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in lihue, close to the airport on kauai, hamura's saiman stand on kress st. is worth a visit. we arrived in the early evening, so it wasn't crowded when we got there, but they were running out of counter space an hour later when we left. lots of local atmosphere and basically good soup and dessert, from what i recall about two years ago.

food on the island was hit and miss, nothing really terrible and some places pretty good. we didn't leave with a totally great impression of the beach house, though i don't recall exactly why; i definitely plan on returning. if you're camping out, you shouldn't have much trouble rustling up a chicken or two for the spit. they hang out all over the place, including parking lots.

also worth your time and trouble, some of the slipperiest trails ever -- slow-going, ankle-wrenching, hot until you pick up a breeze and memorable views. just make an effort not to fall off into the ocean. in many spots, there's not much to catch onto on the way down.

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Is Alexander's Fish & Chips still around? I last went ten years or so ago and it was rocking.

Yep, it's on the main drag in Kihei (Maui). It was my last stop before leaving for the airport last October. It's as good as ever.

I'll second the recommendation for the Gazebo, as well.

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On Maui, go to Saigon Cafe for Vietnamese - it's in the "downtown" area of the island, and happened to be close to where we were staying, but it's totally not near the tourist areas. Definitely inexpensive for Maui, and good.

On Kaua'i, I can't say the food was stellar. I do remember the first place we ate upon arrival, which was a literal hole in the wall taqueria near Poi'pu Beach, and I *think* it was called Taqueria Nortenos, that was cheap and tasty. Basically takeout only, but there were a few chairs around so we sat. The place is very close, but on the opposite side of the street, from the mall that contains Puka Dog and Roy's, if I remember correctly.

Have a great time, both islands are beautiful!

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I highly recommend skipping Oahu. You can always go to Miami. But, if you must, Leonard's for malasadas, 3660 on the Rise or Indigo for a nice dinner, Kanak Attack for ono plate lunch, and any 7-11 for spam musubi. :mellow:

Well the OP didn't ask about Oahu, but since we're on the topic the shrimp truck is as good as its reputation, or at least it was when we were there. One of the best, and probably the most memorable shrimp dishes I ever had. OTOH, it takes a while to get there, being up near the North Shore, so maybe not feasible unless one plans to spend more than a short time on Oahu. Not far from the shave ice places up there tho, so that makes the trip more worthwhile.

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How about the Big Island and Oahu?

in hilo on the big island, hilo bay cafe is the best around, though you may have second thoughts as you're driving around the enormous WalMart and shopping center parking lot looking for a space. we only discovered this place on our last night, otherwise would have returned several times. they have squeezed a lot of creative contemporary cooking and nice decor into a dubious space. the stores around here have terrific bandage aisles in case you've scoured the skin off your leg with lava rock and feel you need to stanch the flow of blood and look more presentable before heading into this surprisingly modern restaurant, which can start off with great drinks to numb the pain.

the news in hilo is not so good for cafe pesto, which has let itself go a bit, though it remains a bustling place for this part of the world. this is where the cast of "the wizard of oz" goes after its sunday matinee performance in the historic theatre downtown, and they didn't take off their makeup.

pescatore still has lots of italian american atmosphere and fresh ingredients, but the thrill seemed a little gone from the sashimi and cioppino compared to what they had been two years earlier.

close to kona, we never get closer than waimea, largely because we are scared off by resort hotels. the only reason to go there for dinner is fresh fish, ranch meat and just-picked vegetables at merriman's, and it's a good reason to go, unless daniel thiebaut, across the street, has pulled himself out of the funk we found him in. waimea also has the best wine store we have seen on the islands. unfortunately, the trails just outside of town got crumpled in the most recent earthquakes, and the locals say they are dangerous, which in hawaii, really means something.

the best thing on the big island foodwise may just be the hilo farmer's market, although it's a bit frustrating looking around if you don't have a place to cook. some of the fruit, especially, veers to the unfamiliar, but those you think you know are quite different than you may find them at whole foods. hilo is just about as expensive as the rest of the island, but the prices they were charging for garlic make our local prices look like highway robbery.

the day we were leaving just before thanksgiving, about the time i was turning in my uninsured, scraped-up rental car at the airport, juvenile delinquents were setting fires on the beaches in the vicinity of waimea, copy-catting the fires in southern california. the island has been in drought, so the blazes moved quickly before being brought under control -- a small diversion at best in a spot where teenagers would be hard pressed to even approach the destructive forces of nature. if they are not into surfing, i can see how the youth around here could get a bit restless.

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I highly recommend skipping Oahu. You can always go to Miami. But, if you must, Leonard's for malasadas, 3660 on the Rise or Indigo for a nice dinner, Kanak Attack for ono plate lunch, and any 7-11 for spam musubi. :mellow:

I am contemplating skipping, but I lived there oh so long ago and wanted to check it out again for a short time between time on Kauai and the Big Island.

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One other recommendation on Maui--Flatbread, in Paia. It's very much like American Flatbread, as the two founders of AF split a few years ago and each went his own way. I recently read that there is no animosity between the two and they are even supportive of each other, despite some legal issues they've had to deal with.

I've had several pizzas at the Ashburn AF and had three pizzas at Flatbread in Paia. They are very similar--the wood-firing ovens are virtually identical, a couple of the pizzas are the same, and both are dedicated to using fresh local ingredients. Flatbread pizzas come in two sizes, the smallest being just right for one person. Of my three, two were perfect and the third was over-charred, something I didn't really mind. The ambiance is very laid-back surfer, which is natural given that the employees are mostly young surfers.

Easily the best pizza on the island.

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Just a few notes on my dining experiences in Maui and Kaui. In Maui we had an excellent sushi dominated dinner at the bustling Sansei in Kihei, a darn good (albeit pricey) dinner at Spago in the Four Seasons (where the menu is heavily Asian influenced - more like Chinois and the Source than L.A.'s Spago), and a mediocre dinner at the Lahaina Grill (reputed to be the best in town). The wine list at the Lahaina Grill, however, was very surprising, with the likes of Harlan, Araujo and Latour sprinkled in the mix. We also had "World Famous Pancakes" for breakfast at Tasty Crust in Wailuku - not sure about the World Famous, but they were good and this was a fun joint with old school, local flavor.

In Kaui we found an oasis in Hanalei at Barrauda. Cool vibe, good wine list and an outstanding selection of small plates. This place would do very well in DC (and many other mainland cities) - it was packed every night and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the island. We had a fabulous pineapple terriyaki burger with onion rings at Duane's Ono Burger in Anahole (thanks Don). For lunch we loved the ahi and crab rolls, poke salad and seaweed salad at the Hanalei Fish Company - these folks are into food - they sell Cowgirl Creamery cheese and Fra Mani salumi out of their rerigerator case. For breakfast we enjoyed the Wake Up Cafe in Hanalei for eggy stuff and loved the Kiluea Bakery for its fresh bagels, bialys, muffins, etc., - it reminded me of a mini version of the spectacular Downtown Bakery in Healdsburg.

Oh yes - Lampert's ice cream on both island - delish!!

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I went to Kauai for my honeymoon, and had a wonderful time.

Some Highlights:

Hula Pie at Duke's. (hula pie is oreo crust + macademia nut ice cream, fudge topping) Man oh man was that good but it could have fed a family of 4! The rest of the food at Dukes was good but not amazing, but I liked the Huli Huli Chicken (barbecued chicken with ginger soy sauce and garlic)

Beach House had great views, great service, great food.

Puka Dogs, reconeded here and other places was possibly the best dog I've had in ages. Imagine a polish sausage in a hollowed out kaiser roll that's toasted on the inside, with this mayonaise like garlic sauce + fruit relish + passionfruit mustard. Nummers!

Smith's Family Lauau was at times kind of hokey (before dinner they offer tours of the grounds that include a fake easter island statue and filipino mock village as well as gardens and I leaned into my husband and said "it's sort of like the Hawaiian version of Disneyworld) however the Kalua pork was amazing. The buffet had its highs and lows, the pork was a perfect 10, moist, delicious juicy. We ended up eating an extra plate full (we had hiked up and down the Waimea canyon so we were in need of protein) also the Haupia (coconut pudding) was excellent.

Chinese Number 1: recomended by Chowhound for local mixed plates. A little too greasy but still very tasty. I had the terriyaki chicken, beef and short ribs with rice. I got enough food to last me for three meals. I heard Garden Island BBQ is less greasy but still good.

Jo-jo's shave ice. 60 flavors of shaved ice is a must have, especially after a long ass hike.

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We're on Maui now and while Sansei was excellent and we may return, the restaurant that has blown us away in terms of quality and value is Izakaya Matsu in the ocean-side of Azeka Place in Kihei. This place should be packed to its tiny gills. It has all of 6 tables and about a dozen bar-type seats left over from its former incarnation as a shabu-shabu shop. The menu is extensive enough to make you suspicious that they went for variety rather than quality, but everything is good to outstanding. Most of the menu is small dishes, though you could order a sashimi bowl or sushi platter if you weren't distracted by at least a dozen likely choices on the menu. The balance is about 30/70 raw/cooked.

On our two visits so far, we paid less than we would for a comparable meal in the DC area. The waitstaff are friendly and efficient, too!

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Just returned from a week in Oahu, visiting daughter and son-in-law in Kailua and generally poking around the entire island. Absolutely loved the beaches and the sun, but found the food to be a better-than-expected experience overall. I'll give it a quick rundown here.

Giovanni's Shrimp Shack on the way to the North Shore is an absolute must. I had all three of the main shrimp dishes -- no. 3 is blazing hot and comes with a no-return policy -- and I can't recall ever eating higher quality or fresher peel-and-eat shrimp.post-3563-125594124604_thumb.jpgpost-3563-125594146176_thumb.jpg

In Kailua itself there is a restaurant called Kalapawai Cafe that is run by a young entrepreneur and is quite good. He had a Kenwood wine tasting on Sunday and then followed that with a wonderful wine-paired meal last Wednesday. It was remarkably good.post-3563-125594151468_thumb.jpg

Honolulu's Chinatown is a must-see. I was stuck by the quality, quantity and diversity of ingredients, and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.post-3563-125594194858_thumb.jpgpost-3563-12559419798_thumb.jpgpost-3563-125594203045_thumb.jpgpost-3563-125594223107_thumb.jpg

On my final evening I had a meal at Alan Wong's that rivaled any tasting menu I've tried at Inn at Little Washington, Restaurant Eve or CityZen.

I could also mention the luau (pleasant pork and surprisingly not bad poi), the plate lunches, the breakfast spam omelet and the shave ice. Overall, it was a great culinary week, and while Honolulu, and especially Waikiki, is reminiscent of Miami, I like the local charm of the rest of Oahu.

post-3563-12559422778_thumb.jpg

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I could also mention the luau (pleasant pork and surprisingly not bad poi)

When you return, if you want Hawaiian food without going to a touristy luau, try Helen's Hawaiian Food (Liliha) or Ono Hawaiian Foods (Kaimuki). Parking at both is pretty bad so, after checking that they are open, go when they open or much later after the lunch rush.

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Anyone have any recent meals to add? My husband and I are going to be there later this year and we haven't been since 2006.

Thanks in advance!

Jennifer

Well, if you consider this past May as recent, here's my long CH post: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/622037 We've been a # of times & have friends living there, but I think that this was our best trip for food. We always like going to Alan Wong (& this was no exception), our experiences at Town & 3660 On the Rise really added some good solid well prepared food at decent prices & our Helena and Tai Pan meals were great. I really recommend Matthew Gray's "Hole in the Wall" tour if you like those kind of things and the Farmers Mkt. was fun too. But I'm just repeating my CH post. Have fun.

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Anyone going to be there next month (May, 2012)?

&/or

Any updated info?

What kind of food are you looking for? If it helps, Honolulu magazine's website has a "Biting Commentary" blog that lists a lot of new places that just opened and reviews them. You can subscribe to their weekly updates and go through their archives for free online.

The standards mentioned previously on this thread still apply, though: Shrimp trucks on the North Shore, shave ice in Haleiwa (both Aoki's and Matsumoto's, right next to each other, are considered the best on the island), Leonard's for malasadas, Liliha Bakery for coco puffs, lots of food trucks can be sampled every last Tuesday of the month at the Eat the Street Festival, Da Kitchen opened up last year in Honolulu so definitely try their plate lunches, Rainbow Drive-In for plate lunches as well, Alan Wong's for tasting menu, Roy's in Hawaii Kai, Nico's 38 on the Pier for fresh fish, Helena's for Hawaiian (or Ono's on Kapahulu if you won't be near the Bishop Museum for Helena's)...it really depends on what you're looking for.

Good luck and have fun!

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Thanks. There was some chatter on CH awhile back about "underground restaurants" that I would love to know more about. Also, if there are any "Dining Clubs" or other "private home dinners" that are open to outsiders. Any idea? If it's not something to be posted publicly about, I can be e-mailed at martinowitz@aol.com Thanks. (mahalo).

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Thanks. There was some chatter on CH awhile back about "underground restaurants" that I would love to know more about. Also, if there are any "Dining Clubs" or other "private home dinners" that are open to outsiders. Any idea? If it's not something to be posted publicly about, I can be e-mailed at martinowitz@aol.com Thanks. (mahalo).

I haven't heard of any in Honolulu in a while, but then again, I'm not really on those kind of lists anywhere. From what I do know of one that was located in Los Angeles, it's pretty much a months-long waiting list, and you have to know someone. Maybe you'll have more luck on the CH boards? I'm not living there yet, but will be in a few months, so not really in on the secret dining clubs.

Or maybe even email the food writer at Honolulu magazine? I believe her contact info is on the Biting Commentary blog: marthac@honolulumagazine.com

Generally, as far as dining establishments go, cheaper is usually better on Oahu (and Hawaii in general), Roy's and Alan Wong's excepted.

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I haven't heard of any in Honolulu in a while, but then again, I'm not really on those kind of lists anywhere. From what I do know of one that was located in Los Angeles, it's pretty much a months-long waiting list, and you have to know someone. Maybe you'll have more luck on the CH boards? I'm not living there yet, but will be in a few months, so not really in on the secret dining clubs.

Or maybe even email the food writer at Honolulu magazine? I believe her contact info is on the Biting Commentary blog: marthac@honolulumagazine.com

Generally, as far as dining establishments go, cheaper is usually better on Oahu (and Hawaii in general), Roy's and Alan Wong's excepted.

Thanks again. We've been there quite a few times, have some (non-foodcentric) friends living there and know the island restaurants pretty well. I was just checking to see if anyone had any newish ideas or would jog my memory (as Anna Phor did upthread about Irifune) or come up with something out of the norm. Your idea about contacting Martha C at Honolulu Mag. is an excellent one and I'm going to do that. By the way, I basically agree that expensive places are not the best ones on Oahu; however, we already have our Alan Wong reservation made and we're thinking about a couple of other splurges, as well as sitting outside drinking mai tais and listening to music at House Without a Key. And there are some middle range places (Town, 3660 On the Rise...) that we like as well. Generally though, I like the shrimp trucks, Helenas, Ono and some of the other low key places.

Since you're moving there soon, feel free to let me know if you want the results of our eating in Oahu throughout May. I figure that, given an entire month, we'll be able to hit quite a bit... working it off with a lot of tennis of course. Thanks again for the ideas.

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Near HNL is Mitch's Fish Market, which I like to hit for dinner after arriving at the airport and lunch going back to the airport. Sushi, sashimi and cooked dishes. Open seven days a week, from lunch to 8:30pm. I recommend the spiny lobster miso and abalone specials.

Look for izakayas, especially if you like small plates of food and sake. If you are at Ala Moana, try Rokkaku but it's the rare Japanese restaurant where you don't want to sit at the bar. Ichiriki for nabe and sukiyaki.

Helena and Ono are safe bets for Hawaiian, try Highway Inn if you're in Waipahu. Side Street Inn for "local" comfort food. Try saimin (it's a variation on ramen, but definitely different) at Palace: order wonton min and BBQ stick.

Are you a fan of greasy spoons? Find Jane's Fountain (Jane died in Jan after 101 years) and and Violet's Grill.

Hank's Haute Dawg can be fun. If you want to have a picnic, get a recommendation for an okazuya (since everyone has a different favorite), and make your selections early in the morning.

Then, on your last day, pick up bentos to eat on the plane.

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here's my long CH post

OK, I should have read your CH post before replying. But if you are adventurous enough to eat poke, you should wander around Waipahu sampling at the different places. I was at Tamashiro's Fish Market in February and it was only 10% as interesting as I remember from the 80's.

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Thanks for all the info. Izakayas are definitely on the agenda (we have some in NYC but not at that level for a reasonable price). Highway Inn is new to me, as is Jane's and Violet's -- we'll find them. By the way, not only are we "adventurous" enough to eat poke, it's been my go-to food in Oahu since we starting going in the mid-80s. I greatly miss the fresh fish/poke market behind Ward's Warehouse, as that was our first stop to stock up our refrigerator w/poke and to buy crack seed. Second stop was Chinatown.

Funny story about our first meal at Sidestreet -- we didn't pay any attention before going and did not realize how large every dish was going to be. I thought our waitress was chuckling to herself as we each ordered appetizers, then entrees (the fried chicken was great), then added some sides. When we received everything, I think she had told the guys at the bar about our order because most of them turned around to see how we would react. Of course, I finished more than they expected but we left over enough for a family of four. Wont be making that mistake again.

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Big Ole Bump

Some not to be missed places in Kauai:

Best Shaved Ice: Hee Fat General Store in Ka'Paa

They were the only shaved ice place I found where they used real fruit syrup. Their ice was the fluffiest I had on the island.

Best Burger: North Shore General Store in the Princeville Center. They use beef from the Princeville ranch up the road. It was one of the best burgers I have ever had.

Other places worth seeking out:

Infigo-The chef does a "Chef's challenge" for appetizer and main. You pick the protein, he creates a dish for you. I was the only one in the restaurant at the time (I was there at 6 on a Monday; by the time I left the place was filling up.) so the chef and I went back and forth over what type of fish to use. We settled on opa and a lobster claw. The opa was perfectly cooked with a macadamia nut crust, served with the most tender shitake stem I have ever eaten. This was topped with a wasabi crusted lobster claw. This dish could have come out of Chef Ruta's kitchen. When the annual best thing you ate thread starts in December this will be on it for me.

The Feral Pig-Great bar and great banana macadamia nut pancakes in Lijue

Hamura's Saimin-Stand-Five minutes from the airport in Lihue and one of the few places still open if you land at night. This isn't fancy ramen with a broth that has simmered for week. It's simple saimin served in a minimalist setting. Cash only

Tortilla Republic-Excellent salsa in the salsa trio and the ceviche was some of the best raw fish I had in Kauai. In Poipu

Not Worth the Hype:

Kintaro's Sushi-This place received great reviews for mediocre, food court sushi.

Bubba's Burgers is okay but North Shore is much better.

Lobster Warning: Check where the lobster is from. Apparently there is a cottage industry on one of the big islands where they raise "Maine" lobster. I had it twice, once at Infigo's where it was amazing and once as poke where it was fine but not worth the price or stomach space.

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Anybody have any recent recommendations for the Kona District? We'll be at the Hilton Waikoloa Village next week and are looking for any and all ideas for food. There's this article from Serious Eats, which seems to be a good start. We have a car and are looking for all prices points, but will probably try and stick to cheaper eats, including food trucks, farmer's markets, etc. Thanks!!

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My trip was in early 2009, so my restaurant recs may be out of date. I did check with Yelp and these places are still getting very good ratings.

Coffee Shack in Captain Cook - serves up a very tasty breakfast, definitely the best of its kind that we encountered

Manago Hotel - very inexpensive and tasty

Kona Villages used to have the best luau with great food and entertainment, but it looks like the new owners closed that down in 2012.

I would have recommended buying this but it hasn't been updated since 2009. Hawaii The Big Island Revealed gives generally pretty good guidance (though they were waaay too optimistic about the conditions of some unpaved roads), much better than Lonely Planet or Rough Guides.

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Thanks Astrid! We meant to get to Roy’s and Manago Hotel but ran out of time. This article from the LA Times was very useful, as the writer obviously stayed in the same area that we did.

Merriman's Market Cafe in Waikoloa is lovely, with fresh, local ingredients and a variety of lighter options (salads, non-fried fish dishes). We had an ahi burger and fish tacos. The ahi burger had Asian flourishes (pickles) and came with an addictive mustard aoli. The fish tacos were grilled and came with hummus, which is an odd but welcome touch for a person who doesn't care for tartar sauce. It’s in a nice outdoor strip mall, and the service is friendly and efficient.

Island Fish and Chips is in the same shopping center as Merriman’s and is really just a window/booth shop by the man-made lake. Almost everything is fried. The non-fish dishes and fries aren't anything special, but the fish of the day (mahi mahi when we were there) is fresh, coated in a tempura-like batter, and surprisingly great with their industrial tartar sauce. The view is pretty and they will pipe in music to the outdoor-only (there is some shade) seating area when musicians are performing in the shopping center square. This may or may not be a good thing ;-) There was also a teeny farmer’s market on Wednesday morning-afternoon in this shopping center.

Island Gourmet is a grocery/ABC store down the street from Merriman’s in the Queenstown marketplace, which also has some prepared and prepared-to-order foods, including sushi, rice bowls, breakfast, and sandwiches. It’s a decent place to grab drinks, snacks, and souvenirs. They do have li hing mui (salty plum powder-coated things) treats and powder for sale.

We were staying at the Hilton Waikoloa and ate a couple times at the Chinese restaurant, Kirin. It’s actually got decent food, better than we can get in the hinterlands of Ventura County (CA). From 11-5 they have a dim sum menu with acceptable dumplings and nicely sautéed noodles. Our dinner was similar, with well-executed, sweeter-sauced, barely spicy (even when spice was requested) Singapore noodles (though it was nicely dusted with curry powder throughout) and Sezchuan eggplant. The chili sauce can rescue most dishes as needed for spice and the service is very cheerful and attentive. On property, we also ate at the Boat Landing Cantina. I think we are spoiled from living near LA but this Mexican-themed food is meh – small portions, not very flavorful, mostly fried – and they are always crowded and busy. Go only for drinks as necessary. We also went to the luau at the resort. The show was cheezy fun and the meats and fruits were very good. The roast pig and ribs were simply prepared and sauced and very nice. I ate as much of those as I could (too much!). The poke was also quite good. The rest – the salads, carbs, vegetables, and dessert, were all very forgettable banquet/buffet-style fare. It’s pretty expensive, but probably worth going if you’ve never been to the show and come hungry.

We ate twice at the Hawaiian Style Café in Waimea. It’s everything as promised – huge portions of plain and simple local dinerish food. I think the clientele is now pretty evenly mixed between locals and tourists. The loco moco is huge and tasty (they use short-grained, stickier rice) and the pancakes are GIANT and fluffy. The lamb ribs are fantastic – grilled to perfection and simply dressed. We sucked those bones as dry as possible. It’s only open until 1:30 PM and there is usually a fairly fast-moving line in the morning.

We stopped in Tex’s Drive-In every time we drove by for the malasadas (Portuguese donuts). Hot and fluffy, dusted with sugar, and filled with fruit or cream toppings, these little pastries are the BOMB! They are amazing when they first come out hot, but hold up throughout the day. If you gorge on these they will carry through hikes to Akaka falls or around Volcanoes national park.

Our best meal of the week was at Rapanui’s Island Cafe, a little Indonesian place in downtown Kona (it’s inside a plaza so a little difficult to find, but there is free parking in the municipal lot out back). The beef was better than the pork satay, and the chicken was also nicely grilled. The veggie combination plate (stir-fry, curry, and salad) was lovely with the café rice (bathed in coconut milk and lemongrass?) but would have been a little bland without. The iced tea is not sweetened! Refreshing, but surprising. It’s very small (husband chef and wife FOH and that’s it for staff) so there will likely be a wait, but we really enjoyed our experience.

We also grabbed a bite at Ba-Le, a local chain of Vietnamese restaurants. The bahn mi were great, the vermicelli noodles and pho broth (MSG!) were fine, and it was very quick and easy. They also have mini plates (which we didn’t see) so you can sample more things.

I didn’t really care for the food at Nori’s Saimin and Snacks. The ginger pork was too sweet and the noodle broth too salty. Advantages – lots of locals, it’s open late (10 PM), and the desserts are homemade and look good.

Hilo Farmer’s Market – nothing special for folks that are used to nice farmer’s markets. Worth visiting on market days (Sat and Wed, I believe) if you’re in the area and want to pick up some fruit, but we weren’t particularly blown away. There are papayas, coconuts, guavas, and apple bananas for sale by the road all over the island!

Overall, there is a lot of decent local dining available, as long as you are willing to drive. Almost every place you want to go is right off the only main road around the island. Places close EARLY. We weren’t able to get into Bamboo (Hawi) and Hotel Manago (Captain Cook Town) because they have their last seatings at 8 and 7:30 PM, respectively! So be prepared :)

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Anyone been to Kauai or Maui in the last year? We'll be there in late May and would love the latest scoop. We have the "Hidden" guides and TripAdvisor for general reference, but are always on the lookout for exciting foods and adventures. I would very much appreciate anyone chiming in on the following:

kayak tours of the Napali Coast

poke

farmer's market or fruit stand

fresh sushi or seafood

"back" part of Road to Hana (going through Maui's south coast)

hikes around Koke'e/Waimea area

Scuba or snorkeling trips

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Astrid, this may come too late, but I had mentioned Pranee's Thai Food a few years ago in an earlier post, but I want to post this again, as it seems that almost everyone who eats at this little roadside stand shares my loves for it. If you're in Hana around lunch time on Sunday or Monday, just follow the signs....

Pranee's Thai Food

Pranee does amazing things with fresh seafood...it really is an extraordinary--and inexpensive--treat.

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I'll add my roundup for Kauai and Maui while everything is still relatively fresh in my mind. One thing to keep in mind for the main Hawaii islands is to bring your Costco membership card. Their locations are all within 5 miles of the airport and their gas prices are 30-40 cents cheaper per gallon than anywhere else on the islands. Also – while Kauai’s North Shore is beautiful, I find everything to be much easier on the south side – drier, better roads and facilities, less traffic, and much lower prices.

Kauai restaurants (somewhat subjective best to worst)

Ishihara Market - we tried all the local fish market (all are quite good) and this was the best. Amongst the best tasting, definitely lowest price and largest selection. They have 15-20 different kinds of poke alone, at lower than Costco prices. Unlike the other "markets", this is a well stocked store that offers all the essentials at very competitive prices. Great place to stock up if you're staying on the south side of Kauai. The staff is great too - we must have tried 15 different samples before making up our minds on poke purchases and they were generous with samples.

Red Salt - this is the only fancy restaurant that we really *liked* on Kauai and its kitchen blows the competition out of the water. Ask for the sushi menu, it's pricy but whoever is manning the sushi station knows what he's doing.

Pono Market - the deli is like Ishihara Market, but with smaller selection, higher prices, lack of non-deli items, and trickier parking situation. The staff was very friendly and generous with samples.

Koloa Fish Market - the deli poke selection is smaller and more expensive than Ishihara or Pono, but our kayak guide (born and raised on Kauai) said they have the best kalua pork and lau lau plate lunch and we would tend to agree. The parking can be a bit tricky and food is best eaten as takeout (whereas Pono Market and Ishihara Market both offer eating areas).

Lapperts Ice Cream - very good ice cream (and sorbet and gelato) with lots of exotic choices. The staff at the Poipu location were happy to supply us sample after sample.

Papalani Gelato - pretty good gelato (they were refreshing but a bit sorbet-y) and friendly service, though the store is not quite as nice as Lapperts-Poipu, prices were slightly higher and the scoops a bit smaller compared to Lapperts.

Kilaueau Fish Market - good dine in food. The deli/takeout options were very fresh and tasty, but considerably higher in price and smaller in selection than all other Kauai "markets". The service was also a bit snottier than other markets.

Original Jo Jo's Shave Ice and Treats - there are two Jo Jo's in Waimea, we went to the larger one that had a retail looking front. The shave ice is great - big fluffy cones with up to three flavors. The flavors are highly colored and artificial tasting and very sweet, but that's to be expected for shave ice. The specialties that include coconut milk or fresh fruit are less sweet and easier to finish.

Kilaueau Bakery - what we had was good and reasonably priced. Nothing special, but good place to pick up a loaf or something sweet for breakfast.

Merriman's Cafe - pizza and burgers - pretty decent pizza and surprisingly enormous burgers cooked to the ordered temperature. Probably could be ranked higher, but no point in flying 10 hours each way to have decent pizza/burgers.

Hukilau Lanai - Tripadvisor fails us again (it’s déjà vu Iceland). #1 ranked in Kauai restaurant was unexceptional with notable missteps. The portions were big, the service was good, and the prices were pretty reasonable but the food was heavy and felt dated (maybe late 90s feel). The fish entrees were overdone and seasoning lacked finesse.

Beach House Restaurant – the location is fantastic, the food was slightly above average and somewhat pricy. The cocktail I had was pretty good and the service was nice.

Puka Dogs – Kauai’s variant of half smoke is pretty good. The grilling gives the sausages a good crackly texture, and the condiments complements the dogs pretty well. The downside is the long wait to put in order and receive orders, the rather high prices, and too much bread for amount of sausage.

Chicken in a Barrel – decent BBQ plate for the price. Not worth stopping if other Kapa’a food truck or plate lunch options are open.

Tahiti Nui – okay food at high prices for smallish portions

Josselin's Tapas Bar & Grill - overpriced, mediocre dreck. The menu reads far better than the food tastes. The prices are very high for the smallish portions.

Other activities in Kauai (again, favorite to least favorite)

doors off helicopter flight with Interislander – is awesome, definitely our best splurge of the vacation. Most of Kauai is inaccessible except by helicopter, and the views through Waimea canyon, Na Pali coast, and Waialeale area are awesome. We’ve seen lots of photos of these places before our trip, but experiencing them in a helicopter was so much better. We definitely had a fantastic experience with Interislander (chosen because they were closer to our lodging and had “private” flight options for two people). Although their flight is about 10 minutes shorter than their competition, their route misses the residential areas that Princeville or Lihue companies have to fly through, so we didn’t feel rushed at all. Our pilot’s narrative was information and thoughtful, and the ride was a thrill from start to finish.

Niihau/Napali trip with Holo Holo – although the Ultimate Guide to Kauai highly recommend Na Pali boat trips leaving from North Shore rather than Port Allen near Waimea, we chose to go with Holo Holo out of Port Allen because we got more bang for our buck (we got a trip to Niihau and snorkeling at crater nearby for only $15-25 more than recommended North Shore Na Pali only trips). Although we were a bit disappointed by the snorkeling site (too little coral and fish, the captain’s first choice had too strong a current, unfortunately), the boat ride was a blast and we saw monk seals and dolphins in really clear water. The crew was very approachable and enthusiastic.

Wailua River kayaking with Alii Kayak – We chose Ali’I because it was the cheapest but I couldn’t imagine a better guide for the trip than our guide Josh. Nice relaxing kayak up, followed by a somewhat muddy hike to a waterfall. It’s a fun and easy way to try out kayaking, but the trip route does get quite crowded and the scenery is not particularly amazing.

Snorkeling – overall, snorkeling was a bit underwhelming. Kauai is too cold for a lot of colorful coral and most of the coral and rocks were covered by dull brown algae. We saw lots of colorful fish in Poipu and good number at Ke’e. The lack of parking, especially at Ke’e and Tunnels, and the rough sea conditions make snorkeling much trickier than I would have thought. Due to ocean conditions and traffic, we ended up not snorkeling at Tunnels at all, even though that’s the best snorkeling location on Kauai.

Hiking – Kauai was highly touted for hiking so we were excited about the prospect of hiking before the trip. But upon closer observation, it turned out to be a very frustrating place to hike. The local red dirt becomes extremely slick mud with anything more than a sprinkling of rain. And we experienced rain everyday while we’re on Kauai. And many of the most interesting sounding trailheads require driving through extremely rough dirt roads or have inadequate parking. The hikes we did were beautiful and interesting, but with the exception of Maha’ulepu, footholds were scary even with hiking boots and trekking poles. In retrospect, we should have hiked with five fingers shoes for extra grip, rather than conventional hiking boots. The Ultimate Guide publisher has a too relaxed attitude about what visitors can attempt in a rental car – I would recommend just hiring a local guide or hike with the local chapter of the Sierra Club. Guiding service is an expensive option, but we were certainly glad for it when our guide drove past half a dozen rental cars caught by a rainstorm on Camp 10 Road – a road that I would be afraid to drive in a jeep in dry weather.

Smith's Family Luau (show only) – $15/person is pretty cheap option for the show only and the setting is pretty, but this was a far inferior production to the Kona Villages show that we saw on the Big Island 4 years ago. The show felt like a high school talent show, not a group of entertainment professionals.

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Maui – we had less time in Maui and ended up in the priciest places. The food/service were very good but the prices are very high.

(favorite to least favorite)

Mama’s Fish House – as noted by others, pricy but great location and atmosphere, +1 loved the food here, whereas I thought it was good but somewhat inferior to Lahaina Grill and Red Salt in Kauai. The mai tais here are very good and enormous in size.

Lahaina Grill – everything we tried here was very good to exceptional (wagyu beef ravioli). The wait staff here has mastered the art of making their guests feel like a million bucks without any intrusive hovering. There’s no beach sunset view here and $5 parking is necessary, but this place just feels very special.

Mana Foods – a sort of supercharged health food store. Very good quality food at very reasonable for Maui prices. The deli/bakery area has some very good selections including an excellent Thai beef salad.

Spago – The sunsets from the outside dining area is beautiful, but best done with a sunhat and sunglasses. And you will get people repeatedly coming up next to you for sunset snapshots. The food was pretty good overall, but smallish portions and very high prices.

Hali’imaile General Store – pretty good food and a bit cheaper than the fanciest places, but not quite as farm to table as their reputation would suggest. It seems like the sort of place that would be considered very special 10-15 years ago, but feels a bit dated for 2013.

Hana Farms – we visited Maui in a relatively slow time, so this was one of the few open fruit stands on the Road to Hana. The prices are pretty high, but they do carry a largish range of things made or grown on their farm. The enthusiasm of the college age workers in the farm stand is delightful. They do clay oven pizza night Fri-Sunday and pizzas are pretty credible. I wasn’t as much a fan of their banana bread, too dense and sweet.

Activities

Snorkeling boat trip on Fair Winds II – the boat is very comfortable and the food is pretty good, the coral garden location is very nice with lots of coral and fish (they usually go to Molokini in the morning, but the sea was too rough on our day). These guys are very aggressive about selling add-ons like snuba, wet suit rental, and DVDs – that’s probably the main downside of going with them.

Pipiwai trail – the first mile is not very interesting, but the bamboo forest to 400’ waterfall section is beautiful and very worthwhile. It does get muddy and a little slippery after rain, but nothing like krazy Kauai trails.

Haleakala – it was alright, but we’ve seen more spectacular volcanic scenery on the Big Island, New Zealand and West Coast. It’s a nice drive up. I think the reputation for coldness around sunrise/sunset comes less from altitude than wind velocity.

Road to Hana – it’s a pleasant drive except for all the scary 1.5 lane blind corners. The waterfalls along the way are pretty, but not really worth the hassle of stopping for. The scenery is not *that* spectacular. The hike around Waianapanapa beach is pretty nice.

Additional mention

Island Air – Larry Ellison’s third world airline, this outfit is apparently quite a joke amongst the locals. They managed to almost lose us on our Honolulu-Kauai flight (by giving us the wrong boarding time and directing us to the wrong terminal) and lose a piece of our luggage for several days for our Kauai-Maui leg. They also don’t have A/C in the cabin while the plane is on the ground.

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Heading to Maui for 10 days at the end of August.  On top of the info up thread, wanted to see if anyone had particular advice around the following:

-We're staying in a condo / townhome in Kapalua (Kapalua Villas, next to the Ritz) - any advice (the Costco card is coming with us) around places to pick up meal staples as we figured we'd be cooking in for some breakfasts / lunches and even a few dinners

-Recommendations for wine / beer purchases - again, as we're staying in our own place, I'd like to get a few nice bottles of wine and some decent beer.  I'm sure Costco has some of each, but figured if anyone knew of a good wine shop it'd be worth asking about

Any thoughts / suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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We're also heading to Maui and Kauai for a vacation in the next month.

Thanks for writing such a comprehensive posting about your trip Astrid.  It's a great starting place for places to check out from a recent experience.

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I wanted to give a run down of some of the things we did and places we ate on our trip to West Maui / Kapalua:

Things are did:

Before jumping in, I would highly recommend the "Maui Revealed" Guidebook.  Its written very well with some humor / sarcasm mixed in.  They update it every year and we found it spot on.  Additionally, we stayed in the Kapalua Bay Villas - I found ours on Homeaway but you can leverage a site like outrigger.com or VRBO as well.  For us, this was preferable (it does make a Costco trip a must) as it allowed us to cook breakfasts and lunches (along with a few dinners) in our condo.

Sunrise at Haleakala - We did this our first day there when we were still on east coast time so getting up at 2am wasn't so bad.  The drive from Kapalua was about 2 hours and change.  My advice would be to err on the side of getting there early and taking a snooze upon arrival.  Its definitely cold up there, it was about 70 degrees at the bottom and 40 at the top, so bring warm clothes / blankets.  If you arrive on the early side, you'll have access to park at the summit itself which provided just awesome views of both the sunrise and the crater.  If you're at the summit, the best views are on the left hand (facing the sunset) side vs. the pavilion where most of the crowd will form.  If you get it on a clear day (which we did), this will be one of the highlights of the trip - truly majestic.

West Maui / Molokai Helicopter Tour - We used Blue Hawaiian on a friends recommendation and were glad we did as they are one of the few outfits that allows you to have two way conversations with the pilot, which allowed us to ask questions and just have a more interactive trip.  This was by far one of the trips highlights, flying into many of the valleys that are not accessible through West Maui and across the ocean into Molokai.  The pilot was awesome and shared some really cool tidbits throughout the flight.  This wasn't cheap (about 250 a person) but I would highly recommend doing it.

Olivine Pools - This was one of the gems we grabbed from the Maui Revealed guidebook (I hadn't seen it anywhere else).  Essentially, after a short hike down a rocky trail, you'll find an outcropping of lava that shelters you from the pounding waves on all sides, but contains multiple crystal clear, deep pools that you can jump in / swim in.  Its kind of cool hearing the surf surround you while sitting in a calm pool.

Nakalele Blowhole - On the way back to Kapalua from the pools, we stopped here.  This is a longer hike but I thought it was worth it to see this upclose.  Basically during high tides (windy days will be best in combination with high tide) the ocean spits up like a geyser through a rock formation.  Its a picturesque hike and well worth doing if its active (you can see if its active before committing to the long hike).

Golf (Kapalua Bay and Plantation Courses - Both of these courses were in immaculate shape and were worth playing.  If you commonly play any of the nicer public courses here in DC, there won't be a TON of sticker shock (the Plantation is about 205 bucks and the Bay is around 150 if you're staying in Kapalua).  The Plantation is a true PGA level course (I shudder to think how hard it might be as they get it ready for the Hyundai tournament in February) that will really beat you up if its windy.  I played it on a calm day and found it to simply be a gorgeous well maintained track with very difficult greens.  The front 9 of the bay course goes right out between Oneloa Beach and D.T. Flemming beach which is also really cool.  Its not as hard as its sister course but its cheaper and still offers ocean views from basically every hole.  If you're a golfer they're worth playing (you can rent clubs, although we did bring our own - it depends on if you want to spend your money on a bigger rental car or on renting clubs  ;) )

Spas - The tradeoff for me playing 3 rounds of golf was my wife spending a few days at the spa <_<.  She had positive reviews for both the Kapalua Bay Spa (not sure if its only available to those staying in Kapalua) as well as the spa at the Ritz Carlton.  I believe she had a massage and some sort of wrap in addition to some other treatments.  Both weren't too crazy on the sticker shock scale (all things considered, since Maui as a whole was pretty expensive).

Places we ate:

Pineapple Grill - Next to the clubhouse at the Bay Course, this was one of the highlight meals of the trip.  Excellent short ribs and pineapple upside down cake.  Others at the table had similar things to say about their pastas.  I found the wine list to be on the pricey side, and went with a "special" Pinot that was fine and on the cheaper side.  As another FYI, while I brought wine with us on the trip, most restaurants do not offer corkage (which was fine, as we did spend some meals in our condo).  I would highly recommend sitting outside since the weather is almost always nice in the evenings.

Chefs Menu at the Terrace Grill at the Ritz - This was a fine, albeit very overpriced meal that we had on our last day.  The couple we stayed with wasn't into sushi which it seems like many of the higher end options focused on nearby, but the grilled fish was good as was the gnocchi (it did actually remind me of the version I love at Proof).  Once again, the wine list was staggeringly overpriced but I suppose most people staying that wouldn't necessarily care about that.  I preferred the more casual options for lunch at the Ritz (if you stay in Kapalua you have access to their pool and facilities).

Maui Brewing Company - Just south of Kapalua, I thought this was a totally serviceable brew pub.  Large selection of house brewed beers and nice twists on typical burger / salad / pizza options.  This also was on the affordable side and they offered growlers for about 12 bucks.  Definitely worth stopping by.

Kimos (Lahaina) - This spot is literally right on the ocean.  Well priced and with a varied lunch and dinner menu along with a long list of drinks.  Happy hour runs from 3-6 I believe and was an awesome spot to kill some time while we waited for our flight (it was a red eye so we enjoyed dinner / drinks at the bar prior to heading the rest of the way to the airport).  Decently priced.  Additionally, their version of "Hula Pie" was the best we had on the island.  Lahaina was a bit touristy, but this place was definitely worth going to (we did lunch earlier in our trip and found it to be just as good as dinner).

Feast at Lele (Luau - Lahaina) - This fell into the "we were glad we did it, but we wouldn't do it again" category.  At the end of the day, the luau food just isn't my thing and I'd rather spend this kind of money at a real restaurant.  That said, this was not as touristy as some of the other luaus we read about - you're seated with your party and nobody else, you have a dedicated server, and its literally on the beach.  The show / dancing was also good.  Happy to have the "I've been to a luau" under my belt, as I probably won't ever do one again.

Sea House (Napali Beach) - This oceanside restaurant was really good for both lunch, dinner, and happy hour.  They run specials during the week (the prime rib was really excellent on Wednesday)  and they have a ton of excellent beachside drink options.  Sit outside on the patio or if you're looking for a break from the sun, inside still offers decent views of Napali.  As always it was more expensive than it should be, but thats the price you pay for the view.

Beaches:

Our condo was a 10 minute walk from 4 beaches -

D.T. Flemming - This is right below the Ritz and I found it to be windy and generally unremarkable.

Oneloa Beach - On the windier side, but with nice surf for body boarding and a mostly sand bottom.  There are also lava rocks to explore on the leftside (looking at the ocean) of the beach.  In the AM this is a better beach to enjoy as in the afternoon, its unprotected nature makes it a bit too windy in the afternoon.  For the majority of our trip there were a bunch of surfers here which was pretty cool to watch from our condo's deck.

Kapalua Bay - Not a great pure swimming beach but the snorkelling was unmatched from my perspective.  The whole bay is lined by a ton of coral and home to a bunch of huge sea turtles.  It was really cool swimming about 10 feet away from them as they slowly swam around.  The water was pretty calm and we spent a bunch of time exploring all areas of the bay with our snorkel gear (as a tip, rent it from a diveshop as the 7 dollars an hour you'll pay if you rent at the beach is a complete rip off).  Additionally, there is a small inlet to the right (looking at Kapalua Bay) that is separate and offers some giant rocks to drive off and into the ocean (maybe 30 feet in the air) which was pretty fun.  You have to take a trail to the access points, but its worth the side trip.

Napali Bay - This is the best pure swimming beach near Kapalua.  Its essentially a perfectly calm, sand bottomed, infinity pool.  The water was about 8 feet deep and crystal clear.  We spent the most time here and just can't recommend it enough.  Its a short walk between it and Kapalua bay so its worth shuttling back and forth depending on what activity you want to undertake.  We also did some paddle boarding here and the calm waters made it a pretty nice training ground.

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I thought I would chime in with our experience in Maui and Kaui as well, but since a majority of the recent material was covered by Rovers2000 and Astrid, mine will be a little more brief and focused on the food.

Maui

Like previously mentioned, Costco, has a good selection of foods and gas prices compared to the rest of the island.  We stocked up on some gifts items like macadamia nuts and coffee.

Whole Foods in Kahului is pretty much the same as what you would expect here in the DC metro area, though probably a little smaller than some of the more newer stores. In terms of prices at checkout, we didn't find it that different from the mainland, although most people tend to focus on the milk prices being higher.

There are 2 or 3 main 'organic' and 'healthier' grocery stores we found. Down to Earth in Kahului seems to follow the Whole Foods model but smaller with less selection.  Mana Foods in Paia is a cross between Mom's organic market and the Takoma Park COOP.  Hands down we probably liked Mana Foods the best in terms of quality of produce and meats, stopping by 3 times over our week stay. The quality at Safeway was fairly low in terms of produce and meats but its easy to see what it was packed as most people stayed within their resort or development area.

In Kihei, I became particularly fond of ahi poke, so made the trip to Eskimo Candy several times which had good wasabi and spicy versions. Also we found Coconut's Fish Cafe to have good fish tacos and fish burgers, perfect for getting a meal to take on the beach before sunset.

In Paia, the Paia Fish Market had a great selection of fish tacos and burgers as well. It was quite full for lunch, but definitely worth the wait.  Nearby, the Ono Gelato Company had very good gelato that we had several times over the trip when we were not indulging in shaved ice. Further up Baldwin Avenue, is a small local fresh food / Korean influenced restaurant called Moana Bakery & Cafe.  Great pastries and fresh good quality food.

In Wailuku, we had take out from a Japanese plate lunch place called Ichiban Okazuya, which we enjoyed eating at the entrance to the Iao Valley State Park.  They had good sides other than the traditional Hawaiian potato mac and cheese like seaweed salad and tofu.

In Lahaina, ended up at Roy's for dinner, every plate was constructed well and quite pretty.  We all enjoyed the different entries and the chocolate volcano dessert.

On the road to Hana, we stopped at the Hasegawa General Store which really is an old fashioned one.  In the back aisles there are every kind of switch, plumbing and electrical item you might need especially if roads were cut out.  We tried to stop at Pranee's Thai but there was a baseball game and funeral going on at the same time that afternoon and the town pretty much shut down. On the eastward road out of Hana, there was a thai food truck called Ae's Thai Kitchen, a road side attraction literally, that did the trick.

Kauai

We stayed at the Koa Kea Hotel which houses Red Salt in Poipu. The hotel was very serene, a smaller hotel than the surrounding Sheraton and Marriott that seemed quite large in comparison to the intimate feeling of the Koa Kea.  Red Salt is probably one of the best restaurants in Kauai, if not the best, but we didn't make it up to Princeville to St Regis for comparison.  They were inventive in the island style.

Ishihara Market in Waimea is a great local market and the lunch counter has a lot of local delicacies such as octopus poke.

In Poipu, Living Markets & Cafe was the island's equivalent to Whole Foods albeit much smaller.  We were surprised by the diversity of gourmet items and the quality of the grill.

In Kapaa, we had take out from Mema Thai, which was tasty, but honestly because by that part of the trip we wanted some food with more spice.

In terms of food, we both would have liked more simpler high quality food. I think the high end restaurants with entrees ~$35 had an over produced quality to them which were perfectly fine for one or two nights. However, eating at a few of them for total of 6-7 nights over a two week vacation revealed how similar they were. My recommendation would be to limit high end restaurants to 1-2 over a vacation.  Unfortunately, there really isn't much diversity of food beyond the high end hotel/restaurant and local seafood places. From what I heard Oahu has more so that's something to look forward too for a future trip.

Overall, Maui and Kauai were extremely beautiful and you really can't go wrong visiting any of the beaches or other excursions as others in the thread have commented. Almost all of the photographs we took looked incredible, it is hard to take a bad photograph on either island.

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Meant to do this earlier, but here goes. I had a pair of free tickets anywhere Alaska Airlines flies, and we decided to use them flying to Maui over Thanksgiving. Great trip, we'd been to Hawaii before but never Maui, and we had a great time.  Since we did this a little last minute we had some limitations on lodging, but were generally pleased with the Marriott Wailea Beach Resort. Loved the location of the hotel, right on a great beach path that connects most of the Wailea resorts. The infinity pool was also fantastic. If I returned I wouldn't pay extra for the ocean view room, which in this case was only a partial view, and not worth whatever extra it cost.

Here are a whole bunch of words on restaurants, and I'll return in a bit with a few words on some of the various attractions/sights that we enjoyed.

Lunch/Less Expensive Spots

Aloha Mixed Plate (Lahaina) "“ Really great. Located just north of the downtown portion of Lahaina. Both of the mixed plates we had (Ali'I Mixed Plate and Beachside Mixed Plate) were fantastic.

Eskimo Candy (Kihei) "“ Absolutely loved this place. We were a little unclear on how to order, and ended up ordering the Poke Bowl, which featured four types of tuna poke, rather than ordering poke by the pound. In the future I'd order pounds and pounds of the wasabi poke and stuff it into my face until I burst. It was awesome. We also grabbed some kampachi fish and chips and some fish tacos. Both were quite good. Fish tacos weren't quite as good as Coconuts, but still tasty. Fish and chips were cooked well, and crunchy. That said, what I wish I had in front of me right now is the wasabi poke.

Da Kitchen (Kihei) "“ Really good lunch here. We started with Spam Musubi, and also with DEEP FRIED SPAM MUSUBI!!! Both were awesome.  And we way over-ordered as well, as I was unable to finish my (quite good) Saimin and we also left some of the Korean Chicken, which was extremely moist and flavorful.  Great lunch spot.

Kihei Caffe (Kihei) "“ Ate here twice for breakfast, and really enjoyed it.  First time, on Thanksgiving day, I had the Turkey Eggs Benedict, and my wife went with the breakfast burrito. The eggs benedict would have been better done normally (and they were better two days later when my wife ordered just that), but I enjoyed them, and it let me get my turkey, stuffing and cranberry fix in early in the day. The breakfast burrito was as big as my wife's head, and very tasty. It was not finished.

The second trip saw us ordering eggs benedict, and the pork fried rice. The rice dish had bacon, pork and Portuguese sausage, and was topped with two eggs. I ate the heck out of it.

Braddah Hutts BBQ Grill (Hana) "“ We were really looking forward to eating at Thai Food by Pranee, but unfortunately they were closed on the day we were there. Looking for something else, we ended up at this spot, which I'd seen recommended somewhere, located just past the Hasegawa General Store on the left hand side. It's basically a food truck set up in somebody's front yard, cooking bbq pork, chicken and ribs on a grill, with picnic tables set up to sit at.  We were both starving, which will affect our perception, but our bbq pork was delicious.

Coconuts (Kihei) "“ Our first meal in Maui, and it did not disappoint. The fish tacos are huge, and will require a number of napkins to deal with the fallout, but are delicious. You don't need to do what we did and also order the coconut shrimp, although they are good.

Royal Thai Kitchen "“ On Thanksgiving day we spent the morning on top of Haleakala, and raced back into Kihei hoping to find something open. This place was. It was fine, nothing special.

Maui Brewing Company "“ We stopped in for a drink after driving north of Lahaina. They've got an extensive selection of their own beers, which we enjoyed.  Can't comment on the food, except for the onion rings, which were ok.

Dinner/More Expensive Spots

Spago "“ This was probably the best meal we had on the island (that or Morimoto). It was also the most expensive, and by a significant margin. That said, I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a very good meal in a beautiful setting and with fantastic service.  Wolfgang was in the restaurant (not in the kitchen) the night we were there as well.

Also, this place delivered by far the best cocktails of anywhere we went on the island. They have an interesting an inventive list, they know what they're doing and they take their cocktails seriously. Which is very rare for the places we went to in Maui. On our last night here we were having dinner at Nick's Fishmarket in the Fairmont, and after looking online at the cocktail lists at every spot in this hotel we elected to return to Spago to grab a pre-dinner drink, which was a decision we did not regret.

Morimoto "“ They've apparently been open for just a couple of weeks, and I haven't really seen it reviewed anywhere. We went entirely because of a good experience we had years ago at the Philadelphia version, and because of our love of the original Japanese version of Iron Chef. It's a cool space, in the brand new Andaz hotel. Service was good, although things did come out a bit faster than I would have liked (a persistent problem for us at a number of Maui restaurants, and surprising since it wasn't like we were eating particularly slowly). The carpaccio was really good, as was the spicy king crab. We then ordered one of the chef's selections of sushi, and it was wonderful.  Cocktails were good (I got the Sibuscus Hazerac, which I believe was a typo, but which has essentially changed the name of the classic New Orleans drink forever for my wife and me). The wine list is relatively limited, in my opinion.

Monkeypod Kitchen "“ Unlike the two previous spots, this is not a resort. And most of the menu comes in at lower than resort prices. It's a casual spot, and was perhaps the only place we went to that was really hopping while we were there. Service was attentive and good. The cocktail list reads better than it delivers, but the drinks were still solid (although my Hazerac variation should not have been shaken). The specials are a bit out of line price-wise with the rest of the menu, and actually approach resort dining prices ($33 for the ahi loin with wasabi mashed potatoes and stir-fried vegetables). Food was good, not great, but overall a pleasant dining experience, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Longhi's "“ Probably the worst meal we had on the island. Again, not on a resort, but instead located in the Shops at Wailea, which is a very short walk from our hotel. To begin with the positives, this was probably the best, and biggest, wine list of any of the places we visited. And the service was quite good throughout, and I don't think that was just because our waiter grew up fifteen miles from my hometown. The food, however, was mediocre at best, and too expensive for this to really be acceptable. My fish (opakapaka) was cooked well, although perhaps slightly over, and the sauce was fine. My wife's seafood risotto, however, was kind of a soupy mess, with overcooked shrimp. I had high hopes for this place, but I can't really recommend it.

Nick's Fishmarket "“ When researching where to go this had uniformly positive reviews so our expectations were high. On the whole it was fine, but cost as much as our most expensive meals here. Our appetizers were uninspiring, while our fish was cooked beautifully. OK wine list.

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a "“ Coolest setting of any of the restaurants we ate at, at the Grand Wailea Resort, situated on top of salt water ponds full of fish. Really cool setting.  Food was good, and expensive.

Were I to go back to Maui, I'd probably drop Longhi's, Humuhumu, and Nick's. I'd eat at Morimoto, Spago and Monkeypod, and then add in some other places we didn't visit.

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Here are a few thoughts on some of the things we did on Maui, not including sitting by the infinity pool at the Marriott.

Road to Hana "“ Everyone recommends this, and for good reason, it's an absolutely beautiful drive.  I don't know exactly what I expected going in, so here are a few things I wish I had known.  Be prepared. I'd read through both of my guidebooks (Maui Revealed was our favorite, and what we used throughout our trip), but I wish I'd mapped things out a bit more. The various waterfalls and attractions come up very quickly, frequently without warning or signs, and it's important to have an idea of what you want to see and where it's located. In our, admittedly limited, experience, you don't need to stop and see everything, but stopping and checking out the various waterfalls and such along the way is what this trip is all about, so put some thought into this, or have somebody sitting next to you who can really read quickly and think on the fly. Along these lines, most of the waterfalls, etc, don't have parking, you just have to find a small amount of space on the side of the road to pull off.

This is a very long drive, particularly if you are stopping to see various things. It took us about ten hours door to door.  We also enjoyed the drive past Hana even more than the drive to Hana. Much less traffic, and beautiful views.  If I had it to do over again I'd probably stop fewer times before Hana and leave more time for the drive after. As it was, however, we didn't feel like we had that much time to stop, since I didn't want to be driving on unimproved roads in the middle of nowhere after dark.

We stopped at the winery (I'm unsure if it is called Maui's Winery or Tedeschi Vineyards since both seem to be used interchangeably) essentially on a lark, and out of curiosity about what Hawaiian wine might taste like. I always have a lot of trouble tasting wine absent any context at all, so I'm not confident in my judgment about the wine's quality, but I am confident that the grape wines at least weren't horrible (the pineapple wine was horrible). I brought back a bottle of the Ulupalakua Red and the Lokelani Hawaiian Sparkling Rose for the novelty. At some point I'll open them and will be better able to comment on the actual quality. It's worth stopping in to break up the drive.

Snorkeling "“ One of the best days of our entire trip.  We did the Molokini snorkeling trip on Paragon Sailing Charters, and I'd strongly recommend them.  They don't jam that many folks onto the boat, which is great, and unlike many of the other boats there they give you a pretty long leash to explore the crater (one boat next to us had two dudes sitting on surfboards yelling at their charges if they drifted too far from the boat). They are also extremely committed to using the sail, which for us was a huge plus, and led to a very relaxing trip. The water at Molokini is extremely clear, and there were a ton of fish.

Haleakala Crater "“ Incredible. Just really stunning views, it makes you feel like you're on a different planet. We were too lazy to try to be up there for sunrise, so I can't comment on that experience, but it's 100% worth it to make the drive up regardless.  Make sure you bring and wear warm clothes, however. We felt rather silly wearing jeans while eating breakfast in Kihei, but we were thrilled that we'd bought cold weather gear when we reached the top.

Lahaina "“ It's a cool town, and worth strolling through. The drive north of Lahaina is also really cool and quite beautiful. If we'd had more time I would have spent it completing that drive around the northern tip of the island.

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Here are a few thoughts on some of the things we did on Maui, not including sitting by the infinity pool at the Marriott.

Road to Hana "“ Everyone recommends this, and for good reason, it's an absolutely beautiful drive.  I don't know exactly what I expected going in, so here are a few things I wish I had known.  Be prepared. I'd read through both of my guidebooks (Maui Revealed was our favorite, and what we used throughout our trip), but I wish I'd mapped things out a bit more. The various waterfalls and attractions come up very quickly, frequently without warning or signs, and it's important to have an idea of what you want to see and where it's located. In our, admittedly limited, experience, you don't need to stop and see everything, but stopping and checking out the various waterfalls and such along the way is what this trip is all about, so put some thought into this, or have somebody sitting next to you who can really read quickly and think on the fly. Along these lines, most of the waterfalls, etc, don't have parking, you just have to find a small amount of space on the side of the road to pull off.

This is a very long drive, particularly if you are stopping to see various things. It took us about ten hours door to door.  We also enjoyed the drive past Hana even more than the drive to Hana. Much less traffic, and beautiful views.  If I had it to do over again I'd probably stop fewer times before Hana and leave more time for the drive after. As it was, however, we didn't feel like we had that much time to stop, since I didn't want to be driving on unimproved roads in the middle of nowhere after dark.

We stopped at the winery (I'm unsure if it is called Maui's Winery or Tedeschi Vineyards since both seem to be used interchangeably) essentially on a lark, and out of curiosity about what Hawaiian wine might taste like. I always have a lot of trouble tasting wine absent any context at all, so I'm not confident in my judgment about the wine's quality, but I am confident that the grape wines at least weren't horrible (the pineapple wine was horrible). I brought back a bottle of the Ulupalakua Red and the Lokelani Hawaiian Sparkling Rose for the novelty. At some point I'll open them and will be better able to comment on the actual quality. It's worth stopping in to break up the drive.

Snorkeling "“ One of the best days of our entire trip.  We did the Molokini snorkeling trip on Paragon Sailing Charters, and I'd strongly recommend them.  They don't jam that many folks onto the boat, which is great, and unlike many of the other boats there they give you a pretty long leash to explore the crater (one boat next to us had two dudes sitting on surfboards yelling at their charges if they drifted too far from the boat). They are also extremely committed to using the sail, which for us was a huge plus, and led to a very relaxing trip. The water at Molokini is extremely clear, and there were a ton of fish.

Haleakala Crater "“ Incredible. Just really stunning views, it makes you feel like you're on a different planet. We were too lazy to try to be up there for sunrise, so I can't comment on that experience, but it's 100% worth it to make the drive up regardless.  Make sure you bring and wear warm clothes, however. We felt rather silly wearing jeans while eating breakfast in Kihei, but we were thrilled that we'd bought cold weather gear when we reached the top.

Lahaina "“ It's a cool town, and worth strolling through. The drive north of Lahaina is also really cool and quite beautiful. If we'd had more time I would have spent it completing that drive around the northern tip of the island.

An absolute pleasure to read.  Thank you for sharing.

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We were in Maui this August (2015). Food highlights:

Da Kitchen, Kahului location.  Bring your appetite!  Portion sizes are huge and there may well be a line; you can phone ahead to get your name on the list prior to your arrival at the door.  This is not fine dining, but there are plenty of competently executed versions of classic Hawaiian food.  I couldn't bring myself to try the deep fried spam musubi, but I did have their unfried version.  I'm not sure that "good" is the right word for it, but it was interesting.  I'm not much of a spam musubi person but theirs was a lot better than any other version I've had.

Hali'imaile General Store.  We have had lunch there on two occasions; this was our first dinner.  We opted for the quieter, almost empty back dining room.  The menu may not have changed much over the years but they are still paying plenty of attention to details in the kitchen.  The roasted meyer lemon half chicken was superb.  Order the pricy sashimi Napoleon if you like raw fish.  We thought the fish was top quality and it is an unusual and tasty composition.  

Izakaya Matsu.  This is a dive in Kihei.  The food is as good as ever, maybe better, but the interior is bare bones and you need to go well after sunset because they have the door open to the heat.  If they had AC and spent a couple of hundred dollars on a fresh paint job and some pictures, they'd be packed from open to close.  I believe they are open for dinner only.  We went multiple times during our trip; pricing is DC level or lower.  This is an izakaya, not a sushi bar, but if there is sushi or sashimi on the specials menu, get it.  Some of the specials change daily and are clearly what the chef spotted in the market and wanted to make that day.  The grilled fish is particularly good; it may be some time before we have a grilled yellowtail collar (hamachi kama) again because theirs put every other rendition we've had to shame.   The place is tiny and reservations are a good idea.  Yelpers like to whine about rude service there; we had no complaints.  Should you come early enough, the shave ice stand in the parking lot has a decent selection of natural flavors and the lady running the stand is very friendly. 

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While schlepping around the island yesterday, we stopped at L&L Hawaiian Barbreque,  a local fast food chain.  We tried Hawaiian Plate (Lau Lau & Kalua Pork w/Cabbage) A Hawaiian tradition. Hefty pork chuck wrapped with taro leaf, steamed to perfection, and served with savory, smoky-flavored Kalua pork, L&L Hawaiian BBQ Mix - A Hearty mix of tasty L&L Hawaiian Barbecue beef, chicken, & short ribs all served hot and fresh, and Ramen Burger - A noodle bun that is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and features signature hamburger patty topped with special teriyaki sauce.

For fastfood, they were all tasty and well seasoned, on the sweet teriyaki side.  I'm sure there are better representatives of each item elsewhere on the island but I'm not keen on searching them out (kind of like looking for the best burger/pizza/fried chicken, they're generally good and ubiquitous).

We later sampled a spam musubi.  They really should tell people to stop eating this stuff, it's a health hazard for a nation of generally unhealthy people.  Too much starch, sweet teriyaki sauce, and while the spam slice is slim in comparison to the rice, there's nothing healthy about eating overly salty processed pork byproduct.  

Shaved ice on a hot day st Shimazu Store was pretty good.  But there's no way to sugarcoat the amount of calories this afternoon delight packs.

Dinner at Alan Wong's was generally very good.  Let me get the bad part out of the way.  They overlooked the shrimp in (i) shrimp and clam linguine, and (ii) steamed shellfish bowl, both of which are their signature dishes.  The best part also came in the form of the linguine, which absorbed the lemongrass flavor broth that was not overwhelmed by garlic or blackbeans.  The steamed shellfish bowl was $47, while a decent bouillabaisse, it paled in comparison to Requin's version (in the Mosaic District).

We also ordered a bunch of their signature starters, (1) Da Bag - clams with Kalua pig steamed in a foil bag - I was expecting porky flavored clams but their flavors remain distinct, (2) Poki-Pines - a giant fried dim sum with great flavor, (3) Lobster Tofu Agedashi, described as tofu-like lobster mousse, lobster medallions, crab meat and kudzu dashi - an interesting dish with mild dashi accentuating the flavors of the seafood (dashi from kudzu, really?), (4) Chopped Ahi Sashimi and Avocado Salsa Stack - basically poke tuna tartare with guacamole, very tasty but I seem to recall having more or less the same dish elsewhere in the world, and (5) a special of hamachi sashimi on fried spring roll wrapper - the only dish that  wasn't finished (other than the overlooked shrimp described above).

 

 

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