Plate lunches

OK, this post is for all the foodies out there! We had some awesome meals while on Oahu. I just have to say though, that the best meals we had were all on the North Shore (all of food pics are from the North Shore). Waikiki has a lot of famous restaurants, but we much preferred to saunter up to a place in a bikini and flipflops and get a great meal with sand still between our toes!

The first meal we had was lunch at a place called the Grass Skirt Grill in Haleiwa. Wooden floor, a few picnic tables outside and lots of people getting take-out in swimsuits! We both had grilled Ahi (yellow-fin tuna) with garlic butter sauce, brown rice (you can get brown rice with everything!), and a spring salad. There was more fish than I was able to finish, but it was so good and fresh it was hard to stop chewing! We ate lunch there a couple of times!

The next great lunch we had was at Waimea Valley Gardens. I had garlic shrimp, again with brown rice and a spring salad. Absolutely scrumptous! Although I had to fight off a peacock trying to steal my lunch (don't choose a table on the periphery of the deck!), it was still an enjoyable lunch. Go ahead and laugh Monica, but I saved you from him picking out of your plate!!! I washed the whole thing down with a mango soda made in Hawaii. It tasted great and had such a fun label!!

We stopped at one of the more famous "shrimp shack" trucks on the North Shore, but was very disappointed. I guess I was spoiled by the amazing shrimp plate lunch that Bridie, Whit, Kathie and I had in Kauai when I was there last year because this one just didn't measure up.

One of the few meals we ate that didn't include seafood was at Jamesons' (the place with the dolphin sculpture from a previous post). We both had a chicken curry salad in a perfectly ripened papaya and taro root rolls (yes, those rolls are purple!). Taro is a root and the crop takes 9 months before it can be harvested. It runs deep in the culture of Hawaii - it was a major staple in the traditional diet and is what poi is made of. If you've ever had poi, you probably never had it again! Just for a little extra tropical punch, there's mango chutney in the little silver bowl.

As we found out by the food served at the luau, the traditional Hawaiian diet has changed signficantly over time. What used to be an extremely healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, roots, and lots of seafood is now one of fried foods and Spam. The luau meal actually included fried chicken with the poi and lomi-lomi salmon (cold diced salmon with diced tomato and onions).

Hope you enjoyed this food tour!