Food blogger Melissa Chang gives us the rundown on Hawaiian shave ice, its origins and two of the best places to get it: Shimazu Store in Honolulu and Baldwin’s Sweet Shop in Aiea, both on the island of Oahu. She’s also got some valuable tips on how to eat the fast-melting treat. Have Aloha […]
Ten years ago, I lived in a cul-de-sac in Hawaii Kai in East Honolulu that, every New Year’s, turned into a neighborhood mochi factory. The Mahoe family lived directly across the street and had been pounding mochi (Japanese rice cake) in their garage for generations. About 200 people would gather there on Jan. 1, starting
Christopher Columbus dubbed the pineapple a “pine” cone when he found it on Guadeloupe in 1493 and brought it to Europe. In colonial-era America and Europe, the pineapple became a status symbol at banquets, and it was carved in furniture and doors to represent lavish hospitality. Even George Washington grew pineapples in his Mount Vernon
For breakfast, a visit to Café Haleiwa is a must. The North Shore staple has been serving generous portions of American cuisine to salt-crusted early morning surfers since it first opened in 1982. And though its traditional breakfast platters are good, the real winner here is the café’s dessert Belgian waffles. 66-456 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa,
Mangoes remind me of my childhood in Islamabad in northern Pakistan. In my opinion, the best mangoes grow in that area, and when my brother and I were little, they were our favorite treat. We would always get excited when our parents brought mangoes home from the market. We’d peel the fruit and dig our
In olden Hawaii, women were forbidden to eat all but three varieties of the banana. Hawaiians considered it bad luck to dream of bananas, encounter a man carrying bananas or have bananas in a canoe while fishing. But in one legend, the hero Kukali survives Sinbad-like adventures with the help of a magic banana, which
More than 150 acclaimed chefs, winemakers and mixologists from all over the world are participating in the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival’s mouthwatering culinary celebration, with events on multiple Islands. One Oahu event in particular, Crops and Hops, wants to bring attention to Hawaii’s emerging crops. On Oct. 24, attendees can choose from 20 craft
I glance at my hastily scribbled directions and drive back down the road I came from. I was told there’s a manapua man in Pearl City, Oʻahu, but without a proper address, all I can surmise is that he’s on the corner of Moanalua Road and Hoʻolauleʻa Street, under a bridge. After taking a few
The food of Hawaii is most commonly described as being a reflection of its multiethnic population, a smorgasbord of exotic delicacies brought to the table by various ethnic groups as each came to call the Islands home. While this familiar axiom is largely true, it is also interesting to explore in greater detail why people
The sun is setting on Lahaina, and golden light pours into the oceanside restaurants on Front Street. It illuminates the 19th century wooden storefronts on Lahaina’s main drag, where streams of visitors wander in and out of the popular Kimo’s restaurant and pause for photo-ops on Forrest Gump’s bench in front of Bubba Gump Shrimp
The food arrived all at once, the table’s surface crowded like at a local family’s potluck—never exactly an exercise in restraint nor refinement. For though this was a preview dinner for Lineage, Sheldon Simeon’s new restaurant to open in October 2018 at The Shops at Wailea, the chef wants to do away with pretty-but-useless garnishes,
You can get a Hawaiian food plate lunch almost anywhere in the Islands, with nearly all of the required fixins (kalua pig, laulau, lomi salmon, etc.). But if we were to craft the best Hawaiian plate ever, here’s where we’d go. 1. Haupia: Yama’s Fish Market (Oahu) We appreciate Yama’s taking creative license with the coconut
