Hawaii Explore | RO Explore

By Minh | November 5, 2018

This post will be about some of the good food I was fortunate enough to try while I was in Hawaii for Aron and Meilani’s wedding. Shout out to Sara for all of the food recommendations!

The first stop we did was Yogurstory for their ube pankcakes. Which was really good! I thought it would be too sweet, but the pancakes were made to perfection and we didn’t get over the taste.

Afterwards, we went to Ala Moana State Park and it was our first experience of a Hawaii beach and it was perfect. The water was so calm because they put a wall out in the barrier for the waves to crash early.

We also went to Cafe Musubi Isayume and got a eel musubi to enjoy on the beach.

For dinner we went to Tsurtondan Udon, Davin treated me out to a wagyu beef curry udon.

The funny thing about this restaurant is that me and Davin actually tried this spot 4 years ago when we met in Osaka. This restaurant happened to be a chain restaurant brought to Hawaii from Japan.

The next day was Aron and Meilani’s wedding. I didn’t get to take photos at the wedding, but I got a shot of the setup which was really nice. Congrats to the both of you!

We decided to actually go on on a hike to Manoa Falls. My wife used to  hike as a hobby and go on all of these dangerous adventures. Now that she’s with me, I turned her into a couch potato.

This is actually my first time seeing such a big waterfall. California is literally always in a drought, so our waterfalls are just dry rocks.

Chivas out here filming for Animal Planet.

After the hike, we wanted to try Hawaii poke and stopped by Ono Seafood. We didn’t think there would be a big difference between Hawaii poke and the one back at home, but damn we were so wrong. Julia doesn’t even like tuna, but she loved it here. Wish the line wasn’t so long because we messed up not ordering more than one plate.

For dessert we went to the famous Leonard’s Bakery for their malasadas. Julia loves pastries, here she is with her babies.

Meanwhile, I saw that Konos was next to Leonard’s and I had to try their kalua breakfast burrito. Delicious!

While in Hawaii, you have to go to Giovanni’s shrimp truck. I never knew how much I loved garlic butter and shrimp until now. I literally can’t stop thinking about it.

I’m in the process of learning how to cook this. Wish me luck!

Papa Ole’s Kitchen for their loco moco. Julia’s new found love.

The Sunrise Shack was a spot we frequented often on the way to town since we were coming from Kahuku.

It’s such a beautiful place to start your morning and their papaya bowl is so good!

We met up with Brandon and Sena for breakfast at Cinnamon’s. You can see a rare glimpse of a local Hawaiian eating a basic hamburger.

The guava pancake and the kalua benedict at Cinnamon’s.

Julia and I decided to go to take a nap at the beach after lunch and found this little private beach.

Hot tamale.

Hawaii afternoons.

We got dinner with Davin and Brandon at Helena’s.

Helena’s is known for their home style cooking and it did not disappoint. It really felt like eating at someone’s grandma’s house except no one was saying you need to eat more. We really take those moments for granted because now if we want to eat more, we have to pay.

Portuguese sausage and garlic shrimp at Da Bald Guy.

Another food spot we had to try was Liliha Bakery for their mochi poi donuts.

Mochi donuts is a must get if you’re in town.

Ichiban special at Matsumoto Shaved Ice.

I wanted to take Julia to a romantic restaurant while we were in Hawaii and found Michel at the Colony in my research. I wanted a spot where we could eat with a beach view during sunset and this place was the spot! I really loved the view and service, the food however was okay to me. Julia loved the seafood though.

My hot date.

Found the china man hat.

We saw the sun setting during our drive home and we had to stop to try and get a photo.

Chivas also got a new Tinder photo.

Probably my favorite place to eat was at Aiewa Bowl The Alley Restaurant. On the way to LAX, our Lyft driver told us to go to a bowling alley to try the best loco moco he’s ever had. I thought that was weird, but when we went to go eat with Mei’s parents, they took us here for lunch. It was so good and probably the cheapest food I had on the island. I recommend getting the loco moco and the crispy chicken.

Thank you Hawaii for the beautiful memories. I wish I had visited Hawaii sooner. I will definitely be make a return soon! Shout out to Brandon, Davin and Barry for showing us around and taking us to eat.  Also a big congrats to Mei and Aron for getting married! Thank you for allowing us to be apart of your wedding!

Also if you want a list of food spots that I was recommended to go eat at in Oahu, check out my spread sheet here!

Hawaii Food List

-NGUMINH