Hawaii on a Dime

Hawaii on a Dime
By Paula

It can be very expensive to eat in Hawaii, but if you know where to go and how to eat like the natives, it can be not only reasonable, but quite cheap and great food.

This past spring when I went to visit my sister on Oahu I discovered some great food that didn’t blow my small budget.

My sister lives in Laie, on the still quiet North Shore where restaurants are a rarity, unlike Honolulu or the other bigger cities. However, I did not suffer for lack of great eats.

The first day of my trip, there was one of the many common small farmers’ markets, this one inside the cafeteria at BYUH. Besides the expected pineapples and fresh vegetables, I discovered Ahi Poke for the first time. I was blown away. For $5.00 you got a huge portion of Ahi Poke, which is raw, marinated tuna, and the usual 2 scoops of steamed rice. Ahi Poke is in effect, like sashimi. If I had purchased that size serving of tuna sashimi in a Japanese restaurant, I would have paid $25. Being with two older women (my Mom and Aunt) who didn’t appreciate raw fish, I bought two more helpings of Ahi and rice and took them home. That evening for dinner, I lightly sauteed the already marinated poke, served it with the rice and some stir fried snow peas we also bought, and they loved it. Wow, a great dinner for 3 for only about $10!
Over the next 3 weeks we proceeded to experience a variety of foods. Following is a description of the highlights.

We ate fresh cooked garlic shrimp at Fumi’s shrimp shack, making a buttery mess all over our hands and clothes. Then we bought some raw shrimp from Fumi’s to take home. I beheaded the shrimp and cooked the shells and heads in water to make a broth that I used to make a Shrimp Garlic Risotto that amazed the crowds.

Since we couldn’t eat out every meal, I did do some cooking as well. I loved shopping in the grocery store, because there are so many Asian and Hawaiian foods in abundance that you can’t find here. One of the ingredients that they use is to make a Japanese curry. Japanese curry is different than Indian curry in that it is sweet, not hot and spicy. The brand I found is called Golden Curry byS & B. You can buy it on the mainland, but it is one of the things that is actually cheaper in Hawaii. The great thing about it is that in about 20 minutes you can have a great curry with any kind of meat and vegetable combination hot and sauced. It’s so quick to make you have to wait for the rice to finish cooking. It is cheap and filling and delicious.

One of the first nights there, Elise raced us over to the little local strip mall that serves the basic needs for Laie, of post office, doctor’s office, fast food, hardware and grocery store. There was a food truck in the parking lot, one of the original food trucks, that was going to be there for only another day or so. The truck moves from one area of the island to another every few days to be able to reach the islanders. It was Leonard’s Malasada truck! If you have never had a Malasada, and most people haven’t, I feel so sorry for you. A Malasada is a Portugese style donut. I am not a donut fan (even though I owned and ran a donut shop for 6 years) but these had me mesmerized from the get-go. I became a junkie. I had to get my fix. I followed the Malasada truck all over the island for the next 3 weeks. The thing is that they are made to order, while you stand there. They are fried right on the spot. They are light like a yeast donut but better and they don’t have a hole. They can be filled too. I found my favorite to be the plain ones sprinkled with either cinnamon sugar or a pink sweet and sour sugar called.li.hing. The haupia (coconut custard) filled were my second favorite. It was a good thing I was running every day!

While I was running daily, I happened by a small shack of a restaurant in the middle of the neighborhood near my sister’s home. I didn’t think a thing about it. While talking to Walt one time he happened to mention one of the places I should go try while there, called the Hukilau Café. That name seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t figure out why, until the next time I ran by that small little shack of a restaurant. Apparently, it had been on the Food Network. So, of course we had to try it. The only problem was the hours it was open, which were never convenient for our schedule. We were able to get to it once, however, for lunch. We tried the Teriyaki Burger and the Loco Moco, both of which were fun local surfer type cuisine. Good, huge and filling.

Then there is the Shave Ice. I am sorry, but for those of you who think you have had shave ice and have had it anywhere other than Matsumotos, you have never had SHAVE ICE. I have tried it at the competition next door, and they just don’t compare. Don’t be tempted by the shorter lines next door, into thinking Matsumotos couldn’t be that much better to warrant having to wait in a much longer line. The line is longer for a reason, folks. They are that much better. The ice is finer, and the flavors more distinct. For me, there is no other way to have a shave ice than all the way. That is, with Azuki beans and ice cream. My favorite flavors are the island fruit flavors, flavors you won’t find anywhere else, like Liliko’i, Lychee and Guava. I went to Matsumotos at least 5 times in the 3 weeks I was there. I even bought the little recyclable cone holders and kept them in the car so I had them just in case we were driving by.

And while we are talking about Hawaiian fruit flavors, I found flavors of ice cream and sorbet, especially Tropilicious brand, in Liliko’i, Lychee and Guava that were to die for.

One day when Elise and I went in to Kaneohe to shop, we stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant so I could try Pho. It is their national soup, and if made correctly is made from a broth that has simmered in a pot on the stove nonstop for years! It is just continually added to. The depth of flavors and richness of the broth cannot be duplicated because of its age. In an unassuming mall, in an unassuming little restaurant I tasted one of the greatest soups I have ever had. After lunch when I went to use the restroom (which required going through the kitchen!), I had the chance to see that indeed the broth was authentic. There inside the kitchen on the stove was a huge pot simmering away with scraps of meat and bones in the garbage close by. I had been given a rare glimpse of Heaven.

If you want to eat like a real native, then one cannot get off the island without trying the Spam Musubi. Ok, Ok, you hate spam. Have you ever tried it? One time recently when the boys wanted me to make Fettuccini Carbonara, and I didn’t have any pancetta or bacon, I used my secret ingredient–SPAM. The boys loved the pasta, and I never told them it was Spam. To this day, they don’t know the secret ingredient. Ha! Spam is not as bad as you think! Spam Musubi
is a slice of fried spam on a bed of sticky rice flavored with a special seasoning blend and held together with a strip of Nori (seaweed used in sushi). It is the Hawaiian version of a Welsh Pastie. A hearty working man’s sandwich with all the essentials (starch, meat and flavor).

And finally, another great place for sandwiches was at Kono’s at the North Shore Market Place in Haleiwa. The Thai Chicken Wrap and the Kalua Pork, a Hawaiian version of pulled pork, were phenomenal. I went there at least two times and the second time, bought one to take on the plane ride home with me the next day. The poor passengers next to me had to watch me as I went into my “this is Heaven” trance.

Since I have returned to the mainland, I have recreated the Spam Musubi fairly successfully. I have tried to recreate the Thai chicken wrap, not so successfully. I found Ahi Poke being served at a local upscale restaurant and was of course disappointed. Though it was beautifully served, the portion was half the size, and twice the price and not nearly as fresh. And forget finding or making any of the other singularly ono Hawaiian dishes. They cannot be recreated with the same authenticity. I will just have to go back if I want Lilikoi shave ice or Kalua Pork.