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There was no secret. I was searching for the Makaweli Poi on this trip. The Makaweli Mill closed in 2012. A controversial decision by OHA transferred operations to a non-profit group even though workers of Makaweli were promised they would run operations. Now days, I guess independent farmers run the company.
Kauai Coffee
We've been here before, but it is much popular now. We went before closing time, so it was empty. I literally sampled every single coffee they had. I was wired, no doubt.
Sueoka's General Store
Supposedly they are legendary. They have homemade everything. We got to Koloa before Suekoa's food restaurant opened, so we went into the general store and bought spam musubi. It was a winner! We went back when the food place opened and got their burger, it was also a winner! The sauce, which I think was just mayo made the burger so juicy. The patty was homemade.
Hamura Saimen
Located in Lihue, this "house" is legendary. The saimen was okay, noodles a little overcooked. Most locals ask for it undercooked. But the saimen was excellent. Little pricey for a hole in the wall. I think it was $9 for a saimen. We also had BBQ sticks, which was okay and lilikoi chiffon which was like a meringue. The experience was great. We sat with a bunch of other tourist and our waitress was unhappy, but served us, although she didn't bring us water till late. I was so mad my picture didn't turn out, something was wrong with my phone camera. The experience is one of a kind.
Salt Pond
Another famous hole-in-da-wall place in the Hanapepe area is Salt Pond. Near the general store is a real salt pond. I got a breakfast bento. Although that was good, they were the only place that had Makaweli Poi. It was called Aloha Aina, but on the back it said the poi was from Makaweli Valley. Winna! It took me a week to eat that poi. Light acidic, little grimy. When I opened the bag, it was more like paia'i instead of poi.
Taro Ko
In Hanapepe, on a side street in a residential neighborhood and what appeared to be a run down house is Taro Ko. They fry thinly sliced taro and potato and make these tasty chips. Too bad we got there before closing, so the chips although fresh wasn't really fresh. It was packed in a bag. The taro chips were over salted, but the sweet potato ones were okay.
Kountry Kitchen
A little pricey, but excellent food. We were so hungry so the food tasted great. The pictures below show what we ate. All were good. Bill was like 60 bucks.
Java Kai
Probably the most expensive breakfast for the money. It was like $10 a breakfast sandwich which was small and tasteless. I probably could make a better sandwich than that. But the place is wildly popular.
$11 breakfast sandwich
Lappert's Ice Cream
They only have one Lappert's on Oahu, and that's at the Hilton. However, on Kauai, they have 3. We went to the Princeville one. I remember we went here last time in 2000. I think I may have ordered the same ice cream ~ kona coffee.
Bobby V's
After a long day of Kayaking, we were very hungry and I knew I wanted pizza. We went to Bobby V's. It was byob, so I went to the ABC store and got a 6 pack. My pizza was good, wasn't out of this world.
margharita pizza
Shrimp Station
Further south in the Waimea area is a restaurant called the shrimp station. This place was winna. Although there were a lot of chicken running around, service was fast and the food was really good. I had a shrimp burger which was excellent. Michelle had coconut shrimp which she thought was one of the best she had in her life.
Coconut shrimp
Sukhothtai
Eggplant & tofu, this was the best out of all the things we ordered. The food at the restaurant was good, had lots of flavor. But the service suffered because it was busy and they only had one waitress.
Street Burger
Near our hotel was Street burger. They had the best cesar salad I've eaten in my life. It was so good, I ate cesar salad twice a week for a month when I got back to Oahu. They had these white anchovies on it which made it amazing.
Kalapaki Beach Hut
Probably my most favorite story on the trip. We went to this place because I wanted to try the ulu fries. When we get there ulu fries is not the menu. Out of curiosity I ask the lady if they had ulu fries. The look she gave me was priceless. It was of, "how did you know we have ulu fries and you don't deserve ulu fries!!!". After the look she quickly said, "oh no we don't have any today". I said, "ok then, no ulu fries today". It was like she knew they were back there, but didn't want to serve me any ulu fries. The food was average. The taro fries I got as a substitute were pretty good.
So no poi mill, but we ate well and found some nice hole in the wall gems.
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