a donut without the hole.



We got ours just out of the oven, and we ate them standing in the parking lot. Our fingers were sticky - and I didn't get a picture. So I found this one on the internet.



Everyone told us that shave ice originated in Hawaii, but it's supposed to be shave ice, not shaved ice. This was the best shave ice we found in Kaua'i - so how come their sign says shaved ice???



Jo-Jo's has taken shave ice to a new level. They put ice cream at the bottom, shave and pack the ice by hand, use great syrup, and then top the whole thing with haupia (coconut) cream. It's worth driving to Waimea for.



Lappert's is a local ice cream company.



This is Kaua'i Pie (their specialty; coffee and chocolate swirl) and a coconut macadamia fudge swirl. Lappert's are all over in Hawai'i.