The trip to Maui was a belated five anniversary celebration for us; we stayed at the same hotel that we chose for our honeymoon (Ka'anapali Beach Hotel), and had a chance to do some of the things that we didn't get to experience the last time. The big thing for me was to be there for the humpback whales (which we had many sightings!). We also went snorkeling at Molokini crater and did scuba diving for the first time at Black Rock. It was AWESOME to see Black Rock from a completely different perspective, and we saw three green sea turtles (more than we saw at Turtle Town, a second snorkeling trip that was included with our Molokini trip). It was nice to be able to relax and not worry about Miss Nugget (though we both missed her very much while we were away).
While we were away, mom took care of Miss Nugget. The little miss, we were told, was seemingly okay without us around, but she definitely knew that something was up. We tried to have a Skype session with mom and Miss Nugget, but the poor thing was SO upset the whole time. Guess in her little baby brain, she thought her parents were trapped in a magic box!
Of course, another thing that I was looking forward to with our trip was the food. Not that Hawaii is the most exotic place for food, but there are certain things that they do right: POG (pineapple orange guava juice), fresh pineapple, coconut in pretty much everything, fresh seafood, and imu pork (a luau staple) are some of the foods that come to mind. Oh yeah, and then there's the fact that I could drink alcohol! Since I'm still nursing, I'm super careful about when and how much I drink (which usually means that I can only drink in the evening once she's down for the night or when we go out for the evening with friends), so it was nice to be free of that restriction. I enjoyed a few lava flows (basically a pina colada with strawberry puree swirled in) over the course of the week. :)
We went to three restaurants that we were already familiar with from our previous trip to Maui: Leilani's, Hula Grill (both were walking distance from our hotel) and Bubba Gump. I love both Leilani's and Hula Grill for their simple, island fare. We had some really yummy coconut shrimp and fish tacos at Leilani's (seriously the best fish taco I've had in a restaurant; the fish they used was firm, but flaky). At Hula Grill, we had two of their flatbreads; one made with goat cheese, kula greens, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes (LOVED the goat cheese on this one) and a kalua pork and pineapple flatbread (the pork gave that extra depth of flavor that regular old ham just can't match). At Bubba Gump, we ordered the same dish that we ordered the last time we dined: the Shrimper's Heaven, which comes with four different shrimp (coconut, tempura, breaded and grilled), three dips and fries. We ended up ordering their shrimp shack mac & cheese as well; which was loaded with shrimp and was super cheesy as well.
We went to three other restaurants that we had not previously tried: Seascape Restaurant (part of a combo deal that I found for the aquarium), Tiki Terrace (the restaurant at our hotel) and Japengo (a sushi restaurant found at the Hyatt Regency located at the end of Ka'anapali Beach). All three were quite enjoyable, and would definitely be restaurants that we would visit again.
Seascape was easily a nice restaurant just for the view of the harbor alone. We didn't have the full range of the menu available to us, but we did have a good mix of dishes to pick from. We both had sandwiches in the end; I had the pulled pork and hubby had the mahi mahi. Naturally, because we are in the USA, the portions were very generous and we were most certainly not hungry after having our fill. Added bonus: we were able to spot a few humpbacks in the distance spouting away!
The Tiki Terrace offered a discount to hotel guests for dining there, and since we didn't go the last time we were here, we figured "why not?". It was a very filling meal; hubby was more adventurous than me (I ordered ribs with mashed potatoes & veggies), and had their traditional island meal, the restaurant's interpretation of what their ancestors would eat for their meals when they first arrived on the island. It began with a wedge of fresh papaya and a mixed greens salad with Maui onions and tossed with a very simple dressing. The salad was surprisingly good, even with the amount of onions in it. His main consisted of fish steamed in banana leaves, grilled banana and pineapple, roasted purple yam and poi (a Hawaiian dish made from taro root that is meant to be a dip with your fish or meat). The fish was very tender and flaky, and I finally had a taste of poi as well. I really don't know why I avoided it for so long, because it's really not that terrible. We shared the banana brownie explosion for dessert, which was DELISH. Macadamia nut ice cream, fresh bananas, a chocolate, fudgey brownie...what's not to love?
Japengo was a restaurant recommended by our airport shuttle driver, and I wanted to try it. Plus, it meant we could enjoy the walk on the beach to get to the Hyatt Hotel, where it resides. Well...the hotel is MASSIVE. Probably the largest of the various resorts along Ka'anapali beach. Once we were properly on the Hyatt property (still on the beach path), it took us a good 10 minutes just to get to the lobby entrance! We then had to backtrack through the property to get to the restaurant. But! We discovered an African penguin habitat right by the restaurant, so the extra walking was worth it. ;)
Since we have sushi a lot back home, we made a concerted effort to choose dishes that were unique. We started off with two rolls, the Kazoo roll (sake, mango, avocado, shiso leaf, crushed pistachios, soy wrap) and the blackened ahi tuna roll (crab, avodado and cucumber roll topped with blackened ahi, spicy mayo, Maui onion, ponzu and wasabi tobiko). . I was worried that the onions and the wasabi tobiko would be too much for me, but I really enjoyed the ahi roll. The wasabi gave just enough kick and the onions weren't too overpowering. The Kazoo roll was more savory than sweet, which surprised both of us, but it was still very yummy. We ordered a third roll, the Honolulu roll (maguro, which is Hawaiian big eye tuna, avocado and cucumber topped with sweet chili sauce and tempura crunchies). This was probably my favorite of the three; the tuna was very rich and tender and the sauce gave just the right amount of heat. Our last dish was the duck potstickers. They were DELISH, the duck made them very rich and flavorful. We decided we had enough room for dessert, so we shared the tengu Ka'anapali pie (brownie crust, banana, macadamia nut ice cream, whipped cream, caramel & chocolate). Hubby was undecided whether he would return to this restaurant in the future until he took a bite of this dessert: it was heavenly. The perfect combination of ingredients, without being too rich or too sweet. YUM!
Finally, on our last night in Maui, we went back to the Old Lahaina Luau and enjoyed all the yummy foods there. We went for the very first time on our honeymoon, and loved it so much that we decided to return. Out of all the luaus on Maui, it is though to be the most authentic (which basically means no Samoan fire dancers, just hula dancers), and they've been doing it for a very long time. The ticket prices have gone up since we last attended (stupid exchange certainly didn't help this time around!), but it's so worth it. You are greeted with a lei and a mai tai, then shown to your seats. We once again chose to be seated at a table, rather than the traditional on the ground seating. You can then roam the grounds, where the dancers show off games, coconut husking and cutting, and taro pounding, and a few craftspeople sell their wares. Then, there's the unearthing of the pig from the imu, where a couple of workers explain how the pig is prepared for being cooked in the ground all day, then remove all the layers from the pig before tossing it in a massive serving pan for the buffet.
The buffet was just as delicious as I remembered: the pork was wonderfully smoky and paired well with the poi, the tuna poke was incredibly fresh, the chicken was tender with a sweet & smoky sauce, the beef just melts in your mouth, the sweet potato tasted wonderful with coconut milk...so much good! It was the desserts that I was most looking forward to, specifically the coconut jello. I've tried replicating it, but I just can't manage to make mine as silky smooth as theirs.
Clearly, we had much fun enjoying all the food! It will be a few mores years before we return to Maui, but hopefully these places will still be there when we do return. Enjoy the week and happy cooking all!