My first rec is for Oahu-bound visitors, or those like me with long layovers.
I had 3 1/2 hours between flights and used Yelp's proximity search to locate Family BBQ, a Korean plate lunch spot less than 1/3 mile from the Honolulu terminal. The hard part was figuring out how to walk rather than drive there. It's in a strip mall with a Starbucks and Jamba Juice. If you get to the freeway, you've gone too far. For $8, I got kalbi, teri chicken, a delicious meat pancake, rice, and four kinds of pan chan. Another $1 or so added a huge icy soda. And then it was back on the plane...
First stop, Hilo. I made the mistake of stopping at a natural grocery store on my way to Puna. Because we all know Hawaii is about the fruit.
Pick #1 is the wonderful Sunday Pahoa farmer's market. Of the three markets I went to, Pahoa's was the best. Giant brown avocados, $2 for $1. Great prices on Kapoho white pineapple, zapote, baby bananas, and 5 papayas for $1. (Versus $4 a small but local cantelope or dragonfruit at the grocery.)
I also followed the line in the food court to a Thai woman making green papaya salad to order. Extra spicy? No shrimp? No problem. Serenaded by a local choir, this was quite the place to be. I also picked up dirt cheap flowers (2 giant stems for $1) to decorate my rental car and a great sweatshirt. Unfortunately I was too full for poi balls.
Loved my ono burger and fries at Verna's Drive Inn too.
Biggest disappointment was lunch at Merriman's in Waimea. I got the fish sandwich of the day, which turned out to be ono again. Homemade roll and incredible slice of tomato--but the ono was overdone, and the lettuce hadn't been dried, so the whole thing was a huge mess. Tahitian lemonade was a bad idea altogether. This cost roughly 3x the ono sandwich at Verna's, and wasn't half as satisfying. The golf course/realtor crowd that lunches there wasn't my scene either, as I headed off for stargazing on Mauna Kea.
Malasadas at Tex Drive In were not fresh, but the price was right.
In Hilo, I had a great lunch at Ocean Sushi, a block from downtown. I got the special chirashi, which was fresh and flavorful. They had lots of wacky rolls, but this is a fine spot for traditionalists too.
I liked the Wednesday Hilo market too, and loaded up on bananas and papayas, which I took on the plane to Kauai...I tasted a bit of Puna goat cheese, which was delectable, but not really up to 6 hours without refrigeration.
Kauai, while lovely, was noticeably less Hawaiian, and I never did get the poi I wanted, although I picked up a pricey bag of taro chips at Long's. (Long's has the best prices on Cara-Macs btw.)
We loved the Saturday Hanalei market! My cousins had been the previous Tuesday and said this was bigger. We came home with coffee honey, more avocados (including an odd acidic red one), bananas, papayas, a sugar apple, and for $3.50, an American mangosteen!
Favorite meals were all bargains:
- Pat's tacos from the truck by Hanalei bay. At $4-5 each, these are not cheap but they were delicious, especially the fish, carne asada, and kalua pig (yeah, that means all of them).
- Cookies and breakfast treats at Kileaua bakery. I loved the blueberry cup and coconut mango scone and banana bread; less enamored of the pizza. Excellent chocolate chip cookies. Stock up here and avoid the $3.10 muffins at Starbucks.
- Saimin from the grouchy ladies at Hamura Saimin near Lihue airport. Fried wontons were skippable.
- Malasadas with Kauai estate coffee at the county fair. 6 for $4 plus $1 for coffee. Lau lau was pretty tasty too.
- Shave ice at JoJo's in Waimea. My cousin complained that all the flavors were fake, but I liked our rainbow assortments--lychee and maui gold and tiger bliss with coconut flakes.
- Excellent fish and chips at the Fish Stand in Coconut Marketplace in Wailua. I also picked up decent ahi poke from Foodland in Waipouli.
Mermaid Cafe in Kapaa was fine and modestly priced ($10.95 for an ahi nori wrap or tofu veggie noodles), as was a leisurely lunch from the orange shrimp truck (took a while, the chef was new:) and Shaka tacos.
We had planned a fancy meal at the Beach House in Poipu which was canceled first by a car wreck and then by our desire not to drive all over again.
Dinner at Brennecke's stood in: salad bar, fresh fish (excellent ahi, opah, and ono), and a free slice of birthday mud pie. Brennecke's is a crowd pleaser. Fine in shorts, perfect unpretentious menu. Everything in Hawaii costs more than it should; entrees that would have been $19 on the mainland are $28 here. But once you take that in stride, it's a reasonable choice.
Caffe Coco had decent salads and atmosphere, a pleasant place to hang out and relax outside.
Mai tais all over were weak and overpriced, except one I got at happy hour in Waipouli for $4.50.
We enjoyed wandering around Kauai Coffee Plantation, sampling the fruit on the trees as well as the various roasts. Poipu estate was my favorite, followed by Blue Mountain. I bought some unroasted beans to try out at home.
We packed our bags full of cara-macs, alaea sea salt, hurricane popcorn mix, li hing powder, Kauai-grown coffee and honeys from the fair.
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Hamura Saimin Stand
2956 Kress St, Lihue, HI 96766
Family BBQ
550 Paiea St # 136, Honolulu, HI
Ocean Sushi Deli
250 Keawe St, Hilo, HI 96720
Hilo Farmers Market
Kamehameha Avenue Hilo HI, Kamehameha Avenue Hilo, HI
Verna's Too Drive In
PO Box 445 Keaau HI
Brennecke's Beach Center
2100 Hoone Rd, Koloa, HI 96756
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