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One of my favourite parts of traveling is trying new foods and enjoying dishes that the areas are known for. In Hawaii. many of these best known dishes were sweet treats and I was NOT complaining. While it wasn't great for the bikini body it was a wonderful treat for the taste buds. Here are some cheap - under 15 dollars - treats that you should make sure to try when you're on Oahu!
1. Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck
On your way to the north shore there’s a little food truck village not to be missed. We were there fairly early so not many of the stalls were open but the one that we were told not to miss was Giovanni’s and the shrimp didn’t disappoint. We had the classic “shrimp scampi” - a dozen shrimp covered in a garlicky lemon butter. It was decadent despite being grilled and not battered it wasn't at all healthy. If you’re feeling adventurous there is a “no refunds” hot and spicy shrimp – we can’t vouch for how spicy they are but we would love to know if your family was able to handle it!
2. Haupia Pie from Ted’s Bakery
After filling up on shrimp you’ll probably want to have a sweet treat. Just up the road from Giovanni’s is Ted’s Bakery which sells haupia pie - a coconut and chocolate cream pie served cold. We won't lie - we polished off a quarter pie each.
3. Dole Whip
Nothing says Hawaii more than pineapple. On our way back from the North Shore we stopped at the Dole Plantation for a little walk around to stretch our legs and (mostly) to sample the pineapple soft serve called Dole Whip. It was the perfect mix between soft serve and fruit salad – okay who are we kidding it’s just pineapple flavoured soft serve, but it was a refreshing treat and we loved it. We only realized a bit later when we were in Waikiki that a few of the ABC stores have a self-serve dole whip machines! No matter where you get it, make sure that you give it a try.
1. Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck
On your way to the north shore there’s a little food truck village not to be missed. We were there fairly early so not many of the stalls were open but the one that we were told not to miss was Giovanni’s and the shrimp didn’t disappoint. We had the classic “shrimp scampi” - a dozen shrimp covered in a garlicky lemon butter. It was decadent despite being grilled and not battered it wasn't at all healthy. If you’re feeling adventurous there is a “no refunds” hot and spicy shrimp – we can’t vouch for how spicy they are but we would love to know if your family was able to handle it!
2. Haupia Pie from Ted’s Bakery
After filling up on shrimp you’ll probably want to have a sweet treat. Just up the road from Giovanni’s is Ted’s Bakery which sells haupia pie - a coconut and chocolate cream pie served cold. We won't lie - we polished off a quarter pie each.
3. Dole Whip
Nothing says Hawaii more than pineapple. On our way back from the North Shore we stopped at the Dole Plantation for a little walk around to stretch our legs and (mostly) to sample the pineapple soft serve called Dole Whip. It was the perfect mix between soft serve and fruit salad – okay who are we kidding it’s just pineapple flavoured soft serve, but it was a refreshing treat and we loved it. We only realized a bit later when we were in Waikiki that a few of the ABC stores have a self-serve dole whip machines! No matter where you get it, make sure that you give it a try.
4. Malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery
Okay hands down, THESE were our favourite treat and worth the wait in line. Leonard's Bakery in downtown Honolulu serves up soft fluffy sugar dusted Portuguese donuts warm and fresh right out of the oven. You can get them dusted with sugar or cinnamon sugar or, our personal preference, filled. The classic fillings are custard, chocolate and haupia with a flavour of the month (we had macadamia, if you check right now it's guava - YUM!). We craved more malasadas later in the trip and so we made a second trip to Leonard’s and if we could have packed a suitcase full for the trip home I think we would have!
5. Red Velvet Pancakes from Cinnamon's
If you’re looking for a diner style breakfast/brunch head to Cinnamon’s. It's laid back and inexpensive and has savoury and sweet options that are sure to make everyone happy. Make sure you have at least one order of the red velvet pancakes. We also tried the guava pancakes (SO sweet, but who's complaining!?) and a breakfast skillet and everything was amazing!
Tip: Save room! Just upstairs from Cinnamon’s is the hidden gem of Manoa Chocolate, a bean to bar chocolate factory that we stumbled on. The staff were so kind and showed us around, let us taste test the chocolate both the pure bars and those mixed with local ingredients like lavender from Maui, coffee beans from Kailua Town Roasters and sea salt from the Big Island. Manoa uses every part of the cocoa bean which means that the “nibs” are kept to make chocolate while the cacao shell is made into tea that is sweet and so good that a package of it might have ended up along side some chocolate bars in our luggage.
6. Shaved Ice from Matsumoto’s
We had heard so much about Matsumoto’s shave ice and so while in Haleiwa on the North Shore we felt like we had to indulge (even after the shrimp and haupia pie). It’s not that it's anything special, especially if you've had a snow cone before, but you can have it over a bit of ice cream - highly recommended - and there are a variety of really fun, exotic flavours like lychee, passionfruit, coconut cream and green tea. You can choose from the premade combinations of 3 flavours or make your own combination.
Okay hands down, THESE were our favourite treat and worth the wait in line. Leonard's Bakery in downtown Honolulu serves up soft fluffy sugar dusted Portuguese donuts warm and fresh right out of the oven. You can get them dusted with sugar or cinnamon sugar or, our personal preference, filled. The classic fillings are custard, chocolate and haupia with a flavour of the month (we had macadamia, if you check right now it's guava - YUM!). We craved more malasadas later in the trip and so we made a second trip to Leonard’s and if we could have packed a suitcase full for the trip home I think we would have!
5. Red Velvet Pancakes from Cinnamon's
If you’re looking for a diner style breakfast/brunch head to Cinnamon’s. It's laid back and inexpensive and has savoury and sweet options that are sure to make everyone happy. Make sure you have at least one order of the red velvet pancakes. We also tried the guava pancakes (SO sweet, but who's complaining!?) and a breakfast skillet and everything was amazing!
Tip: Save room! Just upstairs from Cinnamon’s is the hidden gem of Manoa Chocolate, a bean to bar chocolate factory that we stumbled on. The staff were so kind and showed us around, let us taste test the chocolate both the pure bars and those mixed with local ingredients like lavender from Maui, coffee beans from Kailua Town Roasters and sea salt from the Big Island. Manoa uses every part of the cocoa bean which means that the “nibs” are kept to make chocolate while the cacao shell is made into tea that is sweet and so good that a package of it might have ended up along side some chocolate bars in our luggage.
6. Shaved Ice from Matsumoto’s
We had heard so much about Matsumoto’s shave ice and so while in Haleiwa on the North Shore we felt like we had to indulge (even after the shrimp and haupia pie). It’s not that it's anything special, especially if you've had a snow cone before, but you can have it over a bit of ice cream - highly recommended - and there are a variety of really fun, exotic flavours like lychee, passionfruit, coconut cream and green tea. You can choose from the premade combinations of 3 flavours or make your own combination.
