Food & Flavor: Oahu, Hawai’i
Merriman’s Bread Pudding ft. Maui Gold Pineapple
As my honeymoon trip approached, all I kept hearing about was outrageous wait times and unavailability at restaurants. That doesn’t work for me, so I made sure to do my research to ensure that my tastebuds could too be in a constant state of oasis.
A few of my favs for food & flavor include:
Merriman’s
We hoped off the plane, dropped the luggage at the hotel, and went straight to Merriman’s, which was a great Welcome to Hawaii for our palate.
Address: 1108 Auahi Street, Honolulu, HI
Happy Hour DAILY, 3:00p-4:00p
Open: Everyday, 11:00am-9:00p
Good for groups, dates, or a solo adventure
A few items that I would order again:
Shrimp & Chips
Tako & Country Bread
Kalua Pig Quesadilla
Mai Tai (The house froth that garnishes the drink is tasty)
Bread Budding (Not only do I love bread pudding, but this version of course features Maui Gold Pineapples. #YesPlease!)
Older photos on yelp suggest that they use to have a goat cheese mac & cheese, and I would be very interested in them bringing that back.
You can make a reservation here.
Famous Kahuku Shrimp Truck
As we were waiting for our table at Moku Kitchen, we received a lovely chocolate tasting from nearby Lonohana Chocolate. As soon as she discovered we were on our honeymoon, our chocolatier, Lizi, provided us with an amazing list of food options we should try while we were on the island. Famous Kahuku Shrimp Truck was one of them.
The flavor was EVERYTHING! I was also glad that Lizi recommended this truck because it is located in an area with a variety of food trucks and there is another truck that specializes in garlic shrimp on the island and the line for that one was insane.
This location provided space to spread out and a short to non-existent wait time to order.
Garlic Shrimp
Moku Kitchen
A detour landed us at Moku Kitchen and I would gladly come here over and over for Strawberry Cream Pie. SO GOOD.
Other items I would order again:
Roasted Squash Ravioli
Hamaku Wild Mushroom Pizza
Kalua Pork & Pineapple Pizza
As a sibling restaurant to Merriman’s, you can similarly expect a flavorful meal.
No reservations. Happy Hour: 2:00pm-5:30pm
Istanbul
I LOVE when the flavor and aesthetic are on the same page. Quality. From the hostess’ greeting to the waited that brought out our Meze Platter and described every plate with precision. I definitely enjoyed what the chefs were cooking.
This was great for a date, 4 people can comfortably enjoy a meal in my opinion.
We ate every bite. Make a reservation on their website here .
K and K Bar-B-Que Inn
If you’re an adventurer, I recommend sourcing a means of transportation and seeing as much of the island as you can. One afternoon we drove the south-east perimeter and ended in Kailua. We wanted to get some Hawaiian BBQ that wasn’t L&L which we can get at home, searched locally, and landed on K and K, lol.
Simple menu, I had Combo D, my husband had combo I. This is a hole in the wall, so we got out food to go and headed to a local park to eat dinner along Kailua Bay. I love the simple experiences too.
