It’s a good time for Japanese food lovers in Austin. No matter where you live in the capital of Texas, there’s bound to be a Sushi restaurant nearby – especially downtown. Of course, not all Japanese restaurants are created equal, but for a medium sized city, Austin has it’s fair share of high end sushi.

Recently, the TastingBuds were invited to a sake tasting dinner at the well known and respected Kenichi on 5th and Congress. The reason for the celebration? The Austin branch of Kenichi has a new sake sommielier and they wanted to highlight the their vast sake selection and their ability to pair each type of sake with their creative and delicious food offerings.

Before the first course, the fine folks at Kenichi started us off with a very nice shiso infused mojito. Shiso, for those not familiar with the herb is quite popular in Japanese cuisine. The flavor, depending on variety can range from oregano to basil or even mint. The slightly basil \ mint flavor of the drink was a welcome change from the standard mojito, but it might not be for everyone.

The first course served was Red Snapper Salad with pine nuts, orange sauce, shishito peppers and sunflower sprouts, paired with Gekkeikan Horin junmai Daiginjo. The dish was light and the orange complimented the Red Snapper well. The sake was light, sweet and paired with the snapper well.

Next up were seared Sea Scallops with yuzu, candied ginger, and peanut butter miso paired with Soaring Cloud Junmai Dai Ginjo Sho. Peanut butter miso? Can they do that? Yes they can – it was quite unique and tasty.

Then we had Sansho pepper Escolar in a truffle sauce with sauteed portabella mushrooms paired with Tozai “Voices in the Mist” Ginjo Nigori. Many of my fellow bloggers thought that this was the best dish of the night. The escolar had a good, meaty flavor and paired nicely with the mushrooms. The mushrooms were slightly overpowering to my palate but others loved everything about the combination.

Next was Tuna and Miso Fois Gras with pear, grispy garlic, and truffled ponzu paired with “Kariho Namahage “Devil’s Mask” Junmai Yamahai. This was one of the highlights of the meal… how good you may ask?

One week later and I haven’t been able to shut up about the tuna and foie gras pairing – something about the meeting of the rich yet slightly subtle foie gras and the light but still flavorful tuna had me yapping about it with everyone.

I also thought the Devil’s Mask sake was the best of the bunch of sakes we sampled – definitely try this out if you get the chance.

The following dish was Yellowtail belly Temari sushi with orange mustard sauce, scallions, and red shiso from Bella verde farms. This also gets a nomination for the best dish of the night. I really appreciate a very light yet intensely flavorful dish and this temari delivered.

The sake pairing was Kenichi’s own “Tanuki Magic” branded Junmai Daiginjo, which was quite tasty and cool because it’s named after a mythical animal.

Also, shiso might be one of my favorite herbs in the world, and it’s quite hard to find fresh, so bonus points for that.

We then had Japanese traditional akaushi beef, king oyster mushrooms, and a poached quail egg paired with Kanbara “Wings of Fortune” Junmai Ginjo Nama. The akaushi beef is of a grade higher than kobe / waygu beef. Originally only for the Japanese market, there was a temporary loophole that allowed for the export of the cows to America, and now this high grade beef is raised right here in Texas.

Finally we ate green tea Tiramisu with Japanese chestnuts paired with Gekkeikan “Zipang” Sparkling Sake. I do love green tea desserts, and this particular tiramisu was light and tasted amazing.

Also, the “Zipang” sparkling sake it was paired with is a lot better than it sounds, and actually very enjoyable. It had a light yogurty taste to it that was great with the tiramisu.

The sake certainly tied the meal together and it complimented each dish nicely. Kenichi has an impressive and expansive sake list. Many thanks go out to Kenichi’s Level Two sake sommelier, Adam Faraizl. Apparently, there are only a handful of level Two sake sommeliers in the world, so we were lucky to be in such good hands during the meal.

We hope you enjoyed our photos from this amazing meal and we are grateful to Kenichi for allowing us to sample the new menu with the many sake offerings. I had personally never been to Kenichi and was impressed with the service and sophistication of their food. Also, I appreciate the fact that they use local ingredients whenever possible, and they went to great lengths to accommodate our gluten free friends.

If you are looking for a good place in Austin for modern Japanese food expertly paired with different types of sake, definitely give Kenichi a try.

Uchiko, the second incarnation of Tyson Cole’s celebrated, cutting edge, Austin based Japanese restaurant Uchi, is currently in the midst of a soft opening. I stopped by yesterday to check out what all the buzz is about and take advantage of the 50% discount being offered to early visitors who want to try out the not yet finalized menu.

This post is less of a review and more of a pictorial and personal representation of the soft opening experience, because things will likely change once Uchiko opens it’s doors officially on July 6th, 2010.

Akami Te – Big Eye Tuna, watermelon, coriander, cilantro – interesting, subtle flavors but not the best thing I had

Deep fried onigiri with bacon, pickled banh mi veggies, bonito flakes, and cilantro – you should definitely get this porky greasy goodness.

Take Nabi – japanese mushroom, koshi hikari, farm fresh egg, bushi – really tasty, the rice and egg are amazingly flavorful and I love bonito flakes, the mushrooms a bit too sweet though.

Kai Jiru – Atlantic Mussels, heirloom tomato water, basil blossom, celery – one of the cheapest things on the menu might just be the best – who knew that tomato, basil, celery and mussels were such a magical combination? Do not hesitate in ordering this

Hirame – Atlantic flounder, black lime, shiso, quinoa candy – a miss for me, not a fan of the quinoa candy and the flounder is overpowered by the other “stuff”

Hotate – raw diver scallop with avacado – amazingly tender, fatty, and delicious. You are supposed to flip this over so the scallop touches your tounge – get this for sure.

Madai – Japanese bream, shiso, meyer lemon zest, olive oil – shiso is a bit overpowering – definitely eat this in one bite, as the lemon zest balances it out the sweetness / herbiness of the shiso, but the bream is too mild to stand up to the other flavors

Toledo roll – Big Eye Tuna, bitter greens, chorizo, avacado, almond, grilled garlic mousse – flavors are all good and work well, but the chorizo is a bit tough at times and the toasted almonds have a crunch that’s a little odd to find in a roll, garlic mousse is amazing though

Usagi Yaki – Rabbit Torchon, pear mostarda, pureed peas, slow poached egg – get this now! The torchon is incredibly tender and flavorful (think much better pulled pork) and all of the ingredients compliment each other very well. I liked the mild sweetness of the pear, it was not overpowering at all.

Uchiko – Tyson Cole and Paul Qui

Well, that’s about it. I definitely enjoyed the 50% discount in exchange for being a guinea pig and I would highly recommend Uchiko to others, especially at this price. The soft opening runs through July 4th but reservations are pretty much all snatched up except for on Sunday.

You can still walk in, but I would show up exactly when the restaurant opens at 5pm to ensure a spot and a short wait.

Happy high end tasting,
Peter

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Australia? Crocs? Shrimps on the barbie? Koalas? Whatever you think of, kangaroos can’t be far down the list.

I recently took a vacation down under and the bizarre food eater in me had a craving for unique food experiences. In Australia, weird food means bush meat like croc and emu, but the most common and widely available bizarre food there is kangaroo.

Kangaroo Rump steak at Oz Turk Pizza’s & Kebabs

The first question about kangaroo meat that everyone asks is, “what does it taste like?” I would say that it’s a cross between venison and buffalo meat. Not quite as dry as deer but still leaner than buffalo. It has a wonderful gamey taste (because roos live in the wild and feed on grass and shrubs) that adds a lot of flavor without being overpowering.

Down in Oz, I ate kangaroo on several occasions. By far my best meal was a tender, juicy, marbled kangaroo rump steak cooked medium rare. It was prepared by a man who looked like he had been cooking the dish for decades, so the concerns of game meat becoming too dry were not a factor.

From what I’m told, kangaroos are much like deer here in America. They are a native species that lives in the wild and they overlap with human populations on the fringes of civilization. Anyone with a license can hunt them and allegedly they will overpopulate if not hunted (source – MSNBC). Oh yea, they are cute like deer. Understandably there is controversy over hunting them from animal rights groups.

While not as ubiquitous as beef or pork, kangaroo meat is readily available in supermarkets around Australia and tends to be cheaper than the meat of farm raised animals. In the supermarket I visited, I saw kangaroo steaks, pre-marinated skewers, and kanga bangas (sausage).

Kangaroo Burger at Oz Turk Pizza’s & Kebabs

Surprisingly, kangaroo wasn’t very easy to find in restaurants – we only found 3-4 in Sydney that serve it. Luckily, one of them was a random neighborhood pizza and kebab place just around the corner from where we stayed. We ordered EVERY kangaroo item on their menu, including a kangaroo burger and a kangaroo Turkish kebab (what we like to call gyros).

I highly recommend the kangaroo burger because it’s pretty delicious and inexpensive, but I would avoid kangaroo kebabs – something about the sweet tahini sauce they use in Australia with kangaroo rubs me the wrong way.

One of the most interesting ways I had kangaroo in Australia was on a pizza at the popular and touristy Australian Hotel (which happens to have an amazing rooftop view overlooking the Sydney Opera house ). The Australian is the place to go if you want kangaroo, emu, and crocodile in a single meal – they have a pizza for each of them.

Australian Coat of Arms – Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons”

A pizza at the Australian Hotel that has kangaroo and red pepper on the left half, and emu, tomato, and basil on the right half

At the Australian, my travel buddies and I decided to order a custom half kangaroo, half emu pizza in honor of the Australian Coat of arms, which depicts a kangaroo and an emu standing side by side. This pizza was amazing! The highlight was actually the emu, which has a very distinct, surprisingly non chicken like taste that is gamier than the kangaroo. In fact, emu doesn’t taste like chicken at all, it is more like a juicy, lean, yet tender beef jerky.

Just in case you were wondering, crocodile tastes exactly like chicken in Australia (for reasons explained in the photo gallery) but the Thai basil with Crocodile pizza and coconut milk at the Australian Hotel was delicious anyways. All of them go great with a James Squire Golden Ale (my favorite Aussie beer).

Kangaroo Vitamins

Back to Kangaroos, the fun down under doesn’t stop at food. Around Sydney people were sporting kangaroo leather hats and I found souvenir stores selling kangaroo jerky.

Even stranger, while perusing an airport gift shop I came across “Essence of Kangaroo” kangaroo meat capsules \ vitamins. I’m not sure that I’m interested in taking kangaroo supplements with my multivitamins and at $30+ US per bottle, I passed on this offering.

In closing, what do all of my kangaroo observations lead me to believe?

Stereotypical as it may be, Australians are genuinely fascinated by Kangaroos. They eat and wear kangaroo products, they use kangaroos their as mascots (see Qantas Airlines), and even the Australian National Soccer Team is called the “Socceroos”.

As far as incorporating kangaroos into their diets goes, while the meat is easy to obtain, I don’t think many Aussies eat kangaroo on a daily basis. They probably eat kangaroo as often as Americans eat venison or other game meat.

In any case, I highly recommend eating some Kangaroo! If it was readily available in Austin, I would be eating kangaroo regularly as a leaner and in many ways better tasting alternative to beef or pork.

Happy tasting and be sure to check out the gallery below for even more pictures,
Peter

Polkadots Cupcake Factory, now fast approaching its 2nd anniversary, was one of the first cupcake shops to open up in the Austin area. We’re glad to see them thrive in an increasingly crowded Austin cupcake market, and the TastingBuds are fans of Polkadots, as shown in our Austin Cupcake Comparison Test from last year.

Peter recently visited the Polkadots kitchen to chat with Olga Lee, one half of the couple that owns Polkadots. She was hard at work, but had time to chat at the store, which specializes in custom cakes, cookies, and of course various types of cupcakes.

TastingBuds: You quit a lucrative consulting job to follow your dreams of going to culinary school and running a cupcake shop. What was going through your head, and what made you decide to take the big leap?

Olga Lee: Everything is possible. While I was working in my tiny cubicle, I was thinking that one day I was going to be the BOSS and living to life with extreme happiness. When I was young, I thought money was everything. Boy… I was wrong!!!

I got my Engineering degree dreaming that I would be happy and living life to the fullest. Nope. While I was working at the office, I was a machine, doing the same thing again and again.

Now, I love working with my hands and making cute little things, so (working in the cake shop) I feel like I have accomplished something at the end of the day.

What’s the best part about running a cupcake store?
I choose my holidays and how long I want to work! Oh.. and the thank you notes and the criticism from customers (good or bad).

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business in the food industry?
It’s not easy. Things never turn out the way you think they’re going turn out. There’s always a problem with equipment. Broken ovens, sinks, coffee machines, AC, you name it. Also it’s hard keeping low costs and low overhead!

What’s the biggest challenge you guys face?
Managing employees, finding ones that you can trust who are loyal, hardworking, and get to work on time. One of my girls is “graduating” from Polkadots, she is going to French pastry school in Chicago. I am very proud of her!

Describe your average customer. Also, what are their favorite flavors?
We have customers of all ages, ranging from 11 months old up to their 80s! The salon next door sends us a lot of customers, and they do hair for older ladies. One of them used to be Lady Bird Johnson.

The favorites are red velvet and black bottom cake (chocolate cake with cream cheese and chocolate chips baked in – http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotsaustin/2986514209/)

You also do custom cakes – What are your favorite cakes to make?
Ones that are clean, simple, modern, and of course ones with polkadots!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotsaustin/4464540177/in/set-72157605868046367/

What do you enjoy doing when not making cupcakes?
When I am not working, I like to go work out at Pure Austin (*support local businesses!), eat dinner with friends, play tennis, do yoga, make arts and crafts (cross-stitching), and catch up on sleep.

What are your favorite foods (other than cupcakes)?
I love meat! Especially rib eye, sausages, and Korean BBQ. Also, hot and spicy food (Indonesian and Thai) and donuts for sweets.

After a long day in the kitchen baking and decorating, what do you cook for yourself when you go home?
I don’t have time to make fancy meals – my favorite quick foods are curry ramen, eggs, and pre-marinated chicken fajitas from HEB!

Thanks for the interview Olga, and best of luck to you and Polkadots in the future.

You can read more about Polkadots on their official website at www.polkadotscupcakefactory.com.

Happy Tasting!
-Peter

Photos courtesy of Peter Tsai Photography

Hello Friends and Lovers! As you probably already know, South by Southwest 2010 rolled through Austin like a freight train filled to the brim with free food and booze. Of course, the TastingBuds took full advantage.

Other perks of being in Austin during SXSW include catching amazing concerts and spotting celebrities in town for the week. This SXSW, Peter caught up with Thu Tran from Food Party, who just happens to be one of the TastingBuds’ favorite food show stars.

(photo credits in this article go to Luke Robison)

Thu and half the cast of her show, Food Party, rolled in unexpectedly to the Austin 360 Food Blogger Bash literally about 2 minutes after Peter was thinking “man it would be cool if Thu Tran is coming to this party”. What’s that they say about thoughts becoming reality?

The conversation was short and sweet (like Thu) and Peter told her that she should try the Ice Cream Man’s Pineapple Basil Popsicle (which is strangely delicious). Thu said that it was good, and it might go good with some fish sauce. Thu also said that she was surprised that someone in Austin, Texas actually recognized her because it’s rare that she gets recognized at all.

Well the TastingBuds are here to change that because we really like her show. It’s a show for the foodie with a twisted sense of humor, which pretty much describes the TastingBuds. Addie Broyles did a great job describing Food Party in her Austin360 article as “Pee Wee’s Playhouse meets Rachael Ray.”

We’d like to add that show features creative and hilarious food recipes, corny puns, awkward humor, talking French Baguettes, symbolism referencing the inner struggle within us all, and the secret ingredient… LOVE.

You can watch the original pilot for the show in the embedded video below and you can find several early episodes of Food Party on Youtube. The new season of Food Party starts on April 27, 2010 and it airs on IFC.

Thanks and happy viewing!
Peter

A few days ago, Peter was invited to the Community Table at the Southwest Bistro (SWB) in the Austin Hyatt for a tasting, which was perfect for this installment of Food Photo Friday because the food was beautiful!

The Bistro, despite turning out quality local food, might get overlooked because of the lack of visibility from the street level. So, keeping true to our mission statement, this post will hopefully help you discover tasty food, one delicious bite at a time by highlighting some of the dishes at the Southwest Bistro!

Seared scallops with orange, arugula, and grilled onions. The orange was a great and unexpected pairing with the scallops – who knew that they tasted great together? The first picture in this post is a Wild Mushroom Ravioli.

Mushroom and brie stuffed quail with cranberries on top of blue cheese mashed potatoes. This was someone else’s but the bite I took was very nice.

Pan roasted swordfish with watermelon, arugula, radish and lemon shallot vinaigrette. Yet another surprising combination – the watermelon ties this whole dish together and goes really well with the fish and vinaigrette.

Duck Confit with Orange sauce w/ Manchego Gratin. I only got a tiny bite of this one, but it was probably my favorite. The orange sauce paired with the duck was really tasty.

Strawberry shortcake with Texas strawberries and Pure Luck goat cheese. Apparently SWB believes in saving the best for last – this was my favorite part of the entire meal, the best dessert I’ve had in a long time!

The goat cheese had a nice kick to it without being overpowering (like some of the goat cheese desserts I’ve had in the past) and the tanginess of the strawberries balanced out the entire thing. Everything in this dessert worked amazingly together – I would go back to SWB just for this dish.

So that’s it for this week’s Food Photo Friday. If you feel so inclined, head over to the dining room at the Southwest Bistro (pictured). If for nothing else, go for dessert – I would definitely go back just for the strawberry shortcake!

Happy Tasting!
Peter

Food Photo Friday is back, and this week’s installment is all about Austin Food Trailers and Food Trucks. Everyone knows that Food Trailers are all the rage in Austin now, and I’d wager that if you are downtown or on South Congress, you’re probably less than 3 blocks away from a food trailer or 5.

Over the months the TastingBuds have visited many of these hidden gems around town, and we’d like to share some of the photos we’ve taken along the way:

Mamboberry, which had the best tasting Froyo (Frozen Yogurt) in our comparison last year, at it’s South Congress location. The first image is of Mighty Cone (owned by Hudson’s on the Bend), also in the same food trailer park on SoCo.

Local favorite and guilty pleasure, Gourdough’s. This airstream trailer is the home of a bacon donut, a fried chicken donut, and about 20 other kinds of gourmet sweet donuts. I really liked the Canadian bacon flavor and something called Grandma’s pie.

Lucky J’s Fried Chicken and Waffles at it’s old location on Burnet Rd. Not bad, but their chicken is the darkest fried chicken I’ve ever had. I think they put a lot of herbs in the batter that make it turn a dark brown when fried.

Odd Duck Farm to Trailer – fancy farm raised, rich, local food for a low price (but portions are small). Anthony Bourdain supposedly dropped by here last week in addition to Gourdough’s, East Side King, and Perla’s.

One more photo from the South Lamar complex shared by – Austin Brevita, Odd Duck, and Gourdoughs. This is the seating area that faces South Lamar and the shopping complex that houses Highball and the Alamo Drafthouse.

Crepes Mille – South Congress based Airstream Trailer

When we went to Crepes Mille, we tried the rotisserrie chicken and crepes Benedict. Both were excellent. Next time I go, I really want to try the sticky Mango crepe!

Holy Cacao, where they concoct many different flavors of lollipop sized cake balls dipped in chocolate. This trailer is in the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery next to Torchy’s.

We hope you enjoyed the TastingBuds photos of Food Trucks and Trailers (courtesy of Peter Tsai Photography). If you are looking for a comprehensive directory of the Food Trucks in Austin, Austin Food Carts has taken this to task. Check them out!

What are your favorite food trailers? Have photos of your own to share? Leave us a comment!

Thanks and happy Tasting!
Peter

Everyone likes pretty pictures, and everyone knows that a picture speaks a thousand words. When out enjoying the Austin food scene, we’re often taking cool photos of food that don’t necessarily justify an entire blog post… until now. We’re starting a new series called Food Photo Friday, where we can share lots of mini food adventures that we’ve been having and just let the pictures do most of the talking.

The first two photos are from the 2010 SXSouthLamar Crawfish Boil. The friendly guys from the shopping complex 2110 South Lamar drove all the way to Louisiana to pick up over 200 pounds of crawfish! It was delicious… thanks guys. If you missed this one, they are thinking about having another party this crawfish season – be on the lookout!

Travis from Owl Tree Roasting showing off his coffee roasting machine (I personally think it looks like Thomas the Tank). Travis’s coffee is local and delicious – you can try it out at either Progress Coffee or La Boite.

A sweet bun filled with mung bean from Fortune Chinese Restaurant. This was delicious, and by far my favorite dimsum item from Fortune. A little trivia, these are called pineapple buns but contain no pineapple – they are named for they sugary yellow crust on top (Wikipedia reference)

The next two photos are from the newly opened Vivo north location (near Cedar Park). The interior visuals are very racy for that part of town but if you are looking for hip restaurants in the area, you no longer have to drive all the way downtown.

Well, hope you enjoyed the photos (courtesy of Peter Tsai Photography). We hope you are having food adventures of your own and look forward to your comments.

Happy Tasting and photographing!
-Peter

The Tastingbuds were honored to attend the grand opening luncheon of Maggiano’s Little Italy on Monday, March 1st at it’s new location in the upscale Domain. While it is new to Austin, many of you may already be acquainted with Maggiano’s – there are more than 40 locations throughout the US.

I grew up in Atlanta, home one of the older Maggiano’s… where everyone knows it as a nice, Italian inspired restaurant that is a safe go-to place to take a date or to celebrate a special occasion.

How does the Austin location stack up, and how do we think Maggiano’s will fare in the already crowded Austin Restaurant scene?

Here’s the lowdown:
At the luncheon, we got to sample about 12 Italian inspired dishes (pictured below in the gallery). Overall, the food was quite solid and flavorful – there was an emphasis on using the freshest ingredients and almost everything was made from scratch. Of the food, the sea bass and tomato caprese were my favorites – I also enjoyed the calamari for the nice, tangy tartar sauce that accompanied it. To me, he desserts were the standout of the meal – the tirimisu, chocolate cake, and apple torte were all excellent.

Maggiano’s isn’t the most authentic Italian place around, but they aren’t really trying to be. They are more of an Italian inspired restaurant and their emphasis is more on dining experience and service. Speaking of service, the head chef was very accommodating on our visit. He personally came to our table and honored special requests for any food allergies and was well prepared to create vegetarian or gluten free versions of dishes on the menu. We were reassured that this was a regular occurrence and special requests are handled readily.

Will Maggiano’s do well in the Domain (where there are already 2 high end Italian restaurants)? We think so. The biggest thing that stood out for us was the fact that Maggiano’s is HUGE (18000 sq ft according to their rep) and the interior is more reminiscent of a nice older hotel than a restaurant. They have a couple of very nice hotel ballroom sized banquet spaces, and I have a feeling Maggiano’s will be a strong player in the Austin large corporate event / wedding market. Since they aren’t necessarily playing in the same space as other Italian restaurants, they should do just fine.

Overall, we were pleased with Maggiano’s. Even though it is a chain restaurant, the food is very good and they do care about fresh ingredients and try to buy local where they can. They also have a strong focus on customer service. While prices are moderate to expensive, you do get what you pay for. If you would like to check out Maggiano’s yourself, it’s across from Dillard’s in the Domain.

Happy Tasting!
Peter

Hawaii is known for being a tropical paradise with amazing beaches and beautiful natural surroundings. However, a Hawaiian vacation is also known for holding tourists upside down by the ankles and shaking all the money their pockets. The main issue is that stores and restaurants in touristy areas charge sky high prices for necessities such as food – which is a bummer for foodies like us.

Everyone knows that once you leave the touristy areas you can get some reasonably priced grub, but most people don’t know how the locals manage to keep expenses in check. Here are 6 tasty, unique, and inexpensive local options we discovered in Hawaii that will help you have fun and save money at the same time.

1. Poke

Poke, the Hawaiian twist on Sashimi, consists of small, fresh (usually raw) bite sized pieces of fish that come seasoned in many tasty ways. The most popular type of poke is yellowfin tuna seasoned with soy sauce (shoyu), garlic, green onions, and sesame oil.

However, there are a lot of different varieties – kimchi poke was very popular, poke with crushed and toasted kukui nuts seemed to be a locals only sort of thing, dried fish jerky w/ shoyu was at many places we visited, and there were various fish and seaweed types of poke as well. In addition to the standard tuna, options such as marlin, octopus, mussels, and crab are also available.

Poke can be found at supermarkets, seafood restaurants, and specialty stores. It costs about 9 dollars per pound and I bet you that 1/3 a pound is more than enough for the average person. Any sushi eater will love Poke… think of it as very fresh, preseasoned sashimi at a significant discount.

2. Musubi

Musubi are great little packets of rice that are usually wrapped in seaweed. The are about the size of my fist and you can eat them with your hands, so they are perfect for lunch on the go. Musubi are an import from Japan, where these flavored rice balls are known as Onigiri. Of course, as with most Hawaiian food, the locals have taken the original and adopted it to local tastes. The most popular flavor of musubi in Hawaii is the Spam based one (the Spam is usually grilled and sometimes teriyakied) with the korean style BBQ chicken flavor following a close second.

There are also more traditional Onigiri specialty shops in Hawaii – such as the excellent Manabu’s on Oahu. This place served up some amazing healthy and nutritious gourmet Onigiri at rock bottom prices. In addition to the standard Spam musubi, they serve up favorites such as spicy tuna, curry pilaf, and fish roe versions as well. Where Manabu’s shines though is in it’s healthy musubi – They use all natural ingredients like a 10 grain blend, Konbu and wakame seaweed, and shiso leaves to flavor their vegetarian / macrobiotic line of musubi.

Best of all, Musubi are super cheap and they ubiquitous around the island. They can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, and specialty onigiri shops for about $1.50 to $3.00 depending on the size. Two large or 3 small musubi are more than enough for a quick lunch.

3. Loco Moco

With a name that means “mucus crazy ” in Spanish, you wouldn’t think this Hawaiian original is very appetizing, but it is surprisingly delicious. Loco Moco has 4 basic ingredients: fried eggs, a hamburger patty, rice, and gravy… not good for you but definitely delicious. Rice goes surprisingly well with hamburger and the gravy brings the whole dish together and adds some great flavor to the rice.

Legend has it that some poor students invented loco moco one day at a local grill when they didn’t have enough money to buy a real menu item. Apparently their friends also started ordering the dish and loco moco quickly spread throughout the islands once the word was out.

There are many varieties of Loco Moco (some use fried rice instead of steamed rice or a meat other than a hamburger patty) but I stick to the tried and true original. The Loco Moco pictured above is from L & L’s and is served with macaroni salad, which is a ubiquitous side dish in Hawaii.

*** UPDATE *** – forgot to mention that the loco moco is pretty huge and will fill you up. In fact, I just saw a version of the loco moco featured on Man v. Food!

4. Malasadas

If you are on the island of Oahu – GO TO LEONARD’S BAKERY. They have the most amazing malasadas, which are fresh, Portuguese style fried donuts without the hole. They are much softer and fluffier than donuts though because they are a bit thicker.

Malasadas come powdered with sugar with optional flavored cream and custard fillings. Apart from the original, my favorite flavors were the custard and coconut (haupia) filled malasadas. Many others I know like the Li Hing (dried plum powder) flavor as well.

Leonard’s is an extremely popular spot so be prepared to wait up to 10 minutes to place an order and bring some friends, because it’s much cheaper to buy malasadas by the dozen. Best of all, the price of a single malasada is about 80 cents so you can eat to your heart’s content without spending a lot.

5. Fruit from the Farmer’s Market

There are great little Farmer’s markets all over Hawaii that provide fresh, local produce. There are all sorts of delicious fruits year round, and many of these are surprisingly cheap.

When I went to the Hilo Farmer’s Market in November, the going price for good sized organic star fruits was 3 for $1.00, and papayas were 5 for $1.00. This fruit isn’t the stuff you are used to eating stateside either… these are vine ripened fruits picked just a day or two before… making a whole world of difference when it comes to taste.

Between 5 people we ate 30 papayas in 5 days…. and no we did not get tired of papaya, the fruit in Hawaii is that good!

6. SPAM

Yes all of the rumors about Hawaiians eating a lot of SPAM are more than true. Just take a look at this photo of the SPAM aisle at the local grocery store. Who knew that there were at least 7 different varieties of SPAM? Also, for some reason SPAM seems to be the cheapest thing in the whole store… 2.19 for a can? You can’t even get half a loaf of bread for that much in Hawaii.

If you had any more doubt about the popularity of SPAM, McDonalds serves a special Hawaii market only SPAM breakfast (with eggs and rice) for $3.84. And get this, instead of ketchup, they give you 2 packets of soy sauce on the side.

I have to admit that I tried SPAM one other time in my life (when I was camping as a boy), so I was a bit apprehensive about eating SPAM while in Hawaii. After my trip though, I have to report that SPAM is pretty delicious if prepared correctly. I had it grilled, grilled with terriyaki sauce, with eggs and rice, in a bowl of noodles, wrapped in sushi… all of the options were pretty darn good.

I think I’ll keep SPAM as a Hawaii only thing though because for some reason everything tastes better on vacation, and I just don’t think it would be the same back home. Also, I’m pretty sure that SPAM is pretty terrible for you and the mystery meat aspect will prevent me from eating it on a regular basis.

That said, I highly recommend trying SPAM at least once while in Hawaii both for the novelty value and to keep costs down.

Honorable Mention – POG

While it’s not a food, when in Hawaii you should seek out POG, a drink made of passion fruit, orange, and guava juices. It’s delicious, it’s local, it’s cheap, and you can’t get it stateside.

Happy Tasting, I hope this post helps you save money while discovering local treats on your trip to Hawaii!
-Peter

Photos by Peter Tsai Photography