In Search of the Best Shave Ice on Maui
In planning our trip to Maui, Emma decided that her family activity for the holiday was going to be a tour of shave ice spots to try and find her favourite on the island. We did some research before we left and found over 20 options on Maui. Next, we looked at a couple of articles on shave ice and learned its interesting history. We also looked at online reviews and locations nearby and came up with a few spots that we wanted to try, she made it to nearly all of them hitting 6 spots in 11 days. The article below is a summary written by Emma of her shave ice experience on Maui.
How it all worked
Shave ice is my favourite treat on Maui to cool off after a long day in the sun. On our trip to Maui, I tried several different flavours and toppings to make sure I had the full shave ice experience. I decided to go with a small size at each of the places we tried and that was definitely enough. The shave ice ranged from $6-9 each, most were around $6.50. I made myself eat a lot of shave ice, here’s what I learned, besides the fact that there is no ‘d’ in shave ice.
Why does everyone else always pick the best flavours?
I treated the family to their first shave ice of our vacation at Gus’ Hawaiian Shave Ice, a cute blue VW van parked in Kihei. I had a birthday cake and raspberry-flavoured shaved ice. Jack tried dragon’s blood and lemon-lime. Mom and Dad went for something a little different, with a mango and coconut cream shave fruit (instead of ice). I made sure to sample all three and my favourite had to be the shave fruit. You will see this pattern repeats itself with my favourites not always being my own dessert, but it was a good excuse to try everyone’s. Usually, I have to bribe Jack to let me try his dessert as he doesn’t like to share food. Gus was full of ideas on fun things to do on the island. We took his suggestion and had breakfast at Nalu’s and it was the BEST.
Our next shave ice was a couple of days later in Paia, where we stopped at Waikomo Shave Ice and met the owner and his son, who was working his first day on the job with his dad. Here I tried raspberry and blood orange. Jack had blood orange and calamansi, which we learned was a citrus fruit. Mom and Dad shared a passion fruit and raspberry. These shave ice snacks were a little different as they were made with homemade natural syrups and all topped with fresh fruit, coconut cream and honey. Sadly, my choice of flavours wasn’t as good as the others. I liked mom and dad’s passion fruit the best. Waikomo Shave Ice had a great patio where we could sit and enjoy our dessert. They also had parking out front, which was a miracle in busy Paia.
For our third shave ice, we took a very long and windy road to Kahakuloa on West Maui and pulled into Lorraine’s Shave Ice, which was located at her house. We were met by her husband with a warm welcome before meeting Lorraine who made the biggest small-size shave ice of our trip. She said the secret was leaving lots of air and not pressing the ice together. Jack tried the mango, sour apple, and lemon-lime and I tried the blue vanilla, pink lemonade and mango. Huzzah… I finally picked the best flavours. Lorraine was an amazing host who invited us into her backyard where we sat and ate our shave ice at a picnic table and enjoyed the ocean and mountain views. She gave us several tips for places to stop and even helped make sure we would survive the final single-lane road leaving her place. She had an amazing sense of humour and showed us her favourite weed in the garden that she called “cheap entertainment”, it curled up on itself as soon as you touched it.
Our fourth shave ice spot, Beach Street, wasn’t planned but was a necessary stop given how hot we were walking around souvenir shopping. Since I hadn’t always been very adventurous with my flavours, I decided to try a special called the Blue Hawaiian. It had piña colada, blue vanilla, ice cream, mochi balls and haupia. Jack went with the Rainbow, which had strawberry, pineapple, blue vanilla, ice cream and gummy bears. These were our first shave ice with ice cream and interesting toppings. I loved my choice and the extra creaminess of the ice cream, though it made my lactose-free stomach unhappy, but the haupia (coconut pudding) wasn’t my favourite. Overall, my spontaneity paid off.
If you are a huge banana fan you might not want to read this next one. On the Road to Hana, we stopped at a food truck, and I was happy to see that they served shave ice. I was the only one to get one, see how devoted I was, and tried the 3 Rainbow (strawberry, banana, blue vanilla). Unfortunately, I didn’t like the banana flavour, which overpowered the other flavours. In my opinion, banana does not belong on shave ice, it needs to stay firmly in its banana bread lane.
Our final shave ice of the trip had to be Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice. It came highly recommended by a local that we met and was the top spot in several articles we read before visiting. The huge line we were met with proved just how popular it was and after waiting 20 minutes and not moving an inch we abandoned our plan and decided to visit at opening the next day. Surprisingly we were still met with a big line, which thankfully moved faster as we had to get to the airport. Anytime is a good time for shave ice, I guess. Mom and Dad had a Sunset Beach (mango, guava, and orange passion fruit). Jack tried mango, sour apple and lime and I had a blue Hawaii, sour apple and mango. It was definitely worth the wait and a great last shave ice of the trip.
Where did shave ice come from?
I wanted to visit the Sugar Museum where I learned about the history of sugar and the back-breaking fieldwork that was carried out by men, women and children who often migrated in search of a better life. They were paid very little for their work in the fields and only made between $12-15 a month working long days in the hot sun. Japanese labourers on the sugar plantations brought with them their traditional recipes and combined these with local ingredients to create new foods, which had a large impact on the Hawaiian culture. Did you know that shave ice was based on a Japanese dessert called kakig?ri? It was originally made by Japanese immigrants who shaved flakes off big blocks of ice before covering it with sugar or fruit juices.
Drum Roll, Please
After all of the shave ice sampling across the island, I bet you’re wondering what our favourites were. Here’s what everyone said:
- Shelley: My favourite was Waikomo Shave Ice, I loved the natural flavours, especially the passionfruit and the fresh toppings
- Jack: My favourite was the mango, sour apple and lime from Ululani’s
- Robin: The most interesting flavour of the trip was the Blue Hawaiian at Beach Street but my favourite was the shave fruit at Gus’ Hawaiian Shave Ice
- Emma: My favourite shave ice, was one I didn’t even order, the shave fruit at Gus’ Hawaiian Shave Ice
My favourite: mango and coconut cream shave fruit from Gus’ Hawaiian Shave Ice.
Really you can’t go wrong by visiting any of these amazing shave ice spots, just stay clear of the banana syrup, trust me on this one. If you need any other Maui food recommendations have a look at the Good Eats post.
