Uncategorized

Maui – Lahaina Food Tour

During our short stay in Maui, we had some time to explore some eating options on the island. Maui has so much great food, and in the future I would even consider not staying in Wailea (which I generally prefer due to the calmer weather) in order to be closer to some of my favorite spots.

Since it was Mr. Feather’s parent’sfirst time in the Hawaiian islands, we decided to book a short food tour with them to see a variety of local foods. We booked a walk with the lovely Cindi of Local Tastes of Maui, and met her in the morning at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina.

grill inn

Inside the Pioneer Inn, we had our first bites of food – some pineapple orange guava (POG) juice, and macadamia nut pancakes! These pancakes were some of the best I’ve ever had, and there was delicious coconut syrup drizzled on top.

pancakes

One of our next stops was just a few minutes walk away – Banyan Treats, where we had some of the most amazing cookies, ever!

banyan

Double chocolate and papaya, pineapple, and macadamia nut. This was one of the stops where we actually bought extra so we could have more to take home. None of the cookies made it actually home, they were all consumed within the next day of our stay in Maui.

cookies

Our wonderful guide for the day, Cindi!

Cindi

After our cookie stop, we walked further into Lahaina. Isn’t the town with its old store fronts very charming? I wish they had retained more of the older shops as well – many of the stores we saw were the exactly the same as what you would find in Honolulu.

lahaina

lahaina2

However, there were a few gems – like Ono Gelato!

ono gelato

Located right next to the water, Ono had an amazing little area in the back where you could sit and enjoy some gelato, and look over the ocean.

We started with some passionfruit and kona coffee gelato. I loved the passionfruit and the seeds added some great texture.

gelato

My favorite item from Ono Gelato however, wasn’t the gelato at all. It was a croissant!

croissant

This was probably my favorite food discovery we made on this trip. These croissants, with a light spinach/cheese filling, were amazing. I’ll definitely be back for more on future trips to Maui (go early – apparently they’re a local favorite).

croissant2

After our croissant, we headed out to walk a few blocks and dive right back into some sweet treats – this time, it was fudge.

fudge2

The lava flow was my favorite (of course), but I could only have a small portion – was definitely feeling the sugar buzz by the point.

fudge

Our next stop? Some banana bread! I love banana bread, so couldn’t help indulging in a few pieces. What I really adore about a lot of the banana bread in Hawaii is that it doesn’t usually come with nuts. Plus, I find that it’s usually made fresh daily, with some hints of coconut.

bananabread

Just a few steps away from banana bread was a local sandwich shop, called Mr. Sub Sandwiches. It was largely favored by locals and had some huge, fresh sandwiches and wraps at great prices. I’d recommend coming here and grabbing some snacks before heading to the beach!

spinachwrap

Our next stop after relaxing over some wraps was for some fresh fruit, at Take Home Maui. This is somewhere I had visited before, and it’s a fairly famous spot in Lahaina.

takehomemaui

Take Home Maui specializes in papayas and Maui Gold pineapples – delicious, sweet pineapples that amazingly, don’t cut your mouth (my #1 pet peeve with pineapples).

maui gold pineapple papaya

There was also a very shy parrot in the front. We kept talking to her with no answer, until the very end, when she muttered a very soft, “Hello!”.

parrot

Our final stop? Ululani’s shaved ice of course. If you’ve had shaved ice in Maui, it was probably from here – by far the best shaved ice around. Delicious light frothy ice with freshly made syrups. More than 700 reviews on Yelp and an average of five stars. If you’re in Maui, you must come!

snocone

After our tour ended, we all hugged Cindi goodbye and  enjoyed a few more hours walking around Lahaina.

Over the years I think I’ve eaten at almost all the restaurants in Wailea, but that evening we tried out a new one for me – the newly opened Morimoto, located in the Andaz Maui.

I generally like Morimoto’s restaurants and usually will end up trying them out if I’m in a city that has one. The location in Maui I’d rank as better than average and a good option especially in Wailea, since most hotel restaurants in that area are going to be expensive, anyway.

I would make a note that this particular location was located deep within the Andaz, many steps down (and not particularly well lit). If you’re with an older people in your group, I’d keep this in mind.

2320886e808d11e3b40d12f304019c2e_8

Of course, we got the famous toro tartare appetizer – this has always been executed exactly the same at every location I’ve been to!

morimoto

And that concludes my short report on Maui, 2014. This was a very quick trip for us, and one we didn’t do much exploring in – except for a few short excursions, we really just relaxed and bonded with the family. How can you not relax in Maui? Though I did wish that I had satisfied more of my poke fix while there!

Our final night, we enjoyed the view outside from the Fairmont’s beach.

sunset

And then, flew back home. Goodbye Maui! We’ll be back soon.

going home

Thank you for reading along! I love local Hawaiian food and am always looking for recommendations – if you have any favorite spots in Maui or Hawaii in general, please share in the comments!

20 Comments

  • Reply
    Irina
    February 17, 2014 at 11:08 am

    Good morning:) We usually stay near Kaanapali beach area and most of my favorite places are there, would you want to hear them or it’s way too far?:)

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 17, 2014 at 3:51 pm

      Yes please!! Please share. Do you stay at Napili? I love that resort area too.

  • Reply
    J
    February 17, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    Definitely try Star Noddle next time!

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 17, 2014 at 3:47 pm

      This was on my list!! I was so sad we couldn’t go. So it was worth it??

  • Reply
    Belen
    February 17, 2014 at 5:40 pm

    This post is TORTURE considering the current state of my refrigerator!
    I’m been debating baking a cake all afternoon, since that’s the only thing I have in my pantry now (it’s grocery shopping day). Should I bake, should I continue working…
    Looks like you had fun and full stomachs!

    And completely switching topics: I’m on the hunt for a nice business card holder for myself. Any recommendations?

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 18, 2014 at 1:43 pm

      I like the cake idea – my vote is go for it 🙂

      I have to think about the business card holder! Have you looked at Valextra? They always have lovely holders. Or something personalized and engraved via Etsy?

      If I come across any I will update 🙂

  • Reply
    Bmoreloveleigh
    February 17, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    We love Choice Health Bar in Maui. Went there every day when we visited in November! The acai bowls are incredible!

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 18, 2014 at 1:37 pm

      Thank you! On my list for next time!

  • Reply
    Samantha Mariko
    February 17, 2014 at 7:50 pm

    the food looks so delicious and the weather looks amazing! hope you had a nice trip!

  • Reply
    Ammu
    February 17, 2014 at 10:49 pm

    Looks delicious! And what a cute parrot.

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 18, 2014 at 1:37 pm

      I can spend literally hours just staring and talking to parrots…I love them.

  • Reply
    erica
    February 18, 2014 at 12:57 pm

    wow. I’ve never been to any of these places! definitely going to make sure I stop by the next time! 🙂

  • Reply
    Stella
    February 18, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    Ooh, I LOVE poke, too! My favorite place is Taniokas in Oahu. I’ve tried other places on all islands, but it taniokas is “Da Best” as the locals say.
    If you like parrots, I suggest you look into staying at the Hyatt in Kanapali or Grand Hyatt in Poipu Beach Kauai. They have parrots in the lobbies and some have personalities that will just crack you up.
    Hawaiian islands are my favorite (our summers are spent on the islands) so I love to see pictures, hear of other people’s travels, etc. thanks for your post and happy future travels.

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 18, 2014 at 7:08 pm

      Hi Stella, thank you! Adding Taniokas to my Oahu list and the Hyatts to my accommodations list 🙂 Parrots are definitely a draw for me!

  • Reply
    emmabovary
    February 18, 2014 at 4:58 pm

    This is a bit of a sneak peek into my life, but one of my favourite things to do is read your posts (I get them emailed to me) in bed drinking a coffee and dreaming of beautiful food and amazing holidays! The pancake in this post has me drooling, seriously!

    • Reply
      Katherine
      February 18, 2014 at 7:08 pm

      Hi Emma, thank you so much, your words mean a lot to me 🙂

  • Reply
    Hana Mac
    December 3, 2015 at 9:05 pm

    POG= passion orange guava.

  • Reply
    Angel
    December 4, 2015 at 7:56 am

    I lived in Maui for 20 years and managed my families seafood business. Some of my favorites are….CJ’s DELI, PAIA FISH MARKET, MILAGROS, CAFE DES AMIS, MONKEYPOD, PITA PARADISE, COCONUTS and GANNONS ( good for happy hour….best banana bread is heading toward Hana in Keanae at a lil stand at the point. Mana foods in Paia is inexpensive and lots of local organic options. On the big island i loved “get some pizza”, Tracys tasteez, aloha wine bar and many others on Ali’i drive. Oh and never count on Sansei with many locations an most islands!!

    • Reply
      Katherine
      December 4, 2015 at 9:18 am

      Thank you Angel! I’m referring to this list next time we go back!

    Leave a Reply

    <

    /html>