On Location: Eating Authentic on Kauai

Why travel? That enigmatic question is as varied as each person asking it. For some it is about deep relaxation while others travel for big adventure. Some travel out of necessity; some for a desire to discover an authentic experience.
For me, it is some mix of relaxation, adventure and discovery but what travel is really all about? For me? The food.
Eating out in another place is the real reason I go anywhere...even to the neighboring town or state.
Authenticity in travel, particularly with food, has become harder and harder to achieve in an ever-globalizing economy where Starbucks is the default coffee and there's a combination Taco Bell-Pizza Hut outside your front door. That said, when you are able to discover an authentic experience, one is rewarded exponentially.
The island of Kauai is not without chain restaurants but it is also dotted with some true gems of the culinary world. Everything we read or heard about the island suggested 'the less you pay, the better it tastes'. This became our mantra for our eating out guide:


Hamura's Saimin

2956 Kress Street

Lihue, HI 96766

(808) 245-3271

There is no place more authentic in all of Kauai then Hamura's Saimin. That sentence only sounds like hyperbole if you've never been to Hamura's. 
The noodle dish saimin, much like Hawaii itself, is a hybrid of Japanese udon, Chinese mein and Filipino pancit. Soft wheat noodles swim in a hot, rich dashi and combine with a hard boiled egg, pork, scallions and spam. Yes, spam. 
Occasionally, pot stickers are thrown in the mix for a real treat.

Saimin is on nearly every menu in Hawaii (including McDonald's) but Hamura's is known the island over for having the very best. Truly a hole in the wall, Hamura's is not for everyone. There is nothing fancy about the U-shaped countertops, the no-nonsense servers or the heaping bowl of hot noodle soup that lands in front of you moments after you order it. But there is something perfect about it.


Jo-Jo's shave ice
Kaumualii Highway
mile marker 23
Waimea, HI 96796

Arguably the next most Hawaiian thing to eat is shave ice. When you hear 'shave ice' you might think 'snow cone' (I know I did) but the two are distant 2nd cousins at best. 
Snow cones are made with crushed ice. Shave ice is made with by shaving off a block of ice with a sharp blade. The ice shavings then absorb whatever syrup it is soaked in, rather than the crushed ice sitting in the syrup as snow cones often do.
Ice cream is placed at the bottom of the cup to create the most decadent, delicious dessert with the word 'ice' in it. Jo-Jo's in Waimea is the leading authority on shave ice in Kauai. It is delicious just about anywhere you get it but Jo-Jo's has the ice shavings down to science. Paired with mac-nut vanilla ice cream on bottom and coconut cream atop, Jo-Jo's shave ice is well worth the seemingly absurd $6 price tag and inevitably long wait!


Puka Dog
5300 Punahoa Place
Koloa (Poipu), HI
96756
(808) 742-6044
www.pukadog.com

The discovery of Puka Dog was one of those happy accidents. We found ourselves hungry for lunch but couldn't tear ourselves away from Shipwreck Beach, our favorite beach on the south shore. The solution? DH drove to the nearby shopping village and discovered Puka Dog. Much like Jo-Jo's isn't just any shave ice, Puka Dog is not your average hot dog. Fresh baked bun-sized bread loaves envelop a polish sausage or a smartdog (for the veggies) and an array of delectable condiments including mango relish, lilikoi mustard and garlic lemon aioli.


Coffee on Kauai

Being based in the Bay Area, we are wildly spoiled when it comes to great coffee. Although Kauai Coffee Company is ubiquitous throughout the land, we found the smaller guys to be much better at the coffee game. Our favorites were Java Kai and Small Town Coffee in Kapa'a and Little Fish Coffee in Hanapepe. While small town had the foam art down pat, our vote for #1 would be Java Kai, who actually uses beans roasted on Hawaii. (The beans we bought from Small Town were from Sonoma County.) Little Fish wins for cutest signs and cutest baristas.


Mai Tai's on Kauai

DH is a beverage guy, hands down. Whether its wine, coffee or cocktails, the man knows his stuff about where to drink what and when. Since we were in Hawaii afterall, we did our fair share of 'research' discovering Kauai's best mai tai. The best was an even tie between Merriman's in Poipu and Tahiti Nui in Hanalei Bay. For our time though, the rough waitresses and smooth local music of Tahiti Nui made it our favorite spot every time.

Mermaid's Cafe

4-1384 Kuhio Highway #B1

Kapa'a, HI 96746

(808) 821-2026

www.mermaidskauai.com

Next door to Java Kai in Kapa'a is the friendly Mermaid's Cafe. Not more than a 10'x10' stand, this cafe offers outstanding ahi nori wraps, tropical fish tacos and vegan options galore in large, sharable portions. The fresh hibiscus lemonade and lemongrass ice tea aren't half bad either.


Hanalei Taro & Juice Company

5-5070 Kuhio Highway

Hanalei, HI 96714

(808)  826-1059

www.hanaleitaro.com

Hanalei Taro & Juice Company is not more than a mobile food truck with a canopy to the side and a few benches underneath. Most people drive right past, missing it entirely. We might have done the same had we not rented kayaks from the neighboring stand. The company specializes in traditional and innovative culinary uses of taro and poi such as taro hummus, taro mochi cakes and banana poi bread. We tried the taro veggie burger (which was excellent) and fresh tangelo juice (also excellent).


Hanalei Wake Up Cafe
5-5144 Kuhio Hwy
Hanalei, HI 96714
cash only

Open from 6:30-11:30am daily and walking distance from Hanalei Bay, Hanalei Wake Up Cafe is a surfer-friendly breakfast dive. The menu is short and oh, so sweet, the service is quick and friendly enough and the decor is adorably adorned with local surfing and fishing memorabilia. Wake Up won extra points with us when we met the head honcho kitty!

We opted for the breakfast quesadilla with hashbrowns and the 'over the falls' french toast with coconut whipped cream and chopped pineapple. We couldn't have been happier with our order. My only regret is not also ordering their famous mac-nut cinnamon roll!


Kilauea Fish Market
4270 Kilauea Road, #F
Kilauea, HI
808-828-6244

Excellent Ahi wraps can be found the island over but for our time, the Kilauea Fish Market is king. A Mission-burrito sized wrap comes jam packed with seared ahi, brown rice, shredded carrots, bean sprouts and an incredible sesame dressing. It is a dish so good it is inhibiting. Ordering anything else on the menu became impossible for us both. I managed to order the ahi poke with brown rice just once but my heart was always with the ahi wrap. In fact, I still find myself daydreaming about that damn wrap!


Kilauea Bakery
2484 Keneke Street
Kilauea, HI 
96754
808-828-2020
kilaueabakery.wordpress.com

No place on the island captured our hearts, stomaches, wallets and time quite like the Kilauea Bakery.
A small, modest bakery with excellent pastries, breads, soups and sandwiches and killer ice coffees; the Kilauea Bakery felt as much like home as Euro Pane yet distinctly Kauaian. It is quite possible we spent as much time here as at all the beaches put together. But the salmon cream cheese bagel, the savory breakfast turnover, the coco-macadamia nut macaroons and dark rye bread gave us no other choice. 
Travel, for us anyway, is all about discovering authenticity, especially through food and this bakery was the epitome of that.

And though it isn't often cited, the joy of travel can also be in finding a bit of home away from home which was also made possible at Kilauea Bakery.

On Location: Eating In on Kauai Island

Cooking away from home is a real treat to me. Eating out is a great way to take in the culture and traditions but something about shopping at local markets and preparing a home cooked meal feels like the most truly authentic experience.

Between the ample fresh fish markets and daily farmer's markets, Kauai is an ideal springboard upon which to do some seriously delicious at-home cooking. As we were staying on the North Shore, the markets we frequented were in Hanalei but truly there is great, fresh fish and fruit to be had the island over. 

The avocados are the size of your face and run between $1-2. It truly is paradise!


Among some of our favorite meals...

Ahi Belly tacos. You've heard of pork belly but have you ever heard of ahi belly? We hadn't so of course we had to try it. Again lightly seared on a high heat grill draws the excess fat out of this cut and makes for an incredible fish taco fish. We also ate the seared ahi belly over brown rice which was equally great.

Sushi grade striped marlin, lightly seared. Raw kale salad with peanut chile pepper dressing and corn on the cob, both grown within miles of where we were staying. This meal made our Christmas Eve dinner deliciously non-traditional.

Macadamia nut pancakes with ginger syrup and poached eggs provided the perfect Christmas breakfast.

Rainbow chard frittata was delightful but the strange, unidentified root vegetable we paired it with was less than stellar. Physically, the tuber looked more like a yam but tasted more like a parsnip or turnip. Not our favorite.

I could not speak highly enough about the bananas in Kauai. If Butter Date were to have a sister site in Kauai, it would be named 'Apple Banana' because these bananas were out of this world. Completely unlike anything you'd find on the mainland they are half the size and twice as flavorful with a slight apple crispness to them. Yum!

On Location: Kayaking Kauai's Hanalei River, New Years Day

One year ago, DH and I awoke at dawn on New Years Day (a first for us both!) and drove ourselves and all our worldly possessions up Interstate 5 to our new home in Oakland.
It was a ceremonious way to start the year and over the year we have fallen in love with our home, our community and the Bay Area as a whole. How could we ever top last year's festive New Year's start?

Our answer was to go for a kayak ride up the Hanalei river. It is more common to kayak the Wialua river up to the Wialua Falls, which both are gorgeous, but the beauty of kayaking Hanalei is that there are no boats allowed along this small river, only kayaks and paddle boards and when you are alone, there is almost no sound at all.

At some points the river is pure glass, creating a mirror-like quality of the surrounding bamboo, taro fields and turtle families surrounding the river.
Near the end of the river is a nice little stretch of beach where kayakers can take a break and enjoy a picnic. It was New Year's after all so in addition to some homemade egg salad on locally baked rye bread, we popped a bottle of bubbly to keep things festive.
It is the most serene, peaceful thing we've done all vacation and was the perfect way to celebrate the new year.
***word to the wise***
Because the rental fees for kayaks are available only in 24 hr. periods and because you will not be towing it to your rental car, DH and I both believe it best to begin your rental mid day, say noon or 1. That gives you more than enough time to kayak the entire river, have a picnic and even kayak out to where the river meets the ocean. If you are the ambitious type, you will then be able to return early the next morning to finish your 24 hr. rental. Of course if you are like us, you will probably opt to get in more beach and bakery time! C'est la vie.

On Location: Kauai's Waimea Canyon & Barking Sands Beach

The two hour time difference hasn't set in yet so we've been waking up quite early each morning. We decided to take advantage of the early morning hour by driving to the other side of the island on Monday.

The North shore of Kauai is wet, lush and resembling a rainforest environment while the South and West end of the island is very dry and desert like. In fact, Waimea Canyon resembles Arizona's Grand Canyon but is distinctly Hawaiian.

We drove the entire 18 mile access road along the canyon's edge to arrive at Kalalau lookout. From there we hiked yet another muddy, precarious trail out to the Pihea vista.

This is one of the more beautiful, magical trails we've encountered. Yeah, yeah, I was waxing lyrical about the last hike as well but seriously, folks, this one feels as if you are at the edge of the world. Over 4200 feet above sea level with no guardrails, this one is not for those who fear heights but since the trail itself is mostly flat, the Pihea trail is a more multi-level hike.

Upon finishing, we drove into the town of Waimea where my father had insisted we try the poke at the local Japanese market. Poke is ahi sashimi chopped into 1/2" cubes and lightly marinated in sea salt, soy sauce, sesame oil and scallions. Often it is mixed with sushi rice and garden greens to create a poke bowl, one powerhouse of a meal. On the mainland it is one of my most favorite dishes but on this island, it is truly beyond words. Fish has never tasted so good!

This market had an impressive array of different poke, from ginger to red chile pepper and even tako (octopus) poke. We got 2 lb. between the two of us and headed out to Barking Sands beach. 

This is the western most beach on Kauai and at over 12 miles long it is also Hawaii's biggest beach. After finishing every last bite of our poke and rice, we dove into the ocean together. All in all, it was a simply perfect day.

The sun began its descent as we dried off and took it all in. DH and I began waxing lyrical about our adventures together and I mentioned our misadventures too. "Things don't always go our way but it never feels impossible with you" I said, explaining what I meant by misadventure. And that's when he popped the question. "How 'bout joining me for one more misadventure?"

I said yes.

Christmas Breakfast; Kauai Style

For as long as I can remember and probably long before that, my parents have hosted Christmas morning breakfast. Being a nuclear family of three, it was a big shift having the 9 McFadden's up to the house. The festivities have only grown over the years as spouses and children have come into the mix. Somehow though, there's always enough space and food to go around. It is, and long has been, my favorite Christmas tradition. A very close second being Christmas pajamas!

Being the food obsessed lunatic I am, I've been controlling the menu for the last six years. I've managed to drive just about everyone crazy with my elaborate baked eggs, stratas and egg sandwiches.

This year though, DH and I decided to go out of town for the holiday, but that doesn't mean the tradition would die. I was relieved to hear my cousin Maggie would take the reigns at home. As for us, after an idyllic sunrise dip in the Pacific, we whipped up some macadamia nut pancakes and poached eggs. Since we didn't have any real maple syrup and since buying any on this island would cost more than my car payment, I decided to make a syrup!

Instead of maple though, I opted for a ginger infused simple syrup. 
Dee-licous! 

DH is and old pro at the poaching station so the eggs were perfetto too!

Hope the family is managing without me...mele kilikimaka everyone!