Good Eats on Maui, Hawaii: Indulge in Paradise
Try some of our favourite places to eat or pick up a snack on Maui.
The Splurge
In each of the places we visit, we try to find one restaurant that we want to try out, our splurge dinner. We look for places with great food, great ambiance, and a menu that appeals to everyone including the sometimes-picky kids. After a long day of driving the Road to Hana, we decided to head back to our favourite spot from our last holiday on Maui for some of the best pizza we have had at the Flatbread Company in Paia. The menu has something for everyone, they make great salads, pizza, drinks and desserts. They also make it super easy when the kids don’t want the same pizza and split it down the middle at no extra charge. The value and quality of the food are fantastic and I promise you will leave with leftovers for the next day. Make sure you try their Mopsy Kalua Pork, which was highly recommended by one of the locals we met.
A Few Favourites (maybe more than a few)
Although we stocked up at Costco and cooked many of our own meals, we still have several favourites to recommend.
- Kihei Caffe is a great spot for breakfast (make sure the kids try the whale pancakes with coconut syrup), although you may have to get up early to get a seat. Cash only.
- Nalu’s South Shore Grill was recommended as the best breakfast spot by one of the locals we met and it didn’t disappoint. Everyone loved their breakfast and I’m still dreaming about the furikake flavoured house potatoes.
- Cinnamon Roll Place When there is a line up at 6:15 am you know it is going to be amazing. We stopped by on our way to our whale-watching tour and had some of the best cinnamon buns we have ever eaten.
- 808 Deli is a great place for lunch with lots of fresh salads and sandwiches.
- Howzit Eh! is a food truck located in South Maui Gardens. You can find something for everyone with a wide variety of food trucks. We had to visit this mash-up of Hawaiian and Canadian Cuisines as it was recommended to us by a friend.
- Flatbread Company is our favourite spot for pizza on the island.
- Coconuts Fish Cafe is a great spot for a fish taco and make sure you try the coconut shrimp.
- Shave ice: we sampled our way around Maui (more on our shave ice adventures coming soon)
- Banana bread: while we sampled a few different banana breads, our favourite spot remains Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread. It comes warm out of the oven, trust me buy two. This is located on the Road to Hana and once we reached here, about halfway to Hana, our son said he was now good to turn around as he had what he needed for the day. Closed on Sundays.
- Macadamia nuts are all over the island and our favourite way to eat them was the giant macadamia nut cookie at Hana Farms Roadside Stand. It’s a great place to stop for a fresh drink, I loved the homemade lilikoi (passionfruit) soda, and walk around their impressive gardens.
- Fresh coconuts are found at stands around the island, make sure to try one, you get a drink and a snack all in one.
What’s in the grocery store?
Whenever we visit somewhere new, we love to check out the grocery store and see how it differs from our options at home. In Maui, there are a lot of options when it comes to groceries, they have everything from Costco, Target and Walmart to the more traditional grocery stores like Safeway and Foodland as well as some smaller organic grocery stores. We also loved stopping at the farm stands as we made our way around the island. The fresh avocado, citrus fruit and pineapple were amazing.
One thing we noticed in the grocery stores we visited was the tremendous selection of Japanese items, we even found our favourite Furikake to bring home. Another difference from home was the huge selection of Spam. Hawaiians eat more Spam than anywhere else in the US. This dates back to World War II when Spam was a common lunch food for military personnel. By the end of the war, Spam was a mainstay in Hawaiian cooking and you can now find yummy treats like Spam Musubi (a sushi-like snack of Spam and rice wrapped in nori) all over the island. If you happen to visit Waikiki in April, make sure you check out the Spam Jam Festival.
