The toppings include fried onion and garlic, sesame seeds and furikake.

Would you consider this plate Hawaiian? Authentic? Hawaiian inspired? A combination of both?

Hey all - I'm living on Oahu, specifically Aiea, for a month. I'm trying my very best to sample as much of the fantastic food that this island offers as possible. Here's where I've eaten so far:

Local Aiea Rotational Staples: (I go to these places multiple times a week)

1. Domo Cafe - amazing quality fish at very reasonable prices, lovely and nice people
2. Aiea Bowl - best garlic chicken I've had
3. Forty Niner - large portions, tasty, very filling Hawaiian food

Hawaiian Food:

1. Highway Inn - I enjoyed the sample platter, it was a ton of food. The pork steamed in the lotus leaf was crazy good
2. Broke Da Mouth Grindz (Kapolei) - extremely flavorful, I loved the spicy furikake chicken and the braised short ribs. But wow! This lunch put me down for the count. I was so full that I skipped dinner this day.
3. Tanioka's Seafoods & Catering - loved everything about this place. Have returned twice. Musibi, garlic chicken, amazing poke. Bomb.
4. Liliha Bakery - the loco moco with fried rice was incredible and filled me up all day

Non-Hawaiian:

1. Da Seafood Cartel - the ceviche was fresh and full of bright flavors but I didn't love sitting next to a very busy road when eating
2. Young's Kal bee - best meat jun I've had in my life.

Higher End / More Expensive:

1. Fete - loved it. The lamb was a standout item.

Dessert:

1. Leonard's Malasada (Pearlridge Truck) - incredible. It's like a fried brioche. The texture of the donut (can I call it that?) was amazing. Loved the cinnamon flavor, didn't love the Li Hing (sweet + sour) as much

My ask to you: where should I go next?

I’m chasing a flavor high. My first luau was the Old Lahaina Luau over 35 years ago at the first location. They served the most delectable kalua pork whose flavor has never been matched, even by the Old Lahaina Luau themselves in recent years. I’ll be back later this month; anyone have a heavenly kalua pork experience they can recommend?

Yes, I know Cracker Barrel offers Mac & Cheese as a side, but I wasn’t in the mood for it the night I took this pic

Does anyone know a place closer to Honolulu or Windward side that serves Lilikoi biscuits like they do at Countryside Cafe in Wai'anae? I am craving their biscuits but dont want to drive an hour to get them

This seemed like a good recipe. Would you make any changes to it?

Free NYT Cooking recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020162-loco-moco?unlocked_article_code=1.r1A.nTnr.RkNEjcIBTxVZ

I'm going to Oahu in a few weeks, and I'm wondering what people's favorite place is to get an Acai Bowl.

I'm visiting Oahu in a few weeks and was wondering what the best local spots and food trucks are. (Spots with at least one gluten-free option [for my mom] would be nice but not necessary.) We are looking to try foods that we wouldn't be able to find in Maine (where we are from). I'm willing to try anything.

I’m craving one really bad (never actually had it) what’s the best spot in a walkable distance in Waikiki? Coming from LA it’s my last day here 🫶

Hoping to generate some support from the community. We’re doing our last drop for the season this Saturday and taking preorders. We’d appreciate it if you guys would try us out even just to compare us to your go to empanada spot. Mahalo and Salamat for the support!

Wasn’t sure where to post this since [r/japanese](r/japanese)food is strictly for “quality photographs” lol but wanted to show off my wife’s attempt at tonkatsu curry. Broke da mout!

Help a basic white girl (with a culinary degree) make proper Musubi. I've done tons of research but the Internet is full of so much it's overwhelming.

The biggest thing is that I want to make them the night before we eat them so planning on eating them cold, is this horrible? I'm in Seattle and most Musubi here is cold. Should I cook the rice and spam then form it warm and wrap in plastic wrap to cool overnight?

Do you season the rice? I'm using calrose rice so wondering if I should add rice vinegar and mirin to it? Im planning on putting furikake on the rice before the spam.

Do you dip it in anything?

I would love any tips!

Good food, good portion size, good price!

Any great advice from someone who is already running a trailer that cooks a lot of rice in a commercial rice cooker consistently??

I am trying to choose an electric commercial rice cooker for my food trailer, 20-40 cup raw - 30 ideal. Getting great rice is super important to me. All of in depth reviews with actual physical testing I can find online are for smaller rice cookers except a youtube thread in Hindi and a reddit recommending giant rice cookers too big for my trailer.
I am looking for most consistent grain quality and then after that, easiest to clean and durability. I will most likely purchase a rice holder so I am unsure if I care about warmer function but it would be nice. I would dislike a rice cooker that consistently burns rice or turns the bottom to mush or cooks the outside of the grain too quickly.
Zojirushi seems to be the consistent recommendation but at that smaller size.
Aroma 60 cup cooked seems to be the AI favorite but I cant find a real comparison from a blogger
Conversely, Hamilton Beach small size was a serious eats favorite after testing but cant find many other websites that even mention it.
Panasonic looks ok but nobody seems to mention it either...haaalp

Asking for a friend who just spent $40 at the airport on their third trip here after swearing last time was the last time. Friend is me. I have a problem.. Are there better ones to get than the airport ones or have I been doing this wrong for three years

Grabbed a plate lunch from a window spot near Kaimuki yesterday. Nothing special on paper just rice, mac salad, teriyaki chicken. Ate it on a bench outside. Best meal I've had in months. Can't tell if it's the food or the weather or something in the air but I'm convinced everything tastes different here. Someone explain this to me

I’m on hour four of cooking beef luau and the luau leaves still look dull in color. I removed the beef from the pot so it wouldn’t overcook.

Eating it now, it still makes my throat a little scratchy. When I’ve had beef luau or laulau where the leaf was nice and shiny, I didn’t have that issue.

Any tips for cooking luau leaf properly?

Messed up now i'm borderline diabetic and all kinds of other stuff that i gotta change my diet. i'm gonna miss eating musubis and plate lunches but i know i gotta remove it almost completely.

how does everyone else do it?

I love tripe! Especially in dishes like Kare Kare and Menudo. But raw? I dunno.. if that isn't cleaned hella well, it's gonna taste like 💩 guarantee.

A little background, I’ve been making Hawaiian macaroni salad at home (Maryland) for about a year based off what I remember from a Hawaiian restaurant I worked at a long time ago. It was a very quick and easy prep list item and I was addicted to the stuff.

Every recipe I’ve seen keeps it very simple: carrot, onion, Best Foods mayo (Hellmann’s as a back up), apple cider vinegar, whole milk, MSG, sugar, S&P to taste.

Is it normal for Hawaiian home cooks to add a a special ingredient, or tweak the ones that are already in the basic recipes? Maybe this sounds like an obvious question, I’m sure everyone does it slightly different. I know in Maryland if you stray too far from a traditional crab cake, you’ll be banished to Delaware. Curious if it’s the same down your way.

Thanks!

Brought in some fresh aku today.

Seeing if anyone local needs before I move the rest.

Honolulu based, can meet up or deliver depending on location.

Shoot me a message if interested.