Like a bad little almost-foodblogger, I forgot to take pictures of the many, many amazing meals that we had in Hawaii. Our exuberance for the food overtook us, and never was there enough time to snap a quick pix before all the morsels had disappeared. We tried everything from crack seed to poke to seaweed musabi. The only thing I could not bring myself to eat was spam. I hate spam.
I could recap every single meal, but for pure laziness sake, I'll leave you with the top three... none of which I have pictures of. Instead, the pictures you see sprinkled throughout are ahi poke with fresh seaweed (Lahaina), baby green salad with a vanilla vinaigrette (Hana Hotel) and pumpkin soup (Hana Hotel).
1. Mama's Fish House (Pa'ia, Maui)
We went for the Sista's birthday on her last night in Hawaii. The beachfront restaurant with it's tiki torch lined walkways is romantic (too bad for us), but while the ambiance is great, the food is even better. The fish is incredibly fresh with the name of the fisherman and the boat on the menu du jour... opah, ono, mahi-mahi, a'u, ahi... all caught the same day. Can you imagine? I love fish... I was in heaven!
The ahi, mahi-mahi and opah panang curry was one of the best curries I've ever had. Rich, but light (how is that even possible?!), accompanied by a banana and mango salsa, it was an amazing blend of asian and Hawaiian flavours.
If only I could find something like Mama's at home.
2. Blue Shrimp and Seafood Co (Honolulu, Oahu)
Street food at it's best. Actually, more truck food than street food. The Blue Shrimp and Seafood Co. is permanently parked in a parking lot just off Kuhio Ave. We went on recommendation from the limo driver that drove us down from Diamond Head Crater when the maternal one refused to walk back to Waikiki.
The sesame encrusted ahi salad was fabulous...a giant piece of nicely grilled ahi (enough for two people!) on top of a greek salad lightly sprinkled with feta. If I hadn't been so full (of ahi and russian snow crab legs), I would have definitely tried to back for seconds!
Hands down for best street food.
3. Tiki's Grill and Bar (Waikiki, Oahu)
Two words... taro bread. Honestly, that pretty much did it for me. The rolls were warm and fluffy, tinged with the slightly purple hue of taro, and tasted heavenly with the banana butter that accompanied it.
Also good was their version of sangria. Who doesn't love pineapple wine? Especially pineapple wine with mango. Yum.
Go there. Better than Duke's.
