Made with Aloha

For all you hungry Passport readers out there I apologize for the delay in this week’s post, but I just got back from a vacation in Hawaii and therefore had to take a brief hiatus from our dinning project. That’s not to say that I didn’t have some wonderful and strange food while I was away, but unfortunately Adam was not there to enjoy it with me.

Now I know what you’re thinking, and I do hate to disappoint you, but no, I did not have any Spam during my stay in Waikiki. I did however taste some other uniquely Hawaii dishes that thankfully did not come from a can.

On the second day of our trip my traveling companion (also known as my Mother) and I had the Hawaiian version of ceviche: Poke. Pronounced to rhyme with okay, poke is usually made with yellowfin tuna, although there are over 100 versions of poke served throughout the islands. The sashimi-style tuna is usually diced and tossed with soy sauce, sesame oil, inamona (ground kukui nuts with sea salt) and seaweed.

The version of poke that we enjoyed was one of the restaurant Alan Wong’s signature appetizers, the Poke-Pine. The first dish of a delicious 5-course tasting, the poke was wrapped in a crispy wonton purse that was sliced thin at the top to resemble a pineapple or bizarre sea creature.

Our tasting also included a soup and sandwich small plate consisting of a creamy tomato soup, adorned with a yin yang symbol and served in a chilled martini glass, and a toasted foie gras, mozzarella and kalua pork finger sandwich.

The dual appetizers were followed by a butter poached Kona lobster tail plated over a crab dumpling with a garlic and black pepper gravy.

Next came the ginger and panko crusted onaga. Locally caught, onaga, or longtail snapper, is one of Hawaii’s most celebrated fish. Served over organic Hamakua mushrooms and sweet corn with a miso sesame vinaigrette, our third course was a delightful blend of Asian and island influences.

The meat course was a soy braised and Kalbi grilled short rib with a gingered prawn and a lightly spicy Korean ko choo jang sauce. At this point in the meal I was a bit too full to partake in more than a few bites, but the leftovers did make for a great sandwich the next day.

When dessert arrived, however, I miraculously found room enough to polish off the passion fruit sorbet over coconut tapioca AND the bitter chocolate torte.

Even though it would seem we ate enough for an entire week in one meal, I knew there were more delicious Hawaiian flavors to be found, so the next day we went out in search of more.

On Oahu there is a vast Asian population so it is quite common to find rice served with breakfast, lunch and dinner. At Eggs ‘n Things on Saratoga Road, where they offer their breakfast menu from open until close, when I ordered the steak and eggs, instead of getting a side of hash browns or home fries like you would in the continental U.S., I was offered my choice or white or brown rice. In an attempt to balance out the health factor of the fried eggs and New York Strip, I opted for the brown rice.


Although Eggs ‘n Things does offer Vienna sausages as a meat choice, I was surprised there was no Spam option. There is however a Spam, egg and cheese sandwich on the breakfast menu at McDonalds. Only in Hawaii.

There’s also Spam sushi available in the pervasive ABC convenience stores. And Spam flavored macadamia nuts. Don’t ask me why.

On day four of our Hawaiian pig fest we had another satisfying and very filling dinner, this time a Kai Market in the Sheraton Waikiki. Touting the use of local ingredients throughout their extensive buffet, Kai has a wonderful selection of fresh seafood and Asian fusion dishes, not to mention a spacious, beachfront patio.

No trip to Hawaii would be complete without attending a luau and partaking in all the traditional luau fare.

Tender, juicy and smoky Kalua pig was of course the centerpiece of the meal, cooked for several hours in an imu, a kind of underground oven. Kalua refers to this process of cooking (not to the coffee liqueur Kahlua), ka, meaning “the,” and lua, meaning “hole.”


Another luau staple, poi, made it on to my plate even though everyone I talked to that had tried said they would never try it again. Still, I'd traveled over 5,000 miles to get to Hawaii, so I figured I had to try this traditional Hawaiian staple.

Poi is a starch dish made by mashing boiled taro, a beautifully purple root vegetable that tastes similar to a yam, and mixing it with water until it’s smooth. Although many other cultures use taro in various ways, and even on the island the dark purple root appeared in salads and even in dinner rolls, Hawaii is the only place in the world that pounds the taro into poi.

Poi is often graded by one-finger, two-finger, or three-finger levels, which refer to the mixture’s consistency by how many fingers it takes to eat it.

A grayish purple, three-finger paste, the poi tasted rather like dirty dishwater to me. Oh well, at least I can say I tried it.

Next time I visit Hawaii, I’ll have to try Manapua. Cantosese barbeque pork buns often found in Chinese bakeries as well as the islands of Hawaii, manapua are sweet buns filled with char siu pork and are either baked or steamed. I hear these tasty morsels are quite good and very popular: but unfortunately, there is only so much food I can eat in one week.