Maui

  • Maui Eats and Fun Part 2

    With so much going on I have not had a chance to finish sharing you with you all the rest of my Maui Trip post by post. So much good food and fun to share with you! So here we go…

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    Let’s start with my favorite place in all of Maui…. Ululani’s! And here is the crazy thing… I don’t really like shaved ice!  That is, until I came here. I am seriously obsessed with this place! It is a daily addiction when on this island. 

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    It is an obsession with the whole family. They have so many flavors and we all have our own favorites. My personal favorite is the filipino lime and passion fruit over a scoop of coconut and a scoop of macadamia ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! We tried the top recommended shaved ice places on the island and no one even came close to this place. Make sure you stop here and remember…. I warned you about how addicting it is!

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    I heard about this place and had to try it. It is a casual outside eatery that sits by the ocean and the prices will make you happy… very reasonable unlike most places on the island. I will go over the best dishes we tried. If you can’t tell by the name, they serve mostly traditional Hawaiian type food. 

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    The lighting was terrible so sorry for the poor quality of the photo. This is their Korean BBQ ribs (aka Kalbi) and being a Korean I know good kalbi. This did not disappoint!

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    If you are a garlic fries lover like we are you want to order theirs! Yum!

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    Oh my… their poke was one of the very best poke we have ever had! Order this? Definitely!

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    Their highly recommended pineapple upside down cake was so good I am showing you a blurry photo of it. Get it… that’s all I have to say. 

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    The next morning we headed to The Gazebo for breakfast and found a 45 minute line. A wait is standard for that place but we were too hungry to wait that long so we headed a cove or two over to The Sea House. 

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    Just look at the beautiful bay this restaurant overlooks and sits on! This restaurant gets five stars on their view and atmosphere.  Ok…. on to the food!

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    Their chicken butter lettuce wraps made the grade and makes for a great starter.

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    This is the Polynesian Chopped salad and oh my goodness… I want to go back for this alone! See that edemane puree on top? Yum!!

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    As simple as this stir fry looks, it was delicious! Another winner.

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    And last but not least, are their fish and chips. My in laws love fish and chips and they were ooooohhhing and aaaaaahhhing  with each bite. I would make a pretty good guess that this is a definite pick for you fish and chip lovers! On a side note… my son really wanted fried rice (a common dish eaten here on the islands) so he ordered it of course. It was tasteless and bland. Bummer for him!

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    After breakfast we decided to go for a drive on the other side of the island that none of us have ever explored before (past Kapalua). We heard there was fabulous banana bread to be tried over in those parts, so off we went! The road is very, very, VERY narrow in parts (as in only one car can travel on it at a time) and we hit a jam up as there was traffic coming from both directions (and to make things more interesting, there were no guard rails on the narrow road with a drop off hundreds of feet below! Yikes!). Lucky for us, an impatient native got frustrated with us tourists messing up with his commute so he directed everyone and got the jam cleared up and everyone on their merry way. *Another side note, two of my kids were pretty much freaking out looking out the window down the drop offs. They thought for sure we were going to go over. This drive is definitely not for the faint of heart! I thought it was a great adventure!

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    After all that drama… we finally arrived at Julias… the banana bread shack! My true opinion? I wouldn’t drive 2 minutes for this bread. Not sure why it is so famous. Maybe for the fun adventure of finding it? They did have an awesome dried coconut candy type stuff though. 

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    Later that night, we headed to this place in Whaler’s Village in Kaanapali. Truth be told, the other restaurants had too long of a wait and this one didn’t, so we gave it a shot. I know that is never a good sign but we had a good experience here. 

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    I wasn’t very hungry so I ordered this starter plate of roasted Brussels Sprouts Milenase. It was divine! My father in law looked over at my plate and asked what I ordered and when I told him brussels sprouts, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. I asked if he liked brussels sprouts and he told me his mom used to make them when he was a kid and made him eat the disgusting little things. Ha! I told him brussels sprouts have come a long way since then and asked him to give it a try. He couldn’t believe these were the same things he was forced to eat as a kid. Preparation is key in all things!

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    Another starter (can you tell none of us were very hungry this night), that was very good was their poke. We love a good poke!

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    Their burger also did not disappoint! We didn’t try any of their pasta, but we would definitely come back here. Another fun and food filled day on the island. Truly paradise!

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  • Maui Eats and Fun Part 1

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    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. 

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    Hello Maui! Ahhhh…. a week of sun, fun and relaxation. We were so excited!

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    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!

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    We started with their signature appetizer, seared ahi bruschetta. It is very good, light and fresh tasting. 

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    I ordered their Chinese chicken salad with a ginger vinaigrette. It was also very good. I would order it again on my next visit.

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    Our son ordered the special of the day pizza with fresh burrata, figs and olives. It was tasty!

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    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!

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    Another highlight was their garlic and cheese flatbread. I love anything with garlic and this was full of flavor!

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    After lunch we headed for our hotel. We stayed in Kaanapali. Gorgeous!

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    At the far end of Kaanapali beach is Black Rock beach. It is a great place for snorkeling and my kids favorite thing… 

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    Jumping off Black Rock! That’s my Hanson taking off like a bird. My kids could do that all day.

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    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. 

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    They start you out with some fried chickpeas. They are delicious!

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    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. 

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    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.

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    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!

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    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. 

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    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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