The Five-0 on Hawaiian Food

I have to say that one of the things I was most excited about on our trip to Hawaii was the food (and the fact that I wasn't at work of course.  And visiting the beaches.  Oh, and the shopping - natch)!

Along with your typical American food that you can find anywhere in the USA, Hawaii has its own unique offerings thanks not only to its Polynesian culture, but also the large Asian population that inhabit the islands.

The Boy and I did our best to try nearly everything uniquely Hawaiian, or even kind of Hawaiian.  All in the name of research...and food blogging. 

Pineapple

Although Pineapple technically isn’t Hawaiian (it hails from Brazil) they grow some pretty awesome Pineapple in Hawaii. 

The pineapple here is so sweet and juicy that I inhaled a tub of it nearly every morning of our 10 day trip.  Luckily it is easily found in one of the multitude of ABC stores that litter Waikiki (ABC stores are Hawaii’s answer to the 7-11, only better I think as they also sell clothes).
 

The best thing about Hawaiian pineapple from the ABC store is that it comes with a cute little sword...so you can eat your pineapple and pretend you're a pirate all at the same time.

I was told, for the record, that it is just not Hawaiian to put pineapple on pizza, sandwiches etc and call it "Hawaiian". I wonder if you can even find an Hawaiian pizza in Hawaii?  Guess we'll just have to go back and find out.

Baked Manapua

The Boy and I tried the Baked Manapua on our Hawaii Food Tour.  I’m so mad at myself for not going back to Royal Kitchen to get myself another one as I think this has to be one of the best things I ate in Hawaii. And, I ate a lot so I’m speaking from experience here.

Manapua is a baked bread bun traditionally filled Chinese BBQ Pork, although the one in the picture below has a Kalua Pig filling as I LOVE Kalua Pig.  The bread is sweet and fluffy and really really good.

Baked Manapua is of Chinese origin and was introduced to Hawaii in the 19^th Century when thousands of immigrants flooded the islands looking for work on plantations.

A Baked Manapua is basically Hawaii’s answer to the donut.  Whilst you won’t find a Donut King or Krispy Kreme anywhere in Hawaii, you wouldn’t have to look too far to find someone, somewhere, selling a Baked Manapua.  I’ve been told that it’s not uncommon to see a van at the beach selling Manapua (though, unfortunately there wasn't one at the beach where we swam each day). 

Kalua Pig

OMG – this stuff is amazing!

Kalua Pig would traditionally be found at an Hawaiian lu’ua where the pig is cooked for hours in an underground oven called an “imu” which gives it an amazing smoky flavour.  If you live in an “condo” where you can’t dig a hole in the floor to bury a pig you can create the same smoky affect using a product called Liquid Smoke…which is hard to find in Australia, but you can get it at www.usafoods.com or some gourmet grocers.  We are still hunting it down.

The Boy and I tried the Kalua Pig a few different ways, at a lu’au along with 850 other tourists (yes, we ate a meal with 850 tourists), served with cabbage and rice and in a Baked Manapua.  My favourite would be Baked Manapua…but that might be more to do with the awesome bread bun, rather than the pork. 

The Boy and I loved Kalua Pig so much we’re going to have a go at making some at home.  Once we track down some Liquid Smoke that is.

Poi

Hawaiian kids grow up eating Poi, just like Aussie kids grow up eating Vegemite.  So it’s little surprise then that for the uninitiated Poi is an acquired taste that takes a little getting used to.  I didn’t care about Poi’s bad reviews from other travelers though…I was determined to give it a red hot go. 

Poi is a Polynesian food made by mashing cooked taro until it resembles a thin, and slightly watery, mashed potato (water is added to the mashing process…so its runny consistency is no accident).

Hawaiian’s eat Poi as the starchy component of their meal…just like we’d eat mashed potato.  As it is much more runny than mashed potato I wasn’t quite sure how to eat it…I just piled some on top of my fish and said “ahhhhh” and then “ummmm”.  Like I said, it’s an acquired taste. 

Spam

Whilst technically not being an Hawaiian food, the Hawaiians love of Spam is legendary so it would be remiss not to give it a shout out in this post.  In fact, Hawaiians eat more than FOUR MILLION cans of a year…really.

During WWII Hawaiians embraced Spam as there weren’t a lot of other choices to eat meat.  That said, Hawaii’s distance from well…anywhere, also meant that “back in the day” canned meat was at least one way of getting meat into your diet.

Locals eat SPAM as a delicacy.  No, I'm not kidding.  Really I'm not.  We saw it on various restaurant menus where it was added to soups and stews.

The Boy sampled a McDonalds Spam and rice place for breakfast, and we both had some Spam Musubi (ie Sushi) on our Hawaiian Food Tour. 

Ahi Poke

This is another yummy dish we tried on our Hawaiian Food Tour.  Poke is a raw fish salad made from Ahi (yellow fin tuna) that is marinated with sea salt, soy sauce, roasted crushed candlenut, sesame oil, limu seaweed, and chopped chilli pepper.  Very very good if you like raw fish…which luckily I do.

Lomi Salmon

Lomi-lomi salmon had its beginnings in Hawaii and is made by mixing salted, diced salmon with tomatoes, crushed ice, and green onions.

We tried some of this at the lu'au we went to. I really liked it, but thought the addition of crushed ice was a tad...interesting.  That's it in the plastic counter on my (over filled) plate below.

Shave Ice

The Boy and I (very) stupidly tried our first shaved ice about 2 days before we were flying back home. Stupid stupid stupid.

At first The Boy and I thought a Shave Ice would be just like the Snow Cone's we have back here in the Land of Oz Oz…but they are TOTALLY DIFFERENT. TOTALLY.

I’m pretty partial to the old Snow Cone, but I have to tell you that the Shave Ice kicks its butt into next week. 

As the name suggests a Shave Ice is literally a shaved block of ice – whereas a Snow Cone is just crushed ice.  Beware though as some Shave Ice vendors in Hawaii do crush their ice and it is nowhere near as good.  Trust me, I know from experience.

Because the shaved ice is so super fine the syrup is actually absorbed into the ice, rather than just sitting in a pool around it.  Shave Ice usually comes with three stripes of syrup...and sometime shave ice sits atop of scoop of ice cream. My favourite flavour was Pina Colada (along with walks in the rain) and The Boy loved Vanilla. It seemed like the entire population of Waikiki loves Watermelon as it was always sold out when we tried to get it.  Grrr. 

Hula Pie

The Boy's friend from work, The Peanut Gallery, urged us to go to Duke's Canoe Club and have us a piece of Hula Pie.  As we always do what Peanut tells us to we heeded her advice and wandered down to Dukes one day for a buffet lunch and a piece of this legendary pie.

If I'd actually had any inkling of what this pie would be like I would've skipped the buffet lunch altogether and saved all of my tummy room for the enormous ice-cream cake that was about to descend on our table. 

Hula Pie is simply as awesomely amazing as it looks.  The "pie" is made from macadamia nut ice cream which sits on top of an Oreo cookie crust. As if that wasn't enough to give you type 2 diabetes, the pie is topped with chocolate fudge sauce, whipped cream and more macadamia nuts.

We did our best to finish our slab of Hula Pie, but it got the better of us I'm afraid.

Crack Seed 

Crack Seed and the concept of a Crack Seed Store was one of the things that most intrigued me about Hawaiian food.  I was eager to hunt one down asap just so I could see what all about.

In short, I'd say that a Crack Seed Store is a bit like the Asian grocery stores we have here in Sydney, although they are primarily dedicated to all things snacky.  A Crack Seed Store is our version of the local corner shop, where kids would take their spare change and pocket money to buy tasty treats.

"Crack Seed" actually refers various dehydrated and preserved fruits which are "cracked" to expose the seed as this enhances the flavour.  You'll also find things such as rice crackers, gummi bears, Asian candies, sunflower seeds, salted plums and dehydrated seafood's at your local Crack Seed Store.

The Boy and I tracked down the Crack Seed Center at the popular Ala Moana Shopping Center.  This place had a constant stream of customers whilst were in there snooping about, so it was obvious that Crack Seed consumption in Hawaii is serious business.

We wandered around for awhile and oohed and aahed at all of the strange and wonderful delights on offer. In the end we decided to try the Dried Cuttlefish.  Sadly, after a munch on a cuttlefish leg each, we decide that chips and chocolate are more our crack seed of choice. 

Morimoto Waikiki & Wailana Coffee House, Hawaii

It’s not often The Boy and I go out for a fancy meal. Now that I come to think about it I don’t actually think we’ve ever been out for a really fancy meal together. We did go to the Meat & Wine Co in Parramatta last year, but I don’t think that really counts...does it?

I’m pretty excited when I find out that Iron Chef Morimoto has a restaurant in Waikiki. And to make things even more exciting it is in the hotel right next door to where we are staying.

Morimoto’s is situated within the trendy and stylish The Edition Waikiki Hotel. I had MAJOR hotel envy the first time we walked into The Edition. I mean our hotel was nice but The Edition is the kind of hotel where “people with money” come to stay and play.  We have money, but most of it can be found in our Monopoly game back home in Sydney.

I figure that as it’s our honeymoon and the Aussie dollar is just so great at the moment we should splurge and treat ourselves to a fancy schmancy dinner. 

The boy gets all fancy pants and swaps his thongs for enclosed shoes.  I just wash the sand off my thongs, put on a slightly less crinkled top and figure that the lighting will be dark so no one will notice we’re not dressed to the nines. And with no further adieu we are ready to head off to Morimoto’s to see how the other half live.

I’m so excited when we arrive at the restaurant, but a bit taken aback when the hostess isn’t the typical over-friendly restaurant hostess we’ve come to know and love in Hawaii.  I guess when you work at Morimoto’s you can be a bit hoity toity (right)? 

I’m later told that most of the staff at Morimoto's Waikiki are from “the mainland” so the place really does lack that Aloha Spirit we’re so in love with.  It’s a pity as, for us, this kind of dining experience is rare and I wanted everyone to be as excited as we were.  I’ve also read quite a few reviews online since our meal at Morimoto’s and nearly every one of them has a gripe about the rude staff. 

Not to worry, I’m sure things will get better once we’re inside.

The decor of the restaurant is really lovely and modern.  I suppose it call be called “Nouveau Hawaiian” with huge shell decorations hanging from the ceiling, and a groovy sea-sponge installation at the evil hostesses desk.   

This place feels expensive, but I’m pleased to see most of the prices on the menu aren’t outrageous when compared to what we’d pay for a fancy eating experience back at home.  That said, if the exchange rate was as bad as it was when I travelled to the USA back in 2006 I’d be giving this place a wide berth and heading for Denny’s.

Our waiter introduces himself to us and offers us bottled water. I’m wanting to spend my money on food not fancy water so we just opt for tap water, which is what most of the diners around us are doing.

Our waiter is a pretty friendly guy but the service is still a bit disorganised. One of our meals ends up on someone else’s table and we end up waiting an age for our replacement to arrive.  However, I do like that our food was delivered to our table in quite a spread out timeframe – it gave us time to enjoy the surroundings and the experience.  Often we’re in and out of a restaurant in under an hour, but at Morimoto’s our meal took a leisurely 2 ½ hours!

We agree to go the whole hog tonight so start with cocktails.  The Boy has a beer and I choose a Morimotini ($12) with ginko sake, square one organic cucumber vodka, and Japanese cucumber slices. I have one word for this cocktail. YUM.

For starters I’ve choose the Hamachi Tartare (US $22).  

I’ve not eaten anything like this before and I feel so fancy. Lucky for me I watched Chef Duff (aka Ace of Cakes) eating it on TV the night before so I knew what I was doing.   The smooth tartare comes with a rainbow of condiments - including nori paste, avocado cream, rice cracker crumbs and daikon - which we mix and match for a different flavour with every mouthful. 

  

The Boy once again proves he is superior when it comes to ordering yummy food and opts for the Crispy Rock Shrimp Tempura (US $16).  The shrimp comes to us golden and deliciously crunchy and dressed with either a spicy kochujan sauce or a delicious (and not overly spicy), wasabi aioli.  There is also a side of coconut ranch dipping sauce.  This dish was deliciously tasty – like a fancy popcorn shrimp.  I could easily have demolished the entire serving myself...but I had to share. Hurmph. 

Feeding our addiction to Soft Shell Crab Roll (US $12) we decide that we simply must try Morimoto's offering...for comparison purposes of course. I’m devastated that the plate has five pieces and not six as I’m too slow to nab myself a third morsel of this beautiful roll that is filled with tempura soft shell crab, asparagus, tobiko, avocado, scallion and dressed with a  spicy sauce.

For mains The Boy chooses Duck, Duck, Duck (US $28).  As the name suggests this dish is duck prepared three ways: seared duck breast; duck confit spring roll; and duck meatball soup. It’s not a huge meal and The Boy eats it very S L O W LY savouring every mouthful. I’m told that it is a delicious meal...wish I’d ordered it!

Instead I’ve chosen Chi Rashi Sushi “Morimoto Style” (US $32). The covered bowl arrives at our table and is ceremonially “un-lidded” to reveal a colourful assortment of sashimi served over sushi rice.  The sashimi has come diced which surprises me as I expecting the familiar slices of sashimi that I’m so used to. I’m tempted to dunk all my sashimi into the soy sauce provided but the Japanese man at the table next to me is telling me that this would be a crime (all via hand signals and head nods).

We umm and ahh over whether to have something from Morimoto’s dessert menu.

I can tell though that The Boy has his heart set on a piece of Apple Pie Ala Mode from the homey Wailana Dinner down the road.   

Within minutes we’re seated at the counter at this basic coffee house stuffing our faces with piping hot Apple Pie and Hawaiian Deep Fried Ice Cream.  We breath a sigh of relief as we inhale our desserts, knowing we're back with "our people" in the "real world" - eating pie that costs about $3.50 a serve. 

I can tell the boy is thinking he's a bit like Booth from the TV show Bones...sitting at the counter of his local diner eating Apple Pie. Does that mean I'm like Bones and The Boy has no idea what I'm talking about most of the time?  Whatever!

A perfect end to our posh dining experience.

Morimoto’s can be found inside The Edition Hotel Waikiki at 1775 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu (www.morimotowaikiki.com)

Wailana Coffee House can be found at 1860 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu.

Hole-in-the-Wall Tour, Hawaii

Being the ultimate in lazy tourist travellers The Boy and I did a few tours when we were in Hawaii.

As an experienced tour-taker I can say that the Hole-in-the-Wall Tour we did on our last day in Hawaii was hands down the best tour out of the lot. Now that I sit back and think about it, it could be the best tour I’ve ever done....really  After all, what could be better than being led and fed around Honolulu by some locals who really know their (food)stuff.

That said we did do a tour to The Big Island were we saw red hot flowing lava which was also pretty cool. AND we got to walk on lava that had flowed only a few weeks before – we could actually feel the heat coming up through our shoes from the cooling lava.  

But the volcano looses out to the food tour as food trumps lava any day in my books.

This kind of tour is right up my alley but I’d ummed and aahhed about booking it as at US$99 per person (plus tax) it’s not cheap.  Turns out it was more than worth the price and I wish I’d booked it before we’d left Oz as the food and restaurant tips that tour operators Matt and Keira gave us would’ve come in handy on our holiday.  We were lucky to get two spots on a tour that was running the day before we flew out.

The Hole in the Wall Tour is the brainchild of Matt Gray and his fiancé Keira Nagai. Matt is a former executive chef from LA and former food critic for the Honolulu Advertiser.  To say he knows about food is an understatement.  Keira is Hawaiian born and bred and offers a truly great insight into the Hawaiian culture surrounding food.

Much of the Hole in the Wall tour centres on Honolulu’s Chinatown area.  Hawaii is a very multicultural state and much of the food is Asian inspired. Honolulu has a kick-arse Chinatown, which is really impressive for such a small city.

So enough talking, let’s get to the food.

To say I’m excited when Matt and Keira pick us up in the Van of Earthly Delights in an understatement. 

I nearly pee my pants with excitement when we get to our first stop, Royal Kitchen, to try Baked Manapua.

Baked Manapua is of Chinese origin and was introduced to Hawaii in the 19^th Century when thousands of immigrants flooded the islands looking for work on plantations. Manapua is a baked bready bun that is traditionally filled with char siu (aka Chinese BBQ Pork).  At Royal Kitchen in Chinatown they’ve take things one step further and offer a mind boggling array of yummy innards.

After more umming and ahhing I go for the kalau pork (as I’ve developed a huge fondness for this tasty piggy feast on my trip).  The Boy is a traditionalist from way back and opts for the char siu.

Now, the Manapua is by far the best thing I tried on the food tour. The bun was hot out of the oven and the bread casing was soft and squishy. And, the kalua pork! Oh the pork. My god it was so tasty.  The meat was tender with a lush smoky flavour (which I now know can be achieved at home with a bottle of “liquid smoke” if you don’t have an underground oven to cook your piggy in).  I’m still kicking myself for not going back to get myself a second one.

Next we’re off to Ying Leong Look Funn Factory in the Kekaulike Mall where sheets of rice noodles have been made by hand for more than 50 years. 

As part of this tour we got to go behind the scenes of this little factory to see the workers oiling pans that are then filled with the rice noodle batter, steamed, hand folded and stacked.  Ying Leong’s is the only place in Hawaii (and possibly the world I’d say) that hasn’t succumbed to the modern age and still makes their noodles by hand.

Our little group of 12 then formed a huddle outside the shop (to stop the locals pushing in and grabbing out tasty treats) where we got to taste the rice noodles.  As well as plain noodles, which we get here in Oz, we also tasted noddles embedded with shrimp and spring onion and roast pork and spring onion.

Also on offer was Korean BBQ chicken from Jackie's Kitchen inside the Maunakea Marketplace food court.

Then we all got to go for a wander around Chinatown for awhile whilst Keira raced around the various marketplaces nabbing goodies for us to try.

We resumed our huddle in Kekaulike Mall whilst platters and platters of food were paraded out for us to try.

First up is the Ma Tai Su Flaky Pastry (Chinese pot pie) from Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery.  This was tasty, but nowhere near as good as the Baked Manapua that it slightly resembled. The innards were quite strong flavoured – leek, pork, onion – and a bit overpowering for some of the tour goers. It’s a little bit like an English Pork Pie with the texture of the pastry and also the meat. 

Next we tasted some “exotic fruits” from the market.   

We tried longan, a small fruit similar to a lychee that tastes a little like honeydew melon. Also on offer was the beautiful looking rambutan. 

A visit to Hawaii is not complete with eating your own body weight in their beautifully sweet pineapple. We sampled fresh pineapple and also pineapple sprinkled with the exotic sounding Li Hing Powder which is made from salty dried plums and is usually sprinkled on fruit.  It has a sweet, sour and salty taste and works really well with the super sweet pineapple. We actually bought some of this to try on our fruit at home.

                                                                

Also on our fruit plater is fresh strawberry papaya.  I’m not a fan of papaya (aka pawpaw) as I think it smells a bit like vomit (admit it, you agree with me right). I gave the Hawaiian version a go and it’s “OK”, not as pungent in flavour or taste as our Aussie Pawpaw.

Then came a local favourite, Spam Musubi.  Hawaii is the USAs largest consumer (and lover) of Spam. If you don’t know what Spam is, it is basically ham in a can.  During WWII Hawaiians embraced Spam – there weren’t a lot of other choices to eat meat – and they still love it to this day. It’s not uncommon to see it offered on restaurant menus for breakfast.

I’m excited to try the Spam Musubi as it is something that is uniquely Hawaiian – you certainly won’t ever see it at Sushi Train’s in Sydney. The spam is lightly grilled and flavoured with teriyaki sauce and it’s surprisingly good. I’ve actually seen Spam Musubi on offer at various convenience stores around Waikiki and now I can see why.

We also tried Ahi Poke, another local favourite.  Poke is a raw fish salad made from Ahi (yellow fin tuna) that is marinated with sea salt, soy sauce, roasted crushed candlenut, sesame oil, limu seaweed, and chopped chilli pepper.  This is fancy sashimi and I like it.

But wait! There’s still more food to come. Lucky I’m wearing a stretchy skirt as my tummy is starting to bulge.

We’re presented with a sweet offering next, peanut-sesame filo and apple banana (a bit like a lady finger banana, but very sweet with a firm texture). 

 After all this food it’s time for a beverage. Keira has rustled us up a lovely smoothie of lychee-vodka-pineapple.  As I’m a bit of a one-pot screamer I have my cocktail sans vodka and it’s pretty tasty and really refreshing. The Boy, who I think has become a bit of a boozer on this trip, has a big tipple of vodka in his cocktail. He seems to have developed a bit of a knack for drinking on this trip after downing FIVE atomic strength mai-tais on NYE.

After our picnic in the mall we move on to Sun Chong, a “crack seed” store.   

Crack seed is a term that covers a myriad of exotic Chinese preserved fruits, nuts, seeds, rice crackers, dried fish and lollies. Keira explains to us that to a Hawaiian child a “crack seed” store is the equivalent of a lollies shop (i.e. Heaven)! Any spare change they could rustle up as kids had them down at the crack seed store buying treats. 

Our last stop in Chinatown is Char Siu House where we got to sample barbecued pork (char siu) and the aptly named “5 layers of heaven roast pork”.  

OMG! The roast pork was AMAZING!  The crackling was a perfect balance of crunchy vs. salty and the meat was so tender and moist. Totally droolwortly.  God bless Keira as she could see we all (and but that I mean me) loved the roast pork so much she went back for another batch.  And best of all The Boy and I got take home the leftover roast pork which we demolished before we even got back to our hotel room.  Oink oink.

After our tour around Chinatown we hop back into our lovely air-conditioned van and head to Bubbies for Mochi Ice Cream. 

Mochi Ice Cream is a Japanese treat made from mochi (pounded sticky rice) with an ice cream filling.  Whilst I really liked my ice-cream filling (I choose Peanut Butter Chocolate and Passionfruit) I’m not overly keen on the soft texture, and almost savoury taste, of the mocha casing.  The Boy offers to eat my Mochi for me if I don’t like it. Fat chance buddy!

...and for our last stop we visited...

Leonard's Bakery for the Portuguese Doughnut called Malasadas.  The malasadas are baked fresh to order and come to us deliciously light, airy and still warm. I have mine dusted with sugar and the boy goes all Hawaiian and opts for his dusted with Li Hing Powder. 

...and that my friends is the end of our Hole-in-the-Wall Tour.   

As Matt and Keira drop us off at our hotel I actually feel quite sad that the tour was ending. It was like saying good-bye to old friends. Not only was our tour group the perfect size (no groups are bigger than 12) Matt and Keira were the perfect hosts.  They did everything within their power to make sure we had a great day.  As The Boy and I beached ourselves on Waikiki Beach for the remainder of the afternoon we agreed it was our best day in Hawaii for sure.

Aloha and Maholo.

You can get in touch with Matt and Keira to book a Hole-in-the-Wall Tour by visiting their website at http://hawaiifoodtours.com