Eating My Way Around Hawaii’s Big Island
N.B. I first published this in 2015 before The Medium Paywall. Even though it’s five years old and pre-pandemic and despite that I haven’t…
Eating My Way Around Hawaii’s Big Island
N.B. I first published this in 2015 before The Medium Paywall. Even though it’s five years old and pre-pandemic and despite that I haven’t been back to the Big Island since or updated the post, people keep reading it. So I’m moving it behind the paywall to see if they will keep reading it! I still haven’t updated it, so check carefully if you’re actually using to plan your eating on a trip!
I am a foodie. I love eating really well prepared food made by someone who cares about how it’s made. (I love eating, too, but that’s my problem.) My girlfriend and I recently spent nine days on Hawaii, otherwise known as The Big Island. Even Oahu, with a major city, is just beginning to develop a foodie scene. So I didn’t expect much on Hawaii itself.
But I managed to discover a small and growing foodie sentiment on the island, distinct from the “traditional” places that are really good places to eat. I think that’s happened in part because the west (rainy) side of the island has been forced through a transformation from big sugar/coffee/macadamia farming to small farms growing a wide variety of crops for local consumption.
Before I left for the island, I did some research about where to eat. My main reference point was this post from 2012, called An Eating Road Trip around Hawaii, The Big Island, although I found a few other guides and references from self-proclaimed foodies, mostly on Yelp.
Once we arrived, I discovered that the word “foodie” is used somewhat loosely… As I ate my way around the island, I came to realize that there were really three categories of places that a real foodie might want to know about before they leave for the island: “foodie” restaurants that would be interesting in any location; just plain good places to eat; and places to avoid entirely.
I only found four places that I would classify as foodie-worthy, which I define as a restaurant where the chef has a relationship to what he cooks that goes beyond the normal scope of a restaurant (i.e. a good place to have a meal and enjoy yourself). It’s the kind of place where you go to have a food-related experience.
Foodie Destinations:
HoluaKoa Café: This is a slow-food restaurant on the side of the mountain overlooking Kailua Kona, where the couple who started it took over a small café and then added a complete restaurant to it. The restaurant is outdoors (under a rain-proof arbor) replete with a rainforest garden with toads and tree frogs . The basic menu is farm to table: pork, chicken, beef, vegetables, all sourced from the Big Island. It’s where I realized that there is a farming business on the Big Island, with plenty of variety and attention to quality and sustainability. The restaurant offers a daily menu that reflects what is seasonally available, and a killer, inexpensive wine list. We went to this restaurant twice!
(left) Caprese with home grown tomatoes; (right) Pork ragout with pappardelle
The Fish & The Hog: I wish I had known about this restaurant (formerly known as Huli Sue’s) before we drove by it on our last night in search of the malasadas at Tex Drive-in (see below). I looked up the reviews and the menu. The reviews focus on the BBQ and mention a bunch of other dishes, but we were already committed to finish our trip with my girlfriend’s birthday dinner at Roy’s Waikaloa Bar & Grill (see below). We didn’t feel like we could blow that off to try The Fish & The Hog.
La Bourgogne: It is a little bit weird to find a first-class French restaurant in Hawaii, much less the Big Island. The couple who runs it are Americans, but the husband got obsessed with French food and ended up on the Big Island, via Paris, and that’s why you have an outstanding French restaurant! My girlfriend is French (born and raised in Paris) and is known to be particular about her food and wine; she endorsed the quality of the food. Restaurant also has a killer wine list, very reasonably priced and with a good selection of French and American wine. We only went once; I thought about a repeat but we were in Hawaii, and kept looking for local food!
Takenoko Sushi: The other restaurant we didn’t eat at. We did a day trip around the island and ended up arriving in Hilo too late for the Two Ladies Kitchen mochi, which closed at 5pm. The girlfriend was hungry and the Yelp reviews for Takenoko were off the charts, so we decided to try it out. It turns out to a true omikase restaurant: eight seats at the sushi bar where the chef serves what he wants to. (Omikase is the Japanese word for asking the chef to choose your food for you.) We arrive at 5:30pm and all eight seats were already full and booked through the evening. Wish I had found The Fish & The Hog that night!
Good Places To Eat
Good place to eat are just that. They might be full service restaurants where you can get a good meal or more focused places that are legendary for a particular dish. But you can rely on the legend!
Tex’s malasada with raspberry filling
Tex Drive In: Tex is in Honokaau on the west side, between Hilo and Waimea. It has a full menu but the reason you make the trek there is for the malasadas. If you’re a regular to Honolulu, you already know about the malasadas at Leonard’s Bakery. These are just as good, and they are on Hawaii island! Light and fluffy dough covered in sugar and filled with such international favorites as Bavarian crème (the girlfriend’s fave) and raspberry jelly (mine). We went out of our way to get them, and thought it was worth the effort.
Basik Cafe: Give the girlfriend credit for spotting this tiny little café, sitting on top of Snorkel Bob’s in the parking lot for Huggo’s On The Rocks in Kona. All they do is make acai bowls, eight different combinations of acai berry juice with various fruits, nuts and granola. Taste great, filling and healthy to boot!
The fresh fish being delivered to Umeke’s while we ate the last one
Umeke’s Poke: There’s competition between fans of Da Poke Shack and Umeke’s for which place has the best poke (fresh ahi tuna diced and mixed with various soy- or mayo-based sauces and served with rice). We vote for Umeke’s as having somewhat better tasting sauces than Da Poke Shack. We went to Umeke’s three times and Da Shack twice. Umeke’s also has the advantage of being located in downtown Kona, near a lot of the on-shore action (and where the tourists hang out).
Teshima’s shrimp tempura
Teshima Restaurant: This is an institution in Honalo town, just south of Kona. It’s an institution because the owner is 106 years old (if she’s still alive, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask!) and the restaurant has been in the same location forever. It’s basic Japanese style food (everything except sushi), but the star on the menu is the tempura shrimp. Just get that. The tempura mix is something special and really, really crispy and the shrimp are Hawaii-fresh.
Pueo’s Osteria: We went to this Italian restaurant in Waikaloa with a certificate for the tasting menu. We didn’t have a great time, because the restaurant doesn’t normally do a tasting menu and didn’t know how to serve it. In the process we met the general manager and the chef (both of whom, along with the staff, treated us really well), but we’re foodies and like to know what we’re eating and have a chance to decide whether we want to eat it! Along the way, however, we realized that the food was really well prepared and very good. So we would come back without the certificate and just order from the menu! The motto of the restaurant is Food, Wine & Fun: They scored on the food, and kind of dropped the ball on the wine and the fun!
Mahi Mahi at Roy’s
Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill: This is one of the 30+ Roy’s in the system started by Roy Yamaguchi. We had a $300 certificate for this restaurant and weren’t able to use the whole thing, even though we tried. We loved the food (which I’ve also loved at the Roy’s San Francisco and Roy’s Ko Olina). I’d count this as a really solid restaurant where you can get a great Hawaiian-style meal with good drinks and wine.
Two Ladies Kitchen: One of the places we really wish we hadn’t missed. The reviews are rapturous about the mochi the two ladies make. The restaurant is in Hilo, so combine it with the malasadas at Tex and maybe the The Fish & The Hog (unless you’re actually staying on the West side and can make a daily visit!) and it would be worth a trip just for the eating.
Places to avoid:
Tommy Bahama’s Café: They make clothes, not food. The restaurant is cheesy and oriented toward the tourists and conference goers staying at the resort hotels in the same area. Foodies beware.
Rays on the Bay (Sheraton Kona Resort): We actually stayed in this resort for the first three days, because my Starwood points made it free. We won’t make that mistake again, even for free. This resort should have been given a massive renovation about 10 years ago, but perhaps Sheraton was too busy on other issues… The restaurant reflects everything about that: The menu is touristy, the drinks are poorly made, the wine list is meant to impress but doesn’t. And you can’t see the manta rays that the restaurant is named after from the restaurant!
Punalu’u Bake Shop (Na’alehu): We did go this place, but it looks and feels like a place that has turned into a tourist trap. Great if you need clean bathrooms and something to eat after visiting the South Point (the southernmost point in the United States), but the pastry is nothing special.