I am going to first talk about this trip starting with LAX (Los Angeles Airport), our departure location. Why you ask? Because I want to talk food. I forgot to take a picture of the place, but here are some of my kids enjoying their breakfast we grabbed pre- flight. They are smiling because they love the food! LAX has a great eatery called Lemonade (I think it opened sometime in 2012) and what a welcome treat that is from the standard airport food. I keep hearing that airports are getting all these great restaurants, but it seems that we are always in the terminal that does not offer anything great. Not this time! Yay for Lemonade in the LAX airport! FYI.. we flew Delta and is it close to their gates (It is located in terminal 5). The only bummer was that they were only serving breakfast, so I couldn’t order lunch to go to eat on the plane.
Hello Maui! Ahhhh…. a week of sun, fun and relaxation. We were so excited!
We arrived just in time for lunch so we headed for Mala in Lahaina. We went there last year for brunch and it was fantastic (I highly recommend going there for brunch, which is served Saturday and Sunday from 9:00-3:00)! Mala sits on the water and you often can see the turtles swimming among the water and waves. My kids were in heaven with all the turtle sightings last year. Unfortunately we didn’t see one turtle this year while eating there. Our waitress said it is hit or miss. No matter what time of the day it is. Oh well… at least we had great food!
We started with their signature appetizer, seared ahi bruschetta. It is very good, light and fresh tasting.
I ordered their Chinese chicken salad with a ginger vinaigrette. It was also very good. I would order it again on my next visit.
Our son ordered the special of the day pizza with fresh burrata, figs and olives. It was tasty!
The kids wanted the snap peas as a side to share. You order them mild, medium or spicy. We went medium and they had a bit of a kick to them. Wow…. they were amazing!
Another highlight was their garlic and cheese flatbread. I love anything with garlic and this was full of flavor!
After lunch we headed for our hotel. We stayed in Kaanapali. Gorgeous!
At the far end of Kaanapali beach is Black Rock beach. It is a great place for snorkeling and my kids favorite thing…
Jumping off Black Rock! That’s my Hanson taking off like a bird. My kids could do that all day.
That evening just my husband and I went to dinner on our way to pick up our college aged daughter from the airport. We went to Honu (means turtle in Hawaiian) which is right next to Mala. They are owned by the same people. They have some great food and after flying for so long I wanted to eat light so I wanted another salad and they have some good ones.
They start you out with some fried chickpeas. They are delicious!
This is their Gado Gado salad. It has quinoa, kale, a ton of veggies, tofu and is served with a coco peanut sauce. I liked it but my daughter did not care for the salad dressing. It definitely has a middle eastern taste to it.
Their Kale salad is also very good. It is served with a wonderful lemon vinaigrette that has a slight sweetness to it. You can order it with Ahi or the fish of the day. Their ahi was so fresh and good.
The next day as we were driving to Lahaina, my hubby said, “I wonder if that chicken those people grill and sell off the side of the road is any good? It smells amazing and we pass by them all the time!” I have never noticed it once, but I immediately said, “Let’s go!” We have never pulled off to the side of the road to eat anything someone was grilling off the street before, but hey…. why not? Huli Huli chicken did smell amazing!
This is what they grill their chickens on. And they spray them with their secret marinade. They charged 10.00 for half a chicken a la carte or 8.00 for a quarter of a chicken, rice and corn.
Their were 8 of us (We spent the week with my hubby’s sweet and wonderful parents and four out of our six kids.), so we ordered five half chickens which was actually a bit too much food. We were so hungry, so we went big. They wrap it in foil and you grab napkins and plastic forks and go at it. It was so good! Extremely tender, flavorful and the marinade was incredible. If you see Huli Huli chicken grilling off the side of the road… don’t be afraid to stop. We were glad we did! Check back for more posts on our trip. It was a wonderful week of fun activities and lots of good food that I want to share with you in case you are lucky enough to be in that neck of the woods!
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