Hawaiian Food

Hawaiʻi’s table is the Pacific’s: Native Hawaiian dishes of taro and the imu, the plantation kitchens of Portugal, Japan and China, and Kona coffee from the slopes of Mauna Loa.

Hawaiian food

At Helena’s Hawaiian Food, a family business since 1946, the plate is traditional Hawaiian: kalua pig, pipikaula, lau lau and poi, the pounded taro that goes with all of it (Helena’s).

Malasadas

Leonard’s Bakery on Kapahulu Avenue is the home of malasadas and pão doce, the Portuguese doughnuts and sweet bread of the plantation years (Leonard’s).

Shave ice

Matsumoto Shave Ice has served the North Shore since 1951 (Matsumoto’s): ice shaved as fine as snow, under syrup.

Kona coffee

Kona coffee grows on the western slopes of Mauna Loa on Hawaiʻi Island; Honolulu Coffee pours its own, and Kona Coffee Purveyors serves 100% Kona from the island’s craft roasters (their sites).

Eat a Hawaiian plate at a family counter, then a malasada while it is still warm.

Poke

Poke, raw fish cut in cubes and dressed, is the islands’ everyday dish: buy it fresh at a counter and eat it on the beach.

Our advice: go to the counters early; Hawaiian food and malasadas sell out.