Food Glorious Food – Maui (part 1)

September 27, 2023  

I love food. No I mean it… I LOVE food. Everywhere I go I look forward to what food can I enjoy there. Sometimes it’s fancy. Sometimes is a greasy spoon. Sometimes it’s the best donut in the area. But it all has something in common for me, food is an experience.

The food in Maui is no exception. It’s been a delightfully delicious experience! So here’s Part 1 of our dining delights in Maui!

(Note – these are all personal opinions and we in no way were compensated for this… honestly didn’t even know I was going to write this at the time we ate at these places! If I had, I might have taken more pictures!)

Our first night in Maui I had a thought of a place to go because they are known for something specific but when we got there they were packed and it had been a long day of traveling so we looked around and saw someplace that looked interesting so we wandered in knowing nothing about the place. What a wonderful place to stumble into!

OAO

Tucked in a corner of a small shopping center in Wailea, it could be easy to miss this place, but once you’ve been, you won’t want to ever miss a chance to go back!

We lucked into some space availability at the sushi bar and settled in to check out the menu and grab some grub after a long day. The service was wonderful and friendly. Our server, as well as the sushi chefs, was happy to answer questions we had and make recommendations. Looking at the menu we had a difficult time deciding. We landed on the tempura vegetables (hey we were trying to have something at least in the vegetable category of the food groups!), rock shrimp tempura, and the Surf & Turf roll.

The vegetables were very tasty and we loved that they were all local selections, the rock shrimp tempura was also delicious…. But the piece de resistance… the Surf & Turf roll. This was sincerely one of the most delicious things either of us had eaten. It was SO good. We immediately started discussing if we would be able to find the chance to come back and order it again.

We didn’t make it back again on this trip but OAO will definitely be on my list of places to visit next year when I am back in town and while I will also want to branch out and try some additional items… the first thing I am ordering is the Surf & Turf roll!!!

https://www.oaowailea.com/

MAUI BREWING COMPANY

Always a solid choice for good beer and good food is Maui Brewing Company. (They have other locations as well but I’ve only been to the one in Kihei.) Maui Brewing is Hawaii’s largest craft brewery and as someone who loves craft beer you know I have to make a stop here when I am in the area.

They have indoor and outdoor seating so there’s really something to keep everyone happy. Their ordering is all mobile (which I will admit I am not a huge fan of) but the servers who deliver everything are super friendly and helpful. We shared a sampler of beers so we could try some of the various offerings including the limited-edition beers and enjoyed all we had. Pizza sounded delicious so we dug into one of those and finished off every bit. It was super tasty. Previously when I have visited, I have had the nachos and the fish tacos and have been pleased with all of it.

For a solid visit of food and beer – Maui Brewing Company has got you covered

https://mauibrewingco.com/

KIHEI CAFÉ

As much as I travel, while I do some research on my own about restaurants, I really love to ask the locals what is their favorite place to eat. And when several locals tell you to check out a place you know it’s a must visit.

There are now 2 locations for this café (apparently the newest opened just a few months ago) so we chose to go to the original.

Very friendly servers in front of the establishment (there are a bunch of tables out here for seating) directed us where to go in and order and let us know that once we did they would seat us and bring our order to us. We pondered the menu for a bit because everything looked SO good. One of the people who recommended the place told us we absolutely must get the breakfast fried rice. While this is something usually neither of us would order, we figured we would trust the local expert. We eyed a whole lot of things on the menu but ended up landing on an order of pancakes with local bananas and mac… oh and a side of bacon cooked crispy. (We planned to share it all so we got a bit of everything.)

We sat down and enjoyed the ambiance. The tables are just outside the edge of a small shopping area so there were lots of people wandering about… and chickens! There are a number of chickens wandering the area (and some baby chicks too!) who add to the flair of this great local café. They do ask that you please do not feed them and we did adhere to that request but we were very amused by the critters of course! We love animals.

Then the food came.

When they say best breakfast in Kihei – they aren’t kidding! I would venture even further reaching best beyond Kihei!

Once you took a bite of the fried rice you couldn’t stop eating! The pancakes were fluffy and delicious with the bananas and nuts being a perfect accompaniment. And we were both in agreement that the bacon was truly some of the best we’d ever had.  

Our tummies were super happy and we added Kihei Café to our list of places that are a must visit anytime we are in the area. We also started plotting our additional workouts to make up for all the great food and then remembered we had a big hike planned so we weren’t too worried 😉

https://kiheicaffe.com/

And this is just a portion of our great food adventure… stay tuned for more about Maui, and yes indeed also eventually more about the food there! Did I mention – I love food?!